Employability Skills Report: Managerial Responsibilities at Travelodge

This report analyzes the employability skills essential for a manager at Travelodge, a hotel and hospitality company. It outlines the manager's responsibilities, including learning and development, ethical conduct, planning, and change management. The report evaluates the manager's effectiveness against defined objectives, such as communication, sales, and customer satisfaction, identifying areas for improvement like enhancing communication skills and providing training. It also explores motivational techniques, referencing Maslow's hierarchy of needs, to improve employee performance and quality of work. Furthermore, the report delves into problem-solving strategies, team dynamics, and time management, providing a comprehensive overview of the skills necessary for effective leadership within the organization. The report is structured into tasks covering responsibilities, performance objectives, recommendations for improvement, and motivational strategies, culminating in a conclusion that synthesizes the key findings and recommendations for enhancing managerial effectiveness and employee performance at Travelodge.

Employability Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1.1 – Development of a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives.....................1
P1.2 – Evaluation of own effectiveness against defined objectives............................................2
P1.3 Make recommendations for improvement..........................................................................3
P1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance.....3
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................5
P2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems........................................................................5
P2.2 Communication in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels...............6
P2.3 Identifying effective time-management strategies..............................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P3.1- Explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve
shared goals.................................................................................................................................8
3.2 Analysing the team dynamics...............................................................................................9
3.3 Alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals...............................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Tools and methods for developing solutions to problems..................................................10
4.2 An appropriate strategy for resolving the problem of labour turnover...............................11
4.3 The potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy...................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Employability skills are the transferable skills which are needed by an individual to
effectively work in a workplace (Employability skills, 2017). These skills are very much
important for an individual to be an employee because they are necessary to make an individual
as a professional. These types of skills help an employee in implementing its technical and
professional skills with effectiveness. The organization used to explain this topic is Travelodge.
This is an individually owned company working as a hotel in hospitality sector. This is a second
largest budgeted hotel, operating its business in UK. In this report, the responsibilities and
performance of a manager at Travelodge are explained. Development of inter-personnel and
transferable skills are also explained. Apart from this, the way of working with others and
strategies for problem solving are also been explained.
TASK 1
P1.1 – Development of a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives.
A manager is the backbone of any business because it has some specific set of roles and
responsibilities which are necessary for the success of a business. In case of Travelodge the
responsibilities and performance objectives are stated as below:
Responsibilities
There are some roles and responsibilities of a manager at Travelodge which are explained
below:
Responsibility to learn and develop within the work role:
The manager of Travelodge should learn from its past experience so as to gain the
knowledge of handling the relationship with customers and employees. This will help the
company in gaining faith among its customers and employees. The high leaning ability of
managers will also help in developing their career and personal development (Adnan and et. al.,
2017).
Ethics:
Ethics are the basic set of rules and regulations related to moral principles which are
necessary for the upliftment of an employee. This is also a basic responsibility of a manager at
Travelodge. The rights and values of employees should be kept in mind by the manager so that
they can work for the welfare of the company. Some ethical responsibilities of a manager include
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communication, indiscrimination, etc. This will motivate the employees and thus their working
performance also increases in favour of the company. As the manager, it is the major duty to
implement these duties into the structure & hierarchical level for bringing complete achieving of
the desired goals or objectives. My personal responsibilities as a manager are regular overview,
supervision etc., which would helpful in accomplishment of the desired performance for the
Travelodge hotel to effectiveness towards the customer service of this hotel organisation. These
personal responsibilities would help me in managing my own time, communicating with the staff
etc.
Plan and priority
Manager of Travelodge has the responsibility of planning the strategies and prioritizing
the reviews of customers. This duty of manager allows them to create and follow personal daily
plans. These plans must be evaluated so that their effectiveness can be analysed. Apart from this,
the priorities must be reviewed on daily basis by the manager.
Managing Change
Change management is also an important aspect of the responsibilities of manager. The
manager of Travelodge is liable to manage the changes within organization. It has to talk to the
employees so as to provide them enough resources to implement the changes.
