HRM in Service Sector: A Reflective Analysis of Tourism, Hospitality

This essay provides a personal reflection on the application of Human Resource Management (HRM) principles within the tourism, hospitality, and events sector, specifically focusing on the planning and execution of a training event at a Star hotel. The author reflects on their role as a front desk employee and their contributions to the training sessions, utilizing Gibbs' reflective model to analyze their experiences. The reflection covers the design and pitching stages of the event, highlighting both successes and challenges encountered. Key aspects discussed include skill development through hands-on training, role-playing, and live interactions, as well as the importance of communication and problem-solving skills in enhancing customer service. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significance of continuous learning and improvement in the hospitality industry, with an action plan for future skill enhancement and application of acquired knowledge.

Exploring HRM in
service sector
department of tourism,
hospitality and events

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Personal reflective essay.............................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is described as a strategic approach which lays concern
over the effective and efficient management of people within a business organisation. In relation
with the concept of tourism, it is indulged with recruiting and selecting new employees,
managing data and initiating different steps in order to retain people. In context with hospitality
sector, the most important aspect is to provide high quality service as it is entirely related to the
sector of human labour. In accordance with any kind of an event, human resource plays a very
significant role in terms of smooth functioning of an event (Colakoglu and et.al, 2019). The
report is based upon personal reflection on the concept of planning an event in Star hotel. The
report includes reflection on design and pitching stages of training event, discussion about what
went well, contributions being done in the project, how the group worked together and overall
skills being acquired followed by conclusion.
MAIN BODY
Personal reflective essay
During the planning of an event, we had large number of members who were involved in
the team. As one of the group member, I was working as a front desk employee in which I made
several contributions regarding the training which was being provided to all the individuals. As a
group member, I have the responsibility to assure that effective training is being provided to all
individuals who are present in the event. I was working with many team members and everyone
has their own role and responsibility but we all worked together. During the event, I played the
responsibility of managing all training sessions, my fellow colleague managed the décor of
event. Through this, we all worked together and managed the services.
The first thing which I planned before organising the event was budget. All my team
members discussed about the costs need to be involved and also the venue at which session
would be conducted. Apart from this, we planned about sponsors as overall costs would be
supplied by them only.
In context with pitching stages during the event, the first thing which on which I focused
was my client who were my senior associated. The training sessions were very important for me
to develop my skills and abilities because as a front desk employee, direct interaction need to be
done with each individual.
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Self-reflection is defined as the ability to evaluate entire emotional, cognitive and
behavioural procedure. It provides several benefits to an individual like responding in more
efficient way, promoting learning, understanding and many more. In context with the reflection
on training event plan, Gibbs model has been applied which is one of the efficient way to explore
personal experience. It is involved with six stages which are description, feelings, evaluation,
analysis, conclusion and an action plan which is further described below: -
Description: - This is the first stage of reflective model which focuses on entire
information being described. It is indulged with questions like what has happened, how did it
happen, what was the reaction and so on. During my training session, I learned many effective
things with the help of different types of training being provided to me. The most essential thing
in event planning is that skills should be developed so that reputation of organisation could be
enhanced. As a front desk employee, four types of training sessions were involved which were
hands on training, role playing, live interactions and discussion of greetings. When I participated
in the first session which was hands on training, I was personally involved and got a chance to
present myself against a fictitious guest. There were several other employees who were present
in the session. I participated in the session of role playing in which I was told to perform the
role of guest and my instructor would perform as a front desk employee. In accordance with my
experience, I learned lot of things and developed my skills because I got to know about the
expectations of guests which is the most important thing in the event planning. The third type of
training session was about live interactions. Being a front desk employee, I got a chance to do
live interaction with experts who belong from another fields. The best thing which I learned from
this session was in context with the enhancement in my abilities. Besides this, I was also
provided training based on the discussion about greetings in which I need to prepare a script in
which entire data about hotels were provided. During this, my level of competency got
developed on the basis of which my overall experience was being good.
Feelings: - This is the second stage in which discussion about the emotions was done. It
is engaged with questions like what a person felt during the incident, before it and so on. At the
initial stage, I felt very happy and excited because I was getting the chance of participating in
different training sessions which could be beneficial for me in my future career prospectus.
During the training sessions, I felt quite motivated and satisfied because my skills and abilities
were getting developed. As a front desk employee, it is very necessary to have proficient
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communication skills and it got improved by participating in the session of role playing. My
experience during the conference was amazing because I got a chance to interact with new
people and get to know them as well. When my training got over, I felt several improvements in
my skills especially in terms of interpersonal relations. There were many other employees also
who were working in Star hotel so in accordance with that they were also feeling refreshed
because videos used to get played during entire training sessions. By looking at my overall
experience, it can be said that training helped me a lot to work even more harder and faster
which is the most essential thing for a front desk employee. I feel very much satisfied because
now I am able to solve all kinds of problems that might be faced by the guest.
Evaluation: - In context with this stage, it is concerned with the situation of what went
