Employability Skills: A Case Study of Travelodge

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This report explores the importance of employability skills in the travel and tourism industry, using Travelodge as a case study. It examines the responsibilities of a Customer Relationship Manager, identifies work-based problems, and proposes solutions. The report also analyzes team dynamics, suggests alternative task completion methods, and evaluates tools for problem-solving. Finally, it develops a strategy for resolving the issue of labor turnover and assesses its potential impact on the business.

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Employability Skills
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1 (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3).......................................................4
Task 2 (LO2, AC2.1, 2.2, 2.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3) (700)....................................................7
TASK 3 (LO3, AC3.1, 3.2, 3.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3).........................................................10
TASK 4 (LO4, AC4.1, 4.2, 4.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3).........................................................13
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 16
Reference List................................................................................................................................ 17
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Introduction
Travel and tourism is a service-oriented sector that requires the personnel to directly deal with
the customers. The matter of maintaining demeanour and hospitality is consequential in this
sector. Therefore, the personnel deployed in the travel and tourism industry needs to be
extremely conscious about improving their employability skills so that they can keep the existing
customers satisfied. In this way, the companies’ can augment their sales and profit and ensure
sustainable performance in the stiff market competition. In this context, the report sheds light on
the importance of employability skills with reference to the case study of Travelodge.
Travelodge Hotels Limited is a UK based travel and tourism company and it is reported to hold
the second rank in the budget hotel industry (Travelodge, 2018). The hotel is focusing on
improving its customer service therefore, the personnel across all hierarchy needs to improve
their skills set attaining the company’s objective.
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Task 1 (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
As a Customer Relationship Manager, I have a set of key responsibility areas (KRAs) that are
discussed below:
1.1Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives
Responsibilities:
As a Customer Relationship Manager I am responsible to look after every need of the clients
and ensure they are completely satisfied with the service being provided to them . Therefore, it is
my prime duty to comprehend the needs, taste and preference of the customers and develop
plans and strategies for addressing them. Identifying key personnel in client enterprises is also
my responsible so that profitable corporate relationship can be established. In addition, it is my
responsibility to keep a close watch over every activity of my subordinates to ensure that zero
error is present in the delivered service. Nevertheless, in case of any pitfalls present, I am
responsible to eradicate it so that customer’s grievances are addressed at the earliest.
Furthermore, as a manager it is my duty to ensure full productivity of all the personnel so that
existing customers can be retained and prospective customers can be attracted. Congregating
relevant information from the market and devising new strategies to keep pace with it is a
major KRA of mine (Anantatmula, 2010).
Performance Objectives:
In order to execute afore mentioned responsibilities, I have developed the following performance
objectives:
 To focus on building team working and egalitarian working culture so that all employees
feel comfortable working and provide excellent service to the customers
 To improve decision making skills so that assimilated market information can be utilised
in an effective manner and best strategies can be devised and implemented.
 To improve multitasking skills so that all the works is accomplished on time (Ferreira and
Otley, 2009).
1.2 Evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives
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As per my understanding of my managerial skills I am competent; however I have scope of
improvement. As stated above, I am objected to inculcate team working and egalitarian culture
among my subordinates. I have been able to meet this objective with my interpersonal skills.
Nevertheless, I can still improve my communication skills to be able to convey my instructions
more clearly to my team leaders so that the entire workforce work together to achieve the goal.
In addition, I have been able to suggest certain effective strategies pertinent to customer service
that have helped the company to improve it service. However, I believe I need to keep a close
watch on approaches used by the market rival so that I can develop strategies better than them
and help the company in gaining a competitive advantage. As a manager I need to multitask
however I fail to do it sometimes that hampers a lot of work at times.
1.3 Make recommendations for improvement
In order to improve my employability skills as a Customer Relationship Manager, I need to
following recommendations:
Improve my communication skills
I have to focus on improving my communication skills so that my overall interpersonal skills get
better. In this manner I will be able to convey my instructions and idea better with the
subordinates and promote and practice team working culture. This will helps the employees to
perform better and overall organisational effectiveness will improve (Cheruvelil, et al., 2014).
