Employability Skills for CRM at Travelodge: Analysis & Improvement

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This report assesses the employability skills required for a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) at Travelodge, a leading UK budget hotel chain. It identifies key responsibilities and performance objectives, evaluates personal effectiveness, and provides recommendations for improvement, including enhancing communication, knowledge gathering, and multitasking skills. The report also explores motivational techniques, such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, to improve performance quality. Furthermore, it addresses work-based problems like ineffective team working and improper appraisal systems, proposing solutions and communication strategies to senior management and staff. Effective time-management strategies, including task prioritization, goal setting, and rational deadline setting, are identified to improve productivity. This analysis aims to enhance customer service and organizational effectiveness within Travelodge by focusing on the professional development of its CRM personnel.
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Employability Skills
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Table of Contents
Introduction
......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1 (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
.......................................................4
Task 2 (LO2, AC2.1, 2.2, 2.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3) (700)
....................................................7
TASK 3 (LO3, AC3.1, 3.2, 3.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
.........................................................10
TASK 4 (LO4, AC4.1, 4.2, 4.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
.........................................................13
Conclusion
..................................................................................................................................... 16
Reference List
................................................................................................................................ 17
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Introduction
Travel and tourism is a service-oriented sector that requires the personnel to directly deal with

the customers. The matter of maintaining demeanour and hospitality is consequential in this

sector. Therefore, the personnel deployed in the travel and tourism industry needs to be

extremely conscious about improving their employability skills so that they can keep the existing

customers satisfied. In this way, the companies’ can augment their sales and profit and ensure

sustainable performance in the stiff market competition. In this context, the report sheds light on

the importance of employability skills with reference to the case study of
Travelodge.
Travelodge Hotels Limited is a UK based travel and tourism company and it is reported to hold

the second rank in the budget hotel industry (
Travelodge, 2018). The hotel is focusing on
improving its customer service therefore, the personnel across all hierarchy needs to improve

their skills set attaining the company’s objective.

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Task 1 (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
As a
Customer Relationship Manager, I have a set of key responsibility areas (KRAs) that are
discussed below:

1.1Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives

Responsibilities:

As a Customer Relationship Manager I am responsible to
look after every need of the clients
and ensure they are completely satisfied with the service being provided to them . Therefore, it is

my prime duty to
comprehend the needs, taste and preference of the customers and develop
plans and strategies for addressing them.
Identifying key personnel in client enterprises is also
my responsible so that profitable corporate relationship can be established. In addition, it is my

responsibility to
keep a close watch over every activity of my subordinates to ensure that zero
error is present in the delivered service. Nevertheless, in case of any pitfalls present, I am

responsible to eradicate it so that
customer’s grievances are addressed at the earliest.
Furthermore, as a manager it is my duty to ensure
full productivity of all the personnel so that
existing customers can be retained and prospective customers can be attracted.
Congregating
relevant information
from the market and devising new strategies to keep pace with it is a
major KRA of mine (
Anantatmula, 2010).
Performance Objectives:

In order to execute afore mentioned responsibilities, I have developed the following performance

objectives:

To focus on building team working and egalitarian working culture so that all employees
feel comfortable working and provide excellent service to the customers

To improve decision making skills so that assimilated market information can be utilised
in an effective manner and best strategies can be devised and implemented.

To improve multitasking skills so that all the works is accomplished on time (Ferreira and
Otley, 2009
).
1.2 Evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives

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As per my understanding of my managerial skills I am competent; however I have scope of
improvement. As stated above, I am objected to inculcate team working and egalitarian culture

among my subordinates. I have been able to meet this objective with my interpersonal skills.

Nevertheless, I can still improve my communication skills to be able to convey my instructions

more clearly to my team leaders so that the entire workforce work together to achieve the goal.

In addition, I have been able to suggest certain effective strategies pertinent to customer service

that have helped the company to improve it service. However, I believe I need to keep a close

watch on approaches used by the market rival so that I can develop strategies better than them

and help the company in gaining a competitive advantage. As a manager I need to multitask

however I fail to do it sometimes that hampers a lot of work at times.

