Transformational Leadership in the Hospitality Industry: Challenges and Reflections

This report discusses the challenges faced by leaders in the hospitality industry and how transformational leadership can help overcome them. It also highlights the qualities of a transformational leader and how they can improve team performance. The report reflects on the experience of the author as a leader in the hospitality industry.

Individual Reflection Report
Transformational Leadership

Contents
 Introduction
 Reflection
 Conclusion
 References

Introduction
Transformational leadership can be explained as the approach of leaders to adapt according to the changing
situations. In the rapidly developing world it is very important to keep updated and upgraded with constant
changes. There are many leaders throughout the world who have adopted transformational leadership to adapt
according to the changes (Holmes, 2020). This form of leadership is very important for improving the business
activities and it is the responsibility of leaders to be effective in enhancing their leadership styles, approaches
and values so that better company culture can be created. Hilton hotels and resorts is an international brand
that provides full customer services related to hotels and resorts, it is headquartered in Virginia, US, and was
established in the year 1919. The report will provide a reflection of my experience as a leader for
demonstrating transformational leadership. In this context, it will provide various challenges faced by the
leaders in the hospitality sector.

Reflection
A leader may possess three or four different
types of leadership styles to be effective with
their leadership practice. Within the hospitality
organisation a person needs to possess
charisma, honesty, visionary, takes control,
motivating and many other characteristics for
contouring their business activities. There are
many challenges while leading hospitality
businesses and a person requires exclusive
abilities to lead effectively in the Hilton hotels.

Continue
Covid-19 crisis has affected almost all the industries
and sectors throughout the globe. The hospitality
industry has faced the hardest Times during the
covid-19 pandemic that has challenged the leadership
abilities of the people. These challenges were related
to improving the safety and health of employees and
customers, maintaining cash reserves, managing and
deteriorating stress of the employees, maintaining
good relations with the stakeholders, the resilience
and agility of leaders, operations management, and
safe environment.

Continue
With the help of research that identifies the
experience of hospitality leaders I have obtained that
hospitality leaders including general managers, vice
president, directors and CEO of hotels, resorts,
restaurants, good service etc. There are various
leadership challenges that include maintaining a safe
working environment for the employees, safety of
customers, maintaining good relationship holders,
resilient leadership, dance rating, apathy and agility
etc. (Bartsch and et. al., 2020).

Continue
It is important for every manager to fulfil the
requirements of their customers and employees by
identifying best practices that can enhance their
performance and productivity. For becoming an
effective and efficient leader I have identified that
positive changes must be made for reaching the goals
and objectives of the organisation. I have recognised
that a transformational leadership approach can be
very much helpful to become exceptional leaders and
by this approach various strengths and opportunities
can be utilised for improving practices of leading
according to the dynamic changes.

Continue
A transformational leadership is an approach that
helps to transform or change individuals according to
the changing conditions and requirements within a
dynamic situation. Within the Hilton hotel there are
many requirements and changes that are faced by the
leaders on a daily basis and it is very important for the
managers to adopt those changes. The
transformational leadership can be helpful to enhance
the activities of an organisation and achieve the
success of the organisation in much better ways
(Kwan, 2020).

Continue
Idealised influence explains the ability of leaders to
idealise themselves as role models with best practices,
skills and abilities so that others could try to improve
themselves. Transformational leadership approach is
very effective because it does not only enhance the
performance of leaders but it also helps to improve
the performance of associates and other employees. I
have identified that within the Hilton hotel the
transformational leadership can provide a wide range
of options for becoming an effective leader and
improving the performance of the organisation.

Continue
Transformational leadership helps to empower others
working in a team and helps to improve their
participation for adapting to change (Alrowwad and
Abualoush, 2020). There are many characteristics of
transformational leadership that are possessed by an
individual and it is helpful to apply behaviours that
can improve the team performance. The leadership
traits and qualities that are possessed by
transformational leaders are given below.

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Talent for broadening minds can help to shift the
perspectives of people towards new ways by
understanding their current mind sets and re-
designing their thinking process. Transformational
leaders focus on understanding the requirements of
people and the need for change and preparing plans
for those changes. Active listening is very necessary
for transformational leaders because it helps to
understand their colleagues and team members more
easily.

Continue
Taking intelligent risk is another quality of
transformational leaders because
transformational leaders identify the risks
involved in their decisions (Kim and Park,
2020). By doing so transformational leaders
could develop better ideas to handle those risks
and achieve success. Willingness to accept
responsibility is very necessary for
transformational leaders because I think the
leaders who take responsibility for their actions
are much more favoured by their team members
and colleagues.

Continue
Trusting the members and colleagues is another
crucial characteristic of a transformational leader that
inspires their team members to perform more
effectively and efficiently. These characteristics can
be helpful in improving the leadership abilities of an
individual and I think these abilities of
transformational leadership could be helpful to
transform an individual in global leader. These
abilities, skills and qualities of a transformational
leader can help to improve the abilities of leaders in
crossing cultures or countries.

Conclusion/Summary
It has been obtained from the above report that transformational leadership is very much helpful to enhance the
abilities of an individual to adapt changes easily. Moreover, it has been discussed that many challenges within
the hospitality industry are faced by the leaders such as, constantly changing customer demand, managing safety
and health, employee and customer satisfaction, managing funds, employee engagement and motivation etc.
There are many challenges that are faced by the leaders in the hospitality business on a daily basis and it is
necessary to develop certain qualities that can help them to tackle those problems. In this context, it has been
identified that various changes in the leadership and the qualities of transformational leadership can be adopted
to improve motivation, influence, idealisation and communication with the team.

Reference List
• Agee, N.H., 2020. Leadership in disruptive times: The key to changing healthcare. Frontiers of Health
Services Management, 36(3), pp.3-11.
• Alrowwad, A. A. and Abualoush, S. H., 2020. Innovation and intellectual capital as intermediary variables
among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and organizational performance. Journal of
Management Development.
• Bartsch, S. and et. al., 2020. Leadership matters in crisis-induced digital transformation: how to lead service
employees effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Service Management.
• Holmes, G., 2020. From the archives: Effective leadership in changing times. Australian Educational
Leader, 42(3), pp.66-68.
• Kim, E.J. and Park, S., 2020. Transformational leadership, knowledge sharing, organizational climate and
learning: an empirical study. Leadership & organization development journal.

Questions?

Thank You