MGT808 Responsible Leadership: Operational Manager Interview Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of an interview conducted with the operational manager of Hyatt Regency Sydney, exploring the multifaceted concept of responsible leadership within the hospitality sector. The report delves into the essential qualities of a responsible leader, highlighting the importance of ethics, inclusivity, and the adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. It examines the significance of communication, stakeholder management, and supplier relations in fostering a sustainable and ethical business environment. The analysis reveals that responsible leadership is crucial for organizational success, particularly in the hospitality industry, and offers recommendations for future leaders and organizations seeking to implement responsible leadership practices. The report underscores the need for ethical decision-making, the creation of inclusive environments, and the integration of CSR initiatives to ensure long-term sustainability and positive stakeholder relations. The report also highlights the importance of employee motivation, performance measurement, and the creation of a supportive work environment. The findings emphasize the role of responsible leadership in building a strong organizational culture and contributing to the broader business community.

Running head: RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP
Responsible Leadership
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summery
This report aims to create an overview of an interview taken from the operational manager of
Hyatt Regency Sydney. The topic of discussion was effective and responsible leadership and
their contribution to the business community. The interview finds that communication,
ethical consideration, sustainable practice and stakeholder management are important
qualities that make a good and responsible leader. Another indisputable aspect of a
responsible leader is an inclusive leader. Due to globalization and large scale mobility,
organizations have employees that come from different culture. Hospitality sector has to
welcome all guests equally. Through responsible leadership, it is possible to create best
practices standard in environmental, legal, social and organizational practices. Thus,
celebrating diversity and including everybody into the organizational structure equally is
important. The report concludes that responsible leadership is mandatory, especially in
sectors like hospitality. Based on the interview, certain recommendations were made for the
future leaders and the organizations that are aspiring to practice responsible leadership.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Interview Overview....................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Interview.................................................................................................................4
Qualities of a responsible leader............................................................................................4
Stakeholder and supplier management...................................................................................7
Initiative to business organization community......................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Recommendation........................................................................................................................9
Appendices...............................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Responsible leadership is a relatively new concept in the leadership theories. The
main idea related to responsible leadership is empathy and honesty (Jones, 2014). Using these
concepts honest relationships can be built with the consumers, stakeholders, the employees
and the community at large. Hospitality industry is one of those sectors, which requires the
involvement of all the organs of an organization for it to run smoothly. Among the theories
related to leadership are Trait Theory, Behavioral Theory and Contingency Theory. The
practice of responsible leadership includes the aspects of all these theories and more. In order
to ensure responsible leadership, the leader must also take into consideration the aspects such
as Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory (Jang, Zheng & Bosselman,
2017). In this regard, the operation manager of the Hyatt Regency, Sydney was interviewed.
Hyatt is a multinational hospitality industry and successfully practices responsible leadership.
This report looks into the leadership aspects that surfaced from the interview and analyze it to
find aspects of responsible leadership. The interview provides insight into the qualities that
make a responsible leader. Depending on those aspects some recommendations has been
drawn to direct the aspiring future leaders into becoming responsible leaders.
Interview Overview
Hyatt Corporation is one of the leading hotel chains that provide luxury
accommodation to people all over the world. They have different segments of hotels targeted
to different customer segments. The Sydney Hyatt regency is one of the finest examples of
their facilities. Being a multi-national organization that provides hospitality services, the
leaders in the organization need to possess several competencies that are quite different from
other organizations (Hyatt: about., 2019). An interview was arranged with the operational

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manager of Hyatt Regency, Sydney where there was an opportunity to gather information
about the qualities that the leaders in this field need to possess. The interview was taken face
to face and during the interview the non-verbal aspects of communication were also
observed, in order to understand the intricacies of leadership. The questions that were asked
involved aspects of leadership qualities, responsible leadership and what actually responsible
leadership means. Other than that, questions regarding the management of stakeholders as
well as various suppliers were asked. The operational manager was also asked to elaborate on
his opinion about the way responsible leadership can facilitate stakeholder and supplier
management. He was also asked about their role in the business community organization
(Appendix).
Analysis of Interview
Through the interview with the operational manager of Hyatt Regency, Sydney, wide
scale knowledge was collected about the leadership competencies in a global organization.
The interview was analyzed through Thematic Content Analysis and Narrative Analysis. The
interview content was scanned thoroughly to find out patterns and themes, the identified
themes were tested against the existing theories of leadership and global organization
management to help interpretations. From the analysis, the following themes emerge:
Qualities of a responsible leader
Leaders need to possess many qualities in order to be able to motivate the employees
and lead the organization to a positive direction. The main qualities that responsible
leadership requires are:
Ethics: in the very heart of ethical leadership is the concept of ethics. A good leader must be
guided by morality and ethics. Ethics allows the leader to be fair and just. The decisions that

