Employability Skills Development: A Travelodge Case Study

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This report analyzes employability skills at Travelodge.

Employability Skills

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives.......................................5
1.2 Evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives.........................................................7
1.3 Make recommendations for improvement.............................................................................8
1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve the quality of performance. .9
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................11
2.1 Develop a solution to work-based problems. You need to develop solutions to at least two
work-based problems identified during your work experience or in your role as a manager at
Travelodge Hotel.......................................................................................................................11
2.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels. You need for
example to write a formal letter to the senior management of the hotel to inform them about
the problem and a memo to all staff..........................................................................................12
2.3 Identify effective time-management strategies in relation to the work-based experience or
in your role as a manager at Travelodge. Present your evidence as a written report to your line
manager......................................................................................................................................15
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................16
3.1 Explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve shared
goals...........................................................................................................................................16
3.2 Analyse team dynamics.......................................................................................................18
3.3 Suggest alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals...................................19
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................20
4.1 Evaluate tools and methods for developing solutions to problems with reference to your
chosen organisation or Travelodge Hotel..................................................................................20

4.2 Develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem of labour turnover with
reference to tour chosen organisation or Travelodge hotel.......................................................21
4.3 Evaluate the potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy. You should
consider both financial and non-financial impacts on the business...........................................22
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................23
References......................................................................................................................................24

Introduction
The employees of the company are the biggest assets for the company as they use their skills and
talents to achieve the goals and objectives of the organisation. In this way, the organisation
always tries to hire skilled and talented employees and they also provide development programs
like training etc to the employees so that they could enhance their skills and knowledge. With the
help of these skills and knowledge, the employees of the organisations are able to enhance their
capabilities and also could help the company in achieving lots of success into the market. The
current assignment is based on such skills and knowledge of the employees basically on the
employability skills of the employees. The current assignment contains four parts. The first part
describes the responsibilities and personal objectives and also motivational techniques etc. The
second part of the assignment explains the work-based problems and time management strategies
etc. The third part of the assignment describes team dynamics, role plays etc. At last, the fourth
part of the assignment describes the problems like labour turnover and the impact on business
while implementing the strategies. Here, the company Travelodge would be analysed which is
basically a hotel and provides the accommodation and other services to the customers.

Task 1
1.1 Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives
While entering in the market, each and every organisation has some goals and objectives towards
the market which it wants to achieve. Travelodge is also one of those organisations and the
company has set some goals and objectives into the market that could help the company to be at
first position in the hospitality industry of the country. In this way, some responsibilities have
been assigned to the employees by the Travelodge which are basically the duties that the
employees need to perform when they are working for the company (Feltus, 2014). Inside the
organisation or in the internal environment of the company Travelodge, it must be sure about the
responsibilities are clearly defined to each and every employee so that he or she could not be
confused while performing these responsibilities in the organisation and the overall goals and
objectives of the company could be achieved easily. Here Travelodge uses the concept of self-
management when the employees work to achieve their performance objectives. Here, the
catering manager designation has been selected and the responsibilities and performance
objectives are explained below:
Responsibilities performed by catering manager: The main responsibilities performed by the
catering manager are:
 Managing the food and beverages items for the hotel and also for the events and other
functions.
 Designing and planning the menu through discussing this with chefs.
 Reviewing the health and safety act of country so that any type of violation could not
occur (Guirdham, 2012).
 Identifying the needs for training and development in the department and also providing
the training and development programs for the employees.
 Monitoring the food services which are being offered by the staffs to the customers of the
hotel.

Performance objective: Performance objectives are basically the goals which are set by the
company so that it could make the employees aware of their expectations from the employees.
Here, the performance objectives for the designation of catering manager are given below:
 Conducting the recruitment and selection to hire the best employees from the market
 Providing training and development so that the skills of the employees could be enhanced
 Planning for the shifts and rotation for the staffs and employees
 Motivating, managing and leading the employees of the catering department.
 Keeping the records of the employees and their performance

1.2 Evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives
The evaluation of own effectiveness becomes very important for the employees as with the help
of this, they are able to know their mistakes while performing their responsibilities in the
organisation (Brookes and Grint, 2010). Here, the evaluation of mine effectiveness against the
defined objectives is given below:
Quality and acceptance of responsibility of self-job: The catering manager of the hotel must
direct and monitored the staffs so that they could provide the better services to the customers. As
a catering manager, I always sure about the services provided by the staffs to the customers and I
also correct them if they do anything wrong. I always ask for their opinion on how the services
could be managed and enhanced. Along with this, I also take the feedback from the customers so
that I could be double sure about the services provided to them.
Applying the knowledge and understanding the responsibility of Travelodge: As a catering
manager of the company Travelodge, I must include the knowledge that has gained through the
training and development programs in the hotel. Along with this, I also believe in formulating
the plans so that I could include the mission and vision too and also could create a path to
achieve these terms.
Maintaining safety for the customers: In the hospitality industry, the safety and security of the
customers are very important and different rules and regulations have been imposed by the
government so that all hotels could follow them and could provide the healthy and relaxed
environment to the customers. Here, as a catering manager, it is my responsibility to serve the
quality foods to the customers so that their health could not be affected and the customers