Performance Objectives
Individual appraisal system:
This is type of system in which performance of an individual is calculated on some
specific parameters (Asonitou, S., 2015). If performance of employees is satisfactory at that level
and it fulfils the specifications of parameter then those employees should be rewarded by the
manager which will motivate them for doing better in future. If the performance of some
employees is not good then the issues regarding low performance must be identified. This will
make the employees to feel important for Travelodge and thus their performance can also be
increased.
Training needs:
These are also the basic needs for the employees. If performance of employees is found
to be low and below the standard level, the manager of Travelodge has the responsibility of
providing them training. The performance of an employee can be increased by providing proper
and effective training by respective managers.
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Managing the performance
In case of performance objective, the manager of Travelodge manages the performance
of all the employees within the organization. The performance of the employees is analysed on
the basis of a rating scale so that an employee which has higher performance is rated higher as
compared to others and the employee having low performance will have lower rating.
Observing the feedback This is another performance objective for the manager of
Travelodge. The manager observes the feedback of all of the employees so as to take their
valuable feedback. This allows manager to provide enough resources to employees so that they
can enhance their performance level.
P1.2 – Evaluation of own effectiveness against defined objectives.
As per the above objectives, the effectiveness of the manager against defined objectives
are stated as below:
Effective communication:
Although the communication skills of managers should be good to improve their
relationship with employees and customers, but when it comes to resolving any conflict among
the employees the communication skills of manager should not only be good but also
convincing. They cannot manage the conflicts among the employees without having sound
communication skills (Collet, Hine and du Plessis, 2015).
Increase in sales:
The performance of manager decreases in the peak season of the hotel Travelodge. In
general season when the crowd of customers is low, the manager performs well and manages a
group of customers easily. But when it comes to manage the customers in a seasonal market, it
has become quite difficult for the manager to handle the situations. The manager is lacking in
this field.
Customer satisfaction:
A couple of customers can easily be satisfied from the ability of manager at Travelodge.
When the number of customers increases the performance of manager decreases. It is not capable
of managing a number of customers to their satisfaction level. This is the weakness of the
manager in the company which should be resolved to increase the sales.
My effectiveness against the predetermined objectives is that I am capable of managing
the performance of my work as well as of my subordinates. This can be done by me through the
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use of technique of giving rewards and benefits to the employees so that they can be motivated
and improve their performance. Apart from this, while taking the feedbacks, I face some
problems as well which were due to low satisfaction among the employees. For handling the
feedbacks, I used the social media handles of the company as well as ERP software which is
used by our organisation for communicating with employees, assigning the work, and monitoring
their performance. However, due to lacking of technical skills, I could not manage the employees
properly.
P1.3 Make recommendations for improvement
After discussion over the objectives, there are several recommendations which needs to
be focused are as follows:
 Managers should focus on enhancing their communication skills to increase the sales
using and to enhance the customer satisfaction level by proper communicating with
customers. Travelodge should provide training program to its managers so that it can help
in developing their communication skills (Cottrell, S., 2015).
 Also, the managers of Travelodge need to be with their work. Here, ethical consideration
means following ethical values, code of conduct, regulations and policies.
 The managerial person must establish appraisal system for every six months to enhance
the productivity and performance of the employees. Also, the manager is required to have
ability to train & develop their employee's to raise high performance and future required
skills.
 For improving the technical skills, I can join the technical classes as well as I can also
take the training from technical experts.
 For improving the satisfaction among employees I can provide them flexible working
arrangement and rewards so that they can be encouraged and improve their performance.
Through their improved performance, my working efficiency will also improve as good
outputs are given by my team.
P1.4 Review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance
Motivation is the detailed technique where person is used to be encouraged and reward to
enhance the stimuli of an employee. This basically helps to raise the performance expectancy of
an employee to get quality outcomes and results. Motivation generally arrived when particular
need and wants are identified with the purpose to fulfil it. This creates the positive response in
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the mind of any person from whom motivation has been initiated. It is basically a tool for
enhancing the performance level of an individual, team and organisation in an effective manner.
In context with Travelodge, motivation needs to be taken in a serious and utilized manner.
Motivation is enriched with Maslow theory of needs, which has total five different needs to be
demanded by any employee. Basic needs such as food, water, shelter, clothing and support are
considered under this theory:
Maslow theory of need hierarchy: Maslow has stated that people are meant to achieve certain
needs and those needs take precedence over others. Hence, this theory is completely explained
over this context. The theory is classified into the five different types of needs are as follows:
Physiological needs:
These are some biological needs for the human survival (Ismail, S. and Mohammed, D.
