Employability Skills Report: Travelodge Product & Service Manager

This report analyzes the employability skills of a product and service manager at Travelodge, a UK-based travel and tourism company. It begins by defining the manager's responsibilities and performance objectives, including personal responsibilities like adaptability and decision-making. The report evaluates the manager's effectiveness in meeting these objectives, using a self-assessment table to highlight strengths and weaknesses. It then addresses workplace problems, communication strategies, and time management. The report further explores team dynamics, alternative task completion methods, and tools for problem-solving, including a strategy to address workforce turnover and its business impact. The report concludes with recommendations for improvement and references relevant literature.

Employability Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Develop set of own responsibilities and performance as product and service manager at
Travelodge...................................................................................................................................1
P1.2 Evaluate your effectiveness for defined performance objectives........................................3
P1.3 Give suitable recommendations for improvement...............................................................4
P1.4 How motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance..................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Develop solutions for at least two work place based problems.............................................7
2.2 Letter to senior management and memo to staff members to communicate in various styles
at different levels..........................................................................................................................8
2.3 Evaluate suitable time management strategies with work-based experience of a line
manager at Travelodge Hotel.....................................................................................................10
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Define various job role and their importance in a team to achieve shared goal..................11
3.2 Analyse team dynamics.......................................................................................................12
3.3 Alternative ways to complete task and achieve team goals. ...............................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Evaluation on tools and methods to develop solutions to problems. ..................................14
4.2 Develop a strategy for resolving a problem of workforce turnover.....................................14
4.3 Explain potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy to avoid employee
turnaround..................................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Employability Skills are the traits and qualities that are possessed by an individual which
helps it to carry out their business operations and activities within organisation. The effective
handling of employability skills or qualities will not only encourage an organisation to have a
sustainable growth but also to improve their personal skill set and qualities which are been taken
in context by the firm. Especially, in the travel and tourism sector, it plays a very important role
to improve chances of getting employed and meet customers needs or demands. For the present
report, Travelodge is been selected. It is a travel and tourism service provider enterprise that
operates in UK.
The report will cover the proper assessment of business operations along with roles and
responsibilities as a product and service manager within the selected firm. Also, the challenges
prevailing and effective recommendations to meet them are taken in consideration by a firm.
Effective solutions to various work based problems and communication styles with proper time
management strategies are been analysed and evaluated, the role playing within a team and its
dynamics are evaluated with alternate goal achievement measures are analysed with details of
different tools and methods of solution development with labour turnover and potential impact of
strategy on both financial and non financial impacts on business is evaluated.
TASK 1
1.1 Develop set of own responsibilities and performance as product and service manager at
Travelodge
Suitable roles, responsibilities and performance objectives are been set within the firm,
which will guide me and set suitable employability skill development goals to improve or
enhance the quality of services. Personal responsibility can be termed as the set of roles and
duties that are to be fulfilled by an individual to sustain its employability skills within a firm. It is
very important as it increases the quality or skill sets that are been possessed by an employee or
me as a product and service manager in order to have a good employability within the firm
(Spence, and Hyams-Ssekasi, 2015). This will also help the other managers of firm to set its
performance objectives that improves the quality of services and thus, guides the organisation to
enhance the quality of services which are been taken within the firm.
As the product and service manager, I will have certain roles and responsibilities such as
managing the working staff in production and service department of Travelodge. I will also
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personally look after the proper assessment of product and service quality amnd their proper
delivering. The setting of my own responsibilities and performance objectives will improve high
qualities and will help in improving overall self as well as organisational performance within the
firm. Some major responsibilities that are taken within the consideration by the project manager
for proper management of his job role and functionalities setting up performance objectives are:
 Personal responsibility: The product or service manager at Travelodge will help in
setting up of vision and developing suitable strategies that will help the firm to improve
their operations related to organisation. For developing and launching a product, suitable
strategies are required.
 Direct and indirect relationship: Product manager will perform suitable market
research to identify the feasibility to the proposed product and services by Travelodge.
Will also improve the quality of services offered by the firm (Minocha and Tudor, 2017).
