Leadership Styles and Management Theories in the Hospitality Industry

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TRAVEL AND TOURISM LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
FOR SERVICE INDUSTRIES
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 2
LO1.................................................................................................................................. 3
LO2.................................................................................................................................. 9
LO3................................................................................................................................ 12
Reference list................................................................................................................. 20
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Introduction
In order to run business, organisations have focused on digital technology so that they
can properly operate their business. As most of the organisations prefer to use digital
technology, the role of leaders and managers have changed, and they need to acquire
knowledge related to the usage of digital technology. In order to examine the role of
managers and leaders, the company Travelodge Hotels Limited will be selected. It is
the organisation under hospitality industry. It is a private limited company, and it has
more than 500 hotels in UK. They provide accommodation service to the tourists in
various locations such as Ireland, Spain and UK. The number of employees is around
11000, and their net profit is around £64.2 million as per the report of 2014
(travelodge.co.uk, 2019). The study will focus on the leadership styles and classical
theories of management for understanding organisational operation system in
merchandise market. Various management styles and leadership skills will also be
discussed in this paper. In addition to this, future and current management style for
Travelodge and its importance will be elaborated throughout the study.
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LO1
Assess the different classical management theories and apply in your chosen
service industry organisation (P1)
Fayol’s general management theory, Taylor’s scientific management theory,
Maslow’s theory, goal theory and process theory are the example of classical
management theories.
Figure 1: Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory
(Source: Waring, 2016)
As per the Taylor’s scientific theory, managers should not rebuke the employees for
their small mistake; however, they must provide proper explanation related to the
mistake. It helps the employees to understand the importance of completing task
properly (Waring, 2016). Moreover, scientific theory also suggested the employers
provide reward to the workers so that they feel motivated during work. The main
advantage of following scientific management theory is to increase production of
venture along with quality. On the other hand, according to this theory, sole control in
business and exploitation of workers are also observed. For example, in case of
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Travelodge hotel, the managers provide training to the employees so that they can
handle digital technology properly related to their services such as online hotel booking
system, online query solving process and online methods of calling room service boy. It
has helped in bringing changes in the business operation and as a result, the
organisation has increased its profit of around 8.8% in the last year (insider.co.uk,
2019).
Figure 2: Maslow’s theory
(Source: Najjar and Fares, 2017)
On the other hand, Maslow’s theory elaborates that in order to create changes in the
role of leaders and managers, they should analyse the digital technologies, which are
used in the organisation (Najjar and Fares, 2017). This theory also highlights that
managers need to focus on the requirement of leaders while taking business-related
decision. The pros for following this theory are that cooperative nature is established in
workplace and human nature can be examined.
On the other hand, opinion of all workers is not same, thereby, being a major
disadvantage of this theory. As digital technology is vastly used in the hospitality
industry such as Travelodge Hotel, managers should focus on the basic requirement
related to enhancing knowledge on digital technology of the leaders so that business
operation can be conducted effectively. In order to introduce various services in the
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hotel, leaders need to develop their searching skill for analysing the existing services of
other hotels in this industry. In time of promotion, attractive content along with images of
hotel can be uploaded in social media such as Facebook and managers must guide
leader about content designing for attracting customers. Thus, sale is increased and
best employees receive incentives, which bring improvement in the service quality.
Explain the role of the manager/leader and the leadership styles (P2)
The managers have to play various roles, such as interpersonal and informational.
The interpersonal roles are comprised of other three roles such as leader, figurehead
and liaison (Wesselink et al., 2015). The main activity of figurehead is to perform the
ceremonial events such as opening a new office or testing about the taken decision is
correct or not. On the other hand, liaison tries to communicate with external bodies
related to the growth of business. However, leaders try to motivate employees so that
production and service quality of venture can be improved.
The information roles of manager are consisting of three dimensions such as spoken
person, disseminator and monitor. The manager tries to also share information with
the outsiders for increasing number of customers. However, monitoring role helps to
scan the information, which can be shared with the customers or outsiders.
Disseminator arranges meeting with employees in order to communicate with them
during decision-making (Solnet et al., 2015).