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he takes are all-inclusive and are devoid of favoritism (Tromp & Blomme, 2014). Through
his fair treatment, he is able to establish a healthy work environment and positive spirit within
the organization. The employees are motivated and they go beyond their job description to
serve the organization. The corporate citizenship is a sign of responsible leadership.
Inclusive: a responsible leader is an inclusive leader. He does not discriminate on personal
grounds and includes everybody in the equation. The leader also includes the employees in
the decision making process so that the employees understand that they are also important
(Kara et al., 2013). They also believe that their participation in the decision making process
will generate more ideas. The inclusive nature also makes the employees more open to new
members and diversity. It creates a healthy organization, which fulfills their social
responsibility.
Adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies: a responsible leader
understands the need to protect the environment and the integration of society. in recent
times, practicing CSR has become almost unavoidable. Almost all the organization, whatever
their size may be, are ensuring that they conform to at least the basic requirements of CSR.
The hospitality industry in this regard has the most responsibility as they employ a large
number of human resource, generate huge waste, consume water, power and all the other
non-renewable resources (Githui, 2013). A responsible leader is aware of the impact that the
business is having on the environment and takes constructive measures to mitigate the risks
that the organization is posing to the company. They also create plans so that the overall
impact is lessened and they consume more responsibly, thus creating an example.
Leadership style and employee satisfaction: responsible leaders realize that different
generations and culture have different leadership preferences. Recognizing that, they employ
a mixed method of leadership (Armstrong & Matters, 2016). It has been seen that

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transformational leadership is the most successful style of leadership, though in a hospitality
industry only one kind of leadership is not effective. They adopt a leadership styles
depending on the workforce and the country that they work with. For example, people
belonging to the individualistic culture prefer democratic leadership where as those from
collectivist culture prefer autocratic leadership. They also ensure that the employees are
satisfied in the organization and continuously apply monitoring system to ensure that.
Employee motivation and performance measurement: a responsible leader is not only
responsible to the organization or environment, but also to the employees. They know that the
employees are the bones of any organization and they must be kept motivated so that they
perform better. They also follow policies to motivate the employees, increase their salaries at
regular intervals, and provide incentive plans and other intangible sources for their
motivation (Tan, 2015). They also monitor employee performance continuously to identify
patterns. Responsible leaders also understand that mental well-being is also a part of healthy
living and thus create policies and enforce practices that will ensure that the employees are
not stressed due to their work pressure.
Communication: communication is the key to any successful leadership and a responsible
leader will employ diverse method to engage the consumers, the employees and the
stakeholders. Through communication they are able to understand the point of view of the
others and apply them in the business planning
Stakeholder perspective: responsible leaders also take care of the stakeholders and the
suppliers. They are aware of the fact that the stakeholders and the suppliers are intimately
related to the organization and thus, must be managed effectively. The stakeholders perceive
leaders who make regular reports and monitor organizational performance regularly as
responsible leader (Hristov & Zehrer, 2015). Stakeholders also consider the leaders that take

