Work-Based Learning: Identifying Roles and Effectiveness of Supervising in Front Office Department in Hotels

This study explores the roles and effectiveness of supervising in the front office department of hotels, and how it can help hotels achieve their goals. It discusses the project life cycle and analysis models used to evaluate supervising projects, and reflects on the experience and learning gained from completing the project.

Work-Based Learning

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1. Planned and initiated the project and setting targets, aims and objectives for supervising
project:.........................................................................................................................................3
2. Managing controlling and evaluating the progress of supervising with the help of project
life cycle:......................................................................................................................................5
3. Benefit of each stage of aims and objectives of supervising project:......................................7
4. Reflection and evaluation on experience and learning at workplace.......................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Work based learning can be defined as an educational strategy that provides people and
students real life work experience and they can develop their employability by using those skills
and experience (Andresen, Boud and Cohen, 2020). This study is based on Apart hotel Cheval
the Edinburgh Grand, located in the town of Edinburgh. It provides excellent hotel services to
customers. This study is based on a project of identifying roles and effectiveness of supervising
in hotels and ways in which it helps out hotel in accomplishing goals and smooth operational
functions. It will discuss each stage of project lifecycle and their importance in completing
project successfully. Further, it will discuss some ways by which project manager can
accomplish their set goals related to project and ways in which they can make beneficial to target
people. Lastly, it will reflect on effectiveness of SWOT, PESTLE and skills that can help out in
completing project.
MAIN BODY
1. Planned and initiated the project and setting targets, aims and objectives for supervising
project:
Front office manager have certain projects which allow them to understand their role and
responsibility in the workplace, supervising is one of the most required responsibility of front
manager. This supervising process of front office manager is different from supervising they
perform in the workplace, here front office manager use new way of managing staff and
supervising them, these new way may include use of the latest technology and allow employee to
explore new way of doing their job (Martinsuo, Klakegg and van Marrewijk, 2019). This
requires manager to not only look after activities of front desk but this also allow them to
supervise overall management of the workplace in The Edinburgh Grand. Front office manager
lead and perform certain task at front desk for example check in & out, reservation and special
service. Apart from these basic project, front office manager have to supervise team under them.
Supervising push skills and ability of staff member allowing them to increase customer
satisfaction. Supervising can be effectively done if:
Planning: making supervision more effective, front office manager have to plan certain things.
Every hotel business want to improve customer satisfaction which only can be possible is the
stakeholders of the business are satisfied (Orgut and et.al., 2020). Keeping staff and their skill

level maintain is one of the most challenging thing for The Edinburgh Grand, they adopt
supervising as the key project to improve staff satisfaction. Supervising allow hotel not only to
understand knowledge and skill level of employee but to examine the need of staff which
improve their productivity in the work. To implement supervising plan, front office manager
have to set aims and objectives, these aims and objectives are:
Aims: aim of supervising is to improve performance of staff member in the workplace, front
office manager have aim to increase overall customer satisfaction which only can be possible
when staff perform effectively (Wirtz, 2020). Apart from improving staff member productivity,
supervising have another aim to reduce any risk of failure during the business process. The aim
of this supervising project is to bring easiness in the workplace of Edinburgh Grand.
Objectives: objective of supervising is to promote efficiency of business, front office manager
need to develop certain action to meet the requirement of the objectives which has been set
(Ramirez, 2018). Supervising need training and development program of both front office
manager and staff member of the Edinburgh Grand.
Initiation process: the idea of supervising is explored to the stakeholders of the hotel, their
involvement will be beneficial in the process. Initiation stage of supervising project highlight
certain area which need to be taken into consideration to meet the requirement of supervising a
hotel. These include:
Feasibility check: the idea of supervising will push skills and ability of front office manager, this
process need to be feasible to meet the satisfaction level of staff member. Supervising project is
one of the most feasible because this will unlock those areas of improvement which need special
consideration of stakeholder.
Stakeholder check: stakeholder play vital role in supervising process of front office manager,
this project need to be understood by those stakeholders who have high power and high interest
in the hotel for example general manager. Supervising process only can be possible if general
manager provide resource and advice. After the approval of general manager, front office
manager can start supervising process in the workplace of The Edinburgh Grand.
Setting target: front office manager have to set certain target such as target is to increase skill
level of staff member which will required training and development process as well, monitoring
their performance will allow front office manager to understand completion of target within
particular time frame.

