The Developing Manager: A Comprehensive Guide to Management Skills and Career Development

This comprehensive guide explores the essential aspects of management, encompassing various management styles, leadership characteristics, communication processes, organizational culture, and change management. It delves into the importance of self-assessment, SWOT analysis, and setting career objectives. The guide also provides practical insights into leading and motivating teams, justifying managerial decisions, and developing a personalized career development plan. This resource is invaluable for aspiring managers seeking to enhance their skills and navigate their career paths effectively.

THE DEVELOPING MANAGER

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1..............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 COMPARE DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT STYLES......................................................................3
1.2 DISCUSS LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS..............................................................................5
1.3 EVALUATE COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN SELECTED BUSINESSES..................................7
1.4 ANALYZE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND CHANGE IN SELECTED BUSINESSES.................9
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................10
2.1 ASSESS OWN MANAGEMENT SKILLS PERFORMANCE.........................................................10
2.2 ANALYZE PERSONAL STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS............12
2.3 SET AND PRIORITIZE OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS TO DEVELOP OWN POTENTIAL..............13
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................14
3.1 LEAD AND MOTIVATE A TEAM TO ACHIEVE AN AGREED GOAL OR OBJECTIVE..................14
3.2 JUSTIFY MANAGERIAL DECISIONS MADE TO SUPPORT ACHIEVEMENT OF AGREED GOAL
OR OBJECTIVE AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS............................................16
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................17
4.1 EXPLAIN HOW OWN MANAGERIAL AND PERSONAL SKILLS WILL SUPPORT CAREER
DEVELOPMENT..........................................................................................................................17
4.2 REVIEW CAREER AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS, CURRENT PERFORMANCE AND
FUTURE NEEDS TO PRODUCE DEVELOPMENT PLAN.................................................................18
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................21
1

INTRODUCTION
The industry of travel and tourism is growing at an extremely fast rate. The continuously
growing up of this industry has also enhanced the growth of hospitality industry, sports
industry, leisure industry, and food industry of the different nations of the world. There are
several different organizations present in the United Kingdom, which belongs to these different
industries. The major aim of every organization of the hospitality industry or the travel and
tourism industry is to become the leading organization in the international market and to
achieve the higher amount of market shares. In order to achieve this major aim of the
organization, the role of a manager is very vital as well as significant.
The following assignment thus discusses the importance of a manager’s role within the
organizations belonging from the hospitality industry and travel and tourism sector. The two
organizations that are selected for this assignment are “Trailfinders” and “First Choice”. Both
of these organizations are the leading tour operators of the United Kingdom that serves their
respective targeted customers with the various types of tour and holiday packages. This
subsequent assignment also focuses on the personal skills and the ways in which an individual
can develop management skills within oneself.
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TASK 1
1.1 COMPARE DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT STYLES
There is an assortment of different management styles that are followed by the managers of
different organizations like Trailfinders and First Choice. These different styles of management
depend on the existing situation within the workplace and the skills of a manager to adopt
them. The diverse types of management styles that are followed by the managers of First
Choice and Trailfinders are as follows;
AUTHORITARIAN LEADERSHIP MANAGERIAL STYLE
In this type of management style, the managers of an organization have complete power and
authority over the staff members within the workplace. The managers develop all the goals and
strategies to achieve those goals. These strategies are then directed to the employees and then
their performances are very closely supervised by the managers (Bones, 2018).
DEMOCRATIC MANAGERIAL STYLE
This type of management style is opposite to that of the autocratic style of management. In this
management style, the employees are given more opportunities and authorities to participate
in the company’s decision-making procedure and to express their viewpoints freely within the
organization. This type of management style is mostly followed by the managers of Trailfinders
and First Choice. Although the employees are given with many opportunities and freedom to
participate in the decision-making procedure, still the control and guidance to them are
provided by the managers in the association.
LAISSEZ FAIRE MANAGERIAL STYLE
In this type of management style, the managers of an organization get their hands-off from the
organizational tasks and allow the staff members to make decisions within the workplace
(Bovee, 2014).
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The major difference between these three types of management styles is the participation of
the managers in the decision-making process. This type of management style is mostly followed
by the managers of Trailfinders and First Choice.
