Developing Managerial Skills for Operational Success

The assignment discusses the importance of developing managerial skills in operational managers, particularly those working in hotels like Mercure Milton Keynes. It highlights the need for situational leadership and creating a PDP plan to improve skills and performance. The report concludes that analyzing one's own strengths and weaknesses through SWOT analysis can help in forming a PDP plan, leading to enhanced abilities and improved managerial performance.

DEVELOPING
MANAGER

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1. Management: Concept and Styles........................................................................................1
1.2. Leadership Characteristics...................................................................................................2
1.3. Communication in Hilton.....................................................................................................2
1.4. Analysis of organizational culture of Hilton Hotel and how hotel manages changes in her
services........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
2.1 Assessment of personal managerial skills performance........................................................1
2.2 SWOT analysis......................................................................................................................2
2.3 SMART model to set objectives for skill improvement.......................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Ways to motivate team for achieving goals and objectives..................................................4
3.2 Management decisions to support the achievements and recommendation to company......4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
Covered in PPT...........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A manager is an entity within an organisation that is responsible to control and administer
the company. They manage each resource of the company up to its full potential and the agenda
of a manager is to enhance the performance of the firm (Smith and Dodds, 2017). The following
assignment is based on developing manager. The most appropriate organisation for this project
would be Hilton Hotel which is one of the best and biggest hotel chains of the world. The report
covers understanding of principles and practices of management behaviour and a detailed review
of own potential as a prospective manager. It also includes managerial skills within a business
context and explanation of how managerial and personal skills would support career
development.
TASK 1
1.1. Management: Concept and Styles
Management in an organisation refers to effective planning, organising, directing and
controlling business activities and resources. As one of the main activities of a business,
managers of a firm are required to manage each task and resource in a way that they give
maximum output. In a company, authority is a power given to these managers which effectively
help them to take decisions regarding organisation's activities and resources.
There are various management styles that could be adopted by Hilton Hotel and Marriott
Hotel which are described below: Autocratic: This management style has a leader which takes decisions unilaterally
without involving subordinates in the process. In context with Hilton and Marriott, both
the hotels apply this style in different situations. While Hilton adopts this style in case of
extreme work pressure, Marriott seldom applies the style in case new employees are
hired. The advantage of this style is that it fastens the decision-making process as the
authority lies with a single entity. However, this style often creates mistrust among
employees towards the firm (Thornton, Mueller-Hanson and Rupp, 2017). Democratic: Under this style, subordinates are involved by managers in decision-making
of the firm. It is imperative that process of making decisions are managed appropriately.
Both the firms apply this type of management styles which helps them better manage the
resources. The most effective advantage of this style is that it helps to enhance creativity

and job satisfaction in employees. However, this style stretches the decision-making
process which could hamper the work of the hotels.
 Laissez-faire: This style is based on delegation. Managers, in this leadership style adopts
a hands-off approach and employees take charge of the situations. Both hotels apply this
style in different situations. While Marriott applies this style with its senior employees,
Hilton adopts this style with those who high level of satisfaction and intrinsic motivation
to work. The merit of this style is that it allows employees to enhance their leadership
skills. Its disadvantage is that proper accountability could not be established in this style
which might enhance ineffectiveness in these hotels (Schaper, 2016).
1.2. Leadership Characteristics
A Leader is that individual in a company which is responsible to lead the employees of
the organisation towards success. For Hilton Hotel, there are basic characteristics that must be
present in a leader which are mentioned below: Communication Skills: The most important characteristic is the communication skills.
Effective written as well as verbal communication is necessary for a leader. For instance,
the leader must be able to deal with customers who are not well affiliated with the
language of the managers. Honesty: A leader must be honest and transparent with their employees. Even if the
situation is as worse as communicating malpractices of one's team to the higher
management, the manager must be honest enough to do so to ensure ethical practices. Flexibility: A leader of Hilton must be flexible to handle any situation effectively. In case
there are various situations that need different mindset to achieve objectives, managers
must be flexible to mould their way of working.
 Creativity Skills: These skills are necessary for effective problem solving. For instance, if
a problem arises were there are lack of resources to manage the same, the leader, with
their creativity must be effective to solve the dilemma with limited resources.
1.3. Communication in Hilton
Communication is referred to an activity of conveying messages from one individual or
group to another using symbols, signs, language etc. (Rahayu and Day, 2015). To effectively
manage activities in Hilton, it is necessary for managers to communicate with their subordinates