S., 2015). These basic requirements are useful for a human being to work, live and enjoy. For
example: Air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, sleep etc. are necessary for survival purpose.
Safety needs:
These needs belongs to safety and security of a particular person. It involves security in
the personal life, employment or any profession. For example: protection from elements,
security, order, law, stability and freedom from fear.
Social needs:
Those needs which provides the social benefits and support to a particular person. The
major aim of these needs is to understand their motivation connected with social benefits such as
love, affection, care, belongingness and friendship etc.
Self-Esteem needs:
Esteem needs are of two types: internal esteem needs such as self-respect, confidence,
competence, achievement and freedom and external esteem needs such as recognition, power,
status, attention and admiration.
Self-actualization needs:
This include the urge to become what you are capable of, along with what potential do
you have and the potential to become something in life. It includes the need for growth and self-
contentment. It also includes the desire for gaining knowledge, social service, creativity and
being aesthetic. For example: self-awareness, personal growth, confidence, career etc.
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This Maslow model as technique has initiated with the purpose of improving the task and
performance quality of an employee (Ito, H. and Kawazoe, N., 2015). In context with
Travelodge, Maslow has defined needs to understand the stimuli connected to someone's need
and wants. It is helpful to motivate both manager and employee at the greater and optimized
level. The positive impact of the Maslow theory is helping to motivate employee's and raise their
confidence at a productive level. Also, it would creates level of common interest among an
individuals to work with defined vision or mission. The negative impact will be employee's more
demanding and also it may led to increase in their needs and wants for working in this hotel.
TASK 2
P2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems
In the business, where company like Travelodge is performing their activities at right
time with right purpose and resources (Jackling, B. and Natoli, R., 2015). In that condition, many
issues could arise, which can affect the performance of an employee. It has been noticed that
conflicts and problems are seen in hotel and also, it happens on daily basis but need to be taken
seriously. It is the duty of hotel manager to analyse such issues and take initiative to overcome
problems.
Analysis of problem:
Before concluding at anything, it is necessary to identify and also analyse the problem
such as high turnover rate of an employee, difference in the culture along with behaviour change.
There are various problematic matters for Travelodge to get instant solution. The problems and
issues associated with Travelodge Hotel are as follows:
 Culture and environment of the Travelodge hotel is not appropriate for new employee's
to operate and functions. Due to this, hotel is concerning for improvement in retention
rate of an employees on a greater scale with help of concept of the motivation. Also,
current workforce of this hotel is unable to stop high turnover rate, as a reason of biases
and doing differences between employee's.
 Company's environment and culture consist of different people with diverse thinking and
behaviour. Even skill is one major reason behind this. Political activities are the major
reason behind what sort of problems happening in the Travelodge hotel.
Research for the changes:
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After an analysis of problem, it is necessary to find the solution of such problems to gain
effectiveness and profitability for the Travelodge Hotel (Messum, Wilkes and Jackson, 2015).
Also, prestige and reputation of the hotel has decreased in industry and market. It is necessary for
the Travelodge Hotel to look for prescribed changes such as high remuneration, training &
development, motivation through fulfilling the basic and important needs etc. Research for
change is important to bring consistency and efficiency in an organisation.
Creating and deciding an appropriate solution:
Manager of the Travelodge Hotel is hired for the purpose to manage the company and
make it competent to overcome any kind of issues and problem. Also, manager should call a
meeting for the employees on weekly basis to get updated by their own source of knowledge
about any illegal activities running in the Travelodge Hotel. To arrive at the common solution,
manager should conduct activities such as employee engagement, simulation, interaction
activities, eye-breaking session etc. to enhance motivation level of an employee to reach to the
valid results.
Hence, manager of the Travelodge hotel needs to take some strategic actions along with
future decision making at different critical situation in the Travelodge hotel (O’Connor and
Bodicoat, 2017). For overcoming any cultural issues, manager needs to conduct training &
development for creating common interest and motivation among the workforce of the
Travelodge Hotel.
