Emerging Trends in the Hospitality Industry: Leadership Style, Organizational Responsibility, and Responsible Leadership

This report examines the emerging trends in the hospitality industry, focusing on the leadership style of Holiday Inn Group of Hotels. It evaluates the importance of organizational responsibility and responsible leadership in gaining a competitive edge. The report also discusses the benefits and risks associated with corporate social responsibility and the use of social media for hotel management.

Emerging Trends in
the Hospitality
Industry

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Tourism activities has increased significantly over the past few years which has also been the
reason for an exponential growth in the hospitality industry. Holiday Inn is a British group of
hotels which provides its hospitality services to millions of people all over the world and is
headquartered at Denham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. In the following project report,
leadership style of the management of Holiday Inn group is being evaluated and importance of
organisational responsibility and responsible leadership in deriving a competitive edge for
Holiday Inn is being assessed. The report also deals with evaluation of importance of CSR
activities for the group of hotels and analyses the benefits and risks associated with using social
media for the management of Holiday Inn.

Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................4
Critically use the effective leadership style for the respective company..................................................4
Examine how organizational responsibility and responsible leadership change to reduce competitive
advantage.................................................................................................................................................7
How corporate social responsibility help in delivering benefits to the customer as well as company......9
Identify the use social media and the risk which is associated and strategies for addressing the risk....11
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality sector is changing rapidly as there is constant change present in the needs of
the customer. There are different kind of emerging trends are taking place in order to attract large
number of guests. The hospitality industry develop relationship with the guest and also provide
better experience to achieve desire aims and objective in the well define manner. With the help
of technology, the trends have changed to satisfy the demand of guest. The present report is
based upon Holiday Inn which is British owned American Brand of hotel which provide
accommodation services to consumer. The company headquarter is located in Denham,
Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom and their different hotel chain all across the world. The
report describes about all different leadership style as to operate the business activities
effectively. Beside this, organizational leadership help hotel to compete with then environment
and provide better business model for the company. However, in the recent years the Corporate
social responsibility is essential as this help in delivering benefits to the chosen company. At last
the company use social media as the most popular source as to expand the business and provide
better services to their respective customer effectively.
Critically use the effective leadership style for the respective company
Leadership style:
Leadership style can be defined as the manner and approach of any leader or manager in
terms of giving direction to their subordinates, ensuring implementation of plans, influencing
behavior and inducing motivation to achieve desired actions (Burns, 2012). It includes the
implicit and explicit action and behavior of the leaders of any organization (Beerbohm, 2015).
Over the years, many scholars and researchers have identified various types and styles of
leadership and an evaluation has been done with respect to the implications of different type of
leadership in different organizational context. Some of the most popular leadership styles include
autocratic leadership in which there is no communication and delegation of authority and power
is concentrated in the hands of a few people whereas democratic leadership is a type of
leadership in which the subordinates have equivalent authority and responsibility. There are
different kind of leadership style which can be used by the company are explained briefly
explained down below:
Autocratic leadership style: This kind of leadership is mainly following in the old
organization where the leaders take decision and less input are from the employees. So, this
reduce the motivation factor for employees and company workers to not pay more attention in
operation activity. Autocratic leadership style can be used effectively by the management of
Holiday Inn to execute the operational activities to only an extent. Extensive use of autocratic
leadership style translates to holding the authority and the power to make decisions in the
organizations in the hands of a few people from the top-management and this demotivates the
employees and often leads to inefficient task execution. Hence, it is only desirable that
management of Holiday Inn makes use of Autocratic leadership style in only certain areas or
dimensions of business activity and matches the authority with responsibility in every other
organizational aspect (Nanjundeswaraswamy, and Swamy, 2014).

