Dakota Hotels Project: Work-Based Learning in Project Management

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of project management within a work-based learning framework, focusing on Dakota Hotels in Manchester, UK. The report details the planning, initiation, and execution of a project aimed at improving front desk management to enhance customer service. It covers key project management phases, including initiation, planning (setting targets, aims, and objectives), execution, monitoring, and closure. The report emphasizes the importance of effective resource allocation, risk management, and communication planning. It also reflects on the project's completion, highlighting how deadlines were met and the benefits achieved at each stage, particularly in implementing software solutions for efficient record-keeping. The analysis underscores the role of a front office manager in optimizing customer service and brand awareness within the hospitality sector. Desklib offers more resources like this to aid students in their studies.

Work-Based Learning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................3
Planned and initiated the project, setting targets, aims and objectives for your project........3
Managed, monitored and evaluated the progress of the project throughout the project
lifecycle from initiation to completion...................................................................................6
How at project completion you met the deadlines and achieved the benefits of each stage
of aims and objectives for your project..................................................................................7
Reflection...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................9
Books and Journals:...............................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Work based learning is defined as the model which is used for students in order to
provide real life work experiences so that students are able to understand the real market
situations (Battistelli and et.al., 2019). With the help of work based learning, students are able
to apply technical skills as well as academic skills. This report aims to formulate a business
report in order to show the planning and managing of business project in an efficient way
with the special reference to Dakota hotels. The hotel is situated in Manchester, UK. It is the
luxurious hotel which is always trying to do simple things in brilliant manner. This report will
be discussing planning and management of project in order to achieve the goals and
objectives.
MAIN BODY
Planned and initiated the project, setting targets, aims and objectives for your project
It is important to note that work based learning is found to be very important in
today's environment in order to improve the skills and performances of students (Morris,
2018). There are many universities are providing this facility to students in which they are
trying to provide work based learning programs so that students are able to analyse the
situation and practical or real life. This is the reason that this report undertakes a small project
of hospitality organisation. It is identified that front office manager plays a very important
role as they operates within a network of service organisation and try to convince customers
in order to increase the brand awareness of hospitality organisation. In the small project, one
organisation it is coming for the purpose of conducting a meeting and receive the project for
front office manager in which they give their best in order to ensure best customer services.
So that's why there is a plan of project which is very important to formulate by a front office
manager of Dakota Hotel so that they are able to ensure the successful completion of project.
It is important to know that project can be accomplished only when a project manager
is following all the important steps of project management (Andresen, Boud and Cohen,
2020). It includes five phases of project management such as project initiation, project
planning, project execution, project monitoring, and project closure.
Project initiation

Project initiation is the first step in which it is necessary to define the project in a
broader level so that front desk officer of The Dakota Hotel is able to know about the project
requirements. Project initiation essay starting with the business case in which it outlines the
project purpose and requirement (Jabarullah and Hussain, 2019). It also includes business
needs and stakeholders. In this project, it is identified that project is focusing on making a
solution of better front desk management in order to maximize the customer services.
Project planning
Planning is the second function of starting any project as it is very important to
complete the project. It is identified by The Dakota Hotel that there are many problems faced
by them because of poor record keeping methods by front desk manager. It is very important
to manage all the record in an effective way so that if any organisation needs any data at any
time then front desk manager is able to provide them frequently (Jackson, 2018). For the
purpose of planning and initiation of the project, it is very important to set targets, aims and
objectives of the project. So the essential and element which required in planning and
initiation of the project are mentioned below:
Targets: The main target of this small project is to facilitate best front desk
management so that it helps The Dakota hotel for providing best customer services.
Aims: The aim of this small project is to develop of front desk management solution
in order to enable front desk units for carrying out their operations effectively.
Objectives:
 To develop of front desk management solution for The Dakota hotel.
 To show the importance and relevance of trade desk management solution in the
hospitality industry.
 To provide information that how front desk officers use computers in order to manage
hotels record.
It is identified that project planning is the heart of project life cycle as it helps to
inform everyone that what will be going to do (Ali, 2019). This is the reason that project
managers in project planning should include each and every aspect in order to facilitate
effective communication, informing the persons who perform certain task, management of
project risk, etc. In addition to the targets, aims and objectives project planning is also require

