Hotel Leadership Effectiveness

This assignment examines the critical role of leadership in achieving effective organizational performance within a hotel setting. Participants are asked to reflect on their own leadership development and strategies implemented in their hotel environment. The analysis delves into challenges faced, solutions employed, personal skills acquired, and aspirations for future leadership improvement. Additionally, insights and advice are sought from experienced leaders to guide aspiring hotel managers.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
Leadership
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

1LEADERSHIP
Introduction
Leadership has an important role to play in the success of an organization. The leader of
the organization sets a clear goal for the employees along with individual objectives. A clear
objective and potential leadership can lead the employees to work with full motivation which
adds value to the organization (Antonakis and Day 2017).
This assignment will critically analyze the leadership qualities of a role model. The way
in which an individual can work on his characteristic traits to build the leadership qualities
through the stages of observation, feedback and self- reflection will be focused on. A hotel
manager has been selected as the role model for this particular assignment.
Stage 1: Observation
For the observation stage an effective and successful leader has been selected who will be
considered as the role model. Mr. Romeo is the general manager of a five star hotel in Myanmar.
He is a native of Philippine and completed his Master degree in Business Administration from
Berkeley University. He has been working in the hotel industry for more than 20 years and he
has been in the position of a general manager for 10 years.
Traits and behaviors
The reason behind choosing him as the role model is that he is quite famous for his
leadership skills. According to Cameron et al. (2014) effective communication, motivating
quality, positive attitude and trust worthiness are some of the leadership skills which were related
to Mr. Romeo. Moreover he knows how to act in a responsible way and has always been

2LEADERSHIP
successful in showing dedication towards the tasks. The acquaintance was built up when I had
worked as a part timer in the same hotel in the department of food and beverage. While working
in the hotel I got to know more about him such as his brilliant working and leading ways to
motivate the staff members. As per Boezeman and Ellemers (2014) an effective leader needs to
follow participative style where inputs from the employees are considered valuable. Mr. Romeo
followed the same and his leadership capabilities inspired me to continue in the same hotel as an
intern longer than I had intended to. I saw the spark in him as a leader and his way to mould the
team by motivation in order to get back their trust and respect.
Power and Intelligence
While working with him I had observed his leadership qualities such as being honest and
dedicated towards the work and tried to imbibe those within me. Cameron et al. (2014) had
mentioned that a leader should not show false hopes or cheat on his team. He had possessed all
the traits of a leader such as intelligence, inner motivation, maturity, attitude of an HR, self-
confidence, foresightedness, adaptability and open mindedness, responsibility and objectivity.
Thus his leadership traits can be linked with the Trait Theory which systematically evaluates the
leaders. In this theory, the personal characteristics of a leader are considered as the main factors
of leadership success. This theory takes into consideration the personality, social, physical and
also intellectual characteristics which distinguish a leader from a commoner. For instance, my
role model Mr. Romeo satisfies all the factors of Trait Theory. He is adaptable to situations,
assertive, cooperative, decisive, self- confident and also possesses other qualities required from a
leader (Cashman 2017). He has gained the necessary power and intelligence through years to
train and lead his team in a successful way. The role model has all the necessary traits that could
link him with the Trait Theory.

3LEADERSHIP
Contingency
While the leader had acquired all the characteristics through years but he had a flexible
nature. Through his elastic nature he could gel easily with any one in any kind of situation. Such
a unique characteristic quality in his nature led him adapt to tough situations and change his
leadership quality accordingly. As Chemers (2014) had stated that leadership is a process by
which an individual influence others for attaining the goals to make superior working
environment within the organization. There are different leadership styles such as visionary,
coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding and each of these have their own
functions. The functions are mobilizing the team towards a vision; developing them for the
coming days; creating friendly bonds; building harmony through participation; expecting self
direction and excellence; demanding immediate compliance respectively. Mr. Romeo had
possessed all these behavior within him and implemented them as per the requirement of the
situation. This change in leadership characteristic of Mr. Romeo can be linked with the
Behavioral Theory which analyses the leader on his actions and activities. As per this theory,
leadership is the outcome of effective role behavior (Collinson 2014). It is believed that the
actual leadership is shown by a person’s behavior and not by his traits which is contradictory to
the Trait Theory. This theory aims to stress on the behavior of the leader and not on his traits.
Effective leadership qualities
Daft (2014) had stated that leadership qualities are either innate or acquired. All the great
leaders are not born with the leadership qualities but there are some who have possessed or
acquired those in their lifetime. Mr. Romeo was one such great leader who not only bore the
inborn qualities but also groomed himself to acquire those which he lacked. In order to know
more about his leadership qualities, I wanted to talk to him so that I can gain some more

