Current Scope of the Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example

Current Scale, Scope and Diversity of the Hospitality Industry Over the period of time, hospitality has really expanded at the global as well as at the local level. The continued growth of the industry in UK and other parts of the globe clearly suggests that industry has been able to achieve global acceptance across different regions. The term hospitality as a generic term has gained popularity recently and now it covers a range of services and businesses which are categorized under the hospitality industry despite fundamental differences in their orientation as well as business priorities. (Mullins and Dossor) The scope of the hospitality industry signifies the overall range of businesses which are offering the desired services to the industry. It comprises of small as well as large businesses including five star hotels, small restaurants, tourists guide services, gaming services, beverages and other diversified range of products and services offered. Overall, the industry at the global and local UK level is quite diversified and caters to the needs of the target market through either standalone businesses or through a network of different services offered across different service categories. The industry is currently employing over 2 million people who are either directly or indirectly related with the industry. In 2010, industry witnessed an increase in the overall growth by registering a 3% increase in the number of businesses being opened in the industry. Apart from this, the canteen and contract food services are witnessing consistent increase in the activity overall the period of time.1 Women comprises of the largest part of the overall workforce of hospitality industry in UK with restaurants having the youngest workforce in the industry. Data from UK suggests that there was a decline in the number of hotels opened from 1995 to 2005 however, the number of small restaurants increased during the period. Pubs also witnessed an increase in the number of new businesses being opened during the same period. The overall range of services offered by the industry includes food, lodging, transportation, theme parks, cruise lines, event planning and smaller restaurants. The overall diversity of the industry however, is dependent upon the availability of the leisure time and the disposal income of the target market. It is also however, critical to understand that the industry do not have the diversity in terms of its workforce. As mentioned above, most of the work force comprises of women however, in restaurants, the staff is usually young showing lot of energy and will to serve the target market. It is critical to understand that tourism industry in UK comprises of approximately 14 different industries which are inter-linked with each other and even support each other in delivering different services. The most promising verticals of the industry include hotels and restaurants which are combine together and produce the largest share of revenue in the industry. (Brotherton) Diversity within the industry is further based upon the overall innovation as well as ownership and classification systems prevailing in the industry. The range of services offered by industry therefore also adds to the overall diversity. Organizational Structure Organizational structure of an organization actually denotes the relationship between the people and the various departments of an organization. Organizational structure therefore depicts a system where job relationships actually result into coordination between the employees and the departments to achieve the overall objectives of the organization. An organizational structure also indicates as to how the job tasks are actually formally divided and coordinated with each other so that an overall cohesive whole organizational structure is achieved within an organization. It is critical to understand that the overall organizational structures may vary across different organizations. Each organization actually tailors its overall organizational structure according to their organizational needs. However, there are two prevailing organizational structures including both the tall as well as flat organizational structures. Tall organizational structures are mainly found in larger organizations such as hotels whereas flat organizational structure is often found in smaller organizations such as restaurants and other smaller catering businesses. In hospitality industry, the organizational structure is further broken down into the front house and back of the house job tasks. The front of the house job tasks includes receptions, food and beverages, conferencing, banqueting and other services which are directly client facing. Back of the house job tasks within an organizational structure however, back of the house organizational activities include finance, food preparation and other related services which are not actually client facing and does not require the direct interaction with the customers at any level. A five star hotel’s organizational structure is divided into core operational as well as other departments. Core operational departments perform tasks such as food and beverage preparation and delivery, housekeeping department which is basically responsible for the cleaning of the guest rooms and other public areas of the hotel. Apart from this, a five star hotel also has a front office department which is often the first point of interaction with the customers in terms of reservations, payments, check-ins and other related areas. Apart from this, a five star hotel also has other related departments including security, engineering, finance and accounting as well as the marketing and sales department. Catering services however, are relatively smaller in nature and Chief Executive Officer making almost all the decisions. In catering business, operation managers are also involved which look after the operational side of the business. However, the role of operations managers is duly supported by the store and kitchen managers. The role of service supervisor is also important in the catering services as service supervisor actually ensures that all the services are delivered according to the expectations of the customers and according to the set standards. An organizational structure of a theme park however, is a flat organizational structure with general management controlling from the top. Commercial management of theme park includes sales and marketing activities however; operations management actually manages the real side of a theme park including arranging shows, restaurants and food, managing hotels and other related operations. Apart from this, there is also a technical services management which oversees building infrastructure, ride maintenance as well as the installation of the equipment etc. A Theme Park’s organizational structure matches with