to include some important following elements which help an organisation to achieve their
goals and objectives:
 Scope planning: It is necessary to specify the scope of project which helps to create a
work breakdown structure (Chis and et.al., 2018). It is the project of front desk
management in which the Dakota Hotel wants to identify the solution for better front
desk management. It will cover all the activities of front desk management of The
Dakota hotel.
 Preparation of work down structure: It is the structure in which organisation needs
to prepare a word on the structure so that they are able to divide all the work each and
every person who are proficient in the particular skill. So in this project, activities or
work are divided according to the skills and knowledge. For example, the solution
will be finding by research and development department so it is allocated to one
particular department in the preparation of work down structure.
 Resource and budget planning: It is necessary to ensure my project manager of The
Dakota Hotel that what resources are required in order to complete this project. In
addition to this, budget plays a very important role as if the Dakota Hotel found any
solution for the front desk management then they require financial assistance so that's
why it is necessary to formulate a budget which include estimate expenditure.
 Risk management: It is not possible for any project that there is no risk in the
organisation. So it is very sure that there are some possible risks which can be
occurred in near future so that's why it is very important for the project manager of
front desk management project to include some contingency plans and mitigation
strategies in order to manage the risk (Ismuwardani, Nuryatin and Doyin, 2019).
 Communication plan: It is very crucial for the project manager of The Dakota Hotel
that they should have a communication plan in which they need to decide that how
they can communicate or inform about this plan to all the members. Communication
is very necessary as then only The Dakota Hotel is able to complete this project.
These all are the important elements which should be included in the project planning
so that The Dakota Hotel is able to find the solution for front desk management. It is very
important it for project manager that they should follow all these steps in an effective way as
it will leads to achievement of desired goals and objectives.

Managed, monitored and evaluated the progress of the project throughout the project
lifecycle from initiation to completion
The project is not completed only with the project initiation and project planning steps
as it required inclusion of other important phases of project management. Then they are able
to achieve the desired goals and objectives (Mutakinati, Anwari and Kumano, 2018). There
are 3 more important phases which needs to be included in the project management as it helps
to complete the project in an effective way. The three important phases are project execution,
project monitoring and project closure. Without these phases, it is not possible for The
Dakota hotel to complete and accomplish their project. So other phases of the project are very
well explained in the below section:
Project Execution
Project execution is found to be one of the most important phases of project
management in which company needs to focus on the deliverables which are completed and
developed. It is the phase in which project manager and shows that all tasks are very well
completed with the inclusion of some important activities such as development of team,
assigning of resources and aligning properly, proper execution of project management plan,
procurement management if it is required, project manager needs to managers and direct
project execution, setting up of all tracking systems, status meetings, updating of project
schedule and modification of project if it is required. It is very important for the project
manager of The Dakota Hotel that they should ensure all the resources should be properly
assigned and align as there are many situation comes where organisation get failure in the
project only because of lack of resources. So that's why in project execution phase, it is
necessary for the project manager of The Dakota hotel to ensure your all the activities and
plans are properly executed so that they are able to achieve their goals and objectives.
Project Performance/Monitoring
Project performance and monitoring is another important phase in project
management because it is not possible that only project execution helps to achieve the desired
goals and objectives (Nurtanto, Fawaid and Sofyan, 2020). The main reason behind this is
there are many deviations or differences found between actual and expected performance
during the execution of project which should be monitor by Project management of The
Dakota Hotel so that they are able to find solutions. It is very important for the organisation
that should measure the project performance and progression as it helps to ensure that