4LEADERSHIP
knowledge about efficient team handling. While talking to him I got to know that he has not
gained these qualities overnight but gradually. He said that he has groomed himself to reach this
place. Initially he used to get nervous while managing a team. But with the passage of time he
tried to understand his team by keeping himself in their place and what they desire. To
understand the same, he had held continuous team discussions and individual meetings for a
smooth communication from both the end.
Day et al. (2014) had mentioned that it is always important to have a free flow of
communication in the organization otherwise conflicts will arise which might take a bad shape.
An effective communication helps in avoiding conflicts and issues within the organization. Mr.
Romeo followed the same to prevent internal conflicts within the employees. This was a great
quality of being a leader which he had.
When he was asked about the modifications in behavior he added that being subtle and
strict at the same time is important to keep the team members within control. They should be
encouraged and at the same time it is the duty of the manager to rebuke them, but not in front of
everyone so that others do not take advantage of the situation.
Stage 2: Feedback
Leadership styles of the chosen leader
According to Chemers (2014) had mentioned about the different leadership styles such as
participative, autocratic, democratic and others which is imbibed by the leaders while they are in
power. However, the journey of a leader is not as easy as it might look but they also need to
overcome hurdles. To overcome these hurdles they need to choose one specific leadership style
which will be helpful. At this stage of the assignment the chosen leader was asked about his

5LEADERSHIP
experience and the hardships that he might have faced in his journey of being a successful leader.
While conversing with him I was always eager to get hold of the features that might help me to
reach a prestigious position as him. I wanted to imbibe the skills from him which will make a
great leader as him in the coming days.
Skills, behaviors and traits possessed by the chosen leader
After listening to my question he said that he always believed that he could be a great
leader. He wanted to build himself up in such a way that other people will aspire to be like him.
He added that it is very important to have self confidence because it is the mantra to great
leadership. He had also adapted the participative style of leadership (Dinh et al. 2014). When a
leader will be able to motivate him, only then will he be able to motivate others. The leader must
be a torch bearer who will show the way to others and overcome all the hurdles to attain the goal.
Mr. Romeo said that his course in business administration had been an added advantage in his
journey of being a great manager of a five star hotel. He had also done leadership workshops in
order to learn the theoretical aspects.
Difference in the observation and feedback
At this point of conversation I somehow felt that my observation has gone wrong
somewhere. This is because I was only focusing on his traits and behavior but did not do a
proper homework on his background. Therefore I added this on my bucket list. One must know
the theory beforehand in order to imply that in practical life. However rest of my observation had
gone correct regarding his ability to communicate, loyalty, balance in work-life, problem
solving, adaptability to changed situation and distant vision (Fairhurst and Connaughton 2014).

6LEADERSHIP
Use of power and influence tactics
I realized that the path to become a leader is not a bed of roses when he shared a personal
experience. When he had joined his first organization as a manager most of the people there were
older to him. Thus it became a problem for him to convince them as he wanted. The senior
employees were reluctant to listen to the junior manager. Mr. Romeo said that as he was a new
comer therefore he could not even show his power over the older employees. It was becoming a
problem for him to do his duty in the organization when his hands were tied on ethical grounds.
That is when he started grooming himself by attending workshops and understood the necessity
of being strict and soft at the same time. He became aware of the tricks of the trade to deal with
such severe situations.
Characteristics of a good and effective leader
Being a participative leader, Mr. Romeo always values the opinion of his team members
but take the final decision on his own. As he has adapted this particular style of leadership
therefore it has helped in motivating the employees as they can contribute to the decision making
process (Frohlich and Oppenheimer 2015). They get the feeling that their opinion matters and
their presence is being valued in the organization. As per this great leader, there are several
characteristics of a good and effective leader which are given below-
He said that honesty and integrity should be an integral part of a leader’s life (Hazy and
Uhl- Bien 2015). While explaining about the value of honesty in a leader’s life he quoted Dwight
D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of United States, “the supreme quality of leadership is
unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a
section gang, a football field, in an army or in an office.” In addition to that he said confidence is
extremely important to be a great leader which should be passed on to the team too. Mr. Romeo