1.3 Make recommendations for improvement
Although good and effective services are provided by the company Travelodge to its customers
there is always a scope of improvement in the processes and activities of the organisation.
Travelodge is the organisation that works for providing the effective services to the guests but
there are some areas which the company could improve and can gain the success into the market.
Here, it would be good for the hotel Travelodge to work on improving the skills and knowledge
of the employees working for the company (Boyatzis, 2010). The employees with enhanced
skills and knowledge could help the hotel Travelodge in gaining success into the leading market
(Boyatzis, 2010). Here, the activities or recommendations that could help Travelodge in
enhancing the skills and knowledge of the employees are explained:
Engaging co-workers: The employees of the company must be helpful and with this, the team
goals could be easily achieved. Here, in Travelodge, it would be good if the company provide
some rewards to the employees if they help their teammates. With this, the employees would
help each other and the company Travelodge would be able to create a pleasant and effective
working environment for the employees.
Feedback evaluation: For the company, the feedbacks of the employees are very precious. So in
the organisation, there must be a proper process of collecting feedback from the employees about
the various services and processes being executed in the company. Travelodge must do the same
so that the worthy suggestion or feedback must be received from the employees and Travelodge
could implement in its processes and the activities.
Review management: There must be proper review management in the hotel so that all the
policies could be reviewed by the top management of Travelodge before implementing at the
market place.

1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve the quality of performance
Motivating the employees towards the goals and objectives of the company is very important to
gain success. Basically, the process of motivation includes inspiring the individuals so that they
could perform better and goals of a company could be achieved. The different theories could be
used by Travelodge in motivating the employees. Some are explained below:
Maslow's hierarchy needs theory: This theory believes in the five basic needs of the employees
which are very important for the company to fulfil if it really wants to keep the employees
motivated and satisfied. Here, if one need is fulfilled then Travelodge needs to focus on another
need of employees to motivate them. The five needs of the employees are explained below:
- Physiological need: The needs for food, clothes and shelter are included here.
- Safety and security need: The needs for job security and safety of job and family are
included here.
- Love and belongingness: The needs of making friends at the workplace, sharing love etc
are included here
- Self-esteem need: The need for self-respect at workplace and society are included here
- Self-actualisation need: The needs for fulfilling the wish and desire are included here.
Figure 1: Maslow need theory (Branham, 2012)

McGregor theory X and theory Y: This theory believes that each and every organisation has two
types of employees (Herrenkohl, Judson and Heffner, 2010). The characteristics of these two
types of employees are explained in the diagram given below:
Figure 2: McGregor two factor theory (Katzenbach and Smith, 2012)
As per this theory, rather than focusing on Theory X employees, it would be good for the
company to focus on Theory Y employees as it is easy for the company to motivate them and
they are more result oriented than Theory X employees.

Task 2
2.1 Develop a solution to work-based problems. You need to develop solutions to at least
two work-based problems identified during your work experience or in your role as a
manager at Travelodge Hotel
For the employees who are working in the hotel Travelodge, it is very important to be laced with
the problem-solving skills as this is the skill that could help the hotel in gaining the success into
the market. With the help of this skill, the employee of hotel Travelodge would be able to gather
all the information about the problems and also could solve the problems very easily. In the food
and beverages sector of the hotel Travelodge, the various types of the problems have been seen
which have affected the entire processes of hotel Travelodge, such as high employee turnover,
change in taste of customers etc. Here, as a catering manager, it is my responsibility to identify
the taste of the customers and also know the taste of the customers (Kirtley and Weaver, 2014).
Along with this, to keep the employees of the food and beverages department is also my
responsibility. Here, the solutions to these two mentioned problems are given below:
Management and control: In the food and beverages department, there must be proper
management and control of the processes and the activities executed by the employees of the
company. Here, the employees should be managed and trained in the way so that they could get
the information about the taste and preferences of the customers. Along with this, they must be
free to ask the customers about their feedback. A proper control on the actions of the employees
could help the hotel Travelodge in getting the information about the customers as the customers
would love to share the information of their taste when they feel that the employees are well
behaved and trained.
Introduce new policies for employees: Employee turnover is the main problem in various
organisations. Here, to solve this problem, it would be good for hotel Travelodge to introduce
some policies for the betterment of employees such as insurance cover, accidental cover, pension
scheme, incentives etc. With the help of these policies, the employees would feel committed
towards the organisation.

2.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels. You need
for example to write a formal letter to the senior management of the hotel to inform
them about the problem and a memo to all staff
The communication could be explained as the process of sharing views and opinion between two
or more people. In an organisation, the flow of the communication could be of two types i.e.
upward and downward. Here, the upward and downward communication is explained with the
help of some examples.
Upward communication: In the organisation like hotel Travelodge, upward communication is
executed when the flow of the information is an upside. In other words, when the information is
flowed from the lower management to top management then this is known as upward
communication. Here an example of upward communication is given which is basically a formal
letter to the top management of hotel Travelodge (Levoy and Levoy, 2016). Here, the main
purpose of this letter is to make the top management aware of the issues of the organisation.
Formal letter to top management of hotel Travelodge
XYZ
Catering manager
Travelodge, London
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
January 21st, 2019
ABC
Deputy Catering Manager
Travelodge, London
Dear Sir,