1.3 Make recommendations for improvement

In order to improve my employability skills as a Customer Relationship Manager, I need to

following recommendations:

Improve my communication skills

I have to focus on improving my communication skills so that my overall interpersonal skills get

better. In this manner I will be able to convey my instructions and idea better with the

subordinates and promote and practice team working culture. This will helps the employees to

perform better and overall organisational effectiveness will improve (
Cheruvelil, et al., 2014).
Enhance my knowledge gathering skills

As a manger I need to play an informational role thus I need to improve my skills of gathering

different kinds of market information. This is important so that I remain informed about the latest

trends and devise customer service strategies accordingly (
Ho, et al.,, 2010).
Improve my multitasking skills

Multitasking is an important aspect of my job role therefore I need to focus on improving my

task and time management skills so that I can multi task properly. In this manner I will be ensure

a proper and coherent work flow (
Ho, et al.,, 2010).
1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance

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In order to enhance my motivation along with all other employees, the framework of Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs theory
can be considered. The theory explains that motivation can be
gained by addressing five different needs.

Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need

(Source:
Robertson, 2016)
As a manager I should focus on addressing the basic needs of the employees and mine as well. I

need to make sure a proper work stations are provided so that everybody feels comfortable

working. In addition, I need to make sure that all the employees can work safely without hassle

so that they can produce quality service without any worries. Thereafter, in order to ensure that

the employees are delivering their best performance, their psychological needs have to be served.

For this, I need to build a good rapport with everyone so that the propensity of misunderstanding

and grievance is less. Moreover, I will have to safeguard the self esteem of the employees buy

recognising their contributing with the help of proper awards and rewards programs.

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Task 2 (LO2, AC2.1, 2.2, 2.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3) (700)
2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems.

Deployed as a customer relationship manager in Travelodge, I have encountered certain work-

based problems, which are analysed below along with solutions:

Ineffective team working:

As per my observation, the teams in the company lack unity which paves the way for

uncoordinated working practices. The main reason for such kind of working practice is

communication gap among the teams. Since the company operates a large scale business it

functions on several departments. However, all the departments need to coordinated manner so

that better service can be provided to the customers. Therefore, in order eradicate this work

based problem; the solution is to improve the communication system through group activities

conferences and meetings. In this way, different teams will have an idea about the roles

responsibilities of other teams and acknowledge them (
Chen and Lin, 2013).
Improper appraisal systems:

Employee dissatisfaction is a major reason for deteriorated performance and it is a grave issue in

Travelodge. The main reason for this dissatisfaction is the absence of a proper appraisal system.

Therefore, in order to keep the employees satisfied and convince them to deliver their best

performance, the company need to develop and implement proper award and rewards system.

The employees should be both felicitated with awards and appraised with incentives (
Warokka,
et al.,
2012).
2.2 Communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels.

Communicating identified work based issues to the senior management is highly consequential

as necessary actions can be taken to mitigate the issue from the grass root level. One of the

effective ways of communicating the issues to the management is written communication.

Therefore, a
formal letter is written addressing senior management and a memo addressing to
the staff.

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Formal Letter:
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To,

The Senior Management

Travel lodge

Subject: Work based problems and resolutions

Respected Sir/ Ma’am,

I beg to inform you that it has come to my notice that some our company lacks team spirit. Due to this

uncoordinated working approach of the personnel several works is getting delayed due to lack of

communication. This poor team working has the paved the way for slacking team performance that will

eventually affect the productivity, performance and reputation of the company. As per my observation

of the scenario, I have realised there is huge communication gap among different teams due to which

their work is not synchronised. As known that, the work of one department is dependent on another

department. Therefore in such scenario if all the teams does not share good rapport or communication

the entire workflow will cripple, which will degrade the service quality. The lack of collaboration

among the team is resulting in the emanation of several discrepancies and grievances that is reflected in

the team productivity and performance. Another grave issue that has been observed is that the

employee lack motivation to work. This is another major reason behind the degraded employee

performance. Our company lack proper work recognition schemes due to which the self-esteem needs

of the personnel are not being satisfied.

Nonetheless, I have pondered upon certain mitigation approaches of these issues, which can be

considered by the upper echelon. In order to combat the issue of poor team working the company can

contemplate on organising group discussion or interdepartmental conferences. In order to resolve the

issue of employee dissatisfaction, the company can focus on developing and introducing a proper

performance managements system and recognise the contribution of the employees annually.