Strengths:
Autocratic leadership style has its own advantages. One of the most important strength of
autocratic leadership style is the easy implementation as it doesn’t require any learning of
employee behavior and an autocratic leader is not supposed to understand the needs of
employees and their emotions. Autocratic leadership style can be used easily by the management
of Holiday Inn. Autocratic style of leadership also helps in establishing a clear line of control in
the organisation by defining the responsibilities and reporting relationship in the organisation.
Autocratic leadership is very essential and effective for organisation where motivation and
experience lacks among the workforce and the leader is supposed to take crucial decisions for the
whole organisation.
Weakness:
Autocratic leadership style has many disadvantages or weaknesses which outweigh its positive
aspects. For example, extensive use of autocratic leadership style by management of Holiday Inn
will result in a demotivation and discouragement of the workforce which impacts the complete
organizational productivity. It also increases the work burden for the employees and stems the
creativity and innovation in the organizational process and operations. Hence, autocratic
leadership style is not suitable for organizations where creativity is essential and of utmost
importance.
Democratic leadership style: It is the type of leadership style in which leader take all
the effective decision by involving employees. Such kind of management share all the
information with the respective employee and then make changes. For the company like Holiday
inn leader have to focus to implement such style as this is more effective method to motivate
employees. Many big companies use such leadership style as tacit his allow employees to
become more creative and provide maximum efforts to achieve desire goal of the company. Tacit
or implicit refers to an arrangement in which democratic style of leadership is used in the
organisation by a mutual understanding between the members and the employees of the company
without any clear statement of its use (Bosiok, 2013). In the context of Holiday Inn and
hospitality industry, democratic style of leadership is very crucial to motivate the employees and
provide a high quality of service to the customers which influences and determines the goodwill
and image of the company.
Strength:
Democratic leadership style is one of the most effective style of leadership in improving the
employee motivation and morale in the organisation. In the context of Holiday Inn, democratic
style of leadership can prove to be of utmost importance in improving and fostering creativity in
the organisation. It also helps in development of better employee relations and increases the job
satisfaction for the employees which subsequently improves their performance and productivity
levels. Democratic style of leadership helps in building better teams in the organisation and
complex problems can be solved in a much effective manner with the application of principles of
democratic leadership style which involves giving authority and liberty to the employees.

Weakness:
Democratic leadership style often leads to an uncertainty in the organisation and responsibility
for a failure or incompletion of any task is not fixed. It is a style of leadership which involves
employee participation in the decision making process which often delays the decisions. Hence,
it can also be the reason of increasing procrastination in the organisation. In the context of
Holiday Inn, democratic style of leadership is not easy to implement as it involves an active
interaction with the employees and comprehending their needs and emotions to motivate the
workforce.
Laissez fair style: This is considered as the opposite of the autocratic leadership style as
this kind leader personality use mix kind decision. As this consist of different leader provide all
the respective resources to the employees to achieve desire objective of firm. In the case of
Holiday inn, the leader can adopt such kind of leadership method as this provide platform for the
employees to complete their task respectively (Gonos, and Gallo, 2013). Hence the management
trust the employee and able to develop better relationship which help in increasing better services
to consumer. So, this is vital for the firm to adopt the best possible leadership style which help in
increasing the productivity of the company in the well define manner.
Strength:
Laissez fair style of leadership provides a chance for every employee and member of the
company to enhance their own leadership skill and potential and creates a future leadership
pipeline in the organisation in an effective manner. It also encourages the employees to look for
more creative and innovative solutions to the organisation problems and promotes creativity and
level of satisfaction for the employees which results into better operational as well as financial
performance. In the context of Holiday Inn, this style of leadership is effective in providing a
high quality of service to the customers.
Weakness:
Delegation of responsibility for any failure and incompletion of task is not an easy task in the
organisation where Laissez Fair style of leadership is implemented. It also reduces or undermines
the role of the leader in the company and might result into operations being unproductive.
Resistance to change and lack of flexibility is one of the biggest weakness of implementing
Laissez Fair style of leadership in the company.
Keith Barr is the CEO of Holiday Inn Group of Hotels and follows a democratic style of
leadership in the organisation. He follows an approach which helps in motivating the employees
of the company which helps the organisation to provide a high quality service to the customers.
It is important for him to apply democratic style of leadership effectively in the organisation as
the company employs a large number of people and their effective management depends upon
the effectiveness of leadership style. Keith Barr implements democratic style of leadership and
encourages the employee participation and involvement in the decision-making process because
in hospitality industry, employees of the company are more aware and informed about the key
changes which are required and can be of vital significance in providing the customers a high