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1.2 DISCUSS LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS
LEADERSHIP
The aptitude or capability of a person within an organization to lead the group of people under
his/her guidance towards the successful achievement of work is known as leadership. Every
organization such as Trailfinders and First Choice of the travel and tourism industry hires
different leaders on the basis of their leadership skills and characteristic traits. Some of the key
leadership characteristics that are possessed by the leaders of First Choice and Trailfinders are
as follows;
INTEGRITY: - It refers to the quality of having strong moral principles of being an honest person.
A successful leader possesses the characteristic of integrity within oneself and always remains
honest with the work (Brunstein, 2018).
GREAT COMMUNICATION SKILLS: - One of the major roles of a leader is to communicate the
desired strategies and policies to the team members within the workplace, and thus it is very
important for a leader to possess great verbal as well as non-verbal communication skills.
TIME-KEEPING: - It refers to a process of reporting and tracking times of the employees’
working and leaving. It is very important for a leader to effectively manage the process of time-
keeping within the workplace.
TECHNICAL SKILLS: - It refers to the skills that are needed by a leader to perform t4echnical
related tasks within the organization (Burke, et al 2017).
SOCIAL SKILLS: - These are the skills in which an individual develops a relationship with the
other people and society through proper communication. A leader must possess this
characteristic so as to become successful within the workplace.
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Thus, these are some of the important leadership characteristics that must be owned by the
leaders of Trailfinders and First Choice, so as to ensure successful growth of their organization
in the market.
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1.3 EVALUATE COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN SELECTED BUSINESSES
The process of exchanging data or information between two or more than two entities is known
as communication. There are different types of communication processes that can be carried
out by using different types of methods. In the businesses of travel and tourism organizations,
the importance as well as the significance of effective communication is very high. In the sector
of travel and tourism, the customers are majorly the tourists who travel from one destination
to another in order to gain different types of tourism experiences. Thus, it is very important for
the organizations belonging to this sector to develop and implement effective communication
strategies within their respective workplaces, so as to attract more and more customers
towards the organization, as well as to achieve higher amount of competitive advantages within
the international market of the United Kingdom (Cardon, 2017).
There are several different types of communication processes such as; internal communication,
external communication, formal and informal communication, mass communication, upward
and downward communication, etc. Out of these different types of communication, the
communication process in the selected organizations is as follows;
COMMUNICATION PROCESS IN TRAILFINDERS
The process of communication that is used within Trailfinders is “Downward Communication
(top-to-bottom communication)”. In this type of communication process, the communication
within the workplace is carried out from the top entity to the bottom entity of the
organizational structure, i.e. from CEO to the general employees.
COMMUNICATION PROCESS IN the FIRST CHOICE
The process of communication that is used within Trailfinders is “Upward Communication
(bottom-to-top communication)”. This type of communication process is opposite to that of
the downward communication process. In this process of communication, the hierarchy of
communication starts with the employees and ends with the organization's CEO. Thus, these
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are the different types of the communication process that is used within organizations like
Trailfinders and First Choice.
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1.4 ANALYZE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND CHANGE IN SELECTED
BUSINESSES
Organizational culture is referred to a shared way of doing things for the staff members and
other entities that are working within an organization. Every organization follows different
types of organizational culture as per the company's existing needs and requirements. There
are several different researchers in the world who proposed different theories and models
regarding the organizational culture that is followed by an association (Kashyap, 2018).
According to the Charles Handy’s typology, there are four different types of organizational
cultures. They are; role culture, power culture, task culture, and person culture. Out of these
different types of organizational culture, Trailfinders follows role culture within its workplace,
whereas First Choice follows task culture within the organization.
There are several different impacts of an organizational culture on an organization from the
travel and tourism sector. An organizational culture that is followed by a company has impacts
on the different factors such as; productivity, performance of the employees, profitability, and
customer care policies, etc. In Trailfinders, role organizational culture is followed, and it allows
the employees of the company to participate in the organization’s decision-making procedure.
Thus, it has positive impacts on the employees’ performance as well as productivity of the
company. On the other hand, First Choice follows task organizational culture within the
organization, which allows it to generate better profits for the organization’s business.
When an organization such as Trailfinders or First Choice goes under the change of
organizational culture, then there are several challenges that are to be faced by the
management for managing those changes. The major challenges include; changing behaviour of
the employees, decrease in the productivity and sales, diminishing of company’s brand value in
the market, etc.
