Leadership and Management: Competency Framework - Essay Example

Leadership and Management: Competency Framework Introduction At the beginning of the 21st century, hospitality and tourism industries need strong leaders able to cope with changing business environment, technological challenges and culturally diverse employees and customers. If executives are able to exhibit strategic leadership that achieves a long-term focus, promotes development and application of core competences, emphasizes the development of human capital, develops an effective culture, and achieves strategic control simultaneously with the allowance of autonomy, restructuring efforts are more like to be successful. Effective exercise of these tasks depends on the development of appropriate cognitive models. The model of strategic leadership complements and extends the framework for leadership. While preservation of organizational systems responsible for such development may tax the available resources, the potential outcomes of such investments (and the consequences for failure to do so) are critical to long-term survival and effectiveness. Competency Frameworks The Basic Competences In hospitality and tourism industries, a leader plays a crucial role in management and administration of the enterprise. For leader, the first level competences should include leveraging diversity and conflict management, creating strong corporate culture and motivation, continual leaning and partnering. Using these competences, a leader is able develop unique organizational philosophy and strategic vision of further growth (Robbins 2002). Learning to become an effective manager or successful leader is far more than simply a matter of teaching or training. For leaders, there is no total nor, indeed, a prescription of what needs to be learned, in order to become a master leader. Managerial or leadership know-how and do-how are acquired as a result of a blend of direct, practical experience, personal reflection to gain perspective and context, conceptual modeling and the empirical testing out of ideas in day-to-day decisions and actions in the many work arenas that are the organization or enterprise (Rutherford 2001). In hospitality and tourism industries learning competency is extremely important because it ensures innovative approaches to business and adaptation of new practices and methods of hotel management. Following Bateman & Snell (2004) this helps leaders to increase customer satisfaction and meet changing demands and needs of customers. Diversity management helps leaders to respond to global environment and create positive morale and culture. It would appear without question that the complexity of leadership performance requirements is higher at successively higher levels of accountability hierarchies. However, the nature of the skills required to deal with the complexity and how to develop them is not nearly so clear-cut. At least three lines of work currently are addressing the complexity issue. It is critical, then, that the culture promotes diversity and individuality instead of conformity. Following Robbins (2002) it should promote risk taking rather than risk-averse behavior. To do so, rewards must be based on long-term as opposed to short-term performance. Furthermore, the culture should foster an entrepreneurial spirit (Dittmer 2001). To the extent possible, authority should be decentralized and employees involved in important operating decisions. Importantly, new product and idea champions should be identified and rewarded. Conflict management competency is crucial within tourism and hospitality industries because it allows leaders to reduce job dissatisfaction and low morale. In hospitality and tourism industries, these issues have the great impact on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty. “It is charged with ensuring that an organization serve its mission as well as the needs of its stakeholders” (Robbins 2002, p. 48). Strategic leaders engage in both micro and macro behaviors: direct supervision, strategy formulation, and managing the organizations relations with its environment. They should use micro-level strategies to build and maintain relationships, to manage conflict, or to achieve key substantive outcomes (Rutherford 2001) Corporate culture and motivation provides a system of shared meanings and values that serve as an interpretational system for organizational members. Managing culture ranges from sustaining the current culture to actively attempting to change it. Sustaining the current culture could be a significant challenge and may be the most desirable path. On the other hand, restructuring presents a dramatic crisis that may provide an opportunity for needed cultural change (Bateman & Snell 2004). The underlying theme of their work is the anticipation, recognition, and management of both organizational and individual dynamics associated with any change process. Motivation can be described as the direction and persistence of action (Rutherford 2001). Therefore, if the leader is to improve the work of the organization, attention must be given to the level of motivation of its members. The manager must also encourage staff to direct their efforts (their driving force) towards the suc­cessful attainment of the goals and objectives of the organization. Partnering is important because hospitality and tourism industry is based on effective communication with agents and suppliers. Some sort of relationship (condition) exists between the organization and the stakeholder. This organization/stakeholder