Employability Skills Analysis and Report: Travelodge Hotel Management

This report analyzes employability skills within the context of Travelodge Hotel, focusing on the role of a manager. It begins by outlining the author's responsibilities and performance objectives, including leadership, decision-making, and ethical considerations. The report then evaluates the effectiveness of these objectives, highlighting the importance of communication and time management. Recommendations for improvement include making objectives SMART and utilizing workshops to enhance skills. The report also explores motivational techniques, such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two-factor theory, to improve employee performance. Additionally, the report includes a formal letter to senior management and a memo to staff members addressing challenges like high employee turnover, and explores team dynamics and problem-solving strategies. The report also includes illustrations like critical path diagrams and timescales.

Employability Skills
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Task 1 ..............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Set of my own responsibilities and performance objectives .................................................3
1.2 Evaluation of my own effectiveness against the performance objectives ............................4
1.3 Recommendation for improvement ......................................................................................5
1.4 The use of motivational techniques to improve quality of performance...............................6
Task 2-.............................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Formal letter to senior management and memo to staff members ........................................7
2.3 Effective time management strategies ..................................................................................9
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Roles people play in team and how individual can work together to achieved shred goals
....................................................................................................................................................11
3.2 Analysis of team dynamics and suggested alternatives ......................................................13
3.3 The alternatives to complete task and work in team...........................................................13
Task 4 ............................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Tools and methods for developing solution to problems of Travelodge hotel....................14
4..3 Appropriate strategy for resolving the problem of high employee turnover .....................15
4.3 Potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy...........................................17
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20
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Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Critical path and Network diagram ........................................................................19
Illustration 2: Timescale................................................................................................................20
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INTRODUCTION
In the present scenario, employability skills plays very important role in the growth and
development of an individual. In simpler terms, it is termed as those transferable skills which are
needed to make him/her employable (Wickramasinghe and et.al., 2010). One of the main reasons
why employability skills are necessary is that it helps in delivering effective and satisfactory
work. In addition to this, these skills also plays very crucial role in making critical decision and
resolving issues in the organization. The present report highlights a set of my own
responsibilities and objectives regarding performance. It also depicts the overall effectiveness of
the objectives which has been developed by me. The use of different motivational techniques in
order to improve the quality of work performance is also mentioned in this report.
TASK 1
1.1 Setting my own responsibilities and performance objectives
I am currently working as a manger in Travelodge hotel in UK and I am required to take
care of overall operations of the hotel. My responsibilities and roles in the organizations are
mentioned below as: Leadership- An effective manager is the one which is able to lead people in the
organization from the front. My responsibility in the hotel is to lead other staff members
and direct their efforts towards accomplishment of Travelodge aim and objectives. I am
required to take care of the fact that employees remain satisfied and all well aware of
their roles and mission of the organization. Decision making- As a manager in Travelodge hotel, I am playing very important role in
the decision making process of the hotel. In different situations, I am required to make
effective decision which can contribute to success of the hotel. Employment legislation and ethics- It is my core responsibility to take care of the fact
ethics and legislation are taken care in the best possible manner. I need to make sure that
all laws and regulations are followed and Travelodge hotel carry out its operations in
ethical manner.
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 Other responsibilities- My other responsibilities includes taking care of Travelodge
hotel's operations, employee motivation, strategic formulation, dealing with issues and
challenges of employees, etc.
My performance objectives are discussed below as:
 I am the one who is required to set up performance objectives for organization and its
employees. Furthermore, I also need to carry out monitoring of the same in order to
determine whether there is any different between actual performance and desired
performance. As per the provided case scenario of Travelodge, I am working as a
manager and I am responsible for leading people in the hotel by example. This will help
in carrying out effective monitoring of people.
 I am required to work upon my communication skills and enhance the same in order to
become more productive. In addition to this, it is also required by me to improve my
communications skills within next 6 months. According to the provided case scenario, I
am responsible maximizing sales and profits. This can be achieved by communicating
regularly with people in organization about the growth and performance of the hotel.
