Leadership and Management Skills in the Service Industry Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of management and leadership skills within the service sector, specifically referencing the hospitality industry (Marriott). It begins by defining and differentiating between hard and soft skills essential for managers and leaders. The report then explores the future management and leadership skills required, emphasizing technical skills, soft skills, diverse team management, transparency, and result-based work practices. A comparative analysis of change management systems and leadership styles across various service industries, including hospitality, banking, health, entertainment, and travel and tourism, is also provided. The report highlights the importance of transformational and transactional leadership in implementing changes. The conclusion underscores the significance of adapting leadership skills to industry-specific changes and the need for leaders to stay abreast of future challenges and skills development, supported by cited references.

Current management and leadership
skills and comparison with other
organisations

Table of Contents
Current management and leadership skills and comparison with other organisations....................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Current Management and Leadership ‘Hard’ and ‘Soft’ Skills...................................................4
Future management and leadership skills required by service sector and how they can achieve
these skills....................................................................................................................................5
Comparison and Contrasting different service industry organisations change management
systems and leadership in implementing change.........................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Management and Leadership skills are skill which is required to manage the organisation
and lead the organisation. These skills are required to be in line with nature and type of the
organisation. Service sector needs to have different type of managerial and leadership skills than
production and other type of organisation. This study will discuss current management and
leadership skills in service sector.
Current Management and Leadership ‘Hard’ and ‘Soft’ Skills
Hard skills are skills which are concrete and does not get changed frequently that
employee brings before joining and organisation. these skills are those which are learned at
school and during training and are able to add clear value to process of business organisation. in
context of Marriott it is a hospitality organisation which skills which clearly define how they can
add value to the organisation. In context of hospitality organisation, Hard Skills are-
 College degree in Hospitality management
 Proficiency in IT
 Language fluencies and knowledge of different languages
 Other certifications related to Hospitality Industry or which is used in hospitality industry
ant job related certification.
Soft Skills are skills and abilities which are part of personality of individual and which individual
have learned from experience. These are interpersonal skills, communication skills, empathy etc.
Currently these skills are very important for both managers and leaders so that they are able to
influence others to achieve the vision and managers are able to ensure that employees execute
the activities in order to achieve the organisation. Some of the soft skills which are requied to be
possessed by managers and leaders at Marriott are-
 Problem Solving Skills
 Ability to work in teams
 Strong communication skills
 Time Management skills

Leaders and managers need to have hard skills firstly so that they can get hired and later
this is important for them to understand the working of hospitality organisation and work for it if
they have professional education for the same.
Leaders are also requires to guide and managers are required to direct other working for
them and this is only possible if they have complete knowledge about the working of hospitality.
These are important as service sector and the business scenario is getting more and more
unpredictable and managers and leaders need to deal with problems on daily basis being faced by
customers and the business itself. This is why strong skills and quick problem solving skills are
very important for managers and leaders currently.
Interpersonal skills are important so that leaders and mangers can communicate their message
more convincingly and at the same time are able to understand other people and exact situation
in an event.
Future management and leadership skills required by service sector and how they can achieve
these skills
Ever changing organisations and their needs and challenges require that managers are
ready in advance so that they can deal with all the challenges they might face in future. Linking
with future challenges some of the skills that managers need are as follows along with how they
will be able to achieve these skills.
Technical Management Skills
Organisations are becoming more and more technology oriented and service sectors are
no exemption. Increasing use of AI and Machine Learning requires that managers are ready for
technology adaptation. Managers are required to be aware of technological utility so that they
can help their subordinates. Managers will have to work on challenging tasks managed and
operated with technology rather than administrative tasks. This will require managers to
continuously educate themselves in technology uses.
Soft Skills

Just as technical skills are important for managers soft skills are also important so that
they can assess hires in future. These skills are listening, efficient communication, positive
attitude, accepting and feedback and time management skills. Managers and leaders will need to
evaluate candidates in various skills and managers. Soft skills are required soft skills to
understand and manage learning process of the employees.
Diverse Team Management Skills
Currently diverse and inter departmental teams are working together and in future this
will become more complex and more complex team structure and team members from various
departments need that managers have excellent team management skills. This will help managers
to get the best results and achieve objectives in best way possible for which the team has been
developed. This also requires manager to have efficient conflict management skills as chances of
conflicts in such teams are higher than ordinary teams.
Transparency
Digital world and technological processing of the tasks have facilitated clearer and more
transparent communication and flow of information. Managers in such case needs skills that they
are able to protect the data which is confidential for the organisation and at the same time are
able to communicate and deliver all the required information so that employees does not have
difficulty in their performance.
Result based work practices
Work practices in service organisation are getting more and more result oriented and only
practices which are important to achieve results are carried out. This is why managers are
required to have skills through which employees can work which are in direction of the result.
Leaders can acquire these skills by training and experience.
Comparison and Contrasting different service industry organisations change management
systems and leadership in implementing change
Services are of various types and on the basis of their type and nature they are divided.
These industries have organisations operating under this. Marriott is an organisation which is

operating under hospitality industry. These services are hospitality, health, Entertainment, Travel
and Tourism, Banking and Finance etc.
Change management and its process in different in all the type of service industries and their
leadership and management skills requirements are also different.
Hospitality industry changes as per the changing life style and accommodation requirements of
customers. Banking industry changes are based on facilitating banking services for the customers
and giving more transparent services concerned with their money and finance. Health industry
changes are based on the improvement in context of health services. Presently, technology is
being used in health sector just as they are being used in any other sector and changes are based
on improvement of health sector. Entertainment industry changes on the basis of changing
priority and taste of the customers. Travel and Tourism industry changes are based on changing
priorities and preference of the customers. Tourism industry is growing rapidly as increasing
tendency of people to travel to various locations. Changes occur and travel and tourist industry
offers more attractive travel plan.
Leadership in implementing changes is based on the type of leader and industry and various
other factors associated with leadership. Major changes taking place in organisations requires
that leadership is transformational leadership so that leader can enable leader to influence and
prepare members to adopt change. This also requires leaders that they are possessing skills for
change management. Changes taking places slowly and on the scheduled basis requires that
leadership is transactional so that leader can focus on routine activities and align them with
changes occurring in the organisations. Through transactional leadership leaders can make the
whole process of change more organised and adaptable for the members.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of previous discussion it can be concluded that leadership is an important
and integral part of the organisational processes. This needs that leaders are having all type of
required skills and these skills are getting more complex with time and this requires that leaders
are ready for future changes. Leadership and changes in the organisation differs on the basis of
type of industry and changes in that requires that leadership style and skill are different.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Balcar, J., 2016. Is it better to invest in hard or soft skills?. The Economic and Labour Relations
Review. 27(4). pp.453-470.
Moldoveanu, M. and Narayandas, D., 2019. The future of leadership development. Harvard
Business Review. 97(2). pp.40-48.
Phillips, J.M and et.al., 2016. Fostering future leadership in quality and safety in health care
through systems thinking. Journal of Professional Nursing. 32(1). pp.15-24.
Iordanoglou, D., 2018. Future trends in leadership development practices and the crucial
leadership skills. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 15(2).
Narayandas, D. and Moldoveanu, M., 2019. The Future of Leadership Development.
Al-Ali, A.A and et.al., 2017. Change management through leadership: the mediating role of
organizational culture. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Hidayati, A., Budiardjo, E.K. and Purwandari, B., 2020, January. Hard and Soft Skills for Scrum
Global Software Development Teams. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on
Software Engineering and Information Management (pp. 110-114).