that of a five star hotel however, it also differs from it due to nature of its operations. (Lashley and Lee-Ross) Role of Hospitality Related Organizations and Professional Bodies Since the hospitality industry is relatively diverse industry with different services being offered under one roof, the role of hospitality related organizations and other professional bodies can play an important role in helping industry to establish brand image and acceptability. One of the key roles of the hospitality related organizations and bodies are to actually protect the interests of the industry and lobby for them to the government. In UK, British Hospitality Association’s role has been to promote the interests of the industry to the government ministers and help the industry to actually gain access to government, media and the financial services industry in the City. Most of the hospitality related organizations and other professional bodies actually work on the membership basis and their efforts are actually limited to the protecting the interests of their members. However, due to their overall presence in the industry as well as the nature of their efforts, all members actually get benefited from their efforts. It is also critical to note that it is through these professional organizations that the hospitality industry gain access to other partners. Many hospitality related organizations actually develop partnerships with suppliers which invariably support the member organizations which further develop new strategic alliances with the member hotels, restaurants and other participating organizations. Another important role played by these organizations is to actually help member organizations to learn about new trends and developments happening in the industry. Since smaller organizations may not have the required resources to understand and explore what is happening at the industry wide level, the support from professional bodies actually help them to gain access to latest trends and developments which invariably help them to realign their business and marketing strategies according to latest trends in the market. Professional bodies which are not directly related with the hospitality industry such as gyms and fitness centers and other related services however, provide more credibility to the overall brand image of the hospitality organizations. The association with organizations like Nestle and Coca Cola offers an advantage over others in the industry thus improving their overall brand image. While assessing the role of professional and hospitality related organizations, it is also critical to understand that these organizations play a relatively different role. At one hand, they offer technical and other support to the members while at the other hand they are also often involved in helping generate the leads and other regulatory benefits. Due to their sheer size as well as overall influence in the market, these organizations can create better awareness about the member organizations and how they can actually facilitate their target market in cost effective manner across all range of activities. Staffing Requirements in Hospitality Industry The success of hospitality industry largely depends upon the quality of the human resources which actually deliver services to the target market. Though education is one of the yardsticks to measure the quality of the human resources however, given the overall nature of the hospitality industry, it may be relatively challenging to come up with a clear understanding of the staffing requirements in the hospitality industry. Hospitality industry offers a broader range of occupations for which there are different requirements for the education as well as the trainings. Some of the staff is required to deal directly with the public whereas some have to work in areas which do not require direct interaction with the public. Due to this very nature of the working requirements, it becomes relatively difficult to actually determine the exact requirements for the jobs as the nature and requirements of the job may keep on changing. Workers who are in direct contact with the public may require superior skills in communication as well as the customer services. (Nickson) It is also important to understand that the staffing requirement of any hospitality industry actually is a phased process wherein employee recruitment along with defining and establishing the training and development requirements are established in advance. This actually allows recruitment managers to actually build the expectations and recruit and hire required staff based upon already identified expectation. The overall staffing process therefore involves job analysis and HR Planning, Recruitment & selection, training and retention of the employees. Since hospitality industry is labor intensive in nature it is therefore critical that adequate HR planning and staff planning is put in place in order to meet with the different and changing requirements of the market. For hotels, it is important that the staff possess certain professional as well as the technical qualifications. For the middle level managers, it is important that they must have the required education and skills in the hospitality industry. For general managers, it is important to have people with certain experiences and relevant qualifications. It is also critical to define the overall inventory of skill sets required to be depicted by the staff. When planning for the staffing and assessing the requirements, it is important to first identify the required skills and match them against the overall job descriptions made. Job descriptions shall be prepared on annual basis and reviewed also in order to ensure that latest skills and competencies are reflected in the overall job requirements. Determining the nature of the job contract and how staff will be rotated on different positions may also need to be defined while determining and assessing the staffing requirements of any hospitality industry. Job rotations help staff to improve their skills and get prepared for future roles also. Roles, Responsibilities and Qualifications It is important to understand that over the period of time, industry has been able to develop hiring norms which are being followed across the industry and different organizations. These norms actually translate into considerations when industry actually assigns different roles and responsibilities to the different staff working within these organizations. Some of the considerations include availability of the qualified and skilled people in the industry, the fact that hospitality industry is a people industry and that different hospitality organizations have different challenges when it comes to assigning roles and responsibilities to different positions outlined above. The overall competencies and qualifications of the staff involved in different divisions and departments. The