2. Managing controlling and evaluating the progress of supervising with the help of project life
cycle:
Supervising project of front office manager allow them to overview their staff member,
this project help front office manager not only to complete front desk duties but to manage the
effectiveness of staff member. With the help of project life cycle, they can manage, monitor and
evaluate progress of supervising project (Pretorius, 2019). Project life cycle provide clear
understanding of the step required in successful management of project, every project can be
analysed through certain step in product life cycle. Project life cycle is process of understand the
forward motion of project developed by hotel there are certain stage of product life cycle, these
are:
Initiating stage: initiating is first ever stage which allow manager to overview project developed
by them, for supervising project of front office manager, they need to involve certain stakeholder
of the company to understand their viewpoint in supervising staff member. This stage will help
front office manager to develop strategies require in supervising of staff member and also to
analyse scope that drive success for the project. Initiating stage provide clear and cohesive vision
to front office manager, they can arrange certain resource, budget, technology and other
requirement in supervising project. Supervising project need certain resource in the process such
as latest technology where staff member can use these technologies which will improve their
productivity in the workplace. Apart from technology there are various other things required in
initiation stage which include involvement of stakeholder in the process. Front office manager of
The Edinburgh Grand need involvement of important stakeholder in supervising process.
Planning stage: planning is heart of every project, without planning a business can not process
any project. Planning stage is very important for front office manager when supervising staff
member and workplace, planning include understanding the requirement of certain resource
which include, training and development program, budget and other resource (Letunovska,
Dalechin and Bieliaieva, 2017). The supervising project of front office manager need effective
planning because supervising process can be very challenging. Front office manager have to
analyse key factors which help them to achieve success in supervising project. Planning stage of
supervising project shows that front office manager have to develop various strategies such as
strategy to improve workplace culture, strategy to use the latest technology in the process and

strategy to improve online experience of guest. Front office manager need breakdown structure
to breakdown every step required in effective supervising process.
Executing stage: executing stage is most important stage of project life cycle, this stage is final
where project need to be executed. Front office manager of The Edinburgh Grand have to be
careful at this stage of executing supervising project because there are certain risk associated.
Here front office manager have to put plan into action, supervising project will going to face
various barrier such as lack of employee engagement, lack of resource and other barrier.
Supervising process will ensure quality of work, if the front office manager did not remain active
in this stage then their project result in failure which will push staff member to go off track.
When executing supervising project in the workplace, front line manager may face risk of failure
due to employee's and their engagement in the process. This stage only can be successful if the
front office manager have skills and ability to push employee towards accomplishing of aims and
objectives of this project.
Monitoring stage: after executing stage, monitoring of project is crucial. Monitoring allows
business to examine process of executed project, front office manager need to monitor success
rate of executed project. They can look at certain key performance indicator to understand which
part of the project have performed efficiently. Front office manager have to keep eye on
supervising project and keep looking at the area where project tend to perform low, monitoring
will allow manager to control those areas which are not performing as per the requirement
(Russell, Pferdehirt and Nelson, 2018). Front office manager of The Edinburgh Grand have to
monitor progress of supervising project in the workplace, they can use various tools and
techniques to monitor progress, these tools and techniques are; checklist which ensure the
deadline of the project and allow staff member to follow certain guidelines provided by front
office manager. Front office manager even can use software such as work breakdown structure
and Gantt chart to monitor the progress of supervising project.
Closing stage: closing stage is final stage where business will calculate the outcome of the
project, this stage will help business to understand what step should be taken in next project. In
supervising project of front office manager, they need to check whether their supervising project
have meet the expected outcome or not. There are other projects of front office manager such as
increasing customer satisfaction, scheduling task, checking process and front desk. These project
only can be completed if the front office manager have insight of previous project which was

