Ideas on Interpersonal Skills

This document provides ideas on interpersonal skills, including the difference between assertive, passive, and aggressive behavior, the process of effective decision making, the importance of effective communication in hospitality, strategies to deal with language barriers and hearing impairment barriers. It also discusses important ethical principles of hospitality managers and challenges of working in a multicultural environment.

SOME IDEAS ON INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
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Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
a) Describe the difference between assertive, passive and aggressive behavior..........................3
b) Explain the process of effective decision making....................................................................3
c) i) Explain why effective communication is important within a hospitality context................4
ii) Explain how you can use questioning effectively?.....................................................................5
d) i) Strategies to deal with language barriers to effective communication.................................5
ii) Strategies to deal with hearing impairment barriers to effective communication......................6
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Explain five important ethical principles of hospitality managers..................................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................8
Evaluate two challenges related to working in a multicultural environment and how those can be
dealt with?........................................................................................................................................8
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................10
a) Explain what is meant by conflict and sources that could lead to it......................................10
b) Discuss one strategy for conflict resolution...........................................................................10
Task 5.............................................................................................................................................11
a) Evaluate the given situation and explain how you would deal with this complaint..............11
References......................................................................................................................................12
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Task 1
a) Describe the difference between assertive, passive and aggressive behavior.
There is a big difference between being assertive and being aggressive. Many people think that
they are being misunderstood of being aggressive while trying to be assertive during a
conversation (Meter et al., 2019). Assertive people always try to convey their opinions in a
respectful manner to others, while aggressive people directly ignore listening to opinions of
others and say their opinions in a loud or attacking manner. However, passive people are those
people who are afraid of everything and do not speak up at all and talk about their opinions
regarding any matter. The assertive people speak openly, use conversational tone and make eye
contact and express their opinions in a polite manner with relaxed and open posture (Lee et al.,
2019). The aggressive people interrupt others, speak loudly, glare others, stand rigidly and
invade personal space of others and attack others with their opinions. However, the passive
people feel afraid to express their opinions at all, speak softly and totally avoid making eye
contact and show no expression.
For example, a study was done based on the “Motivation Types and Mental Health of UK
Hospitality Workers” by Yasuhiro Kotera. The results suggest that most of the aggressive and
argumentative behaviors of the guests were the main reasons for the deteriorating and distressed
mental conditions of workers (Kotera et al., 2018).
b) Explain the process of effective decision making.
An effective decision making is a process of making appropriate choices after identification of a
decision, collecting information and analyzing other alternative resolutions (Ward and Holland,
2018). There are various steps that need to be followed by each and every member related with
the organization while making an effective decision regarding any situation. Those are:
 Identifying the decision: Identifying the nature and purpose of making a decision is the
first step in the process of effective decision making.
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 Gathering information: Gathering information that are relevant for the process of
decision making like information related to both internal and external work; is the second
step in this process (Cokely et al., 2018).
 Identifying alternatives: Gathering information will probably help in identifying several
other paths of alternatives.
 Weighing the evidence: Thinking critically about the consequences and outcomes of
each and every alternative is important to choose the best one.
 Choosing among alternatives: After using sound cognitive skills, the most tactful
solution needs to be selected among the various alternatives.
 Taking action: The next step involves carrying out the selected solution in the most
tactful manner that will be beneficial for both the organization and employees (Bridge,
and Dodds, 2018).
 Reviewing the decision: The last step is the follow up procedure of the entire process in
order to confirm that the solution selected is the best and addresses the problem
effectively.
c) i) Explain why effective communication is important within a hospitality context.
Effective communication is important in every organization relating to the hospitality sector as it
helps organizations to enhance customer experiences which further helps in maximizing
goodwill of the same organizations in a long run. It is important for every hotel personnel to
possess effective communication skills, both interpersonal and professional, in order to allow
smooth flow of communication within the hotel. It will help in conveying total support to the
guests who feel that their every opinion, suggestion, feedback or complaint is considered
effectively by the hotel staffs and are taken care of (Jin et al., 2018). A proper communication
system will help the hotel managers to make staffs understand their roles and responsibilities
properly. It will teach them the important aspects of sound organizational behavior and how to
coordinate and behave with peers, seniors and guests so that it can satisfy the needs of
organization, its staffs as well as its guests at the same time. Effective communication process
involves conducting effective staff training, listening to employees, training staffs how to attend
guests and applying the mirror technique on guests. The mirror technique involves responding to
guests in the same way they often tend to communicate. Thus, effective communication
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improves customer service and helps staffs to understand instruction of managers effectively. It
further helps staffs to understand the latest technology adopted by hotels which boost their
confidence in approaching guests effectively (Alexander, 2018).
ii) Explain how you can use questioning effectively?