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care of the brand image and brand equity as responsible leaders. The leaders that establish an
effective supply chain management system are perceived as responsible leaders.
Stakeholder and supplier management
Stakeholder theory suggests that the corporations that maintain a strong relationship
with the stakeholders by handling the demands of the stakeholders effectively will be able to
perform better. Many scholars have argued that the theory related to stakeholders is not a
mere theory but an ethical as well as moral practice (Kim & Thapa, 2018). Any responsible
leader will recognize the truth in this statement and thus will strive to improve the
relationship with the stakeholders by adopting a policy of honesty and trust. As the
stakeholders interest in the company is intimately related to the company performance, the
leader will understand that maintaining an ethical relationship with the stakeholders will also
increase their competitive advantage. In hospitality industry, maintaining the reputation is the
key to business success and the organizations that ensure a successful relationship with both
their internal and external stakeholders are able to maintain their reputation better. The
stakeholders also have great influence over the CSR practices and policymaking (Deale,
2013). The responsible leader of an organization understands that many large investors
cannot be attracted if they do not improve their social and environmental practices.
Establishing an effective Supply Chain Management system and incorporating ethical
practice standards are necessary. A interview shows that the operations manager in Hyatt
Regency, Sydney source all of their products from local genuine sellers. They source high
quality and mostly organic products for consumption. The suppliers are updated regularly
about the requirements and all the waste or unused products are handed over to the suppliers
so that they can be redistributed or recycled (Baddache & Nicolai, 2013). The leaders also
have the ability to ensure that the suppliers maintain their CSR policies and use sustainable

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methods for production and logistics. By ensuring all these practices from the grass root
level, the leaders are able to ensure best practices from the beginning.
Initiative to business organization community
A responsible leader takes many initiatives in order to contribute to the corporate as
well as the immediate society that they are operating. They establish best practices in
corporate governance and CSR policies (Leonard & Dlamini, 2014). They maintain an honest
and open relationship with the stakeholders and monitor progress regularly. They also ensure
that the organization becomes one of the most sought after when it comes to employment
options. Hyatt in this regard is one of the leaders in the industry. They create value to the
organization and create a multi-cultural leadership so that the organization is able conduct
business over different nations. They also ensure that the employee performance is reviewed
regularly and the appraisal method is based on their performance and contribution to the
organization. This creates a sustainable and ideal organizational practice (He, Morrison &
Zhang, 2019). Through sustainable practices and CSR policies they are able to mitigate the
risks associated with the business process as well as uphold organizational standards. The
CSR policies also help them to mitigate the effects on the environment, reduce carbon and
water footprint and maintaining good stakeholder relations, thus, leading the organization
towards a path of success. The organization becomes one of the most sought after places for
employment interest and more investors are interested in doing business with them.
Conclusion
The above discussion leads to the conclusion that responsible leadership is an integral
aspect for the success of any business organization. Especially in hospitality industry
practicing responsible leadership will ensure not only the reputation of the organization to
increase but also a sustainable growth of the organization. The leaders have the ability to

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change the course of any organization, both positively and negatively. The interview with the
operation manager of Hyatt shows that possessing these qualities and following certain
considerations will ensure responsible leadership practices. Keeping that in mind, the
individuals that aspire to lead organizations and the organizations that want to practice
responsible leadership one day needs to follow certain recommendations, as made below, in
order to become successful and responsible leaders.
Recommendation
In order to foster the growth of responsible leaders, the following recommendations
are:
 Accountability is necessary for responsible leadership. Adherence to organizational
policies and reporting progress regularly will lead to responsible behavior to the
organization.
 Taking risks and analyzing the chances of failure before taking the risk is a
responsible practice.
 Creating plans for mitigation and prevention of risk is considered as one of the best
practices method. The aspiring leaders should focus on these.
 Building a strong and ethical compass and the mentality to follow through that is
necessary.
 The organization should support its leaders and give them enough autonomy so that
they can work. If the leaders have to run every little thing with the higher authority, it
is likely hinder the process. They will also lose interest in innovation.
 Balancing the different organs and their satisfaction is necessary. It will not do to
forget about the employees in order to satisfy the customers.

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 The organization should provide leadership trainings in order to foster leadership
qualities. Building clarity, ethical grounds and aligning them with organizational
vision would enable the new leaders to become more responsible.

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Appendix
PART C – PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Provide a brief description of your proposed project (Max. 1 page)
Research objective(s):
This research sets the goal to find out what qualities does a leader requires to be the
responsible leader and what level of initiation should he/she should give to the organization.
Research question(s):
Question 1: What qualities does a leader require to be a responsible leader?
Question 2: How do you manage the relationship between different stakeholders and suppliers
of your organization?
Question 3: How does a responsible leader shows their initiation towards the community of
business organization?