to ensure systematic working in the hotel. There are various communication processes and
barriers to effective communication that are present in the Hotel which are discussed below:
Communication Processes Explanation and Example
Verbal
This communication is established by using words and sounds
to convey the messages. For instance, the direct orders that are
given to the subordinates in meetings could be an example of
verbal communication.
Written
This refers to communication through written materials and are
usually applied by managers of Hilton to establish formal
communication. An example would be the notice of new work
schedule or incentive plans distributed to the staff members.
Non-verbal
It involves facial expressions, pitch and tone of voice as well as
certain gestures expressed through body language. An example
would be that if the manager give harsh orders with high-
pitched voice and irritation, that means there is some tensions
going on in the firm or with the manager.
State And Explain Three(3) Barriers To
Effective Communication
1).
The foremost barrier that could be witnessed in communication at Hilton is the linguistic
barriers. It is quite usual for a hotel as big as Hilton to receive guests with English not
their first language. In addition to this, it is not necessary that the employees belong to
same culture as managers which create a strong barrier of communication within the firm.
2).
The next barrier is psychological ones which consists of stage fears, depression, speech
disorders and so forth. These limits the communication and causes spreading of
ineffective messages within the company.

3).
The third barrier is emotional barrier where ease and comfort determine the effectiveness
of communication. Emotionally immature people tend to face difficulties in
communication in the hotel.
1.4. Analysis of organizational culture of Hilton Hotel and how hotel manages changes in her
services
Organisational culture at Hilton focuses on certain strategic objectives and it revolves
around the mission and values of the hotel. There are certain values, namely Hospitality,
Integrity, Leadership, Ownership and Teamwork upon which its culture is developed. Such
culture has allowed them to gather a team of 355,000 members all over the globe (4 Things
Companies Can Learn From Hilton's Award-Winning Culture, 2019). The firm has a culture that
promotes employees. For this, they have faster leadership development programs focusing on
enhancing the competence of employees.
The firm effectively moulds its operations and manages change during various factors
described below: Demographic: This factor is quite influential when it comes to change in the operations.
For instance, if the hotel is moving to country like India, where its target audience is
family oriented, it requires the firm to mould its services in a way that it provides
offerings related to families to build a strong market. Economic: This factor is very crucial for the firm to determine. For instance, during
Brexit, the firm moulded its operations and limited its services so that it could provide a
support in enhancement of standard of living of UK population.
 Legislative: Each firm has to comply with legal laws of a country its situated in. Again,
during the time of unstable government in the UK, the hotel made itself flexible to the
changing rules and regulation by providing instructions to the staff and minimising its
operations (Block, 2016).

TASK 2
2.1 Assessment of personal managerial skills performance
A manager has to perform several operations to maintain the quality of services in their
business in order to achieve organisational objectives. Therefore, it is very essential for a
manager to regularly evaluate its personal skills and try to improve them as per the requirement
of business success (McKinney, Evans and McKay, 2016). Following table describe about the
assessment of my inter personal skills:
Skills Description
Management skills A good management skill is very essential for a hotel manager as
they have to deal with several aspects such as decision-making,
problem solving, planning, delegations, organising etc. Out of
various management skills planning and problem solving are two
skills which I excel at. For example:-
 Planning:- Being a manager, I planned and schedule all the
activities that are required to be perform and by whom so
that task must be completed on time without delays.
 Problem solving:- Being a hotel manger, I have to deal with
several issues or conflicts that arise between employees and
I try to resolve them by negotiating among both the parties.
Leadership skills Leadership style is very crucial part of a managers operations as
they have to manage its employees and keep them motivated to
work effectively (Yoder-Wise, 2014). From number of leadership
skills I am quite good at motivating people and building
relationship. For instance,
 Motivating people:- I use to motivate my employees by
appreciating and guiding them while they are working.
 Building relationship:- I usually communicate with my
subordinate on regular bases to determine the problems they
are facing and try to resolve them which help in maintaining

effective relations with them.