Questioning techniques can be used in five ways to ensure smooth flow of effective
communication within the organization. Questions can be classified in five kinds in
communicative skills. Those are the open and closed questions, funnel questions, probing
questions, leading questions and rhetorical questions. Close questions are generally associated
with a single word answer. For example, “Are you thirsty?” and “Where do you live?” However,
open questions are associated with longer answers like, “What happened there?” and”How may I
help you?”Funnel questions involve asking general questions in starting and then focusing on a
specific point more (Morrison et al., 2019). For example, “How many guests were involved in
the argument?”,”Were they adults or kids?” and “What were their ages?”Probing questions
involve finding out information in more details. For example, “At what time do you need this
report?” and “Do you need a draft before final submission?” Leading questions always try to
lead the respondent to interviewer’s way of thinking. For example, “What is the time estimate for
the completion of this project work?” and “Option three is better, isn’t it?” Rhetorical questions
are not questions actually. These are the statements made which appear as questions. For
example, “Isn’t Ron’s design work so creative?” Thus, right questions need to be asked in the
right situations in order to gather the most relevant information required for effective decision
making procedures (Stokhof et al., 2018). Each and every member of hotels can use any of the
five questioning techniques as per the situations to gather more information properly. This will
help them in improving their communication skills, avoiding misunderstandings and building
strong relationships with one another.
d) i) Strategies to deal with language barriers to effective communication
Language barriers are the most challenging communication barriers that are often found in
organizations of UK, especially in the Hospitality sector. Globalization has enabled people to
grab new job opportunities in various organizations of the world. People from different cultures,
languages and origins are coming together to work in the same organization and apt for
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achieving common organizational goals. Thus, they often face various problems in
communicating with each other due to diversity in languages. This problem often happens in
hospitality sectors. Apart from the diversity of languages, there are other kinds of language
barriers as well that most of the hotel staffs face regularly. Those involve use of more technical
languages by organizations or particular department of the organization which are difficult to
understand by the other departments. Another kind of language barrier can be dialects (Tamam,
2018). People can speak the same language but their style of speaking up can create
misunderstandings. Again some people suffer from dysphonia, hearing loss and stuttering.
Therefore appropriate strategies need to be developed by hotel managers in order to deal
effectively with these language barriers. The managers should use common and plain languages
while communicating with the staffs. They need to find an appropriate translation service to
handle diversity of languages within the workplace. They need to enlist bilingual interpreters
who can interpret information appropriately. They need to provide appropriate language classes
to staffs and train them to learn a common language that needs to be followed throughout the
organization. Finally, use of visual methods can prove more beneficial in dealing with language
barriers effectively (Giovannoni and Xiong, 2019).
ii) Strategies to deal with hearing impairment barriers to effective communication
Hearing impairment can cause a huge barrier in the flow of effective communication within the
organization. Successful communication can only be achieved with equal contributions of all the
members involved in the conversation. Even the persons with hearing loss utilize different
hearing aids to understand and communicate effectively; they still need proper support from all
the members involved in the conversation procedure to ensure effective communication. The
hotel managers need to face the hearing impaired staffs directly while communicating with them.
The manager should position himself in such a place where focus falls upon his words, rather
than the eyes of the listeners (Bennett et al., 2019). They should not talk from a distant place or
other room. They should speak slowly, clearly, naturally and distinctly without using loud voices
or exaggerating movements of mouth. They should address the person specially before beginning
any conversation to focus his attention. They should avoid talking fast and using complex
sentences. They should keep hands away from the face while talking. Again, the persons with
hearing disabilities need to position themselves in such ways so that they can listen and
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understand the entire conversation effectively. Again, the managers need to minimize extraneous
noise while communicating. They can further utilize the process of writing to share the pertinent
information with the persons with hearing impairment (DeVito, 2019).
Task 2
Explain five important ethical principles of hospitality managers.
Five important ethical principles of hospitality managers are:
Honesty: Hospitality managers are truthful and honest. They never deceive or mislead others on
behalf of misrepresentations.
Loyalty: Every hospitality manager demonstrates loyalty to their organizations in devotion to
work. They even demonstrate loyalty to peers through friendship in adversities. They never
disclose confidential information and avoid conflicts of interests. Even after accepting other
employment, they do not disclose any information regarding their former organizations (Myung,
2018).
Integrity: They demonstrate courage by doing that thing which they believe to be the most
appropriate in critical situations even when there are still other ways to deal with the situation.
Respect and concern for others: They are respectful, concerned, kind and compassionate. They
often follow the “Golden Rule” while considering the personal concerns of their peers. They
respect every stakeholder’s decisions (Deale et al., 2018).
Fairness: They are equitable and fair in all dealings. They do not take undue advantage of
other’s difficulties or mistakes and never abuse their power arbitrarily.
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Task 3
Evaluate two challenges related to working in a multicultural environment and how those
can be dealt with?
Two common challenges that are often faced by staffs in hospitality sectors due to multicultural
environment include:
Different professional etiquette
A hospitality organization can have different members who generally belong to different
cultures. They can have different workplace attitudes, behaviors, etiquette and values. Though
this diversity in workplace attitude can be sometimes beneficial for the organization, it can also
cause several ill feelings or misunderstandings among the team members (Zhang et al., 2018).