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TASK 2
2.1 ASSESS OWN MANAGEMENT SKILLS PERFORMANCE
Being a prospective manager at the Clayton Crown Hotel London, it is very important for me to
analyze my own personal skills and the appropriate management skills that are required by to
become a successful manager of the hotel. The skills that are required to manage different
business operations of an organization, as well as the skills required to effectively develop and
implement different strategies for the development of the company is known as management
skills (Hunt, et al. 2016).
There is an assortment of different management skills that I must possess and develop within
myself in order to become an effective manager of the Clayton Crown Hotel London. These
management skills and characteristics of hotel management are different than the ones
required for the management of other businesses. These skills which I must learn and develop
include;
COMMUNICATION SKILLS: - Development of good communication skills would allow me to
effectively communicate with the employees as well as the customers of the organization.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS: - Being a manager of the hotel, it would become necessary to manage the
teams of employees within the workplace, thus leadership skills would help me to make
appropriate decisions and effectively lead the teams towards success (James, et al. 2015).
TIME MANAGEMENT: - Another important skill that I need to develop being a prospective
manager at Clayton Crown Hotel London is time management skill. This skill will enable me to
develop appropriate plans and strategies as per the desired deadlines.
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TECHNICAL SKILLS: - A manager of a hospitality industry needs to consist of different technical
skills so as to cop-up with the latest technological changes that take within the organization
(Jones, 2013).
Thus, the above-mentioned are some of the skills which I must learn and develop in order to
become a successful manager at Clayton Crown Hotel London.
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2.2 ANALYZE PERSONAL STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND
THREATS
In order to analyze my own personal strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities; the
SWOT analysis is to be carried out. My personal SWOT analysis being a prospective manager at
Clayton Crown Hotel London is as follows;
STRENGTH
 Leadership skills
 Management of teams
 Technical knowledge
 Good communication skills
WEAKNESS
 Lack of confidence
 Nervousness during high-pressure
situations
 Poor skills of customer interactions
OPPORTUNITY
 Development of confidence
 Learning of new skills
 Promotion within the workplace
THREATS
 Internal competition within the
workplace for promotion
 The time required to learn new skills
 Health-related issues
Thus, these are my strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities.
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2.3 SET AND PRIORITIZE OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS TO DEVELOP OWN
POTENTIAL
As analyzed from my own SWOT analysis, there are different strengths, weaknesses, threats
and opportunities that I possess. On the basis of these four factors, I have developed some
career objectives and targets as per my own potential to become a successful manager at
Clayton Crown Hotel London. These objectives and targets on the basis of my priority are as
follows;
 To develop and improve leadership skills within myself, I will follow different types of
leadership styles such as; supportive leadership, participative leadership, directive
leadership, etc. (Laforet, 2016).
 To improve my verbal as well as non-verbal communication skills so as to interact
effectively with the organization’s employees and customers in the market.
 To improve my level of self-confidence, I would learn about different motivational
theories and concepts.
Thus, these are some of the major career objectives regarding my own personal skills and
potential. On the basis of my actual performance, there are some shortcomings that are
identified, such as; challenges faced during the communication of messages within the
workplace, inappropriate interaction with the customers of the hotel, etc.
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TASK 3
3.1 LEAD AND MOTIVATE A TEAM TO ACHIEVE AN AGREED GOAL OR
OBJECTIVE
An organization like Frankie & Benny's restaurant develops an assortment of different goals and
objectives that can be achieved through effective team working. In order to lead and motivate a
team within the restaurant, the different theories that can be followed by the company’s
leaders include;
TUCKMAN’S THEORY OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT
According to this theory, there are basically five stages that are involved in the development of
a team. These five stages include; forming, norming, storming, performing, and adjourning. If
these stages are effectively followed by the leaders of the restaurant, then it could effectively
aid to lead and motivate the teams (Lussier, et al. 2015).
Figure: 1. Tuckman’s Theory of Team Development
[Source: Cardon, 2014]
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ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION THEORY
According to this theory, an individual within the workplace can gain motivation through three
major facets such as; affiliation, power, and achievement. If these aspects are fulfilled by the
leaders of the association, then the team members can be effectively motivated, and their level
of performance can also be enhanced.
Thus, these are two theories with the help of which the leaders can lead and motivate a team
within the restaurant.