This will help in proper guiding of the employees and building a good relationship with
each other.
 Decision making: This is the most important responsibility related to launching of
product. All the success and generation of revenue is based on the proper management of
strategies and following its operations in much suitable way. It involves the effective
evaluation of different roles and responsibilities to improve ability to learn and develop
work role (Ayoubi, Alzarif and Khalifa, 2017).
This will help me as a manager or an individual to improve their performance and
enhance the quality of services for given job description within the enterprise. Managers will
fulfil its services and responsibilities in order to improve its performance objectives effectively.
It will help the firm to guide their workforce to carry out operations related to product
development within the selected travel and tourism service provider (Peet, 2016). It includes the
manager to develop and set proper goals and set initiatives behind the product. Some major
performance objectives are:
 Improving the objectives setting ability.
 Increasing communication with subordinates and sustain their rights and giving them
proper appraisal.
 Maintaining productivity of the firm by following ethical approaches.
 Enhancing effectiveness of the firm by following different employability legislations.
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Some set of personal responsibilities are that will be followed by me as product and
service manager are as follows:
Adaptability and flexibility: As a manager, I am required to be adaptable and flexible towards
different changes that takes place within an organisation. Then flexibility towards the changes
will help in improving my performance.
Decision making and career planning: As a manager, this quality is important as it will help in
carrying out the operations and other activities within the organisation.
Ability to learn and develop: as a manager, I have to improve my knowledge and skill sets on
regular basis in order to improve my and other's performance.
Following legal ethics and laws of employment: as a manager, I will follow all the
employment laws and legislations that will help in proper management of business operations
and actions.
Manage your own time: This will help me to carry out the productions and service development
related operations in the best possible manner. This will help in proper assessment of the time
constraints that are taken within the firm.
Communicating with staff: This will help me to identify the issues and develop their solution
with the help of proper interaction with the workers in department.
On the basis of this assessment, certain strengths and weaknesses are required to be
analysed. As a manager my strength is good communication skills and ability to learn whereas
the lack of proper time management program will impact my performance as a manager. This
can be effectively improved by proper guidance and training.
P1.2 Evaluate your effectiveness for defined performance objectives
As a manager at Travelodge, the performance objectives that are being set are required to
be effectively followed out in order to improve the quality of services and thus guides an
organisation to set up proper action plan which will improve the quality of services and thus will
lead an organisation to enhance level of performance of the organisation. Various objectives and
skills like suitable communication, time management, problem solving etc. that are been set will
help in improving the quality of services and products manufactured by the firm (Hanna and et.
al., 2015). The management of the organisation will look after proper assessment of the business
operations that will improve the quality of services and thus, lead the organisation to enhance
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performance of firm. The effectiveness of various performance objectives at Travelodge are as
follows:
Skills I am
confident, I
can do this
I can still
Improve
I need to
work on it
well
Time and Self-management
I know how to organize my time in order to meet all
the deadlines
X
I know exactly where to get Support in order to
complete difficult task
X
Problem Solving and critical thinking
I am able to find solution to for any problem X
I can consider the best alternative from range of
solution
X
Oral Communication
I am confident that I can contribute my suggestions
and ideas for group activities
X
I would be confident for giving presentation to others
in front of everyone
X
Written Communication Skills
I am confident that my written work or documentation
will have the least number of grammatical mistakes or
any other kind of errors.
X
I am able to product meaningful written notes form
presentations, lectures or meetings
X
Information literacy
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I can gather required information for variety of
sources such as books and make useful use of that
information for any purpose
X
Resilience
I have high capacity in order to overcome any
challenging situation or difficulties
X
Creativity
I am a creative person with constant efforts to bring
innovation in my allotted projects
X
Based on this measure, suitable measures can be followed that will help in suitable
rise in the effectiveness of operation performed by manager at Travelodge. In order to
improve my oral communication skills, I can opt for adopting seminars and workshops on
the improvement of my oral communication.
 Performance Appraisals: This will help in setting up of suitable strategies and action
plans which will guide an organization to lead the firm to enhance their performance in
much suitable way. This will help a firm to improve quality of services undertaken within
the firm. It will encourage the organization to improve performance of their work force
and guide work force to be loyal towards firm.