Regards,

Customer Relationship Manager

Travel lodge
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Memo:
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To,

The Personnel

Travel lodge

Subject: Work based problems and resolutions

-
It has been come to the notice of the management that quite a few errors are emanating in the work
procedures in several teams. The teams are not working in a coordinated manner which is resulting

in slacked team performance and the quality of service is getting compromised. Therefore, the

management have contemplated on holding inter department meeting and conferences in every

quarter so that loopholes can be resolved.

-
The management further feels that the employees lack motivation which is reflected in their tainted
deliverables. Therefore, the management have designed a well structured and transparent appraisal

system which will acknowledge the contribution of the personnel through appropriate awards and

rewards.

The management is expecting ardent cooperation from all the teams for the successful implementation of

aforementioned ideas.

From,

Customer Relationship Manager
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2.3 Identify effective time-management strategies in relation to the work-based experience
or in your role as a manager at Travelodge.

As a Customer Relationship Manager I have fathom that time management is imperative in

ensuring improved productivity. Therefore following time management strategies has been

identified pertinent to my work based experience:

Task Prioritizing and Organising

As a customer relationship manager I need to multitask therefore, prioritising every task is very

important so that all the tasks are completed on time. I need to monitor and keep track of a lot of

activities and submit a report to the management. Therefore, I keep a checklist and organise the

work based on their urgency and priority and complete them accordingly (
Zampetakis, et al.,
2010
).
Goals setting and developing action plan

In order to complete all my assigned tasks on times, I set certain objectives and goals so that I am

inclined to utilise the time in a better way and accomplish all tasks. In addition, I have also

prepared a coherent action plan that helps me to take necessary measures of task completion

accordingly (
Zampetakis, et al., 2010).
Setting Rational Deadlines

For utilising time in an efficient manner I set rational deadlines for all my assigned activities.

Setting deadlines have helped me to be in my toes and submit all my works on time accordingly

(
Zampetakis, et al., 2010).
TASK 3 (LO3, AC3.1, 3.2, 3.3, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)

3.1 Explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve

shared goals

Team work is pivotal in travel and tourism sector as all the departments are rigidly interrelated.

Therefore without one the other would cripple. Therefore, the roles of people in a team are

defined below with the help of the
Belbin’s team roles model:
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Figure 1: Belbin’s Team Roles
(Source:
Batenburg, et al., 2013)
Resource Investigator

This people play the role of identifying resources present in the company and then finding

opportunities to utilise those resources in addressing the shared goal (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Coordinator

Coordinators refer to those people who have the duty of ordering and synchronising all the team

activities and ensuing error free deliverables (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Specialist

This people are responsible to guide and advice the subordinates to complete the gaols in an

efficient manner so that quality output can be provided (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Team Worker

These personnel lay the foundation of all the teams and encourage team working so that the

entire workforce works together in accomplishing the shared goals (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Plant

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These are the members who manifest their creative capabilities for proposing innovative
strategies to the company so that the organisation reaches a niche in the industry (
Batenburg, et
al.,
2013).
Shaper

These people have the duty of reviewing the performance and shape and align all the tasks with

the shared goals and corporate objectives (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Monitor Evaluator

These are the people who supervise and analyses the performance of all the personnel and then

appraises them based on their contribution (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
Implementer

Implementers are those who incorporate the developed approaches and ensure that it is facilitated

properly (
Batenburg, et al., 2013).
If the people in the company work as one team then everyone can achieve the shared goal. All

the team members need to execute individual task and cooperate with other in completing their

task. In this manner the company can achieve the unanimous goal.

3.2 Analyse team dynamics

Organisational culture and working environment lays the foundation of the team dynamics of an

organisation. Therefore, keeping this in view, Travelodge is contemplates on inculcating the

notion of team dynamic by encouraging egalitarian work culture. This implies to the fact that the

team leaders and managers focuses on promoting a healthy work culture through equal

delegation and pay. Moreover, the team leaders play a pivotal part of role model for the

subordinates and encourage them to remain loyal to the company and deliver excellent

performance (
Georgiadis, 2014).
Furthermore, the team leaders analyses the potential and pitfalls of the employees so that task are

allocated accordingly. In this way, the team leaders ensure that maximum output is generated

from all the employees. In addition, the team leaders also focus in making the communication

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