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3.2 JUSTIFY MANAGERIAL DECISIONS MADE TO SUPPORT ACHIEVEMENT OF
AGREED GOAL OR OBJECTIVE AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS
As discussed above, leading and motivating a team within the workplace can aid to achieve
agreed objectives and goals of the association. In order to support this achievement, there are
several managerial decisions that can be made by the management committee of the Frankie &
Benny's restaurant. Managerial decision making aids to develop strategies to solve problems
and issues within the organization. The steps that are involved in the managerial decision
making with respect to the Frankie & Benny's restaurant are as follows;
ESTABLISHMENT OF OBJECTIVES
In order to make managerial decisions within the restaurant, the management committee of
the organization must first establish the company’s objectives (Otley, et al. 2016).
PROBLEM DEFINING
Once the objectives are developed, the next step is to define the major problems and their
nature within the workplace.
IDENTIFICATION OF ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
The third step of managerial decision making at Frankie & Benny's restaurant is the
identification of alternative solutions. The managers of the organization analyze different
variables in order to determine alternative solutions of problem-solving.
IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISION
The last step of managerial decision making with respect the Frankie & Benny's restaurant is
the implementation of decisions.
Thus, by following these steps, the managerial decisions can be made within the restaurant.
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TASK 4
4.1 EXPLAIN HOW OWN MANAGERIAL AND PERSONAL SKILLS WILL SUPPORT
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Career development is the ongoing process of developing individual's career. Career
development consists managing career within the organizational context and connects the
objective of an individual which helps in developing the career. Career management is also
needed for developing the career where it involves the short-term goal of an individual which
intended to be achieved in short run. For becoming a successful manager, it is important to
have some managerial skills as well as personal skills which is helpful in contributing towards
the goal of an organization and could be helpful in communicating with the customers,
stakeholders, directors, employees etc. (Laforet, 2016).
Thus, managerial and personnel skills plays a crucial role in developing one's career so it is
important to adopt managerial skills such as communication skills to communicate with the
members, interpersonal skills to coordinate with my team members, ability to problem-solving
and decision-making capabilities, conceptual skills which can be helpful in the planning of
strategy, time management for achieving the task on time. There are certain personal skills as
well which are helpful in the organization as well as career development of an individual. These
skills are leadership traits which are helpful in motivating a team, developing a plan to achieve
goals, societal skills for creating a relationship with team members and customers, monitoring
skills to guide the subordinates towards the goal of an organization.
Therefore, I need to adopt these above managerial and personal skills which shows their
importance in the growth of career and through which an individual cannot only contribute
towards the goal of an organization but also in the development of one’s career.
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4.2 REVIEW CAREER AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS, CURRENT
PERFORMANCE AND FUTURE NEEDS TO PRODUCE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
It is required to develop a proper career development plan in a written format which examines
the present and future requirements of an individual and analyzing the actions which need to
enhance for the development of career. For developing the performance of an individual, the
development plan is very helpful and also improves the individual performance towards the
achievement of organizational goal. The plan gives the information to an individual about his
goals and needs for future development with the analysis of current performance. The career
development plan consists of the following:
Goals to be achieved
Duration of
Completion Arrangements for attaining the objective
Communication Skills 3 Months
The skills of communication which needs to
adopt as a manager, I will work on it by
joining classes
Leadership Skills 2 months
I will go learn various characters and duty of
leadership styles and choose the most
suitable which can be helpful in developing
my personal and professional life (Laforet, et
al. 2016).
Team Formation and
Managerial skills
Continues Learning
and Improvement
I will support my team in solving their issues
which will also develop my leadership skills
Working on Stress and
Anger 2 months
Through my classes, I will control my stress
and anger for handling issues of my team
towards the achievement of a goal
Risk and Problem
Management
Constant Knowledge
and Expansion Through my past experiences, I will try to
analyze the possible risk which affects the
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organization so, I will try to develop the
measures which can minimize the risk
factors
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CONCLUSION
From the above-discussed report, it can be concluded that there are several different
organizations present in the United Kingdom, which belongs to these different industries. The
major aim of every organization of the hospitality industry or the travel and tourism industry is
to become the leading organization in the international market and to achieve a higher amount
of market shares. In order to achieve this major aim of the organization, the role of a manager
is very vital as well as significant.
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