Las Vegas Sands - Contemporary Management Practices - Management Strategies

Management Strategies

Management strategies vary significantly within Las Vegas Sands depending upon the level, or status, of employees. For example, a president of a casino manages his Vice Presidents differently than how a pit manager, or boss, would manage dealers. High-level management relies more heavily on human and conceptual skills at Las Vegas Sands. Human skills are necessary in order to work with and through people to accomplish goals. Some skills that need to be utilized include the ability to lead and motivate employees. Conceptual skills can be described as the ability to see big picture goals of the company and have the ability to fit one’s operation into the puzzle. It should be noted that high-level management success does often depend upon an executive’s willingness to accept that organizational objectives must sometimes supersede those of the department. Managing lower level, or floor employees requires a much different strategy at Las Vegas Sands. A lower level manager must ensure that floor employees possess the technical skills necessary to complete their job function. This means facilitating employee development while safeguarding gaming laws and practices. For example, a pit boss from casino operations has to balance the willingness to allow a blackjack dealer to improve his technical skills while ensuring the dealer is competent enough to orchestrate fair gambling. Lower level managers and employees also have the luxury of being responsible for their individual objectives. Because of this, they are able to focus almost all of their time and energy into their job function without having to worry about bigger picture goals. The strategy for managing employees relies on the relationship between employee level and type of skills necessary. As employee level increases, the need for human and conceptual skills increase. As employee level decreases, technical skill becomes more important.