HR and Leadership Functions in Hospitality: Employee Development

This essay examines the crucial roles of Human Resources and Leadership within the hospitality sector, focusing on employee-related issues and the impact of leadership on employee motivation and work styles. Using The Lanesborough, a five-star London hotel, as a case study, the essay delves into performance management processes, including planning, monitoring, reviewing, and rewarding. It explores the five stages of team development (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning) and how these stages influence the hotel's operations. The essay further analyzes 21st-century leadership qualities like transparency, performance management, and empathy, as well as the causes of conflict, conflict management skills, and strategies within an organizational context. The essay highlights how effective HR and leadership practices contribute to employee engagement, development, and overall organizational success.

HR AND LEADERSHIP
FUNCTION IN
HOSPITALITY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Performance management as part of human resource.................................................................3
Stages of Team development.......................................................................................................5
Leadership in the 21st century......................................................................................................6
Causes of conflict, conflict-management skills and strategies....................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The study is about hospitality sector dealing with employee concerning issues and the way
leadership influences the working style and motivation of the employees. The organisation being
taken here is The Lanesborough. It is a five star hotel based in London, England. The file
discusses about performance management in hospitality sector, stages of team development used
in hospitality sector, leadership theories and type of leadership being used in hospitality industry.
The causes of conflict and its management and strategies used in leadership skills is emphasised
in the study.
Performance management as part of human resource
Human resource recruits employees and it is the duty of the function to do performance
management of the employees. Performance management is the process where managers and the
employee sit together to evaluate the performance of the whole year. The performance of
employee on various parameters is assessed which are also known as Key performance
indicators and manager tells the employee how much targets were achieved and where the
employee was lacking and need to improve on. This also sets standards which employee has to
achieve in the next year.
Performance management process
The process has four stages in the performance management listed below:
a) Planning: The management at The Lanesborough sit and decide among themselves what
should be the organisation's goals and objectives to be set for the upcoming year. This also
involves the personal objectives for all the employees which includes the development goals,
specific targets to be achieved. Employee's skills are assessed and accordingly to skills and
experience, the tasks are assigned. The objectives to be achieved are set as SMART which means
specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (Altin and et.al., 2018).
b) Monitoring: The monitoring of the process is a key function in realising the set goals which
have been set in planning stage. At Lanesborough, the monitoring is done frequently in the year.
The monitoring is to be done at least quarterly to check on the progress of the employee whether
they are working in the right direction and where they need to be corrected to help them align

with the goals of the organisation. The manager assesses whether employee is in need of training
and development measures if the tasks assigned are not compatible within employee's skills.
c) Reviewing: The management and employee meet again to review the performance of the
year to check if the goals have been met at The Lanesborough. The evaluation generally
includes questions like whether the goals assigned were realistic, whether the goal was in
alignment with organizational objectives, if the employee could gain experience useful
for growth and skills , was the employee able to complete the tasks, did the employee
receive right support to get the goal achieved, which aspects the employees think could
be improved on etc. (Guix and Font, 2020)
The employee also puts forward own views about their performance, what help does the
employee think can be received from the organisation, where the employee thinks support was
lacking. The employee can also give suggestions on how performance can be improved.
d) Rewards: This factor in performance management is considered to be prominent in employee
motivation. The reward can be in the form of awarding mementos, certificate of appreciation or
it can be in the form of promotion if the employee has done exceptionally well. The motivation
factor of each employee is different and employees are motivated in different ways like increase
in compensation, one time bonus , positive reviews about the employee. The Lanesborough
rewards the employees annually to keep motivation up.
The performance management process being used in hospitality generally follows these four
steps and is useful in recognising work of employees and appreciating their work and
commitment while focusing on the goals set for reaching organizational objectives. The
performance being rewarded sets the momentum for employees to keep up the good work and
also help in employee retention (Franco and et.al., 2020).
As always, there are two sides to a coin, it happens sometimes that employees are not
happy with the targets set and they are dissatisfied from the very starting. It may happen that they
are not getting enough training and development for improving their skills. Employees
sometimes are not happy in the way their performance appraisal was done and think partiality
was done. These problems are to be addressed to make the performance system better. Measures

