Emerging Trends in the Hospitality Industry: A Leadership Perspective

Emerging Trends in the Hospitality Industry
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Assessment Questions................................................................................................................4
Summary and Conclusion........................................................................................................12
Reference List..........................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
Leadership style may be understood as the approach taken by leaders to inspire, motivate and
guide individuals to achieve a specific goal. Leadership styles differ from leader to leader,
and organization to organization. An effective leadership style aids in motivating employees,
enhancing organizational growth, and achieving defined objectives systematically. This
assignment aims to assess the different approaches to leadership, and to examine how these
leadership styles are applicable in the current scenario of the hospitality industry. The
assignment attempts to identify and understand leadership traits as well as the different stages
of team development. The management process and its various components are explored.
Additionally, the concept of organizational responsibility will be explored, with a focus on
understanding the impact of responsible leadership on CSR.
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Assessment Questions
1. Using appropriate example analyse and discuss different leadership styles within the
hospitality operations.
A leader’s primary role in an organization is to provide a guiding vision and sufficient
motivation to employees so that they are encouraged to achieve organizational objectives.
Some leaders prefer to adopt a specific leadership style and maintain it to achieve goals,
whereas other leaders adopt a flexible approach according to changing situations. The
majorly followed leadership styles in the hospitality industry include-
Transformational leadership- A transformational leader is one who keeps in mind the goal
to be achieved, encourages and inspires followers to devote themselves to the task, and is a
leader people look up to (Yasin et al, 2013). A transformational leader collaborates with
employees in the organization to identify change and to adapt strategies according to the
change. A good example of a transformational leader in the hospitality industry would be
Chip Conley, the founder of Joie De Vivre Hospitality, who began working with Airbnb in
2013 to mentor the founders and aid the company in making a breakthrough into the
hospitality sector. He motivated the founders constantly, and helped them define as well as
achieve their goals.
Transactional leadership- This leadership style is based on the system of reward and
punishment. This leadership views organizational processes as transactions, wherein
employees are rewarded with monetary bonus and other incentives if they perform well, and
are similarly punished by measures such as salary cut, if they cannot perform as required
(McCleskey, 2014). Transactional leaders in the hospitality sector are clear about the goals
they wish to achieve, and establish a work structure free of ambiguity for the same. This style
of leadership can be very rigid due to the use of authority by the leader, and this can foster
discontentment in employees. Transactional leadership was practised by Cesar Ritz, the
founder of the Ritz hotel, whose goal was to provide luxury, high quality services to his
clientele, and utilize his staff for the same. Ritz gave defined tasks and commands to his
employees, and left little room for individual expression.
Democratic leadership- This leadership style can be particularly effective in the hospitality
sector where trends are constantly evolving. Democratic leaders encourage exchange of
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