everything is effectively aligning with the project management plan. For that purpose, it is
necessary for project manager of The Dakota hotel to use performance indicator in order to
measure the project performances. In addition to this, it is also important for project manager
to check the quality of deliverables and tracking of cost.
How at project completion you met the deadlines and achieved the benefits of each stage of
aims and objectives for your project
Project Closure
The last stage is the project closure where this phase represents the completion of the
project. All the contractors which hired by The Dakota Hotel should be terminated at this
time as this is the time of closing the project. But it is very important to keep in the mind of
project manager that they should recognise their valuable team members so that if they need
the support of their team members in future then they will able to get it (Aldabbus, 2018).
Once the project is completed then it is very important for the project manager to complete
few task such as meeting the deadlines and achieve the benefits of each stage specially aims
and objectives of the project. It is important that the Dakota Hotel is able to find the solution
for front desk management. For keeping the record in an effective way, it is important to
launch some software which helps to keep data permanently and automatically. Project
closure is the stage of completion of project where The Dakota Hotel found the solution of
their front desk management which helps to increase the customer services. It is identified
that once the project is complete, it is necessary for project manager to perform a final project
budget and make a report which include all the project documents and deliverables and store
them in an effective way (Zheng, Chen and Shang, 2019).
Reflection
I am playing a role of front desk manager in The Dakota hotel where we get a project
to find the front desk management solution. In the role play of front desk manager, identified
that it is not an easy project because front desk officer is the most important person who is
responsible for attending the customers first. There are many roles and responsibilities which
I identified for front desk officer. In that situation, there are many lessons which I learnt. I felt
very happy e and confident that I participated in work based learning programs. It really e
become very helpful for me and my future as it provided me a real life experience where I
applied many theories and practical life which I only read in theoretical basis. For example, I
used SWOT analysis model as it is a project of front desk management solution where we

have to identify the internal strengths and weakness so that we are able to find the solution in
an effective way. I found that SWOT analysis is one of the important models which should be
used by an organisation whenever they find any solution because it provides an overview of
an organisation about their strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. In addition to
this, I also used to PESTEL analysis for the purpose of analysing the external environment
which impacts on the organisational success. It is the framework which is used for the
purpose of analysing the external environment because it provides are positive as well as
negative impact and it should be considered whenever company is found any solution. So
that's why I found that is important for me to analyse the external environment as I have to
find the solution for making better front desk management system. I found that there are
much software was developed in the external environment which used by many other
organisations in very well manner. This information I got from the analysis of external
environment. In addition to this, I also identified that I have to analyse the competitive
market because every day the hospitality industry is growing. So it became very important for
me to analyse the competition market. For that purpose, I used Porter's five forces model. The
overall experience was very good even I faced many difficulties because my communication
skills are not as much affected as it requires in the project. I also felt that my time
management skills are also very poor and that's why I decided to make an action plan which
helps me to guide and direct that how can improve my skills and knowledge.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that work based learning is found to be
one of the best learning methods for the students and which they get real life situations and
able to get practical knowledge. It is very important for the students that they should learn
from the real life situations and this is the reason that this report covered a project in which a
student is playing a role of front desk officer and analyse the situations that how a project is
completed. It included all the phases of project management such as project planning, project
initiation, project execution, project monitoring, and project closure. In addition to this, it also
covered a personal reflection that shows how a student get learning from work based learning
programs. This is very important for every student that they should reflect on their
experiences as it helps them to learn from the past experiences.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
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Andresen, L., Boud, D. and Cohen, R., 2020. Experience-based learning (pp. 225-239).
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Resource Development Quarterly, 30(3), pp.361-381.
Chis, A. E., and et.al., 2018. Investigating flipped classroom and problem-based learning in a
programming module for computing conversion course. Journal of Educational
Technology & Society, 21(4), pp.232-247.
Ismuwardani, Z., Nuryatin, A. and Doyin, M., 2019. Implementation of project based
learning model to increased creativity and self-reliance of students on poetry writing
skills. Journal of Primary Education, 8(1), pp.51-58.
Jabarullah, N. H. and Hussain, H. I., 2019. The effectiveness of problem-based learning in
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Jackson, D., 2018. Developing graduate career readiness in Australia: shifting from extra-
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IPA Indonesia, 7(1), pp.54-65.
Nurtanto, M., Fawaid, M. and Sofyan, H., 2020, July. Problem Based Learning (PBL) in
Industry 4.0: Improving Learning Quality through Character-Based Literacy Learning
and Life Career Skill (LL-LCS). In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1573,
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Zheng, P., Chen, C. H. and Shang, S., 2019. Towards an automatic engineering change
management in smart product-service systems–A DSM-based learning
approach. Advanced engineering informatics, 39, pp.203-213.