7LEADERSHIP
described persuasion of the team is the most difficult task as he had faced in his early work life.
This will be effective by enabling good communication which he had done earlier (Johnson
2017). Even in this 5 star hotel he had faced difficulty in convincing people to come to work on
holidays which he resolved by increasing their incentives and giving an additional half day leave.
He had also arranged for free family meal for every staff twice a month as a strategy to keep a
good rapport within the team.
How to be a great leader?
Mr. Romeo suggested that it always takes good decision making capabilities to be a good
leader and also accountability. By saying this, he mentioned a saying of the American
businessman Arnold H Glasgow, “A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and
little less than his share of the credit.” He follows this as his motto in the course of his journey as
a leader and recommended certain steps that should not be done while being a leader. I was
curious to know about these as one should overcome the hurdles in order to be successful. A
leader should learn how to keep his respect in front of the employees and should not insult one
employee in front of the other (Johnston and Marshall 2016). Moreover a good leader should not
give false hopes to his team. This will result in demoralization within the team and they will lose
faith on their leader. A leader should think about the organization and the benefits of his team
before thinking of his own selfish reasons. The leader should not crave for power or misuse
power in order to keep his position, rather he should always think ahead of time for the
betterment of the organization.
This feedback session with Mr. Romeo helped me in self- analyzing and I marked myself
in those areas which needed improvement. I got to know in minute detail how one can build
himself up as a good leader and the habits that he must let go in order to be efficient.

8LEADERSHIP
Stage 3: Reflection
From the first two stages of observation and feedback I could gain a lot of knowledge
from my role model Mr. Romeo who is the general manager of a five star hotel in Myanmar.
While conversing with him I got to know the tricks of the trade required to become an efficient
leader. While interning in his organization I had seen the change in his behavior and I wanted to
know the reason behind it. This is because I always had it in mind that the minor knowledge
gained from this exposure will help me later in life in being an effective leader.
In the initial days of my internship I completely observed Mr. Romeo and his activities.
In doing so I tried to imbibe his leadership qualities within myself, such as the way he speaks,
behaves, reacts to certain situations, solves critical problems and makes decisions. Observation is
considered as a major part of learning and therefore I deduced a general idea about him. From
the ideas that I have collected about him a rough picture could be painted but not clearly. In
order to get a transparent idea one- to- one conversation was very important which counted for a
complete and detailed recognition of the person (Klenke 2016).
After the two stages of observation and feedback I somehow felt that the two stages
contradicted each other at some point. This is because the two theories of leadership were
applicable in this, Trait Theory and Behavioral theory (Komives 2016). The feedback session
helped me to learn about the hurdles that might come in the way of being an effective leader. Mr.
Romeo had shared his personal experience with me which gave me an idea about the bitter
reality. He shared that the main obstacle that he had faced while working in this five star hotel is
the difference in culture. Food habit of people is dependent on the culture of the place that is why
it became essential for the manager to learn the food habits of Myanmar (Miner 2015). Moreover
Philippines has majority of Christian population while Burma has Buddhist majority. As the

9LEADERSHIP
festivals are different in these two cultures therefore the eating habit also varied accordingly.
Previously meat and dairy products were avoided by Christian population during a fixed part of
the year while they have a ritual of having bread and wine relative to the body and blood of Jesus
Christ (Robertson 2016). On the other hand, the Buddhists are more inclined towards vegetarian
food as they cannot tolerate violence against the animals. They prohibit themselves from
drinking alcohol and mostly rely on donations as they are not allowed to cook their own food
(Sanders 2017). These were some major differences between the two cultures and Mr. Romeo
had taken these in consideration to avoid unnecessary complications. Thus, I learned from the
interaction that the qualities or traits that I might lack within myself need to be showcased by my
behavior in order to be an efficient leader (Northouse 2017).
After spending a number of days with my role model I understood that I need to groom
and develop myself as per the industry requirement because practical functions are much
different than theoretical course. As a leader I need to be a favorite person of the team or else
they will not listen to me. Failure of a leader lies in his capability to manage a team. This
internship helped me a lot to deal with practical situations which would not have been possible
otherwise. Being a student I learnt about the tools and techniques of workplace especially in the
hospitality sector where I wish to excel in the future days.
As per the observation and feedback I appreciated the strategies that he had implemented
in his workplace to bind his team together. I became so friendly with him during these days that
at the end o our conversation he asked if I could suggest something to improve his leadership
skills. I could not believe that my role model who I aspire to be asked me for recommendation.
That is another quality of being a great leader; he should know how to be humble. That is why I
felt embarrassed in front of him as I was the one who was learning from him then there is no way