relationship impacts on stakeholder management strategies (Bateman & Snell 2004). To manage key stakeholders, leaders must first seek those stakeholders who are likely to influence the organizations decision (Hoyle & Wilmore, 2002). The High Level Competencies These competencies involve strategic thinking and vision. For instance, in the process of restructuring the organization, effective strategic leaders will consciously reinforce the vision created by managing the use of symbols, rites, and stories. These important aspects of culture communicate values to organizational members, reward behavior consistent with the new vision, and help to reinforce the commitment among organizational members. A strategic vision influences change management and ensures long-term success of the enterprise (Hoyle & Wilmore 2002). Strategic vision and thinking help to meet changing social conditions and restructure the culture so that it promotes the pursuit of opportunity with rewards and minimizes the penalty for failure. Rewards should be consistent and based on individual achievement and innovation. “A reward system consistent with the new cultural norms provides a powerful means of achieving control” (Hayes & Ninmeier 2003, p. 198). If a leader lacks strategic thinking, surviving employees become risk-averse and short term-oriented. Culture provides a means of controlling the premises for employee behaviors and attitudes. The Mid-level Competences Creative and innovative thinking and entrepreneurship are the core for management performance. Creative leaders will anticipate organizational members responses to impending or experienced change. For example, they will assist in the recognition of, and coping with, endings--colleagues relationships, old behavior patterns, and so on. They will expedite passage through the transition phases and create an environment in which members may learn from the past, but not dwell on it, and learn new "scripts" for behavior rather than reenacting old, inappropriate ones (Hayes & Ninmeier 2003). Again, this process requires exceptional creativity and perseverance on the part of the strategic leadership of the organization. It requires a commitment to the creation of new systems of behavior and decision making and the willingness to implement reward and incentive systems to support them. Creative and innovative thinking affects all spheres of hospitality and tourism industries helping leaders and employees to develop unique and appealing services for their customers (Price 2004). Rational For the Framework Ensuring continuity of transformation of an organization, in the most appropriate directions, involves regular, informed scenario building and evaluation, while uncertainty and speculative opportunism represent the inevitable paradoxes in trying to read the future. The more logical and structured aspects include continual scanning, assessment and monitoring of the business, its market place and the changing socio-political, technological and economic parameters of the organization’s external world. The academic rational for the selected competencies is based on the idea that cultural and economic globalization has a crucial impact on hospitality and tourism industries, and the role of a leader is to respond and adapt to these conditions. Continuous, relevant transformation involves, too, the articulation, frequent re-visiting and re-defining, or re-affirmation, of the organization’s beliefs, values and – hence – vision. Following Price (2004): “These should, as a necessary minimum, represent the fundamental crystallized aspirations and ambitions of both those who lead and those who are members of an organization” (p. 49). Change from a domestic to a global strategy requires shifts in the cognitive and strategic orientation of strategic business unit managers. Thus, these managers critical tasks change, thereby requiring a change in their cognitive map and denoted earlier herein. These shifts may be achieved, at least partially, through effective management development programs (Segriovanni & Glickman 2006). Management development programs can help socialize (managers on the importance of a global and overall firm view. Thus, management development may help inculcate core values and systemic focus. However, effective management development also includes objectives of skill acquisition and new motives and the development of appropriate reward systems to reinforce such acquisition. The created competency framework influence human capital and adequate supply of staff. Development of human capital does not always require formal classroom training. To develop star employees, a leader provides the vision but delegates much responsibility and authority. In doing so, Segriovanni & Glickman (2006) argue that bright people with creative ideas will surface. However, in delegating responsibility, leaders will find it necessary, at times, to "manage" the decision process in order to develop less experienced, but highly talented employees. This approach exemplifies the mentoring, which is necessary to develop strategic thinking and is congruent with the development notions of global approach to management and cultural competencies. It is important to note that human capital in tourism and hospitality industries has been neglected for years and that this neglect has now reached crisis proportions. Reward and incentive systems should be designed to maintain a balance between decision-making activities focused on the current situation and long-term data gathering and