4LI011 Portfolio 1: Assistant General Manager Role and Reflection

This portfolio, created by a student, presents a comprehensive reflection on their role as an Assistant General Manager at Ibis Styles London Southwark, aligning with the 4LI011 Academic Skills module. The portfolio begins with a self-profile, outlining career aspirations and motivations for the course. It then delves into a detailed reflection on learning styles, utilizing the VARK model to analyze personal and team dynamics. The portfolio continues with a reflection on group work experiences, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of teamwork and highlighting the importance of diverse skills and cooperation. A mini-essay provides an overview of the Ibis Styles hotel brand, its operational strategies, and its adaptation to the hospitality industry. The portfolio concludes with a self-assessment of performance, outlining areas for improvement and an action plan for professional development.

Portfolio
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Table of Contents
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
Job profile and introduction.........................................................................................................3
Reflection on learning style.........................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
Reflection on group work............................................................................................................4
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................5
Mini essay....................................................................................................................................5
TASK 5 ...........................................................................................................................................7
Reflection on performance and action planning..........................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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TASK 1
Job profile and introduction
I have been working as assistant general manager at ibis Styles London Southwark. I find
it really interesting to interact with different people and to serve them within diverse and wide
range of hospitality services. In future I aim to become General manager for leading hospitality
organisation in London. In this context I also have obtained previous experience of working as
general manager which will help me to achieve this goal. The diversity and complexity along
with the self satisfaction act as key motivating force which encourages me to join this course.
The successful completion of degree course will guide me different social perspectives and
factors associated with the hospitality. After this I will be able to fulfil my long term goal which
is to move to any Asian region and to start up a luxury hotel in such potential market. I want to
develop my professional career in hospitality industry and this course will help me to understand
the basic concepts of hospitality and different perspectives and socio cultural diversity of
individuals. This aspect is one of the integral element of hospitality services and thus it will be
helpful for me to achieve my goals with more efficiency and at the earliest. It will also contribute
in assisting me in properly utilising my skills and abilities.
Reflection on learning style
In the context of learning style, I can say that it is the main key of the success of team
working. While working in a team it is important for all members to have flexibility and
adaptability skills because different employees have different needs and style of performing
things. Adapting other needs and ways help a team in making its project successful. Learning
style shows a way in which an individual adapt, grasp, absorbs and retain informations. This
style differs and depends upon different factors like cognitive, environmental and emotional.
While working in a team project, I felt that different members have different learning styles
which created some problems but supporting each other and implementing learning theory we
made each others able to adapt changes and cooperate (Truong, 2016). I learned that there are 4
types of styles as per the VARK model. VARK model shows visuality, auditory, read and
kinesthetic. According to visual, visual learners prefer to learn with the help of images and maps.
On the other hand, some people learn effectively via listening and speaking. This type of learners
and members of a team wants lectures and group discussion. In the next type of learning style,
some people prefer to learn by writing and reading words. They are also effective in translators
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abstract concepts. In the last type of learners and learning style, some team members were there
who understand informations via tactile representations of information. These type of learners
learn and grasp things via figuring out things out by hand. So, with this help, it can be said that in
my team projects all these type of learners was present. Their different styles of learning created
some problems. But my teaching and influencing skills helped me out in solving this problem.
By using this skill, I made all team members understand and able that what is the actual meaning
of the project and the reason of working in a project.
I also felt that decision-making skills play an important role while working in a team as
well as individually. There were some team members who were more effective in decision-
making skills they figured out both sides like positive and negative of each element and each
thing which also increased my skills of decision-making. I learned the way of taking decision.
For making decision it is important to see consequences and future opportunities. For making a
project successful and learning style effective, pre-assessment also plays an important role
(Truong, 2016). It refers a test which all members take and give before starting a new unit in
order to find out that what informations they need to take for completing the project and what
informations they already know (Wong and Hsu, 2016.). It is the best way which saves time of
all members while starting working on a new and common project. For making all member able
to teach and learn it is important to have several skills, While working in a group project, I felt
that I am lacking in time management skill which can delayed in the submission of the project
and performing all activities as per the set time table.
TASK 3
Reflection on group work
Working in a group has some advantages and disadvantages. Different members have
different skills which provides opportunities of learning something new (Flores-Parra and et.al.,
2018). On the other hand, I can also say that making decision is not an easy task while working
in a group. Different members have different views and perspectives but for taking decision there
is a requirement to chose only one perspective and an authenticate view (Senaratne and
Gunawardane, 2015). Ignoring other views dissatisfy them and sometimes it creates the situation
of conflicts. In my personal view, I can say that my experience in working in a team was good as
I learn several new things like the way of solving critical problems, way of taking decision and
management of time.
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In all these areas I was lacking and these were my weaknesses but while working in a
team I improved these skills. I can say that these skills will helped me out in my future and
professional field. There were certain drawbacks or weaknesses in out presentation which I
believe we can improve in future. However the diversity of all team members helped us to make
a strong team. For organising activities we distributed tasks as per the strengths and weakness of
individual team members. It helped us to organise activities in best possible way (Omar and
et.al., 2016 ). One of our team member is highly creative and thus we gave him responsibility of
resource investigator and plant so that resources can be determined and problems can be solved
quickly to complete presentation on time. The cohesiveness of group was of high level.
