Intelligence

When God had distributed intelligence, He had shown partiality to rich people. I dare say that I have come across a wealthy person, who does not have a say in any topic on the earth. While in the hotel industry, I have seen owners dropping into the banquet hall at the eleventh hour before starting of a party, would first ridicule the Banquet manager/Maître d’hôtel and make him/her realize that how inadequate his/her knowledge and intelligence is and then order the entire set up to be dismantled and rearranged in a different way. No amount of logical explanation will stick.

I am not sure whether they (the affluent) really believe that they are well informed about everything in the world or they are afraid that if they do not behave in this way, the employees might think them as fools and some of them might try to defy or try to take a chance. Here, I am talking about the owners of independent hotels or small chains. Those, who often travel abroad for business or pleasure, and those who have set up a hotel, after having some success in some other business, are worse of the lot.

They behave in a way, as if God has proclaimed “the rich will inherit the earth”. But they always need a person (read manager) who will hold the can if anything goes wrong. For example, they may order the manager to serve liquor on ‘dry days’; as per Indian Excise law it will be licensee (generally, the head barman or the Bar Manager or the F&B Manager) who will be arrested.

There are two types of hotel managers available in the market – vertebrate managers and invertebrate managers. Vertebrate managers are generally performers, team players and very protective about the team he/she leads. Owners merely tolerate them because of the performance but never adore or respect as they occasionally say ‘no’.

Invertebrate managers are always ‘yes’ man of the owner and takes credit for the performance of the others. They never waste a chance to meet the owner and say only those things that will please the ‘Emperor’. They are not the persons to tell the emperor that “he is naked”. They will fill the ears of the owner with all sorts of truthful or false rumours and gossips with a malicious intention. While there is more than one such manager in a hotel, the Darwinian law of ‘survival of the fittest’ will be applied and the rest will have to make way for the winner.  

It is not that the owners always believe a sycophant manager; still they are employed because of the following;

a) their words give a sensuous feeling to the inflated ego of the owner.

b) It does not matter how much insult has been thrown at them, they will never react (it is not the case

     with the vertebrate managers).  

c) the owners always require a ‘whipping’ boy.

Many a times, the hotel owners engage more than one invertebrate managers to maintain the equilibrium in the organization. On the other hand, the invertebrate managers take advice of the owner on every trivial matter of operation, be it the cleaning agent to be used in the wash up area or brand of toilet paper. Such managers, in turn, keep their own set of scapegoats ready who will hold the can in case any thing goes awry.

 It is not that this syndrome in available only in the hotel industry; I have seen the same in other places as well. Again, still there are few owners (particularly some of those, who started from a scratch) only spell out the business policy and leave the day to day operation to the hands of competent people; interfere only when it is absolutely necessary.