anizational culture, (5) a reengineering of how the firms conducts its business, (6) a restructuring of the firm's organization to better reflect how the firm will function in the future, (7) a redesign of both public areas and guest rooms in the firm's properties, (8) the linking of properties through intraorganizational networking, (10) the creation of Clubs de Reflexion to stimulate employees to innovate, and (10) the creation of Groupes de Progress to monitor the status of the firm in relation to Les Recontres de Futur.
Each of the 10 major elements of Les Recontres de Futur are of equal importance to the future of the firm. Some of these elements, however, are more controversial than others, such as the reengineering of how the firms conducts its business. Other elements tend to be sources of problems in their own right unless they are fully explained to the firm's employees and unless the firm's employees are trained to effectively implement them. A case in point within this context is employee empowerment.
At the time of this case, late-1993 or early-1994, Novotel management believed that the company was making good progress in relation to Les Recontres de Futur. Management thought that the firm's primary concern at this time was to assure that the momentum generated by Les Recontres de Futur was maintained at the firm. Top management at Novotel, however, had recognized something that had yet to be imparted to the firm's employees. Top management had recognized that Les Recontres de Futur did not represent a one-time change to prepare Novotel to function competitively in a changing environment. Rather, top management recognized that Novotel had entered into an era in which environmental change was going to be the norm rather than the exception. This recognition by top management must be shared with all Novotel employees if the firm is to retain its Les Recontres de Futur momentum.
Reengineering projects are diffi...