Enhance my knowledge gathering skills
As a manger I need to play an informational role thus I need to improve my skills of gathering
different kinds of market information. This is important so that I remain informed about the latest
trends and devise customer service strategies accordingly (Ho, et al.,, 2010).
Improve my multitasking skills
Multitasking is an important aspect of my job role therefore I need to focus on improving my
task and time management skills so that I can multi task properly. In this manner I will be ensure
a proper and coherent work flow (Ho, et al.,, 2010).
1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance
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In order to enhance my motivation along with all other employees, the framework of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs theory can be considered. The theory explains that motivation can be
gained by addressing five different needs.
Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need
(Source: Robertson, 2016)
As a manager I should focus on addressing the basic needs of the employees and mine as well. I
need to make sure a proper work stations are provided so that everybody feels comfortable
working. In addition, I need to make sure that all the employees can work safely without hassle
so that they can produce quality service without any worries. Thereafter, in order to ensure that
the employees are delivering their best performance, their psychological needs have to be served.
For this, I need to build a good rapport with everyone so that the propensity of misunderstanding
and grievance is less. Moreover, I will have to safeguard the self esteem of the employees buy
recognising their contributing with the help of proper awards and rewards programs.
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Task 2 (LO2, AC2.1, 2.2, 2.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3) (700)
2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems.
Deployed as a customer relationship manager in Travelodge, I have encountered certain work-
based problems, which are analysed below along with solutions:
Ineffective team working:
As per my observation, the teams in the company lack unity which paves the way for
uncoordinated working practices. The main reason for such kind of working practice is
communication gap among the teams. Since the company operates a large scale business it
functions on several departments. However, all the departments need to coordinated manner so
that better service can be provided to the customers. Therefore, in order eradicate this work
based problem; the solution is to improve the communication system through group activities
conferences and meetings. In this way, different teams will have an idea about the roles
responsibilities of other teams and acknowledge them (Chen and Lin, 2013).
Improper appraisal systems:
Employee dissatisfaction is a major reason for deteriorated performance and it is a grave issue in
Travelodge. The main reason for this dissatisfaction is the absence of a proper appraisal system.
Therefore, in order to keep the employees satisfied and convince them to deliver their best
performance, the company need to develop and implement proper award and rewards system.
The employees should be both felicitated with awards and appraised with incentives (Warokka,
et al., 2012).
2.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels.
Communicating identified work based issues to the senior management is highly consequential
as necessary actions can be taken to mitigate the issue from the grass root level. One of the
effective ways of communicating the issues to the management is written communication.
Therefore, a formal letter is written addressing senior management and a memo addressing to
the staff.
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Formal Letter:
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To,
The Senior Management
Travel lodge
Subject: Work based problems and resolutions
Respected Sir/ Ma’am,
I beg to inform you that it has come to my notice that some our company lacks team spirit. Due to this
uncoordinated working approach of the personnel several works is getting delayed due to lack of
communication. This poor team working has the paved the way for slacking team performance that will
eventually affect the productivity, performance and reputation of the company. As per my observation
of the scenario, I have realised there is huge communication gap among different teams due to which
their work is not synchronised. As known that, the work of one department is dependent on another
department. Therefore in such scenario if all the teams does not share good rapport or communication
the entire workflow will cripple, which will degrade the service quality. The lack of collaboration
among the team is resulting in the emanation of several discrepancies and grievances that is reflected in
the team productivity and performance. Another grave issue that has been observed is that the
employee lack motivation to work. This is another major reason behind the degraded employee
performance. Our company lack proper work recognition schemes due to which the self-esteem needs
of the personnel are not being satisfied.
Nonetheless, I have pondered upon certain mitigation approaches of these issues, which can be
considered by the upper echelon. In order to combat the issue of poor team working the company can
contemplate on organising group discussion or interdepartmental conferences. In order to resolve the
issue of employee dissatisfaction, the company can focus on developing and introducing a proper
performance managements system and recognise the contribution of the employees annually.