 My objective is to improve my time management skills in order to carry out my activities
in the best possible manner. According to the provided case study of Travelodge, my
responsibility is to make customers happy by meeting their needs in the best possible
manner. Management of time will provide me with an opportunity to invest more time in
enhancing the rate of customer satisfaction.
1.2 Evaluation of my own effectiveness against the performance objectives
After carrying out the assessment of the objectives which I have developed, it has been
observed that this objective will help me to become more effective by enhancing my skills set
and knowledge. Working as a manager in Travelodge hotel is not an easy task for me as I am
required to deal with various challenges during my work. It can be also stated that, I am required
to take care of the fact that customer’s needs are identified and are satisfied in the best possible
manner. By improving my communication skills, I will be able to develop long term relationship
not only with customers but with employee as well. Effective communication skill is also going
to support me in informing my ideas and views to other staff members in appropriate manner.
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Other than this, improvement in communication skill will result in delivering the best quality and
satisfactory services to customers. On the other hand, my objective is to improve time
management skills in as soon as possible. Working in Travelodge hotel as a manager means that
an individual is required to deal with various areas. This includes managing areas such as deals,
destinations and booking of customers. Therefore, improving time management skills will result
in dealing with these areas effectively and managing my work easily. Thus, it can be expressed
that the objectives which I have developed are effective and will provide me with several kinds
of benefits.
1.3 Recommendations for improvement
I need to make some improvements in objectives and the strategies which I have
employed to achieve higher growth and success. It can be stated that I need to make changes in
objectives and this can be done by making them SMART. By making objectives as specific,
measurable, achievable and realistic as well as time bound, I will be able to get desired results.
One of the major benefits which I will have by making changes in objectives is that they won’t
be vague anymore. By making them specific, I will be able to get clear directions regarding the
same. In addition to this, SMART objectives will also support me in monitoring my overall
performance easily. By carrying appropriate changes in objectives, I will be able to carry out
comparison between my actual performances to the desired ones. It is also going to support me
in taking corrective actions if there is a gap between actual and desired performance. It is
recommended that in order to enhance my communication skills I can visit workshops and
seminars. I will be busy in managing the work and operations of Travelodge hotel during day
time and therefore, I can attend workshop related to communications skills during nights. On the
other side of this, it can be also recommended that I am required to invest more resources such as
time and efforts in order to improve my time management skills. The new targets are mentioned
below as:
 To enhance my communication skills by visiting workshops in every weakened. The time
for this is one year.
 To improve my time management skills by learning time management tools and
strategies within next 60 days.
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It is recommended that I need to provide 100% efforts to accomplish the above
mentioned objectives. Along with this, I need to review my performance at regular intervals to
get the best results.
1.4 The use of motivational techniques to improve quality of performance
In the present era, motivation has become very important in order to accomplish aim and
objectives of a business enterprise. Motivation can be defined as the process which encourage
people in the organization to give their best towards its success (de Guzman and et.al., 2013).
Workplace motivation has started to play crucial role as it provides several benefits to
companies. One of the major among those is that it increases overall efficiency of employees. It
can be also argued that poorly motivated people are not able to contribute required efforts in
success of a business enterprise (Stone and et.al., 2010). The use of different tools and
techniques also support companies in implementation and management of changes in desired
manner. Another benefit of motivation is that it creates better relations among staff members and
develops effective coordination among them. There are different theories of motivation which
can be used to enhance overall performance of employee. Some theories along with their
application are mentioned below as: Maslow's hierarchy of needs: This theory of motivation was introduced in the year 1943
by Abraham Maslow. According to this theory, in order to motivate employees,
businesses are required to identify need of people and then satisfy the same. Further
Maslow present a proper hierarchy which consists of five needs that are physiological,
safety, social, esteem and self actualization (Saunders and et.al., 2010). Employee
working at different level has different needs which are required to be satisfied.
