SKILLS IN MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP- IMPACT ON HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

Hospitality industry is a multi crore billion industry consisting of a broad field which includes lodging, restaurants, event management and theme parks. Modern customers have evolved radically over the last few decades and is highly adamant about their needs and critical about quality and services. Rapid strides in information technology have also made them highly informed. New technology is making its impact felt, economic growth is accelerating, further hospitality industry place considerable stress on the consistent provision of high quality services and maintenance of high levels of compliance with operational standards. At this juncture modern skills in Management and leadership are essential for the business to prosper and keep pace with rapidly developing economy. It is essential that effective management approaches must be adopted by Managers which leads to success . ( Hollway, 1998)

Management thinkers have stated the immense value of competent managers and leaders for the success of a firm. Managers equipped with the right set of managerial skills and leadership qualities motivate employees to put forth their best. The need for visionary leaders in hospitality industry has been readily recognised and is seen as crucial to the long term well being and progress of the industry.( Whitelaw, 1998) Competent hospitality managers need a diversity of skills to meet the expectations of the industry. The basic skills include problem solving, decision making, planning, communication, delegation and self management. The practise of professional management also includes building as strong foundation based on leadership knowledge and development of innovative management. These skills are very important to run a successful hospitality industry. By efficient synchronizing these skills the industry can achieve the target goal and keep pace with rapid advancement in this highly competitive field.

This report intends to analyze the skills in Management and Leadership which impacts the hospitality industry and the core skills elemental for success by a combination of review of work already done in this field and by conducting a primary research in the form of a survey among the management staff of a reputed hotel in London.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

I) Detailed study of the management and leadership skills currently practised in the industry along the following lines.

Broad context of management

Definition of Management

Review of various theories in management

Evaluate the Functions of Management with special focus on

Planning

Organizing

Controlling

Co-ordinating

Directing

Budgeting

Strategy

Decision making and Problem solving

An assessment of the various Styles of Management

Broad context of Leadership

Definitions of Leadership

An appraisal of the theories in leadership with special emphasis on

Vision, Persuasion, Motivation, Inspiration, Team work, Relationship

Effective communication

Understanding the styles of leadership

Identifying the skills involved in leadership

Salient differences between Management and Leadership

Management is process oriented while leadership focuses more on people and behaviour

II) A survey on Influence of Management and leadership skills in Hospitality industry.

To evaluate through primary research how Management and leadership affect the hospitality industry and the various parameters which contribute s to success of the industry

Conduct a survey using questionnaire among the management staff of a hotel in London to seek information on the various management skills and leadership skills being followed

To identify and derive some basic management and leadership practises which contribute to the success of the hotel

LITERATURE REVIEW:

MANAGEMENT

Managers play an important and essential task in the organization so as to enable the entire operational system and resources system of the company to become valuable asset for entire organization ( Delaney, 1996). Management is delivering knowledge to identify how existing knowledge can be best used to generate effective outcome. Management is thus innovative, creative, productive, and logical and generates effective results.

Functions of Management:

Primarily there are five different functions of management and they include Planning, Organizing, Controlling, Directing, and staffing. ( McNamara, 2000) .Effective management involves fixing up of goals and communicating to people.

Planning:

Planning is selecting priorities and results (goals and objectives) and the method to be adopted for achieving these goals.( Mc Namara, 2000) Planning typically includes identifying goals, objectives, methods, resources, responsibilities and dates of completion of the assigned task. Strategic planning, Business planning, Project planning, Staffing planning , advertising planning are all included in this. Strategic planning is of profound importance and without strategic planning all management principles will be rendered useless. Strategic planning includes details of eventualities which could jeopardize the task and all possible ways to deal with it. All possible outcomes should be thought of and all best preparations are to be made. There are many unforeseen forces and contingencies that could ruin things and strategic planning help to avoid such calamities. Planning also involves the following

1) Defining the task. This refers to understanding the task in all its aspects.

Prioritizing the task: The problems have to be taken up according to their priority and this is an important aspect of planning otherwise more importance may be given to noncritical work.

3) Understanding the role of specific persons and duty allocation

Analysing potential causes of problems and identifying alternate approaches to resolve the problem.

Planning the implementation

Monitor implementation

Verifying whether the problem has been resolved or not .

Resources include the people, materials, technologies, money required to implement the processes. To achieve the goals resources may have to be organized.