For example, the expectation of organizational hierarchy or formality along with working hours
can be sometimes conflicting among cultures. A Sweden colleague may not feel appropriate to
leave the hotel before his team seniors. However, a Japanese colleague can be used to a 7 hours
working day.
Strategies to deal with different professional etiquette:
Proper training should be given to all the team members of a hotel by the manager in the way of
adopting a common professional etiquette so that common workplace attitude can be developed
among all the team members throughout the organization. They should be provided appropriate
coaching classes to learn a common language that is known by all the members of the hotel
before allotting them the positions. This will bridge the gap of communication barriers among
colleagues of different cultures (Sue et al., 2019).
Conflicting and different working styles among teams
Due to diversity in cultures and different attitudes towards work, colleagues can have different
working styles which can create various conflicts within the organization. Some members can
like to work in a team with collective efforts towards accomplishment of common organizational
goals. However, some other members can like to work independently, without depending on the
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other members of a team. For example, many people of Central America and Asia like to work
collectively in a team. However, people of America and Germany love individual independence
while working (Wallensteen, 2018).
Strategies to deal with conflicting and different working styles among teams:
In order to deal with conflicts that occur within the hospitality sectors due to different working
styles of team members, the first thing that every hotel manager needs to do is to select a
competent cross-cultural team leader who can lead and motivate his team in the best possible
ways with the knowledge of all the cultures and languages of the world. The team leader should
have technical competency, personal competency, social competency and strategic competency.
The second step involves selection of an appropriate team that includes members from those
cultures that are well known by the team leader (Agusioma, 2019). The third step involves
building strong relationships with the team members so that collective efforts and team spirit can
be built towards accomplishment of the common organizational goals. The fourth steps involve
identifying the differences among team members and clarify expectations among them. The next
step involves continuous communication with team members and setting deadlines for work and
respecting the same. The last step involves assessing the team’s success towards successful
achievement of common goals.
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Task 4
a) Explain what is meant by conflict and sources that could lead to it.
A workplace conflict can be considered as a state of discord or disagreement among individuals
or groups of an organization on grounds of different values, interests or needs that can impact the
entire functioning of the organization to a large extent. The cultural diversity of the employees
working within the hospitality sectors often creates various conflicts among them while working
together as a team. Some of the common sources that could lead to organizational conflicts
include opposing interests of individuals working together as a team, their differing values and
work attitudes, their personality conflicts and personal problems. Moreover, poor communication
can also be the strongest source for the occurrence of such conflicts within an organization
(Gomez and Taylor, 2018).
b) Discuss one strategy for conflict resolution.
There are generally five strategies for effective conflict resolution. Those are accommodating,
avoiding, collaborating, compromising and competing. The best strategy that can be used by the
managers of hospitality sectors n the way of managing workplace conflicts effectively is the
collaborating strategy. As per this strategy, multiple people of the organization who are in
conflict of interests can set out integrating ideas that are acceptable by all. The main purpose of
this kind of strategy is to identify and find out an appropriate solution that can equally satisfy the
needs of all the members of the organization at the same time and can give equal benefits to all.
For example, The Hyatt Groups of UK were facing the problems of employee turnovers due to
various internal conflicts that arose within the organization among the employees and managers
(Singer, 2018). Thus, the managers of the concerned organization used the strategy of
collaborating to retain its employees successfully.
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Task 5
a) Evaluate the given situation and explain how you would deal with this complaint.
The given situation is very critical where a guest is very disappointed with his booking. He was
supposed to get a sea view room, however he was given the inland room. It is very obvious for
him to become rude and aggressive in this situation and complain for the injustice made to him
by the hotel staffs. If the situation is not handled properly and sensitively by the managers and
hotel staffs at this time, then it will force the guest to opt for a competitor hotel nearby.
Therefore, the hotel managers need to deal with the situation sensitively in a tactful manner.
They should apologize for the huge mistake made by them and convince the guest to wait until
they allot him another sea view room. Moreover, they should use an assertive tone while
convincing the guest in the most polite manner (Ward and Holland, 2018). However, if the sea
view room is not available in the hotel due to some or the other reasons, then they should
apologize to the guest and convey him the actual reasons behind unavailability of such rooms.
They should either convince the guest to stay in the room allotted to him or refund his advanced
booking money in order to make him satisfy at this point. Once the guest becomes satisfied by
either agreeing to stay in the allotted room or take the refund of the sea view room, then the sole
responsibility of the floor manager of the hotel include finding out the actual reasons for the
occurrence of such mistakes within the hotel (Wallensteen, 2018). The floor manager then needs
to interrogate all the floor staffs and front office staffs in order to find out the person who made
such kind of mistake while booking rooms over phone. After finding out the person who actually
did the wrong booking, the manager needs to ask him the reasons behind making such work
errors and make him understand the organizational values and how important they are to ensure
success and goodwill of the hotel in a long run. Thus, in this way the managers can handle the
situation tactfully and ensure that such mistakes and situations do not occur within the hotel in
future.
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References
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pp.1-11
2. Alexander, B.D., 2018. Communication in Multinational Hospitality Organizations (Doctoral
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