Regards,
Customer Relationship Manager
Travel lodge

Memo:
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To,
The Personnel
Travel lodge
Subject: Work based problems and resolutions
- It has been come to the notice of the management that quite a few errors are emanating in the work
procedures in several teams. The teams are not working in a coordinated manner which is resulting
in slacked team performance and the quality of service is getting compromised. Therefore, the
management have contemplated on holding inter department meeting and conferences in every
quarter so that loopholes can be resolved.
- The management further feels that the employees lack motivation which is reflected in their tainted
deliverables. Therefore, the management have designed a well structured and transparent appraisal
system which will acknowledge the contribution of the personnel through appropriate awards and
rewards.
The management is expecting ardent cooperation from all the teams for the successful implementation of
aforementioned ideas.
From,
Customer Relationship Manager

2.3 Identify effective time-management strategies in relation to the work-based experience
or in your role as a manager at Travelodge.
As a Customer Relationship Manager I have fathom that time management is imperative in
ensuring improved productivity. Therefore following time management strategies has been
identified pertinent to my work based experience:
Task Prioritizing and Organising
As a customer relationship manager I need to multitask therefore, prioritising every task is very
important so that all the tasks are completed on time. I need to monitor and keep track of a lot of
activities and submit a report to the management. Therefore, I keep a checklist and organise the
work based on their urgency and priority and complete them accordingly (Zampetakis, et al.,
2010).
Goals setting and developing action plan
In order to complete all my assigned tasks on times, I set certain objectives and goals so that I am
inclined to utilise the time in a better way and accomplish all tasks. In addition, I have also
prepared a coherent action plan that helps me to take necessary measures of task completion
accordingly (Zampetakis, et al., 2010).
Setting Rational Deadlines
For utilising time in an efficient manner I set rational deadlines for all my assigned activities.
Setting deadlines have helped me to be in my toes and submit all my works on time accordingly
(Zampetakis, et al., 2010).
TASK 3 (LO3, AC3.1, 3.2, 3.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
3.1 Explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve
shared goals
Team work is pivotal in travel and tourism sector as all the departments are rigidly interrelated.
Therefore without one the other would cripple. Therefore, the roles of people in a team are
defined below with the help of the Belbin’s team roles model:
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Figure 1: Belbin’s Team Roles
(Source: Batenburg, et al., 2013)
Resource Investigator
This people play the role of identifying resources present in the company and then finding
opportunities to utilise those resources in addressing the shared goal (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Coordinator
Coordinators refer to those people who have the duty of ordering and synchronising all the team
activities and ensuing error free deliverables (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Specialist
This people are responsible to guide and advice the subordinates to complete the gaols in an
efficient manner so that quality output can be provided (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Team Worker
These personnel lay the foundation of all the teams and encourage team working so that the
entire workforce works together in accomplishing the shared goals (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Plant
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These are the members who manifest their creative capabilities for proposing innovative
strategies to the company so that the organisation reaches a niche in the industry (Batenburg, et
al., 2013).
Shaper
These people have the duty of reviewing the performance and shape and align all the tasks with
the shared goals and corporate objectives (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Monitor Evaluator
These are the people who supervise and analyses the performance of all the personnel and then
appraises them based on their contribution (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Implementer
Implementers are those who incorporate the developed approaches and ensure that it is facilitated
properly (Batenburg, et al., 2013).
If the people in the company work as one team then everyone can achieve the shared goal. All
the team members need to execute individual task and cooperate with other in completing their
task. In this manner the company can achieve the unanimous goal.
3.2 Analyse team dynamics
Organisational culture and working environment lays the foundation of the team dynamics of an
organisation. Therefore, keeping this in view, Travelodge is contemplates on inculcating the
notion of team dynamic by encouraging egalitarian work culture. This implies to the fact that the
team leaders and managers focuses on promoting a healthy work culture through equal
delegation and pay. Moreover, the team leaders play a pivotal part of role model for the
subordinates and encourage them to remain loyal to the company and deliver excellent
performance (Georgiadis, 2014).