Goals are specific accomplishments that must be achieved in order to obtain some overall result. Based on the analysis of the system, managers establish a set of goals that build on strength to take advantage of opportunities. (Knowles, 1998)

Strategies are processes required to achieve the goals. The strategies chosen depend on matters of efficiency and practicality and affordability.

Objectives are specific accomplishments that are to be accomplished to achieve the goals. Timely objectives indicate the progress towards goals. An effective manager has ability to socially influence and provides support to people for attainment of objectives. ( Chemers, 1997).

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Find out more about our Essay Writing Service

b) Organizing: Once the goals are set and people acquired, it is important to assign the job properly. The division of labour, allocation of power of authority and departmentalization is critical for efficient working. Organizing is allocating resources to achieve the identified goals established during planning. This is one of the basic business management principles as it ensures that there is no duplication of work. Organizing involves organizing yourselves, or staff.

c) Controlling: This occurs within the organizations systems, processes and structures to efficiently reach goals. This includes monitoring and adjustment of systems, processes, performance management, comparing the real performance with expected performance, incentives for exceptional performance should also be a focal point. . Disparity within has to be aptly identified and dealt with. Managers are ones who ensures that employees are performing well which contributes to growth of company ( Ulrich, 1998). Leadership skills and Motivational skills play an important role and are vital.

d) Analyse the situation: During analysis planners can use a variety of assessments to measure the performance of the situation. This is one of the most important functions of management.

e) Directing: The manager has to react once results have been compared to expected ones. Motivational skills for improvement of performance play an imperative role.

f) Leading: It may be necessary to set directions for groups and influence people to follow the direction. Management involves establishing strategic direction such as vision, values, goals and adopting methods to pursue these. Core competencies for leading include problem solving, decision making and influencing. Leading individuals refer to setting of goals, building trust, managing conflict , Felicitation, meeting management etc. ( Knowles,T, 1998)

f) Staffing: Assigning the right job to the right people is a major function of management. Choosing the most appropriate people is vitally important. People with right skill sets and supervision are a major aspect of managing and leading. Managers have to select, orient and train work force and make sure they perform well ( Mullin, 2004).

Human resource management ( Riley .M, 1996) and Quality management is of great significance. Quality management as quality control, continuous improvement is of profound influence in Hospitality industry as operational standards and cleanliness has to be maintained. Strict monitoring and adherence to protocols is to be maintained. The quality of food served should be strictly monitored ( Huifen and Hui, 2010)

2) Styles of Management

Managers have to perform many roles in an organization and how they handle various roles will depend on the style of management which they adopt. According to the situations managers may also adjust their style. As employees expectations on the organizations vary successful manager’s search for different styles of management that may work well. ( Kata and Seifer, 1996) .There are mainly two main management styles namely – Autocrative and Permissive

Autocratic: Leader makes all the decisions unilaterally. Organizations working on such lines may face problems as orders are passed down and mistakes result in criticism. Under such circumstances decisions are usually made at higher level. Such centralized decision making may give quick outputs but the full potential of the people are not utilized.

Permissive: Leader permits subordinates to take part in decision making and gives them considerable freedom in managing. In such circumstances people will accept responsibility for work done. Accountability is also there. The manager’s job is to support his subordinates in all possible ways and remove any obstacles in his path so to facilitate smooth working. An organization built on this basis is participative at all levels through decision making, setting of targets etc.

Reactive Management: Reactive management deals with problems as they come up. It is a management style that is admired for its ability to get the resources back into production. Reactive management refers to the ability to be decisive and act quickly, to find the root causes of events, and develop solutions, innovative way of thinking and finding new ways to solve the problems. By reactive management the resources are brought back to original. To remain calm and controlled in crisis and quickly analyse the problem and find best possible solution and implement the solution to resolve the problem is clearly a desirable skill in Reactive management style. This leads to higher productivity as the crisis is managed perfectly on time without any delay.

Predictive Management: Predictive management focuses on reducing the number of problems that require reactive management. Thus if the predictive management skills are honed up it will lead to fewer problems that need to be solved through reactive management. The core skills in the system of management is Analytical skills, ability to identify patterns in data and patterns of failures, more focus on the causes of failure rather than the immediate actions. Rather than being concerned with immediate problem this system calls for relating current conditions to earlier information and predicting the pattern of occurrence of failure of the system, and implementing procedures to eliminate such problems. Predictive management is an important ability as the more problems solved through this process, fewer resources will be spent for resolving issues which have risen, thus reducing the need for Reactive management.