Travelodge hotel can implement this theory in order to motivate employee within the
hotel. For example it can help employee at lower level to satisfy physiological and safety
needs. On the other hand, social and esteem needs of workers at middle level are required
to be satisfied.
 Herzberg two factor theory: This is the theory of motivation which explains that there are
two main factors which encourages employees to give their best towards the success of
an organization. According to this theory, Travelodge hotel will be required to take care
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of two important factors which are motivators and hygienic factors in order to motivate
its staff members (Wilton, 2011). The hotel can use motivators such as involvement of
employees in decision making process, giving staff members different set of
responsibilities etc. In addition to this, the hotel also needs to provide challenging
working conditions to all its employees. These factors are going to act a driving force and
will encourage employee in hotel to give their best (Maxwell and et.al., 2010). As per this
theory, Travelodge hotel also needs to focus on hygienic factors such as clean and
appropriate working conditions, security in terms of their job etc.
The above mentioned two theories are very effective in terms of providing motivation to
employees in Travelodge hotel. Management of the hotel can provide various rewards and
incentives to employees in order to motivate employee. Furthermore, employee in hotel should
be communicated with the fact that better performance will result in higher monetary rewards
and incentives. The staff members can make use of self motivated factors such as setting up
personal objectives and goals, developing self confidence and positive attitude towards their
respective work and responsibilities.
TASK 2
2.2 Formal letter to senior management and memo to staff members
The letter to senior management is provided below as:
To,
The Senior management
Travelodge hotel
Subject- Issues faced by the hotel
Dear Sir,
This letter is to inform you that there are various issues and challenges which the hotel is facing.
The increasing rate of employee turnover has become a serious problem for management and
you are required to take corrective measures to lower down the same. As a manager in
Travelodge hotel, I personally believe that we are not able to serve customers in satisfactory
manner due to the fact that employee morale and motivation level is very low.
It is a kind of request from my side that, please take some corrective measures to deal with the
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above stated problems.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Manager
Travelodge hotel, UK
TO: All staff members
From: Manager
Date: 10th May 2016
Message:
We are organizing a meeting to develop strategies to deal with the problem of low employee
morale and high rate of employee turnover.
Regards
Manager, Travelodge hotel
2.3 Effective time management strategies
In the present scenario, in order to grow and achieve better employment opportunities,
every individual is required to manage time in most effective manner. Further, it can be stated
that time management also play very important role in maintaining good balance between
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professional and personal life of people (Gallagher, 2013). At present there are various time
management strategies which I can use to manage my time during my work in Travelodge hotel.
Some effective strategies are mentioned below as: Knowing how to spend my time- I am required to become well aware of the fact that how
I am going to spend my entire time. This can be done by using techniques such as time
log. It can be also stated that the use of time log will assist me in identification of those
task and activities which are consuming excessive time (Gravells, 2010). Along with this,
this strategy will also help me to become aware of the fact that whether I am investing my
time or wasting it. This will help in effective management of Travelodge operations and
activities which is my key responsibilities as per the provided case. Using a planning tool- In order to manage my time in appropriate manner, the strategy of
using a planning tool is also very effective. As a manager in Travelodge hotel, I am
required to deal with lots of tasks and activities (Jackson, 2014). Further, it can be stated
that if my time is not managed properly, I will not be able to do my work in efficient
manner. I can make use of various kinds of planning tools such as pocket diaries, wall
charts and electronic planner to record the tasks which I am required to accomplish. Scheduling of time- Appropriate scheduling of activities and time is another strategy
which I can use to manage my time in suitable manner. I need to make sure that the
process of scheduling is not restricted to recording of all activities but it is also related to
scheduling them in appropriate manner (Jones, 2013). Further, I can accomplish most of
the challenging task and activities during morning when I am full of energy. Time
scheduling will help me in providing appropriate time of inspire and motivate employee
which is one of my key responsibilities in Travelodge, as per the provided case. Management of all external time wasters- It is another strategy which I can employ to
manage my time in Travelodge hotel. Lengthy phone calls, meetings, unexpected visitors
are some factors which results in wasting time of an individual (Lerman, 2013). As a
manager in Travelodge hotel, I am required to carry out small talks on telephone and
avoid meeting which are unnecessary lengthy. In addition to this, in need to set objective
and agenda of meeting before starting the same. As per the provided case scenario I am
working as manager in Travelodge and there is wide variety of external time wasters
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which I am required to deal with. I am responsible for overall running of hotel and
therefore needs to manage external time wasters.