10LEADERSHIP
I could give him suggestion. Therefore in a very polite tone I expressed my thoughts in front of
him and told him to continue in the same way which helped to reach this position. I told him that
he should initiate innovative working style in order to boost up his team (Raelin 2016). I also
told him to keep his spirits high so that he can continue to be my role model for many more years
to come. The interaction ended on a good note which encouraged me to work harder for my
future. This assessment helped me to understand the necessity of being a good leader for the
improvement of an organization.
Conclusion
From this assignment it can be concluded that the three stages of observation, feedback
and reflection was effective for me in being a good leader. I could measure my skills and
capabilities in comparison to my role model. I understood that self- realization is the best way to
gauge one’s own qualities. Not only did I observe my chosen leader from a close distance but
also tried to adapt his qualities and develop myself. The two theories of Behavioral and Trait
theory made the learning easier for me and I got motivated in building myself up as a good
leader.

11LEADERSHIP
References
Antonakis, J. and Day, D.V. eds., 2017. The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
Boezeman, E.J. and Ellemers, N., 2014. Volunteer leadership: The role of pride and respect in
organizational identification and leadership satisfaction. Leadership, 10(2), pp.160-173.
Cameron, K.S., Quinn, R.E., DeGraff, J. and Thakor, A.V., 2014. Competing values leadership.
Edward Elgar Publishing.
Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.
Chemers, M., 2014. An integrative theory of leadership. Psychology Press.
Collinson, D., 2014. Dichotomies, dialectics and dilemmas: New directions for critical leadership
studies?. Leadership, 10(1), pp.36-55.
Daft, R.L., 2014. The leadership experience. Cengage Learning.
Day, D.V., Fleenor, J.W., Atwater, L.E., Sturm, R.E. and McKee, R.A., 2014. Advances in
leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory. The Leadership
Quarterly, 25(1), pp.63-82.
Dinh, J.E., Lord, R.G., Gardner, W.L., Meuser, J.D., Liden, R.C. and Hu, J., 2014. Leadership
theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing
perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), pp.36-62.

12LEADERSHIP
Fairhurst, G.T. and Connaughton, S.L., 2014. Leadership: A communicative
perspective. Leadership, 10(1), pp.7-35.
Frohlich, N. and Oppenheimer, J.A., 2015. Political leadership and collective goods. Princeton
University Press.
Hazy, J.K. and Uhl-Bien, M., 2015. Towards operationalizing complexity leadership: How
generative, administrative and community-building leadership practices enact organizational
outcomes. Leadership, 11(1), pp.79-104.
Johnson, C.E., 2017. Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Sage
Publications.
Johnston, M.W. and Marshall, G.W., 2016. Sales force management: Leadership, innovation,
technology. Routledge.
Klenke, K., 2016. Qualitative research in the study of leadership. Emerald Group Publishing
Limited.
Komives, S.R., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of
leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Miner, J.B., 2015. Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership.
Routledge.
Northouse, P.G., 2017. Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. Sage Publications.
Raelin, J.A., 2016. Imagine there are no leaders: Reframing leadership as collaborative
agency. Leadership, 12(2), pp.131-158.

13LEADERSHIP
Robertson, J., 2016. Coaching leadership: Building educational leadership capacity through
partnership. New Zealand Council for Educational Research. PO Box 3237, Wellington 6140
New Zealand.
Sanders, J.O., 2017. Spiritual leadership: Principles of excellence for every believer. Moody
Publishers.
Shapiro, J.P. and Stefkovich, J.A., 2016. Ethical leadership and decision making in education:
Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.
Tourish, D., 2014. Leadership, more or less? A processual, communication perspective on the
role of agency in leadership theory. Leadership, 10(1), pp.79-98.
Verba, S., 2015. Small groups and political behavior: A study of leadership. Princeton
University Press.
1.

14LEADERSHIP
Appendix
Question used in the feedback stage
1. What is the importance of leadership for effective organizational performance?
2. How did you develop yourself as an effective leader?
3. How did your team play a role in increasing the effectiveness?
4. What strategies did you implement for effective leadership in your hotel?
5. What are the difficulties you came across?
6. How did you overcome the difficulties?
7. What personal skills did you imbibe?
8. How do you want to improve your leadership style in the future?
9. What are the tips you want to give to the budding leaders?
10. What will be the negative impact on an organization due to ineffective leadership?