Hospitality Management systems: They include software’s that run hospitality business. The use of computers ain hotels enables efficient communication and management of operation, ultimately increasing revenues. (O Connor, 1998). A range of hospitality management software’s are available for Front desk, Housekeeping, on line reservation, Administration, Accommodation management etc. Choosing and introducing hospitality management systems in a hospitality industry will increase efficiency, cut costs and improve the service in your company leading to happier guests which will promote business and increase revenue.

3) Basic Management skills

Managerial skills are sets of qualities and attributes in the personality of Managers that enable them to effectively manage the working of a firm. Good managerial skills can create a world of difference in the efficiency and performance of a firm. Some of the managerial skills attributed a competent manager leadership skills, decision making abilities, multitasking and motivational skills.

Good communications skills both verbal and written are of utmost value. Interpersonal skills are important for managers working indifferent culture ( Hebard , 1996) But as Shay and Tracey (1997 points out most of the studies on Management skills are conducted across different industries but the specific requirements of the hospitality industry is not considered.

Team management skills which are of significance for the success are mentioned to be motivation, training, coaching, and employee involvement. Motivational skill is one of the most fundamental skills. Motivation of the team and individuals to perform, to produce and deliver the results gives an edge over competitors.

Knowledge: One of the crucial managerial skills that differentiated a successful manager is Knowledge. A good manager is well aware of the complexities of his business and is ready with strategies to deal with it efficiently. He should be like a master mind charting out plans and dealing with ways to initiate growth. Being open to new ideas and overcoming differences is important ( Engholm and Rowland, 1996) . a good level of emotional intelligence is also a prerequisite to a good manager

Delegation: The trademark of good supervision is effective delegation. Delegating responsibilities and authority to complete a task is forms the backbone of effective supervision and management. Effective delegation develops productivity in people. Several basic approaches to delegation has been listed out by Horton. T (1992)

Delegating the task by selecting the right person after sign skills and capabilities of the person is of significance. Delegating responsibility and authority will motivate the person. The results are to be clearly specified and the task as such can be assigned not the method to accomplish it. The employee can be requested to summarize the progress frequently, their impression of the project. A system of maintaining non intrusive feedback in the form weekly, written status reports , the work done in the last week , work proposed to be undertaken in the next week and any potential issues. Regular employee meetings may also be part of this. Evaluating the results and rewarding the performance is of significance. Importance of managing people in Hospitality industry is well documented by Mullin, 1998.

Realizing the potential and strength of individuals is important task. Before allotting task innovative potential of the employee has to be assessed. People skills includes customer relations, problem solving ability

Employee motivation forms the core of managerial skills. Employees are an asset to an organization and it is the duty of a manager to motivate and bring out the best from others. Effective communication skills are necessary. Organizations that are highly successful have been reported to have strong communication skills. The most fundamental team management skills is motivation of team and individual members of team to perform and deliver the results. Recognizing accomplishments and rewarding them suitable is another managerial skill which has to be inculcated in their personality. Performance management aims to provide reward to employees who achieves the set goals (Welbourne, 1990) 

Self Management: Self management is another important aspect of Management. Several authors have listed out several guidelines for effective self management.

This includes Monitoring the work hours and setting a time limit so that things don go out of hand. Recognizing stress which will be manifested in several ways in different people mostly as forgetfulness, lose of concentration and blow ups. Getting a mentor to hear your problems, delegating work efficiently and communicating with others will help in letting off the stress. A competent manager will learn to respond to the problem that caused the crisis and not to the crisis.

The management of hotels which tend to be highly bureaucratic organisations has favoured a more highly classic managerial skill. ( Hornsey & Dann, 1984) At the beginning is the basic skill any manager must muster to be successful and shows how these management skills build on each other towards success.

The next level is the team building skill which a manager has to develop. Finally the personal development skill in the management skill pyramid which shows how these skills build on each other towards success.

In short the following qualities and characteristics are mandatory in Manager They are Problem solving, Logical thinking, Technical knowledge, Ethical thinking, Communication skills. Revenue management requires strong analytical skills along with leadership and communication skills (Kimes.S, 2010)

LEADERSHIP

The term leadership is used to refer to the process of socially influencing people to accomplish a particular task. Leadership is one of the most important aspect of an organization Effective leadership forms the backbone of a successful business. In an organisation which acknowledges the importance of leadership, employees demonstrate an affirmative attitude which in turn leads to enhanced output and utilization of available resources optimally. . On the contrary lack of leadership is characterised by a negative attitude leading to poor performance. Efficient leadership plays an important role in accomplishing the goals of and objectives of the organisation by building up a team and directing it towards success. In most cases the lack of proper leadership can be attributed to be one of the reasons for failure. A jigsaw model has been provided by Cultler (2000) about leadership traits

A Leader is a Visionary

A leader sets an example

A leader understands what motivates each team member

A leader builds supportive relationships

A leader empowers others to reach their potential

A leader understands the power of communications.