supervising. Outcome of supervising project will allow front office manager of The Edinburgh
Grand to develop next project.
3. Benefit of each stage of aims and objectives of supervising project:
Supervising project of front office manager allow hotel to improve performance of staff
member, at the completion of the supervising project, front office manager had certain benefits
of aims and objectives which they have developed, there are certain benefit of supervising
project which front office manager had in the hotel, these are:
Enhanced accountability: supervising project of front office manager enhance the
accountability of firm's performance, these supervising activities allow manager to increase
productivity of employee and push them to meet the requirement of organizational goal and
objectives (Romzek and Dubnick, 2018). Supervising activities of Front office manager provide
effective support to staff member to tend to have difficulty in the workplace. On the completion
of supervising project, enhanced accountability is one of the biggest benefit, front office manager
will have.
Improve relationship: supervising project of front office manager help staff member to improve
relationship with management, when employee face any kind of barrier in the workplace then
their performance tend to decrease which impact the hotel. Supervising of front office manager
allow employee to feel supported and remain more active in the workplace. Employee try to
remain effective in with effective supervision. The aim of supervising project was to bring
easiness in the workplace of Edinburgh Grand and to improve working relationship of staff
member.
Improved skills: supervising project of front office manager help staff member to sharpen their
skills. At completion of supervising project of front office manager, it is very clear that
employee's engagement tend to increased in the supervising process. Objective behind this
project was to sharpen the skills of staff member and allow them to explore certain area of
improvement in the workplace.
4. Reflection and evaluation on experience and learning at workplace
In regard to this project of identifying effectiveness and roles of supervising in front
office department in hotels, I can say that supervising is one of the main key of success of
hospitality sector and hotels. I have learned so many new things by completing this project. I
have found importance of supervising and the extent to which supervisor play their role and to

extent to which they help out hotels in accomplishing goals. After completing this project, I
measured effectiveness of its effectiveness and overall performance. When I was conducting this
project on supervising and its roles then I made use of my critical analysis and decision making
skills. I had a little knowledge about supervising (Wrigley, Wolifson and Matthews, 2021). I
believe that my ability to research and development helped me out in gathering information
regarding supervising and roles that supervisor play and ways in which they help out hotels in
managing operations. Past experience also plays a vital role as I have worked for hotels in past
for 6-7 months and from that experience, I had little knowledge about supervising and this
experience also helped me out in writing all about supervisor. From this past experience, I came
to know that supervisor’s role is not limited to just looking after activities of front desk but also
to supervise overall management of the workplace.
For making this project effective, I made use of SWOT, PESTLE and porter’s 5 forces
analysis models. I strongly believe that external and internal environmental factors affect overall
performance of companies and projects. For protecting ourselves from negative impacts of
changing factors and making this project successful, I analyzed both types of factors. I found
effectiveness of SWOT analysis model as I found that this tool can help us out in knowing our
own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as threats that can occur while completing
projects (Cheung and et.al., 2018). By knowing all of these, we can make use of strategies
accordingly and can protect ourselves from negative impacts of these factors. As like SWOT
analysis model, PESTLE model also plays a vital role as it helped me out in identifying current
politician, economic and social situations. On the basis of social and technological factors, I
found that customers in hotel do not want to wait in queue for check ins and check out and for
satisfying them, it has become important for supervisors to supervise operations of hotel and
manage everything. In addition, I can say that porter’s five force model also plays a vital role as
it helps us out in identifying current competition within market and companies implement as well
as develop their strategies as per the competition. It makes us know about bargaining power of
customers as the project of this study was identifying roles of supervising in hotels so, there was
no need to apply this model (Gareeb and Rwelamila, 2021). Overall, I can say that it increased
my knowledge to the great extent and my skills of research and development, decision making,
problem solving as well as previous experience made me able in completing this project in a
successful manner.

CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above study that supervising and roles of supervisor in
hotels play a vital role as they help out hotels in smooth running of their operations. It has further
discuss each stage of project lifecycle in a detailed manner and ways in which it enables project
managers in completing project in a successful manner. It has further discussed reasons of
monitoring and controlling as it also makes project managers able in knowing effectiveness of
their project.

REFERENCES
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