well and what did not as well as focuses on both that is positive and negatives aspects. During
my training sessions, there were many things which went well but at the same point of time
many negative things also happened. The things which went good was I was able to produce
good customer services which is the most essential thing in hospitality sector. Besides this, it
also helped me to develop significant skills such as problem solving, interpersonal, guest
services and many more. With the help of this, I was able to provide several benefits to the
organisation like enhancement in the reputation. The things which didn't went well was that, due
to different training sessions, I got frustrated because I was not able to focus on one specific
session due to which everything was getting messed up. I was not able to provide efficient level
of services to all the guests. In terms of my experience, I contributed in a positive way because
by learning through different training styles, I was becoming more competent and polite with all
the guests. So, in terms of my overall experience, I remained positive at each and every situation
which further assisted me in the development of my skills and abilities in a competent manner.
Analysis: - It refers to the stage which reflects upon what an individual has learned from
the respective situation and the overall experience. It is engaged with the questions like why did
things went well, why it didn't go well and so on. In context with the training sessions, the main
reason behind things went well was that all training sessions seemed very interesting and within
each and every session, different skills and abilities were getting developed. Apart from this, the
reason behind things didn't went well was training sessions were continuously being provided
due to which lot of confusion got created regarding which method is effective and which is not
appropriate. By analysing all the situations, my experience was really good because with the help
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of such training sessions, the problems which I used to face, I was able to solve it with more
efficiency. As a front desk employee, it was significant for me to adopt unique ways so that I
can develop my additional skills also. One of the way which might have helped me in order to do
improvements is consultation with the experts.
Conclusion- During the session of training the first method which was used was hands on
training. During this training, I learned about how different beliefs and values which is essential
while planning an event. As a I have been asked to present myself in front of guests, my self-
confidence got enhanced and made me realised that I could speak well in front of everyone.
Apart from this, I have also learnt about how to develop my interpersonal skills. I have also
learnt about the problem solving skills which is the most essential skill as a front desk officer
because I might face any problem and it could be easy for me to solve it in an effective and
efficient manner which would ultimately enhance the brand image of the hotel. Also I have
acquired strong interpersonal skill that requires the efforts within a team to manage and
satisfaction of every guest . Now, I will be able to improve these skills by live interaction session
with several experts from various fields. Now, my performance will be tested after collecting
several feedbacks from customers. Apart from this, improvement of these abilities can also
increase the sales and efficiency of organisation.
Action plan: - It is the last stage of reflective model which is indulged with the questions
like how to improve skills, where the knowledge can be used and many more. During my
learning experience, my knowledge got enhanced which could be the most important as well as
essential thing for my career in hospitality industry. As a front desk employee, I can make use of
my knowledge in serving all the guests at best level and even trying for higher posts. During
training sessions, I was getting frustrated also because several methods were being used by hotel
executives so in order to improve this, I will interact with my fellow employees also so that I can
learn from their talents and can make improvements in my abilities. Besides this, If I get
indulged into the same situation again then I will improve my presentation skills as it is very
important in planning an event and as a front desk employee because direct interaction is being
done with all guests.
CONCLUSION
From the above reflective essay, it has been concluded that in a hospitality industry
different training sessions are involved in order to enhance the skills and abilities of an
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employee. There are several ways through which workers are given training like live interaction,
role playing and many more. One of the most important skills which is needed can be termed as
the communication ability and it can be effectively improved with the help of role playing
session. Besides this, it is also determined that during the learning experience, feeling optimistic
and positive is essential and it can be formed if proper ways are being used by hotel industry. If
certain benefits are provided to an employee then their ability gets developed .(Kulichyova and
et.al, 2021). It is been analysed that in order to become successful, different actions are need to
be taken so that individual doesn't face any kind of issue in their future. In terms of hospitality
industry, the most important thing is efficient and satisfactory level of services are being
provided to all the guests and it could be only done if different sessions would be provided to
employees so that they can get developed.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bavik, A., 2020. A systematic review of the servant leadership literature in management and
hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Boğan, E., and et.al, 2020. Exploring the predictors of prospective employees' job pursuit
intention in Muslim-friendly hotels. Tourism Management Perspectives, 34, p.100663.
Colakoglu, S.S., and et.al, 2019. Reviewing creativity and innovation research through the
strategic HRM lens. In Research in personnel and human resources management.
Emerald Publishing Limited.
Haque, A., 2018. Mapping the relationship among strategic HRM, intent to quit and job
satisfaction: a psychological perspective applied to Bangladeshi employees. International
Journal of Business and Applied Social Science (IJBASS), 4(4).
Huertas-Valdivia, I., Llorens-Montes, F.J. and Ruiz-Moreno, A., 2018. Achieving engagement
among hospitality employees: A serial mediation model. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Katsoni, V., Upadhya, A. and Stratigea, A., 2017. Tourism, culture and heritage in a smart
economy. Springer International Publishing: Cham, Switzerland.
Kulichyova, A., and et.al, 2021. Conceptualisations of Development Approaches to Promote
Individual Creative Talent. In Talent Management Innovations in the International
Hospitality Industry. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Macassa, G., 2019. Integrated corporate social responsibility and human resources management
for stakeholders health promotion. South Eastern European Journal of Public Health, 12.
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