Furthermore, the team leaders analyses the potential and pitfalls of the employees so that task are
allocated accordingly. In this way, the team leaders ensure that maximum output is generated
from all the employees. In addition, the team leaders also focus in making the communication
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and information sharing system transparent so that accountability is maintained (Georgiadis,
2014).
3.3 Suggest alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals
The team leaders of Travelodge can improve the team dynamics of the company by the
following strategies:
Collecting and Recording feedbacks
The team leaders need to take feedback from each of the members about their problems and
issues so that it can be resolved at the earliest. In this way, the workers can be kept satisfied and
motivated to perform better (Gilardi, et al., 2014).
Team collaboration
The team leaders need to focus more on instilling the idea on team working among its members
so that they are inclined to work in a collaborative manner (Gilardi, et al., 2014).
Task Achievement Cycle
The team leaders should further execute root cause analysis in case of any emanating issues so
that it is mitigated at the earliest and then incorporate task achievement cycle so that all the
activities are completed timely (Gilardi, et al., 2014).
TASK 4 (LO4, AC4.1, 4.2, 4.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
4.1 Evaluate tools and methods for developing solutions to problems with reference to your
chosen organisation or Travelodge Hotel
It has been observed that Travelodge is encountering with the issues of high attrition rate,
improper team working and lack of team roles. Therefore, the following methods can be
considered by the management for mitigating the issues:
Problem Definition
At first, the company need to define the problem so that its severity can be analysed.
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Evaluation of the issue
The root cause of the problem has to identified and analysed so that it can be eradicated from the
grass root level.
Identifying the possible results
The third step is to determine the implication of the emanating issues so that it’s severity can be
determined.
Assessing various outcomes
In this step, possible solutions of the identified issue should be assessed so that the approaches
can be tested for determining the feasibility.
Implementing problem solving approaches
After assessing all the approaches, the actual problem solving technique has to be identified and
implemented so that the issue can be resolved (Whimbey, et al., 2013).
4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem of labour turnover
with reference to your chosen organisation or Travelodge Hotel
The grave issue of Travelodge is high attrition rate of the employees which is a resultant of low
employee motivation and high dissatisfaction. This will eventually affect the productivity of the
company as it needs human capital for ensuring proper operational flow. Therefore, the
management need to consider an appropriate strategy for mitigating this issue. The best and most
cogent approach of resolving the issue of high attrition rate is developing and implementing a
clear and well structured performance management system. Incorporating this system will help
the company to keep a track of the productivity of all the personnel across hierarchy. Based on
the performance level, the employees will be appraised with appropriate awards and rewards
(Ferreira and Otley, 2009).
4.3 Evaluate the potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy. You should
consider both financial and non-financial impacts on the business.
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In the previous section, it has been recommended that Travelodge contemplates on implementing
the strategy on effective performance management system. In non-financial aspect, the company
will be able to reduce the employee attrition rate to a large extent. This will help the company to
gain sustainability in the long run as it requires a competent workforce to deliver the desired
corporate performance (Ferreira and Otley, 2009).
In the financial aspect, implementing the performance management system will help the
company to improve customer services which will obviously augment the sales turnover of the
company. The organisation will be able to retain more customers and in this manner the sales of
the services will increase thereby helping the hotel to improve its financials (Ferreira and Otley,
2009).
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Conclusion
The discussion has helped in reaching an inference that individual employability skills plays a
pivotal role in the making the entire company functional and productive. The roles and
responsibilities of each of the members play a crucial part of making an organization productive.
Analyzing the case of Travelodge has helped in comprehending that team work is very much
imperative in travel and tourism sector as it lays the foundation of an agile operational process in
this sector. Since the operation of the company is dependent on inter departmental collaboration
therefore proper team working and management is consequential. It can be further concluded that
employee satisfaction is also a significant factor in making the organisation sustainable in the
long run.
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