overall qualification screening therefore needs to be determined from the perspective of the overall jobs involved at various divisions of the organization. General Manager Regardless of the overall size of the business in the hospitality industry, managers are the key people which are required to run the business. Many businesses within the industry require the services of the general managers which are also responsible for the overall running of the business. It is also important to note that various departmental managers may be reporting to the general manager. The major responsibilities of a general manager includes preparing staff schedules, determining and carrying out staff training requirements, budget making and spending tracking, wages and payroll activities, compliance with the regulations and internal standards set as well as ensuring that all supervisors actually perform their duties and jobs. It is expected that the general managers must have relevant qualification in the hospitality management along with a demonstrated experience of managing medium to large hospitality industry. It is however, also critical to note that older organizations may not have the people who are qualified enough in the hospitality management however, they may have the experience which can support their presence in the organizations. Departmental Managers Though departmental managers may not be common in smaller organizations however, in large organizations they are common and support the general manager in performing his duties. Departmental managers are responsible for their departments and require being in close contact with their own staff as well as the general manager. What distinguishes departmental managers from the general manager is the overall involvement in the technical and functional areas. Departmental managers have to work with the people who actually execute different functions including that of the client facing tasks and also have to collaborate between the staff and the general managers in order to ensure that smooth and effective services are rendered to the customers at all times. (Boella and Goss-Turner) Departmental managers however, need to possess the skills to manage the supervisors and the craft staff. As such it is important for them to have general understanding of different functional areas in which they are involved. Supervisors Supervisors work at the lower level and report to their departmental managers at various levels. Large hotels, theme parks and even bigger restaurants require supervisors to take the responsibility of managing the lower level staff which is directly involved in delivering the required services. Supervisors often refer to their departmental managers for taking instructions and have their direct reporting lines to them. Some of the responsibilities of the supervisors include ensuring staff is properly dressed, all the requirements of the customers are met, processing of the customer bills, adjustment of restaurant bills in the main bills of the customers, order receiving and deliveries, dealing with the customer complaints as well as taking and passing the orders received from managers to the lower staff. Supervising staff is also expected to possess certain degree of professional qualifications however, their qualifications may not need to be of higher level. A BTEC level qualification may be necessary for supervisors to have the intermediate level of understanding of how to manage people and become actively involved in the functional areas of the business. Craft Staff Craft Staff are basically the people who are trained to perform the practical and specific skills while delivering the services. The craft staff require several years of training to actually make their skills perfect to deliver the services. Any hospitality industry which has to be successful needs to ensure that their craft staff is hired with best of the skills. Cooks, chefs, baristas and other staff require extensive training and the skills to success at this level. Craft staff actually reports to the supervisors and mostly require technical skills to actually excel at their positions. Since craft staff is directly involved in preparing the food and beverages specially therefore they are required to possess relevant qualifications. Qualifications in culinary arts may be considered as important for the craft staff positioned at the large five star hotels, theme parks and restaurants. However, for smaller restaurants qualifications may not matter and specially the skills and experience of the cooks and chefs can be sufficient enough to justify their positions within the organizations. Operational Staff Operational Staff is basically involved in delivering some of the services such as serving the customers in restaurants, serving drinks and taking room orders, cleaning of rooms, room services as well as reception staff. HR managers need to clearly outline the needs for the operational staff and make sure that people who are at the forefront of delivering the services are pleasant, have superior customer services skills as well as better communication skills. Operational staff may be present at various levels within hospitality industry i.e. from receptionists to the waiters and servers. They are the people who are most clients facing and therefore require hardcore customer services skills to deal with different kinds of customers under different circumstances. As such their core qualifications and responsibilities include delivering excellent customer services regardless of the overall size of the organization or its nature and overall market orientation. (Hayes and Ninemeier) Since operational staff is involved at the very lowest level therefore overall qualification requirements may vary from position to position. For reception staff, it is important that they must have the relevant qualification and skills in the communication skills and customer services. Organizations can train the staff in improving their customer services skills and communication abilities through shorter trainings and courses which can enable them to improve their qualifications as well as the staff. Works Cited Boella, Michael John and Steven Goss-Turner. Human Resource Management in the Hospitality Industry: A Guide to Best Practice. London: Routledge, 2013. Brotherton, Bob. Introduction to the UK Hospitality Industry: A Comparative Approach. London: Routledge, 2012. Hayes, David K. and Jack D. Ninemeier. Human Resources Management in the Hospitality Industry. Washington: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Lashley, Conrad and Darren Lee-Ross. Organization Behaviour for Leisure Services. London: Routledge, 2003. Mullins, Laurie J. and Penny Dossor. Hospitality Management and Organisational Behaviour. New York: Pearson Education, 2013. Nickson, Dennis. Human Resource Management for Hospitality, Tourism and Events. London: Routledge, 2013. Read More