quality of service and hence, engagement and inputs from employees in the process of decision-
making provides better insights and helps in improving the effectiveness of the process. Keith
Barr observed that democratic style of leadership is best suited for the organizations in
hospitality industry since it is important for the employees to have the authority to make
decisions which can help in executing their task properly and cater to the ever-changing needs
and demands of the tourists and customers. Damage control and crisis management are two
important elements for any company in hospitality industry and the power to make decisions
held by the employees helps in improving the promptness in decisions and responsiveness.
However, to overcome the weakness of democratic style of leadership, Keith Barr also uses
autocratic style of leadership to a very limited extent which can help in defining reporting
relationships and fixation of authority and responsibility in the company. It helps the CEO of the
company to take charge and control the operations as and when necessary.
Hence, it can be concluded that the leadership style being followed by the management of
Holiday Inn Group of Hotels is effective and as per the needs and requirements of the company.
Using both autocratic and democratic style of leadership in the right mix helps in effectively
controlling and monitoring the operations of the company.
Examine how organizational responsibility and responsible leadership change to reduce
competitive advantage
Organization responsibility is considered as the ethical behavior which is used manage
and provide effective result for operating the business activities effectively. Beside this also
refers to the corporate social responsibility as this provide sustainable business model which is
used manage and provide effective sources to overcome the problems of the society such as
environmental degradation, ecological imbalance, inequitable distribution of resources etcetera.
As a part of the corporate social responsibility of any organisation, it is imperative for a business
to create a positive impact on the society and the community in which it operates by effectively
participating and engaging in solving problems such as environmental protection, poverty and
unemployment etcetera. The company is also responsible for their employees and the working
culture which help in increasing productivity (Maak, 2007). A good working culture help the
employed to retain for the longer time period. The firm have duty of care for the health as well as
safety of wellbeing of their staff as this is essential to increase the image for the longer time
period. The involvement of leaders plays a vital role which help in increasing effective result to
overcome the problem in a well define manner. This is crucial for the leader to be aware about
their roles and responsibility which help in developing better working culture. For the company
like Holiday inn the leaders must ensure to be liable for the company as this provide better
services to their employees for betterment and growth. Here is the organization responsibility
and responsible leadership which lead the corporate social leadership:
Responsible leadership
Stakeholders inclusion: This is very essential for the leaders to safeguard the trust of
leader as it creates a positive impact on the company image. The responsible leadership tend to
manage and gain trust of different stakeholders which foster inclusive environment. In the
context of Holiday inn, the leader’s is should focus on the stakeholders and provide them

benefits as this aid company to expand business effectively (Pless, 2007). Apart from this
responsible leader use to figure out the problems and try to increase the revenue of the company
which as essential from stakeholder point of view and also from the competition present in the
hospitality industry.
Technology and innovation: It can be argued that this decade has witnessed one of the
biggest waves in technological changes and innovations and it is the prime responsibility of any
leader to implement the latest technological changes and innovations in the operations and
increase the societal value by improving the innovation. As the hospitality industry have seen in
immense change in recent years due to technological advancement. With the help new
technology company can overcome the problem of competition. Many hotels use online booking
as well as use of social media which help in increasing the market share effectively and capture
customer attention. The leaders are also responsible to motive the employee to bring out new
innovation ideas as this help in bringing out new ways to provide better services and help
facilitating competition in the market.
Provide right direction: The responsible leadership shows the right path which help in
providing better services which are essential for the firm to improve the market share of the
company. There are various companies who are in hospitality sector as this develop high
competition in the market (Mone, London, and Mone, 2018). So, in this case the Holiday inn
leaders have to be responsible to develop proper structure and show right audience to employees
through which they can achieve desire goal of the company. Leaders have to motivate workers
by facilitating them with monetary benefits which help in improving service and reduce
competition from the market.
Allocation of duty: The allocation is the key factor for the leader as this help in
improving the positioning of the company. Hence this help in maintaining the organizational
structure and provide better environment for the company. For the company like Holiday inn the
leaders should delegate the authority to the employees as this help in increasing the productivity
and provide better service to consumer. For the public institution the leaders have major
responsibility to overcome the problem by guiding and providing better services to user. Hence
this method helps in motivating the employees and reduce the competition in effectively manner.
Coordination: The main duty of organization is to develop coordination as this help in
efficiency and minimize the waste. Therefore, there must be coordination in meeting, allocation
of funds as this use to expand the business effectively. In the context of Holiday inn, the
company use to operate in different region, so the leaders are responsible to maintain proper
coordination for the smooth functioning of the company (Voegtlin, Patzer and Scherer, 2012).
The organizational duty must b carried out effectively in order to reach the organization goal
effectively. Hence in this manner the employees can improve their productivity and also help in
lowering the competition by using better coordination to provide better service to consumer.
Operation: In order to reduce rivalry from the market the company have to develop
effective method to increase the operation. As this define the specific number of goals which
help in contributing to the different number of organizations. For the company like Holiday Inn