As per Belbin's theory the successful and effective teams can result only if diversity is
present and when team roles are clearly defined and well known (Lynch, Lynch and Clemens,
2018). In our team also we gave the responsibilities and team roles as per the strengths of
individuals which helped us to gain strong cohesiveness without any conflicts related to roles and
responsibilities. The team work has been highly productive and beneficial in terms of learning.
One of the most important thing which I have learned is that despite having diversity, team goals
can be achieved by suitable cooperation and coordination.
The feedback from the tutor was also helpful for me in learning different insights such as
how I can make my presentation more powerful and how I can improve my interaction with the
audience. For instance during presentation as for significant duration I was looking on slides
instead of eye contact with audience. Thus I learned from this feedback that for providing a good
quality audience there must be proper interaction with the audience. Next time I will ensure that I
have equal attention to my audience as well and quality of my presentation content is also
improved. In the future I will also try to bring significant improvements in my presentation
content and delivery mechanism by improving better collaboration among team members.
TASK 4
Mini essay
Ibis hotel is one of the leading economy brand of hotel services and is owned by Accor.
The hotel operates in various countries and is very popular and successful hotel in central
London. The organisation operates in economy segment and thus offers comfortable and
affordable accommodation services in low budget (Martin-Rios and Ciobanu, 2019). One of the
attractive feature of this service providing industry is that each of the Ibis style hotel has different
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theme so that every time customer visits a new location of the brand they get a completely new
and refreshing experience. Ibis London is based on theatre theme which are well furnished and
designed with latest infrastructures and designs. In order to enhance the customer services and
experience the organisation provide high quality facilities such as comfortable beds, en-suite
walk in power shower so that guests can start their day in an invigorating manner (Enz and Way,
2016). For increasing the value added services hotel also provide services such as wake up to an
unlimited, laid back checking out approach and all inclusive breakfast services. These additional
features gives customers a very personalised experience. For enhancing the brand value the hotel
also launched properly management system (PMS) on mobile application so that its customers
can manage the reservations, booking, occupancy status on just single click from any remote
location (Shih and et.al., 2019). It helped organisation to achieve an ADR 13.78 pounds and 91%
occupancy rate. Ibis styles is well recognised and popular name in the international hospitality.
Apart from the accommodation services the organisation also ensure to provide all luxurious and
necessary services to its guest so that it can grow effectively and quickly in international
hospitality (Fraj, Matute and Melero, 2015). In order to achieve success in the international
market it is required that organisation must regularly improve and update its quality of services.
Ibis styles London Southwark is effectively integrating the social and technological factor for
promoting its growth and development. The technology based mobile application for property
management allowed the customers of Ibis styles, London to instantly book the services and to
check the reviews. Thus organisation was able to properly manage its services as well as
preferences of customers. It not only improved the customer services but also helped to enhance
the brand value of organisation. Another factor which helped Ibis styles Southwark to gain huge
success is its economic pricing and stylish design of the hotel which makes it distinguishing from
the other service providers (Köseoglu, Yazici and Okumus, 2018). In the recent scenario the
hotel is undergoing several changes due to international forces. For instance as organisation
provides services in various parts of the world and to different types of customers it is required to
adopt huge level of flexibility. One of the key example of this type of flexibility is its timing.
Ibis styles, London provides services to 24*7 so that its customers can be delivered required
services at every instant of time. The receptions and booking services are available at any instant
so that customers does not find any issues in terms of service quality and availability (Altin,
Schwartz and Uysal, 2017). Apart from the room services Ibis styles also have conference or
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meeting rooms so that its guests can be served quality services. The concept is sustainability is
gaining wide popularity in international hospitality. In response to this change Ibis styles hotel
has also adopted eco-friendly and sustainable practices. It attracts more customers which prefers
the sustainable organisations and also contributes in corporate social responsibility of the
organisation. To accelerate these efforts the organisation also participate in international
programs for sustainable development (Altin, Schwartz and Uysal, 2017). In addition to this the
hotel participates in waste reductions as well as proper resource utilisation so that cost as well as
adverse environmental impacts can be reduced. Ibis styles, London has flexible design along
with economic range of services. Ibis styles is the only hotel group of Accor which has this type
of design model because all other hotels of the groups have standard design with premium as
well as economic pricing. The excellent quality of services along with economic pricing and
theme based hotels Ibis styles secure top position in international hospitality market. The
centralised reservation system assist hotel in managing its both online and offline bookings in an
efficient manner (Shih and et.al., 2019). It integrate the global operations of the organisation in
well and effective approach so that all branches have aligned and cooperative working.
TASK 5
Reflection on performance and action planning
In my opinion my performance in the first semester was satisfactory. However it requires
some significant improvements so that my performance in the upcoming semesters can be made
more influential. At first I felt several challenges in time management and problem solving.