 Following employment legislation's: This will help the firm to sustain employee's
loyalty and determination towards enterprise. The following of employ ability law, anti
discrimination law and maintain the performance of organization within selected firm.
Other than this, it will help in developing a positive and supporting work environment
within the enterprise (Messum and et.al., 2016).
 Maintaining ethics (job roles and responsibilities, salary system): Different work
ethics are required to be followed out within the organization that will lead the firm to
enhance the quality of services that leads the firm to maintain the quality of services and
products manufactured by firm. It will also help in proper growth of learning ability of
firm. Maintaining effective job roles, responsibilities and appraisal or salary system will
improve their effectiveness to meet employ ability skill requirement within the firm.
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 Providing training and development opportunities: the management of business
operations and meeting needs and demands of customers will guide an organization to
enhance the quality of services and thus, will lead a firm to improve the quality of
services by improving managers and employees skill set to make suitable decision. As a
manager, I will look after proper imparting of training and development measures of
skills mentioned above by organizing effective training and development programs or
workshops and getting experts help over it.
Evaluating my own performance will help me to control my functionality and thus will
lead the organisation to have a good assessment of different operations and action plans for
enhancing the performance quality and services. It assists in evaluating my own scope of
improvement and enhance my performance.
P1.3 Give suitable recommendations for improvement
Proper recommendations for improvement can be taken within the management that will
guide an organization to enhance its performance. This will guide the individual to have proper
appraisal and growth measures within firm. Other than this, it will assist the management of
organization to lay certain growth measures which will be carried out within the firm. Some
major recommendations of self improvement and well as employee growth that will be taken by
me in relevance to my managerial roles are as follows:
 Increasing salary level and providing bonus: This will help the organization to sustain
their employees and maintain the qualities. Providing appropriate salary and giving
bonus on regular basis are few of the certain measures which are been taken in
consideration by selected firm. It helps in improving employee satisfaction level and
maintain its sustainability. For example, providing bonus to employees will help in
improving their loyalty towards Travelodge.
 Balancing strength and weakness: the management of firm is required to keep a
balance between strengths and weakness of employees which will help management of
organization to decide proper training and skill improvement approaches. The
identification of training needs will help an enterprise to meet functionality of
organization and thus, will lead the firm to improve the quality of services and products
manufactured by firm (Esa, Padi and Hassan, 2015). For instance, maintaining the
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strength and weakness will help in suitable performing of tasks and maintain
performance of hospitality firm.
 Management and assessment of objectives: Travelodge will look after effective
planning of various objectives, improving performance criteria of firm and thus will lead
the firm to carry out business activities and other operations within selected enterprise. It
includes the proper management of personal, production and judgmental data which will
improve the quality of services and thus will improve rating or effectiveness of the firm.
For example, setting and following of objectives will help in improving the quality of
services and finishing the tasks on time.
 Encourage the work force: Proper handling of these operations will guide the
management of firm to motivate its work force to maintain their proper policies and
action plans that will help in suitable management of business operations and thus, will
lead the organization to enhance quality of services by improving effectiveness and
efficiency of their employees. Following this recommendation will effectively enhance
the skill set of employees and guide therm to perform their job roles and responsibilities
effectively. For example, motivating the work force will help in improving quality of
products and services offered and will help in meeting the set goals of performance.
 Attaining different seminars and workshops: this will help in improving the quality of
oral communication skills and thus, will help me to improve my skill sets.
For example: In order to prevent the employee turnaround within the firm, I will interact
with them and will suggest proper solution to any sort of problem faced by them.
P1.4 How motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance
Motivation is the techniques that is undertaken within the organisation to encourage
employees and work force to meet their operational goals. It can be termed as the individual's
intensity or perception towards attaining other objectives. The amount of effort applied with
proper planning and strategy in the right direction can be termed as motivation. In order to
motivate or encourage the work force, Travelodge will look after different motivational theories
that will play a very important role in setting up of goals and achieving different objectives.