 Avoiding multitasking- Nowadays most of the people think that multitasking is good and
save their lots of time. However, it can be argued that it is not necessary that multitasking
only results in management of time and it can also result in waste of the same. Shifting
from one activity to another can results in unnecessary consumption of time which is not
good for any individual (Maxwell and et.al. 2010). Furthermore, people are not able to
concentrate on one particular task by multitasking and they end up by messing
everything. In order to manage my time in Travelodge hotel, I am required to avoid
multitasking. According to the provided case scenario of Travelodge, avoiding
multitasking will result in focusing more on customer satisfaction and happiness.
TASK 3
3.1 Roles people play in team and how individual can work together to achieved shred goals
In the present scenario, it has become very important for the organization to develop
teams in order to accomplish aim and objectives in the best possible manner. The benefit of
having team is that Travelodge hotel will be able to divide its work and accomplish its targets
easily (Baker and et.al., 2010). Further, people will not feel any kind of burden as work will be
distributed among staff members equally. According to the work of Belbin, there are nine major
roles which people in team play. The roles are discussed below as: Shaper- These are the person in team which always seeks for carrying out changes in
organization. The rationale behind this is that they want to improve the overall
performance and productivity by ring those changes within organization. The
characteristics of these persons are that they are generally extrovert and are very dynamic
in terms of personality (Jones, 2013). Shapers in Travelodge hotel will also play very
important role in dealing and solving the issues and problem which is faced by the hotel. Implementers- These are the individuals in team which plays significant role in
accomplishment of things, activities and various tasks. In addition to this, they also play
big role in practical implementation of the idea or concept which has been developed by
top management (10 employability skills, e.d). As per the given case, individuals in
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Travelodge hotel are not concerned with group goals and they are more interested in
accomplishment of their own goals. Complete finishers- These are the people in team which are responsible to make sure that
the project and task are carried out in the best possible manner. In Travelodge hotel
complete finishers will be required to make sure that all errors in task and activities are
eliminated. On the other side of this, these individual are very concerned in terms of
deadlines and meeting the same in appropriate manner. Coordinator - Coordinators are the people which play the role of team leaders within a
particular team in the organization (Lerman, 2013). These individuals deal with
coordination of efforts of all team members and generating the best from them.
Coordination is characterized by good listening skills and they are the one which
understand value of each member in team. As it has been already observed by the
provided case that employees in Travelodge hotel are more interested in accomplishment
of their own goals. Therefore, coordinator will support in directing their efforts towards
attaining goals and objectives of Travelodge hotel Team worker- Team workers are those individuals which help in accomplishment of team
objectives by providing them with adequate support and assistance. The role of team
workers is to ensure that all members in team do not face any kind of issues and they are
able to carry out their respective task smoothly (Benson and et.al., 2014.). Their support
to other team members results in making the entire team more effective and productive.
Team worker are essential in Travelodge hotel because the provided case scenario clearly
highlights that team work is not encouraged in the hotel. Employees are more focused on
attaining their own goals. Resources investigator- The individual which are curious and innovative is termed as
resources investigator. These people play very important role in carrying out activities
such as negotiation for the required resources (Zaharim and et.al., 2010). Resources
investigator will usually work with external stakeholders of Travelodge hotel in order to
accomplish aim and objectives of team. Travelodge hotel is facing issues related to high
rate of staff turnover as people are not clear about their respective roles and
responsibilities in the hotel. Individuals such as resources investigator will help in
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