Leadership theories

Leadership theories are postulated based on the situation, behaviour, power, intelligence and function, amount of support or guidance needed. The four quadrants of situational leadership depends on the amount of support and guidance needed are 1) Telling and delegating. This system works well when there is little need for support or guidance. 2) Participating, Selling:

a)Great man theory: One of the leadership theories that often figure in various leadership books The Great man theory states that there are two basic assumptions, that leaders are born and not made. And the second assumption is that leaders will come up when there is a need.

b)Trait theories:

One of the important theories is the trait theory which assumes that leaders have inherited traits in them which makes these people suitable for leadership. A leader should have the right combination of traits to make him effective.

c)Behavioral theory : After exploring the behaviour of leaders is assumed that the traits and leadership qualities are not inherited they can be learned and mastered. Thus this theory states that leaders are not born they are made

People skills: People skills include good customer relations, problem solving ability, interpersonal relations. Good communication skills, verbal skills are some of the personality traits identified in Hospitality industry as of importance ( Gregor and Peterson, 2000) . In a service sector as Hospitality industry customer relations is a vital part. Addressing customer complaints is of profound significance. E leader is supposed to motivate and boost the morale of the employee by understanding their strengths and weakness by proper interdepartmental coordination and initiating communication co operation between departments.

Leadership studies in the hospitality industry have tended to focus on identifying the specific traits of effective leaders ( Berger, Ferguson, & Woods, 1989, Cichy & Sciarini & Patton , 1992, Cichy & Schidgall, 1996),

Styles of Leadership

Researchers have suggested that leaders emerge as a result of different situations. Thus leadership qualities were also developed based on these situations. (Situational leadership theories)But some people are of the opinion that there are different styles of leadership which changes the situation. According to this school of thought there is no set leadership theory which is effective in all situations, every situation may be unique and thus the leader has to change his tactics as the situation demands. Bond (1998), has identified two types of leaders: those in the hotel business and those in the business of Hotels. Leaders in the hotel industry focussed on the needs of the employees and provision of high quality services to the guests. In contrast leaders in the business of hotels were found to possess exceptional financial skills. To succeed in the hospitality industry leaders need to combine strong interpersonal skills with sound business knowledge and operational skills. A mixture of transactional and transformational skills is necessary.

a)Directive leadership: In directive leadership the leader expects his followers to act according to his decisions. There are many disadvantages as the morale of the person may be low

b)Participative leadership: This style of leadership encourages team work; decision making is a collective task, considering everyone’s opinion. In participative leadership leader and his team takes collective decisions after discussing their views together. Leaders may take an active role in trouble shooting and take corrective performances or they may respond more passively and wait until error occur before taking actions ( Antonakis, Scandura and Pillai, 2003)

The literature shows mainly two types of leadership. Transactional leadership and Transformational leadership. Bums (1978) was one of the first to distinguish between transactional and transformational theories. Other kinds of leadership which finds mention are Functional leadership and situational leadership

c)Transactional leadership: This theory is characterised by a military style of leadership which may be result oriented. The leader is aware of the results he wants and ensures that his team perform well and gives the desired output. On accomplishing the desired results the team members are suitable rewarded but proper incentives. Thus the leader sees to it that the needs of the members are met with in return for the work done.

d)Transformational leadership

In the transformational theory of leadership the assumption is that the people are inspired for the leader and the leader is passionate about his leadership and team. The advantage of this type of leadership is that the people will be inspired to work and the motivational level will be considerably high in this type of leadership. In the hospitality industry transformation leadership appear to be more highly valued ( Cichy et al 1992) The important qualities attributed to leaders includes vision, strong personal values, flexibility, risk taking ability and listening skills.

Cichy and Schmidgall (1996) surveyed financial executives in Hotel industry in leadership positions. The qualities that the respondents associated with effective leadership in the hospitality industry are consistent with transformational leadership and includes an ability make desired outcomes tangible and and to listen and empower people.