It is further noticed that leaders communicate with manager and employees, whereas,
most of the time, managers only communicate with leaders. The role of leader/manager
is highlighted along with mentioning differences:
Manager Leader
Invisible at floor but resolve the issue Always present on the floor for solving
issue
Good talker Good listener
Provides instruction to the leaders for
completing task
Advice-giver for the employees and
workers can easily express their issue
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towards a leader
Table 1: Differences between leadership and management
(Source: Created by Learner)
There are various leadership styles, such as autocratic, democratic, transformational
leadership styles. In autocratic leadership style, leaders only provide instruction,
whereas expecting decision from employees is democratic leadership style (Yahaya
and Ebrahim, 2016). However, in case of transformational leadership style, leaders
change their role as per the requirement of society. In case of Travelodge hotel, as
online room booking system is available, leaders gain knowledge on this aspect so that
they can increase organisational sale in market. It indicates that Travelodge follows
transformational leadership style in their organisation in the contemporary market.
Analyse the leadership styles in relation to organisational structure and culture in
your organisation (M1)
Figure 3: Matrix Organisational Structure
(Source: Martínez-Martínez et al., 2017)
In the opinion of Martínez-Martínez et al. (2017), matrix structure highlights that
various department is noticed in the venture under the top management such as
operational department, production department, financial department, sales department
and many others. In this type of structure, organisation can follow democratic,
transformational and autocratic leadership styles in their venture. In case of Travelodge
hotel, as they use digital technology for business operation, transformational and
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autocratic, both leadership styles are followed. In case of autocratic style, top
management provides the target to the managers for achieving it within time.
Travelodge was able to increase their profit around 8.8% in 2018 as top managers
provided clear instruction about the role of production and marketing managers in the
venture by arranging video conference (insider.co.uk, 2019). As meeting was conducted
in a specific time, it saved their time also. It is also found that employees did not
response to the bell of the customers as they did not have clear knowledge about this
technology. The issue was easily identified for following the matrix structure. In this
context, transformational leadership style is followed and leaders provided training to
the employees and guided them, so that customer satisfaction level was increased.
Various organisational cultures are found such as clan culture, market culture,
adhocracy culture and hierarchy culture. In Travelodge hotel, market culture is
followed in order to understand the rivals’ position in market along with customers’
demand (Manning, 2018). In this context, by taking information from the marketing
team, leaders and managers follow transformational leadership style so that they can
motivate the employees for achieving positive outcome for the business. It is found that
in market, easyHotel is the strong competitor of Travelodge, however, they do not solve
query of customers properly. By understanding this issue, managers convey it to the
leaders and they provide proper guidance to the employees so that consumers get on-
time reply of their query. Thus, market culture helps the organisation by following
transformational leadership style to hold their position in market.
Review the management and leadership styles with a reference to the emerging
influence of digital technology and its application (P3)
Visionary management style helps the venture to use digital technology as proper
guidance is provided to the employees of the venture. In the hospitality industry, in order
to use digital technology, managers should communicate with employees and leaders in
order to find out their consent on this topic. Managers should elaborate on the purpose
of using this technology, which can motivate the team to work hard for achieving fruitful
outcome (Bucata and Rizescu, 2016). On the other hand, coaching management
style can also be followed in order to influence workers to use digital technology in the
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venture. At the time of introducing coaching management style, managers provide
training to the employees and leaders according to their issues, so that professional
skills can be increased and it helps them to use computer effectively (Grant, 2016).
Thus, by following above-mentioned management style, organisations can easily
change their operational activities for achieving better outcome.
Transformational leadership style helps to introduce change in the venture in order to
maximise the profit of the venture (Choi et al., 2017). As people are fond of using online
system, mangers and leaders under this industry need to develop their knowledge
related to digital technology for earning success. For example, organisation such as
Travelodge hotel constantly updates their service related news on their website for
increasing number of consumers. Transformational style helps to design the website in
an innovative way. On the other hand, autocratic style is also followed in order to
maintain the system and discipline of the venture. By using digital technology such as
internet, top-level managers easily understand the market position and provide
instruction to the lower level managers. Thus, service quality of employees is improved
and innovation in services is introduced by following the instruction and customer’
satisfaction rate is also increased.