Interpersonal skills Effective interpersonal skills support a manager to interact and
communicate with people in effective way so that positive outcome
can be achieved from each action performed by them (Murtagh and
et. al., 2014). From number of interpersonal skills I am good at
negotiation and team work. For instance,
 Negotiation:- While working as a hotel manager I had
experienced several conflicts among employees at time I use
to negotiate among parties to extract positive outcome from
such issues.
 Team work:- I keep on motivating my employees to work
collaboratively as a team by solving issues among them and
ask them to share their view etc.
Communicational skills Hotel manager has to interact with guest, official meetings,
employees etc., so communication skills plays an essential role in
circulating information, solving issues and making customers
satisfied (Mintzberg, 2017). From several communicational skills I
am quite good at verbal and written communication. For instance,
 Verbal:- I generally held meetings with my superiors
regarding the performance of superiors working under my
guidance through presentation or record maintained by me.
 Written:- I usually have to inform my employees regrading
changes in their day to day operations and for which I prefer
to drop mail to them.
2.2 SWOT analysis
SWOT refers to an analytical tool which provide a framework that help in identifying and
evaluating the internal as well as external factors which may influence the viability of project,
product or person. By performing personal SWOT analysis, I will be able to determine the skills
that I required to improve and opportunities present in front of me for further skill enhancement.
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Strength Weakness
 I am quite good at planning and
managing working schedules of
employees.
 I am good at problem solving at
workplace.
 I am not much good at time
management.
 I am not much good at managing
conflicts among people.
Opportunities Threat
 I have an opportunity to deal with
several issues and success in them also
help me to get a chance of promotion.
 I have an opportunity to improve my
supervising skill by working under the
guidance of my superiors.
 Increasing competitions among
colleagues to move a step forward from
one another.
 My weakness related to delegation of
work may affect my team performance.
2.3 SMART model to set objectives for skill improvement
From the above given SWOT analysis it has been determined that I am not much good at
time and conflict management. Therefore in order to improve these weaknesses I decided to set
SMART objective which are Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound.
Following are the SMART objectives that I had decided to improve my skills:
 I decided to improve my time management skill within 6-7 months.
 I have planned to enhance my conflict management skill within 10-12 months.
In order to achieve these objectives I have decide to perform following activities that help
in achieving my set targets: Scheduling:- I have decide to schedule each and every activities which is required to
perform and try to prioritise them as per their urgency. This help me in performing my
task on time that are necessary to execute. Apart from this it also help me in managing
time required by activities by prioritising them effectively so that complex task may get
more time to perform effectively.
 Reading journals:- For improving my conflict management skills I have decided to read
journal which contains articles regarding the issues or conflicts that are common among
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different hotels and what actions must be taken in such situations. This help me in
developing an understanding regarding the actions that I must take in similar situation.
TASK 3
3.1 Ways to motivate team for achieving goals and objectives
As Mercure Milton Keynes hotel has stated that employees will not get salary hike,
payment for night shift and weekends which may demotivate workforce which may also affect
their performance (Kenny and Connors, 2016). So in order to keep employees motivated at
workplace following are the actions that operation manager must take for keeping its employees
motivated: Training:- In order to motivate employees, operational manager of Mercure Milton
Keynes hotel must provide regular training to its employees which in turn will help them
in keeping workforce motivated and engaged within organisational operations. Appraisal & appreciation:- The operational manager of Mercure Milton Keynes hotel
must focus over performance appraisal by regularly evaluating the employees'
performance and appreciating them over their quality of work.
 Integration of objectives:- In order to keep employees motivated operational manager
must try integrate the organisational objectives with personal aim so that with the
achievement of Mercure Milton Keynes hotel's goal the objectives of employees get
achieved. This action will help employees to have an inner urge to work toward their task
without expected much about monetary benefits.
3.2 Management decisions to support the achievements and recommendation to company
In order to keep employees motivated without providing them monetary benefits,
Mercure Milton Keynes hotel have to take several managerial decisions. Following are the
justifications of managerial decision and recommendation to company:
 Training will support Mercure Milton Keynes hotel in improving the quality of work
performed by its employees (Landsberg, 2015). So, it is recommended to hotel that it
must arrange trainer from outside to provide training to its employees and improving
their skills.
 Appreciation at workplace will be beneficial in motivating employees to improve their
performance and try to achieve their targets. Hence, it is recommended to Mercure
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Milton Keynes hotel that they must appreciate the efforts of its employees on regular
bases to recommend them.
 Integration of goals would allow managers at Mercure Milton Keynes hotel to align
personal goals of employees with that of hotel which is necessary to ensure their long
term trust and engagement with firm. So it is recommended to operational manager that
they must regularly integrate with employees and try to integrate their goals with
organisational objectives.
In order to implement these managerial decisions, an operational manager must use
situational leadership framework that support the manager of Mercure Milton Keynes hotel to
handle the issues as per the requirement of prevailing condition (Landsberg, 2015). As situation
leadership will help manager to change its leadership style as per the situation encountered while
performing their operations.
TASK 4
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From the above given report it can been concluded that development of manager plays a
crucial role within the success or growth of a company as they are liable for managing the
employees and aligning their work with organisational objectives. Mangers must have a
thorough knowledge of leadership style and try to implement them for motivating employees.
But in order to improve its performance a manager must analyse it skills and perform SWOT
analysis over their managerial skills which help in enhancing their abilities. This information will
also help in forming a PDP plan which depict about the development opportunities which
support a manager to improve their skills.
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