Since it was required to engage on multiple activities at the same time it became quite difficult
for me to manage my time (Smith, 2016). As a result of this I often missed my deadlines. Thus in
future I will try to improve this skill. Another significant experience was in terms of decision
making. Though making quick and accurate decision is not easy task but I managed it with team
work as well a by my own experience.
While working in teams I used to learn numerous valuable things such as benefits and
meaning of team work, cooperation, conflict resolution, presentation skill, public speaking and
research skills (Travers, Morisano and Locke, 2015). From the future perspective and for
obtaining better grades and feedback in next semester I think I must develop a suitable action
plan for improving my time management and problem solving skills. Throughout the semester I
also used to learn various learning techniques and approaches which can benefit me for my
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further professional development. The understanding of learning styles theory is helpful for me
in gaining better understanding of the subject (Wehmeyer and Shogren, 2016). By utilising this
aspect I have achieved ability to conduct pre learning styles assessment. The learning and study
skills gained from this semester are valuable for me as it assist me in demonstrating my strengths
and weaknesses. By performing the reflection on team performance and assessment I also got
insight of effectiveness and benefits of reflective practices. The reflection is very beneficial for
promoting self and professional development (Leventhal, Phillips and Burns, 2016). I also
believe that after completion of the semester I will be able to successfully complete my
objectives of enhancing time management and problem solving skill.
Action plan:
In order to improve my performance and development I will try to achieve following two
objectives related to my study skills which are also valuable in accomplishment of my
professional goals.
Objective Activities to
accomplish
objective
Measurement Time duration Relevance
To improve time
management skill.
I will learn to
prioritise my
tasks so that I can
take quick actions
to accomplish
them on time
without missing
deadlines.
I will check that I
am able to
complete all tasks
and activities in
estimated time
frame.
2 months Time
management skill
will help me to
sustain high
performance
throughout the
next semester
(Morrissey, 2015)
.
To enhance
problem solving
ability.
I will apply
advanced
research and
problem solving
For measuring
this goal
accomplishment I
will take feedback
3 months Problem solving
skill will be
beneficial for me
to make me
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techniques to
improve this skill.
from my team
members and
tutor.
capable for
addressing the
further
complexities of
next semester
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Altin, M., Schwartz, Z. and Uysal, M., 2017. “Where you do it” matters: The impact of hotels’
revenue-management implementation strategies on performance. International Journal of
Hospitality Management. 67. pp.46-52.
Enz, C.A. and Way, S.A., 2016. Implementing service innovations in European hotels. Service
science. 8(2). pp.97-107.
Flores-Parra, J.M. and et.al., 2018, June. Towards Team Formation Using Belbin Role Types
and a Social Networks Analysis Approach. In 2018 IEEE Technology and Engineering
Management Conference (TEMSCON) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Fraj, E., Matute, J. and Melero, I., 2015. Environmental strategies and organizational
competitiveness in the hotel industry: The role of learning and innovation as
determinants of environmental success. Tourism Management. 46. pp.30-42.
Köseoglu, M.A., Yazici, S. and Okumus, F., 2018. Barriers to the implementation of strategic
decisions: Evidence from hotels in a developing country. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management. 27(5). pp.514-543.
Leventhal, H., Phillips, L.A. and Burns, E., 2016. The Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation
(CSM): A dynamic framework for understanding illness self-management. Journal of
behavioral medicine. 39(6). pp.935-946.
Lynch, D.S., Lynch, M.J. and Clemens, C.M., 2018. Belbin Team Roles. The Handbook of
Communication Training: A Best Practices Framework for Assessing and Developing
Competence.
Martin-Rios, C. and Ciobanu, T., 2019. Hospitality innovation strategies: An analysis of success
factors and challenges. Tourism Management. 70. pp.218-229.
Morrissey, J., 2015. Regimes of performance: practices of the normalised self in the neoliberal
university. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(4), pp.614-634.
Omar, M. and et.al., 2016, August. Towards a balanced software team formation based on
Belbin team role using fuzzy technique. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1761,
No. 1, p. 020082). AIP Publishing.
Senaratne, S. and Gunawardane, S., 2015. Application of team role theory to construction design
teams. Architectural Engineering and Design Management. 11(1). pp.1-20.
Shih, I.H. and et.al., 2019. Greetings from Emily! The effects of personalized greeting cards on
tipping of hotel room attendants. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Smith, A., 2016. Experiential learning. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Travers, C.J., Morisano, D. and Locke, E.A., 2015. Self‐reflection, growth goals, and academic
outcomes: A qualitative study. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 85(2). pp.224-
241.
Truong, H.M., 2016. Integrating learning styles and adaptive e-learning system: Current
developments, problems and opportunities. Computers in human behavior. 55. pp.1185-
1193.
Wehmeyer, M.L. and Shogren, K.A., 2016. Self-determination and choice. In Handbook of
evidence-based practices in intellectual and developmental disabilities (pp. 561-584).
Springer, Cham.
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Wong, L.H. and Hsu, C.K., 2016. Effects of learning styles on learners’ collaborative patterns in
a mobile-assisted, Chinese character-forming game based on a flexible grouping
approach. Technology, Pedagogy and Education. 25(1). pp.61-77.
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