Evaluate the link between theory and practice as currently seen in your
organisation (D1)
In the visionary management style, the purpose of an activity is clearly mentioned to the
team, and in autocratic style, clear instruction is provided so that employees can
understand the importance for following these management styles (Grant, 2016).
However, in Travelodge hotel, though proper instruction related to business activities is
provided, purpose is not clearly mentioned. In this context, meeting was arranged and
opinion from employees is taken so that effective business decision can be made. On
the other hand, Travelodge also follows the concept of transformational leadership style
where, leaders behave politely and guide employees in order to increases motivation
and performance of workers. By receiving polite behaviour form the leaders, employees
work properly and it reflects on their development in the profit rate, which is around
8.8% in 2018.
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LO2
Identify and investigate the internal and external factors that can influence
management styles and structures (P4)
Internal factors
Employee commitment and engagement, business demand, innovation and
conflict management are the internal factors that influence management structure and
style. In the matrix structure, according to the customers’ demand, the marketing team
convey it to the operation team and they design activities properly (Nazarian et al.,
2017). Travelodge follows this structure and it helps to increase employee engagement
policy of the hotel. In addition to this, as visionary management style is followed, it also
assists Travelodge in order to remove conflict among the employees. In this context,
managers share the goal such as increasing profit with leaders and leaders discuss the
methods with team members. In this scenario, the leaders take final decision such as
online marketing after manager’s approval.
External factors
The external factors are innovation and digital disruption, globalisation, brands vs
creation and using mobile app that influences management styles. Government
policy related to tax incentives helps to bring growth in the hospitality sector. Thus,
managers are able to increase their capital of business. In addition to this, GDP growth
rate in UK is around 2.45% and it ensures a strong economic status of the country ( To
et al., 2015). Thus, management of Travelodge can expend huge money for their
business operation. Globalisation leaves impact on business and managers of
Travelodge focus on the trendy style so that they can satisfy customers. It is found that
the managers use foursquare application in order to get information of the rivals
such as HomeStay, easyHotel and many others. By analysing the external sources,
Travelodge focus on their coaching style and provide effective training to their
employees for completing task in a legal way. In order to maintain environmental safety,
refrigerant component CFC is not used and managers try to follow it also.
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Analyse the key influencing factors such as the advancing digital technology,
identifying their strengths and weaknesses (M2)
Strengths of influencing factors such as digital technology, globalisation
 Easy to connect (digital technology)
 Time-saving (digital technology)
 Developing business operation by using advanced technology (globalisation)
Weaknesses of influencing factors such as digital technology, globalisation
 Data can be lost (digital technology)
 Unskilled employees can loss their job (globalisation)
In the opinion of Hermsen et al. (2016), as digital technology helps to save time of
workers, organisations are able to increase their service quality easily. For example, in
Travelodge hotel, workers use internet and personal database for keeping track of their
customers, who book hotel. Thus, as offline-booking system is not followed, sales are
increased. On the other hand, if the booking related record is not kept properly,
accommodation-related issue can occur (Altinay and Taheri, 2019). Thus, customers’
dissatisfaction would be increased.
Globalisation also influences the operational system of the venture. In hospitality sector,
as people prefer to get ultimate comfort, it is necessary to bring development as per the
feedback of customers (Nguyen and Luu, 2018). On the other hand, the employees who
do not have effective skills can lose their job. Coaching management style can remove
this issue by providing proper training to the workers.
Critically analyse how specific management styles have been influenced and
changed by application of digital technology (D2)
As commented by Hight et al. (2019), visionary management style focuses on the
purpose of introducing new system in the venture. As digital technology is used, the
managers try to do market research and show the evidence to leaders before taking
business-related decision. Thus, appropriate business decision is taken for earning
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business growth in market. For example, managers of Travelodge analysed the profit of
their competitors such as easyHotel by using internet and showed it to the leaders.
Thus, strategy such as more involvement in online marketing was noticed. It helped
Travelodge to increase their profit of around 8.8% (insider.co.uk, 2019).
On the other hand, by using digital technology, changes are monitored in the coaching
management style. During providing training related to the service in hospitality industry,
a demo can be attached by using YouTube video. Thus, globalisation assists in
developing the operating system of the hotel.
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