the leader is responsible for providing better solution to the department manager by meeting all
the standards. Although this provide better and timely services to consumer and develop brand
image among the rivalry.
How corporate social responsibility help in delivering benefits to the customer as well as
company
Corporate Social Responsibility can be defined as the management approach of
integrating various business activities and practices with an objective of incorporating
sustainable business development and creating a positive impact on the social, economic and
environmental factors (Carroll, 1999). Corporate social responsibility is the self-regulating
business model which help company to provide financial and other support for the betterment of
the society. Apart from this, it makes accountable to the different stakeholders and the public. By
practicing CSR activity company may develop wider impact and sustain for the longer time
period. Hence this also create a sense of trust and also bring out the effective result which is
useful for the firm to earn more and more profit. In the recent years corporate social
responsibility have become more effective and company are focusing more towards the societal
development. To engage in CSR means the organization is working not only for profit but also
engaging in overall development and growth of every individual in a well define manner. For the
company like Holiday inn the leaders have to invest more in CSR activity as this increase the
value of company in the minds of customer. Apart from this, it also brings more and more
business to company and reduces all kind of risk and uncertainty which are present in the
business.
The corporate social responsibility is the broader term which is beneficial for both
customer as well as firm. With the assistance of CSR activity, the various programs, volunteer
effects can benefit the society and boost the brand which is effective for the company. Beside
this it helps in forging the better bond among the employees and the manager which help in
increasing better product and service to the company. Nowadays this has become more effective
to have better result which it the assistance of CSR activities. For the company for the socially
responsible must accountable to their respective employees and then to their respective customer
and stakeholders. For the company like Holiday inn the management as well as leaders have to
improvise their policy and make changes which help in increasing productivity and trust by the
company. Here are some of the Corporate social responsibility which is beneficial for Holiday
inn and other community.
Benefits to the company:
Increase employee satisfaction: Employee are the main assets of the company as they
are considered as the face of the company. The company which is used to conduct CSR activity
it led to better satisfaction of employees. The more engaged as well as invested in the
organization it helps more in achieving desire result effectively. For the company like hospitality
sector the leader have ensure to indulge more towards CSR activity as this improve the image of
the firm and encourage workers to achieve common goal (Sprinkle, and Maines, 2010). Apart
from this, it helps able to develop better relationship which help in increasing the employee trust
and bring out effective result for advancing and growth of the firm.

Improve public Image: In today’s business world companies use to manage as well as
demonstrate the corporate social responsibility which help in increasing more customer base.
This have become trend of many enterprise to take part in social responsibility as this provide
better market and revenue. For the hospitality company like Holiday inn the leader as well as
management have to conduct more social responsibility such as providing funds of NGO and
other service which are beneficial for the company. Hence this help in increasing the
productivity and brand image of the company.
Benefits to government institution:
Help in forming policy: Under the CSR activity the government institution provides
vital information to the private sector which consist of website as it describes about how the
company can spend funds for society. Along with this, government sponsor the guidelines as to
aid the business while addressing the individual concern and provide better services to consumer.
Beside this, it helps companies to follow all the rules which are essential to overcome the
problems more effective. For example, setting the guideline of payrolls and scheme as well as
campaign which are vital for the company.
Improve transparency: The major advantage of the Corporate social responsibility is
that it provides transparency and disclosure of the firm effectively. However, some company use
hidden method for conducting CSR activity and the government institutes help in providing such
policy through company have provide all the data of their activities. These quality assuring
procedures encourage the society as well as company to use uphold their commitment towards
the people. In thus it improves the CSR standards and help in providing better service which help
in overcoming the problems and also carry forward the society respectively.
Benefits to civils society:
Provide charitable contribution: The main benefit of CSR is that it helps in providing
charitable contribution for the people who are in need. There are many Nonprofit organization
(NGO) which are run by such corporate social responsibility. The company as well as
government all are interrelated to the business and provide support to the society for the
betterment and growth of the company. In the present world there are various civil society bodies
which avail the funds from the different companies and bring out effective result for upliftment
of the society. Here the government plays an important role as they set the guidelines which help
in increasing the desire result which are effective for the society as well as for the firm (Hiller,
2013).
Prevent human rights: The involvement of multinational corporation in the use of
human rights is essential as this provide power to civil society to have protect the basic right of
the customers as well as employee. As company recognize the importance of rules and regulation
which help in providing better services which are vital for the operating the business. For
example, the company have to provide basic pay to the employees as per the part of civil society
effectively. Hence the government also support the company as this provide better services to
society.