Gregor and Peterson (2000) interview those involved in the lodging industry for their views on leadership. Their study showed that a key leadership component was vision. They maintained a positive organizational culture by empowering employees, customer satisfaction and well as meeting employee needs. Thus it is postulated that there is a demand for leaders who demonstrate transformational leadership skills.

Bass (1997) has stressed on the transformations leadership traits of inspirational motivation, individualized leadership dimensions. In contrast to transactional leaders transformational leaders are said to focus on the future and inspire followers to sacrifice self interest for the achievement of organizational goals. The point is that as with personality and psychological type amangers and leaders will tend to develop preferences and a typical leadership style. The transformational leadership style places considerable stress on the leaders personal qualities in transforming team members. ( Bass & Avolio, 1994)

d)Functional leadership: According to this leader is responsible for motivation and functioning of the team. This theory has much in common with team leadership. ( Cutler, 2010) If the team as a group has achieved its target, the leader is said to lead the team.

A leader who is concerned about his goals will be more focussed on achievements and will do his best to organize and control tasks in order to meet the objectives on time.

Leadership qualities:

Leadership and management are two sides of the same coin and there are many leadership skills which the leader should be aware of. To be successful these leadership sills play a crucial role in maximizing the efficiency of the system and in allocating suitable resources for the smooth functioning and for attaining the objectives. Studies suggest that important managers attributes and competencies include multicultural knowledge, communication and people skills, leadership, flexibility Hebard. C, 1996

Communication skills: Communication skills refer to the ability to speak confidently and in effective communication with others in expressing your views. Leadership communication should be such that it inspires and encourages people to achieve the targets. To develop effective communications skills excellent language skills is a must, if a leader is not articulate enough he will not be effective. Effective interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity help managers to adapt to people form different culture and establish effective and pleasant relationships with them ( Ursula, 199) . Importance of interpersonal skills in hospitality management is stressed by Clarke, M. 1995

Knowledge: For good leadership communication being knowledgeable is a must. The person should be well versed with the subject. A good manager has to be a good leader as he has to guide a team of people towards common goal that not only requires managerial skills but also a personality that has strong leadership qualities. Stephan covey has presented that Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success, leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

Bonds research supported the fact that leaders need both interpersonal skills and sound operational skills to maximise effectiveness. Some of the other qualities attributed to an effective leader are Task competency, Better understanding of followers and their demands, accept responsibilities, ability to deal with people and trust worthy.

Positive attitude and good etiquette: Positive thinking is an important quality in a good leader. Proper mannerism while talking is also important.

DIFFERENCES OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

The term leadership and management are often interchanged. One key distinction between management and leadership is that we manage things and lead people. Things include physical assets, processes and systems. People include customers, external partners and people throughout the team. According to John Kotter leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. Each has its own function and characteristic activities. Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment. Strong leadership with weak management is no better and is sometimes actually worse that nth reverse. The real challenge is to combine strong leadership and strong management and use each to balance the other.

The triangle ( Clemmer, 2010) depicts the balance between the three critical success factors. For example enterpreneurial start up companies often has strong vision, and leadership, good technological or technical skills. But their lack of systems and poor management leads to error and poor quality the triangle illustrated that well balanced organization has leadership at its base. This allows management and technology to serve customers.

Management Technology

Leadership

The main differences, strengths and weakness of Management and leadership are evaluated as follows.

Management is about processes, Facts and intellectual. Leadership is about people, Feelings and emotional.

Management is about position power, Controlling and problem solving ability. Leadership is about persuasion power, commitment and possibility thinking.

Management is following rules, reactive and doing the things right while leadership is values, Proactive and doing the right things.

Management is about goals, written communication. And standardization while leadership is about vision,verbal communication and innovation

METHODOLOGY

The research was conducted through literature review and primary data analysis for arriving at the objectives. A literature evaluation was performed with special emphasis on the management and Leadership skills and theories currently practised in the hospitality industry. It is intended that this will bring about some good practises for the hotel industry such as innovative project management and transformational or transactional leadership qualities

Survey on of Management and leadership skills in Hospitality industry.

The data for the primary research was conducted in the form of a survey using questionnaire and interview in a successful hotel in London. This was based on a random hotel selected from a list of reputed hotels. The questionnaire and interview was conducted on the management staff of the hotel to explore the management and leadership practices adopted in the hospitality industry in general and also for the success of that particular hotel. The results of the data w