Leadership and Management in Action (Essay Sample)

Leadership and Management in Action
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Introduction
The hospitality industry deals with providing services in accommodation and other leisure activities. For the industry to be successful, effective management and services are required as well as availability of guests who need the services offered. In spite of these, most hospitality industries are unsuccessful due to various issues that are either not dealt with or lack solutions. For a hospitality industry to be successful a number of factors should be considered. These include management of the industry and efficient or skilled labor force (Brotherton, 2003).
One of the problems faced in the hospitality industry is discrimination. This may be in terms of employment opportunities offered or services given to the customers. In some hospitality organizations, employment is given based on gender or race. This eventually leads to customer dissatisfaction and failure in the industry. In the case study, it is observed that most of the employees in The Glass Tower Hotel are from the country thus exhibiting lack of diversity in the labor force which leads to racial discrimination. Survey shows that customer satisfaction in The Glass Tower Hotel is positive for the Australians yet the Japanese guests are not satisfied. The Japanese guests attribute their dissatisfaction to language barrier between them and the staff. This highlights a major issue in the employment of the staff since diversity is not considered. This is a good example of the effect of lack of diversity among the employees which leads to cultural discrimination and eventually the industry does not attain its goal of satisfying the visitors (Hayes, 2008).
Employees may also be discriminated upon by the managers thus leading to incompetence and lack of morale to do satisfactory jobs. In the case study, most of the employees complain about the relationship between them and their managers. The only relation between them is that of giving and receiving orders. Despite the fact that the staff is the one in direct access to the customers, they are not given an opportunity to speak their mind or even contribute to decision making in the organization. This may be a major reason for the employees leaving The Glass Tower Hotel to work in other local hotels (Sommerville, 2007).
Employees working in hospitality industries rely on the management of the organization. For effective services, close attention ought to be paid to the employees. In the case study, most of the employees leave the organization without giving reasons and instead get employed in other hotels in the same state. They attribute their leaving to ignorance by their bosses and that their expectations are not fulfilled. Most of the employees expect awards and appreciation for their effort which they do not receive. Others are disappointed due to the fact that they do not progress in their job. They end up doing the same job for a long period of time despite the progression of the industry they are running. This may be due to inexperience among the managers in light of The Glass Tower Hotel since the managers are said to have very limited exposure to dealing with human resources (Chiang, 2006).
Managers in hospitality organizations may fail due to ignorance of competition from other similar industries. High competition attracts more customers as well as employees. Competition may be in the field of services that are offered by the industry or the handling of the employees. Customers are attracted to hospitality industries where all their needs are met. For the employees, their consideration is towards their relationship with the managers and how much they are valued in the industry. In The Glass Tower Hotel, most employees leave to go and work in other local hotels showing that there is a difference in how the other hospitality organizations are run. The fact that the managers in The Glass Tower Hotel do not know the reasons behind their employees leaving displays ignorance on their part (Barrows, 2008).
For a successful hospitality organization, effective management is needed where the managers focus on the customers as well as the employees. Management requires a comfortable relationship with the staff so as to have guaranteed success in terms of the employees’ competence and efficiency in the organization. Managers should consider their employees’ views on issues facing their organization and also consult them in decision making concerning the industry. By doing these the management is able to identify major issues in the industry as well as improve on the services which are already good. This ensures that the employees and the customers are satisfied and all their expectations met (O'Fallon, 2010).
During hiring of employees, diversity in terms of languages spoken should be considered. This is for the benefit of having guests from diverse cultures and being able to meet their needs. This can be done by ensuring that the employees are multilingual and can therefore communicate effectively with the customers. Some hospitality organizations provide training opportunities for their employees thus ensuring satisfaction of the customers. When diversity is considered, the hospitality industry has a high likelihood of succeeding since diversity gives room for diverse ways of management and ensuring satisfaction of the customers. The employees’ competence is increased since they are exposed to new ideas. This also makes the employees feel appreciated since they are gaining more knowledge and experience (Pizam, 2010).
Management in hospitality industries should be by highly trained personnel who are equally highly experienced. By doing this there will be a high consideration for employees since the managers have been through the same employment. With the experience, managers are able to gauge the competence of their employees and get ways of ensuring the employees are motivated. For instance, they can organize awards for their employees thus encouraging them to increase their efficiency. Effective management ensures that the industry is also able to compete favorably with other hospitality industries around them by retaining their employees and customers in addition to attracting competent employees from other hospitality organization. A successful hospitality industry is where the managers concentrate on the progress of the industry by improving their facilities and services in view of its competitors (Barrows, Hospitality Management Education, 1999).
Marketing of an industry can highly affect its success or failure dependant on how it is done. Marketing can either be through media or even through customers. By advertising the services offered by the organization, a good deal of customers may be attracted to the industry. Besides that, customers can also be efficient marketers in regard to the satisfaction they receive from the services offered. This calls for equal treatment of customers and ensuring that they are specially catered for with all their needs met. Most successful hospitality organizations have a policy that the customer is always right and the answer to their requests is always a “yes” (Tesone, 2009).
Financial management is another contributing factor to effective running of a hospitality industry. This is mainly attributed to the owner of the organization since he or she has goals to be achieved. The vision of the owner and his or her attitude towards the success of the industry determines how well the finances of the industry are managed. The skill of the owner is also a contributing factor to how well the finances are managed. Careful planning and usage of finances ensu...