Developing Manager: Career Development and Skills Enhancement

This report analyzes various aspects of management and leadership within organizations, using Trailfinders and First Choice as case studies. It compares different management styles, discusses leadership characteristics, and evaluates communication processes and organizational culture in the selected businesses. Furthermore, the report includes a personal assessment of management skills, a SWOT analysis, and the setting of objectives for personal development. It also addresses team leadership, decision-making, and how managerial skills can support career development. Finally, the report includes a review of career and personal development needs and a development plan, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in the travel and tourism industry.

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
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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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