like proper assessment of employee's interests and capabilities, providing ample training
measures and letting employee mention who they think can do an unbiased appraisal for them
can be inculcated to improve upon the system.
Stages of Team development
The five stages of team development given by Tuckman which are also influential in the hotel
industry as of The Lanesborough are as follows:
a) Forming: At this stage, individuals in the team are unsure about the team's objective and they
are yet to decide on the leadership. They are not familiar with each other and are unsure how to
go about the process. They are curious about the process as to what will the goal be to achieved
and are looking for directions through a leader. It takes time at this stage where employees take
time to get familiar with each other and get going on the project (Peralta and et.al., 2018).
b) Storming: This is the stage where people start giving opinions and also dominate their
opinions in the team. People try to establish boundaries and at this stage conflicts may occur due
to difference in opinions and all have their ways preferred of working. There is try by employees
to establish power in the team to take on their preferred path. Although, it has become clear to
team members about the team's goals but the leadership is not confirmed and still the employees
are not fully involved in the process.
c) Norming: This stage sees agreement starting taking place in between team members and
people starting to accept each other's opinions. The roles and responsibilities become clear and
starting to be accepted by team members. The members also start accepting leader who is
generally more experienced and knowledgeable in the field. The decisions are now taken
mutually on agreement within team members. The commitment is now strong unlike earlier and
unity builds up. The team also engages in fun activities in between. The team discusses within
the process and the working style which would suit best for the team. The leadership style used
here is participative as the leader himself gets involved in the work process (van Geffen, 2020).
d) Performing: The team starts performing to complete the work as per deadlines, they realise
the goals to be achieved timely and help each other whenever required. Thus there is cooperation

between team members and a vision to be accomplished. The team has increased their strategic
awareness and each employee starts working without any need of supervision from the leader.
Even if there are disagreements they are resolved by discussion and the issue is not elevated. The
leader has delegated the tasks and projects to the members accordingly and they keep the leader
informed about the progress. However, as the team members are themselves motivated they do
not require any instruction or monitoring at this stage. All have the vision in mind and work in
the direction decided to complete the task and achieve the goals (Peralta and et.al., 2018).
e) Adjourning: This stage is relevant to the team members as at this stage the goal has been
accomplished and achieved, the employees have become friends with each other and developed a
team bonding. This is an emotional stage for the employees where the team has achieved the
goal and now is at the stage of disbanding. The team members will be shifted to new team and
they will have to work on a new project with new team members.
The process has improved performance in the hotel industry by going through various stages,
giving employees their time to listen, talk, discuss with each other , resolve conflicts and come to
a solution. They accept leadership and follow the guidance and direction to reach their goals.
Leadership in the 21st century
The leadership has been evolving since the concept of organization came into being. Leadership
in earlier times used to be more of directive and monitoring one. Earlier, there used to be set up
of manufacturing industry which required directive leadership where instructions needed to be
given and supervisory role had to be performed to monitor the group of employees. With change
in times, many new sectors came up such as IT, hospitality, tourism etc. which had a different
organisational set up and the working of organisation was completely different with higher level
of academic and intellectual skills required in employees (Truitt and et.al., 2017). Thus, came in
existence the new type of leadership requirement as per the sector. Talking of the hospitality
sector, the leadership required had to be directive as well as participative, thus being moulded as
per situation. Thus, the leader needs to be directive to the new employees who have joined the
team as they need directions to learn the work and guidance in between to check their progress in

the right direction. In case of senior employees, there needs to less of direction and more of
participation as their task will be more of responsibility which they being experienced
understand and leader has to show support in their work. The Lanesborough leadership uses the
qualities of 21st century leadership. The leadership in 21st century should have the following
qualities:
a) Transparency: The leader has to follow an unbiased approach with employees and has to be
transparent in delegation of duties. This is done by assessment of the skills and capabilities of the
employee. The employee should not feel overburdened by the tasks assigned and should not feel
that injustice has been done to him. The leader's way of imparting roles and responsibilities has
to be clear and has to be looked forward to employees as one who can solve grievances if they
approach him (Dumas and Beinecke, 2018).
b) Performance management: Employees look forward to this aspect as they put in the efforts
through the year. The 21st century leadership knows fully well that if performance management
is done well, it will help to retain the talented employees by achieving their satisfaction. There
have been improvement in the performance management model with employees more able to put
their suggestions freely about their performance and the process. Some organisations are also
giving the option to employees to choose the manager who they think can give an impartial
opinion of their performance. This helps in reducing the dissatisfaction caused due to
performance appraisal.
c) Empathy: The leader has to have empathy for the employees who look forward to help sort
out the problems of theirs, be it on the personal or professional front. The employee can have
leave management issues which need to be sorted out, salary issues or other allowance issues. It
could be a work-related issue which the employee is facing and needs to be solved (Truitt and
et.al., 2017).
Causes of conflict, conflict-management skills and strategies
The causes of conflict in the organization can be due to various reasons. It can be poor
management which does not cater and listen to the needs of the employees. The employees can