Some major motivational theories that are been taken are:
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs: It is the needs that re required to be fulfilled for motivation and
is looked after by selected firm. It includes psychological, safety, social and self actualisation
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needs that are required to fulfilled by an organisation to sustain its work force. It can be
explained as follows:
 Physiological needs: This are termed as basic needs of an employee or human being that
is required to fulfilled. It includes food, water, cloths shelter etc.
 Safety needs: This are the safety or security needs that are required to be placed within
the organisation that will help to motivate a person to perform its duties. It included the
physical, financial and social security.
 Love and belonging needs: every person or individual is required to be loved. The
friendship, love and sense of belongingness is a part of motivation that helps a person to
work and be part of a group.
 Esteem needs: this is need of respect or reputation that helps the firm to improve their
performance and it further precedes to self esteem needs.
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Illustration 1: Maslow's Hierarchy of needs
Source: McLeod, 2018

 Self actualization needs: It is a sense of self achievement and exploration of one's
talents, it is based on personal growth and development of an individual.
Advantages and disadvantages:
Advantage: It helps to identify the basic needs and requirements of the employees that will help
the organisation to have good employee satisfaction level.
Disadvantage: It will not provide the behavioural aspects of the individual employee.
Hertzberg's two factor theory: Also termed as the Motivation-Hygiene theory, it will
help in suitable management of satisfaction and dissatisfaction level of the employees or workers
at work place. It is been carried out within the firm to improve performance of organisation. It is
based on job role and the satisfaction or dissatisfaction caused due to it (Ismail and Mohammed,
2015).
Following of both theories of motivation will prove out to be beneficial for the firm.
Besides this, the rewards, appraisals and incentives that are provided by the management of
travel and tourism organisation to their employees will help in improving their operations. It will
help the work force to identify its full potential and improve quality of performance.
Advantages and disadvantages:
Advantage: It will help in identifying the behavioural aspects and nature of an individual
employee within the firm.
Disadvantage: The needs and basic requirements of an organisation is not clearly depicted
within the theory.
TASK 2
2.1 Develop solutions for at least two work place based problems
Problem solving at work is an approach of providing suitable solution to an issue or
limitation faced by a firm while operating. At a work place like Travelodge, various operations
and activities will be carried out that will play a very deep role in meeting the performance
requirements of the firm. However, there are certain work place problems or issues that can rise
at the work place and are required to be managed or resolved effectively within the travel and
tourism enterprise. Problem solving can be termed as the approach to have proper solutions to
some issue or problem at work place. Solution to some major conflicts or work based problems
are as follows:
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Interpersonal conflicts: this is the major problem that is required to be looked after by
organisation in order to sustain performance of organisation in much suitable and better way.
The indifferences among the workers at work place are required to looked after to improve
overall performance of organisation. Some major tools that can be undertaken within the firm for
its resolution are:
 Arrange various programs to improve employee interaction and understanding that will
help in enhancing the quality of services which will improve the quality of services. It
will assist in developing proper understanding and resolving any sort of conflicts at work
place (Williams., 2015).
 Improving communication can also turn out to be effective solution to business
operations and thus, guides the firm to improve quality of services that will improve
firm's performance.
Low motivation and job satisfaction: This is another work place issues which is required to be
looked after by the organisation. The low motivation level of employees at work place will
decrease their enthusiasm of services and thus will reduce the brand image and customer
satisfaction level. Solutions or tools that can be taken for its better management are:
 Train and improve skill set in order to improve their skill set and confidence level. Other
than this, it will increase loyalty and trust level of employees towards the firm. It will also
improve job satisfaction among employees at work place (Rowe and Zegwaard, 2017).
 Hear the needs and requirements of employees. It will help management of Travelodge to
undertake suitable measures which are taken in context by the firm to maintain its
performance and meet the needs of customer's and employee's.
2.2 Letter to senior management and memo to staff members to communicate in various styles at
different levels
Letter
To,
Senior management,Travelodge Hotel,
London, UK.
Subject: Conflict resolution and job satisfaction related communication issues at workplace
Respected Sir,
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