P2.2 Communication in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels
In context with Bromley central Travelodge, business was suffering with an issue of
ineffective recruitment and selection process which they were using from last few years. They
were also suffering with an issue of ineffective working culture, in which employee of this
leading hotel was facing issues related to ineffective work or performance. In the previous
assessment, there were various solution which has been found relevant for solving this problem
such as employment engagement, training & development, employee induction at a greater
period of time. In this response, these solution needs to be communicated in an effective manner
and also led effective recruitment or selection. For this, role of assistant hotel manager will be
taken into consideration and proper analysis of job role will be undertaken. In this proper
conduction of interview will be taken into consideration to make recruitment more productive.
This is necessary to have various style of communication such as verbal and non-verbal. In
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verbal, Basically, audio language is necessary for the communication of two individuals. In case
of Travelodge, company should use this type of communication because the personnel aspect are
shown by the communicator which help the customer to attract towards the business of
organization. Whereas, in case of non-verbal communication, company will inform candidates
with sources of Email, oral mode etc., to generate common relationship and ascertain productive
results.
P2.3 Identifying effective time-management strategies
Time management is most necessary skill that is required by every employee, while they
are highly engaged in doing defined work or achievement of defined goals or objectives. As a
manager, this skill is important to enhance my confidence and motivation along with
development of an exposure for accomplishment of an organised goals and targets. It is
considered as one major employability and professional skills both. In context with Travelodge
Hotel, time management is required to perform various activities and task on the basis of time
mentioned in the curriculum of any activities. Being a manager, it is necessary to formulate
various strategies to manage the time in an effective manner is as follow:
Setting the objectives:
This is type of time management strategy in which manager of Travelodge should focus
on setting up the objectives (Simatele, 2015). The objectives are set on the basis of distribution
of time. The work which can be done early and is urgent should be given priority so that
effective management of timer can be done.
Prioritising Workload:
It is a type of time management strategy, in which task is divided on the basis of priority
given to the tasks. The project which is urgent is given priority so that it can be done at the
earliest. This type of strategy helps a manager of Travelodge to adjust the timing of projects
which are urgent so that work can be managed effectively and smoothly.
Work steadily rather than erratically:
In this time management strategy, the employee should focus on to work steadily rather
than using any hurdles. Hurdles always allows mistakes to come on the way of succession.
Therefore, manager at Travelodge should focus on work with steadiness and calmness.
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Time quadrant is an analytical tool, which is necessary for explanation on how a
particular employee or an individual's keep their engagement of time efficiently. The explanation
of this tool is as follow:
 Important and urgent: Crises and emergencies
 Important but not urgent: Prevention, planning and improvement.
 Not important but urgent: Interruptions and busy work
 Not important and not urgent: Time wasters
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Illustration 1: The Four Quadrants of Time Management

TASK 3
P3.1- Explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve shared
goals.
There are three types of employees which are hired by the company such as marketing
specialist, team manager and coordinator. Job roles of all these employees are stated below:
Marketing Specialist:
This is an individual who is hired to conduct market research so that effective strategies
can be made by the company to attract more customers to their door (Spence and Hyams-
Ssekasi, 2015). This type of person has the knowledge about the marketing therefore it has given
the responsibility of finding the relevant issue related to customer's taste, requirement, need,
habit and preferences and trends. Proper solutions are inducted by the specialist with the help of
thorough market research and provide relevant information which is necessary for the solution of
problems found in Travelodge.
Team manager:
The manager of the team has the responsibility of managing the resources, tasks, funds
etc. so that tasks can be done effectively. The team manager has the main aim of deciding the
roles and responsibilities of employees working in the team. This type of person is hired because
it has a knowledge of managing properly different resources of company. It has the skills and
knowledge of managing the work to be completed within time. It has also the responsibility of
providing proper training sessions of the employees of team so that they can work for the welfare
of team rather than their individual shares so that company can be able to achieve their goals and
objectives.
Coordinator:
Coordination is one of the important key aspect of achieving the targets of organization.
This type of individual is hired by the company because it has a good knowledge of coordinating
with the employees so that they can work together to achieve the target set by Travelodge. This
individual is said to have a good knowledge of communication with the help of which
coordinator can easily solve the issues facing by the employees.
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