get dissatisfied that they are putting in efforts and they are not being listened to. They can have
issues related to work place, leave balance and other relevant issues which can make them raise
voice against management process. Unfair practices like impartiality shown by managers
towards various employees can create a rift that they have not been meted the dues they deserve.
Job roles being unclear can lead to burdening of responsibilities on employees as sometimes
employees are employed in departments where they do not possess knowledge sufficient and
thus get confused with their role and feel burdened. This can lead to dissatisfaction as employees
are not trained enough in different types of work (Wang, Zhang and Deng, 2019).
Conflict management skills are practised by leadership like quick addressal of employees'
grievances which can be done through recording of grievances electronically in large
organisations or through use of suggestion box. The quick addressal will help employees being
relieved of problems and able to concentrate on work, formalizing of agreements related to job
leave and remuneration policy where clear and concise terms are given to explain the company's
rules. Doing a performance appraisal which is impartial and where suggestions of employees are
taken to be inculcated in the appraisal process can help achieve employee satisfaction. This
management skill will also help in employee retention. Employee skills being taken care of by
proper management of training and development will help in employee get skilled in training and
development. Decentralisation practised at The Lanesborough helps in employees getting to
resolve grievances without going through the hierarchy and matters are resolved quickly (Caputo
and et.al., 2019).
Leadership strategies like being supportive and participative in approach will help resolve
conflicts and their involvement in strategies formation for quick resolution of employees'
grievances will help in employees seeing up to a leader who is not just directive but also one who
has empathy for them, and not only who sees them fulfilling organisational objectives but also
helps in evolving of their personal and professional goals to exceed in life, The Lanesborough
uses the form of leadership which is supportive and situational thus being flexible in approach
towards the employees.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, it can be said that the hospitality industry is using evolving techniques of
performance management which help in employee retention. The leadership skills also are
moulded as per situation and employee motivation is considered in mind as the present
generation of leadership believes employees to be the driving forces for the organisation, thus
measures taken for conflict-resolution with lessening of hierarchy and decentralisation measures
will help in employees considering a long-term career at the organisation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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and tourism industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Guix, M. and Font, X., 2020. The Materiality Balanced Scorecard: A framework for stakeholder-
led integration of sustainable hospitality management and reporting. International Journal
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Franco, S. and et.al., 2020. Are you good enough? CSR, quality management and corporate
financial performance in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 88. p.102395.
Pfutzenreuter, T.C., de Lima, E.P. and Frega, J.R., 2020. Building High Performance
Teams (No. 4712). EasyChair.
Peralta, C.F. and et.al., 2018. Team development: Definition, measurement and relationships
with team effectiveness. Human Performance. 31(2). pp.97-124.
van Geffen, C., 2020. Optimizing Team Effectiveness and Performance by Using the Cycle of
Team Development. Transactional Analysis Journal. 50(4). pp.298-314.
Truitt, J.H. and et.al., 2017. Strategic leadership: Developing 21st century citizens who invest
their time, talent, and treasure in the service of others. In Encyclopedia of strategic
leadership and management (pp. 1637-1654). IGI Global.
Dumas, C. and Beinecke, R.H., 2018. Change leadership in the 21st century. Journal of
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Perrone, F. and Tucker, P.D., 2019. Shifting profile of leadership preparation programs in the
21st century. Educational Administration Quarterly. 55(2). pp.253-295.
Wang, Y., Zhang, K. and Deng, Y., 2019. Base belief function: an efficient method of conflict
management. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing. 10(9).
pp.3427-3437.
Caputo, A. and et.al., 2019. Ten years of conflict management research 2007-2017. International
Journal of Conflict Management.