CSR activities of Holiday Inn:
Environment Protection: With an objecive of creating a better impact on the nature and
improving the sustainiability standing, the management of Holiday Inn undertakes waste
management program and impact of every activity on the environment is analysed and
effectively tracked. Usage of green energy and recyling modules have been implemented to
increase the positive impact on the environment.
Community Involvement: The management of the company is taking measures and efforts to
develop hospitality skills within the community it operates and also extends many other supports
such as creating a foundation by providing financial assistance during disasters, infrastructure
development and investment in the community, helping them in fighting the environmental
destruction and many other steps are being taken as a part of CSR to improve positive impacts on
the community.
It can be evaluated that the management of Holiday Inn is taking adequate steps to fulfill its
corporate social responsibility and have a clear vision to improve the triple line and create a
positive impact on economy, society and the environment in which it operates.
Identify the use social media and the risk which is associated and strategies for addressing the
risk
Social media can be termed as the websites and applications which empower a person or
any business to make, create and share content and engage in networking and communicating
with a wide range of people from different parts of the world (Zeng, and Gerritsen, 2014). Social
media have now become the very important aspect of each and every person life. Nowadays
social media platform is present every where which help in connecting people from the different
part of world. Most of the company use social media as the part of their promotion as this have
larger audience as it very convinces to make aware about the product and service which are
offered to the people. There are different kind of factor which are used for marketing such as
Television and print media but the most essential tool in the present world is the social media.
The company like Holiday inn use such social media platform to conduct their marketing
activities effectively. The various platform such Facebook, YouTube and Instagram on which
company tend t attract the customer. It is also considered easy and cost-effective method through
which company can promote their business activity to the respective customer. There is some
advantage for social media which are explained briefly down below:
Increase brand awareness: Social media is considered as the most effective digital
marketing tool which help in improving the brand visibility and increase the market share
effectively. By implementing the social media strategy, the company like Holiday inn can
increase the brand recognition as this help in capture larger business. Apart from this, company
can build their respective website on which the crucial information can be written which help in
providing all the information which are useful for managing the entire operation in a well define
manner. Hence this help in exposure and firm can reach to the maximum number of audiences.
Improve brand loyalty: One of the main objectives of the company is to develop the
brand loyal customer as this provide better profit to the company. In this case firm use different

tool and in which social media is play a vital role in increasing the brand loyalty in the market. In
the context of Holiday inn hotel, it is very crucial for the company to have the trust of customer
as this help in brining more customer. So, the management have to take use of social media
where company can provide daily update and answer the doubts of respective customer as this
help in increasing public image.
Cost effective method: The social media have become more effective due to its cost-
effective feature which help in increasing market share in the shorter time span. Nowadays every
business is advertising on the social media as they are less costly than ads in print and electronic
media. For instance, Holiday inn the management can use social media as this provide greater
return in investment and also reduce the overhead cost effectively. By sending small amount the
company market their services to the larger audience.
Risk which are associated with the company
The major risk which are associated with the company is that it may hamper the personal
information of customer. By the use social media most the cybercrime has become more
common and data theft cases have been increased. Apart from this, if the customer has bad
experience in the Holiday inn then guest can provide negative review on the website which
reduce the business. Beside this, there has been negative news which reduces the brand loyalty of
the company, so this is vital for hotel like Holiday inn to make sure to provide better services to
consumer. The social media hackers have become more common through which they hack the
account and destroy the information of customer as well as of employees. Some time is also
increasing the cost for the company because of some kind of legal issue which is very complex
process as well as time consuming for the company.
Recommendations to overcome the risk:
Monitor the social media channel: This is very important for the Holiday inn hotel to
track the daily activities of the social media. Hence this help in providing safe and secure
platform which help in increasing cost and reduce the cost-effective method which is essential
for the firm. The company must hire experts which help in analyzing the breach an develop
effective security system to reduce the risk effectively. Apart from this is very crucial for the
management to have separate department for monitoring the entire operation as this help in
reducing in minimizing the cyber risk to some extent.
Invest In security technology: It is crucial for the company to invest heavily in the
security technology as this help in increasing the awareness and reduce the cost for the company.
The company like holiday inn can use tool like Zero FOX which is advance security system
which is used to manage and reduce the attack and inform about the breach in the system. Hence
this is vital for the company to manage to reduce such kind of risk as this help in increasing the
productivity and secure way to operate business effectively.
CONCLUSION
From the above stated report this has been analyzed that there are different emerging
trends such as technology advancement which help in improving the market share in shorter time

span. There are different kind of leadership style, which is used in firm, so this is essential for the
firm as this help in providing right direction. Apart from this there are different organization
responsibility and coordination is most effective method which help in minimizing the
competition present in the company. Beside this, corporate social responsibility is very effective
as there is various use of such method as this help in improving brand image and able to gain
trust of customer in a well define manner. At last there are different benefits of social media and
one of the most popular in that it is very cost-effective method which help in increasing the
productivity and aid in capturing larger number of people in a well define manner. Hence this is
crucial for the hospitality sector to be flexible and use effective leadership style which help in
improving the service and provide satisfactory offer to respective customer.

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