decision making with a reasonable amount of risk assumption. In response to shifting resource allocations and perhaps declining resource bases, training and skill building in conflict management methods should be emphasized (Rutherford 2001). The Role of Skills Evaluation in Contonuing Professional Developemnt (CPD) While development of leadership skills is critical, buffering training programs during restructuring efforts will require strong and committed strategic leadership with a long-term focus and appreciation of the value of human resources. Often during cutbacks or reductions in force, the training and development function is drastically curtailed. For leaders, it is important to evaluate skills and development because it will help them to improve their current skills and knowledge, and meet changing organizational conditions and environments. One of the first acts of new leaders is typically to bring into the organization individuals who will act to strengthen and reinforce the values on which the leaders organizational vision is based. Leaders also try to identify key persons in the organization who share their values and who can then become part of the leaders cadre or inner circle, acting to support the leaders values and vision. Of course, it is equally important to remove persons who, by their actions, demonstrate values that are seriously incompatible with those being inculcated as the basis of the leaders vision and the organizations culture (Rutherford 2001). The new leader will, finally, implement a general selection process that, insofar as possible, will help to ensure that new members of the organization will share these values. Following Fountaine (2005) there are ways of enhancing perceptions of what is needed. One approach, which is somewhat broader than an assess­ment of skills, and may be biased to the strategic changes the company is facing, is to design a workshop for senior managers to work through what is needed to implement some of the strategic decisions the company has made. This can help leaders to perceive needs which may otherwise be hidden to them, such as the many capabilities needed to manage strategic alliances, and the degree to which the managers who report to them have experience or know­ledge that is relevant (Armandi et al 2003; Hoyle & Wilmore 2002). Opportunities for CPD At this point, when all organization members have completed the phase 1 training, the results of that training are transferred back to the job situation via meetings of bosses and their immediate subordinates. This process starts at the top where the operating practices of this group are examined and group goals are set. The objectives of this team development phase are to (1) replace outmoded traditions and practices with a problem-solving culture, (2) increase personal objectivity in self-assessment of work behavior, (3) set standards for excellence, (4) establish objectives for team and individual achievements, (5) increase teamwork skills, and (6) use critique for learning. More broadly the goal appears to be to build on the grid seminar learning and to prevent fadeout of the kind that usually occurs after training has been terminated. Several studies that deal with career accomplishment and managerial promotion rates seem to present a more favorable picture, and in fact they have been noted by the theorys authors as providing supportive evidence (Robbins 2002). However, the published reports of these studies are inadequate to permit a scientific evaluation. Either statistical analyses are not reported at all, or they are insufficient. In particular, experiment-wise analyses are lacking. There do appear to be some encouraging results, but unfortunately the data to fully evaluate the research are not made available (Hayes & Ninmeier 2003). Technology and effective training policies, coaching and delegation will help leaders to continue their professional development and acquire professional skills. Also a variety of techniques that may be built into process consultation with the assistance of key client members are noted: intergroup exercises, survey feedback, role playing, educational interventions, responsibility-charting, and many others. To really understand an organization, both approaches must be combined in some manner. Following Segriovanni & Glickman (2006) leaders can add training and development activities which are important to the organization, but which may not arise as a development need because the organization has been attending to it rather well. An example might be induction training for new em­ployees. In sum, leadership and effective leaders should emphasize strategic aspects as opposed to its common but highly restrictive treatment as lower level, face-to-face influence. This thrust has meant a focus on the total organization and consideration of organizational theory, organization design, and strategic management considerations, in addition to those considerations covered in traditional leadership theory. In tourism and hospitality industry, leaders should take into account impact of cultural and social environment on subordinates and their differences. Bibliography Armandi, B., Oppedisano, J., Sherman, H. 2003. Leadership theory and practice: a “case in point. Management Decision. vol. 41, iss. 10, pp. 1076 – 1088. Bateman T.S. and Snell S. A. 2004, Management: the New Competitive landscape. 6th edn., McGaw Hill Irwin. Dittmer P. R. 2001, Dimensions of the Hospitality Industry, 3rd Edition, Hoyle, J.R., Wilmore, E.L. 2002, Principal Leadership: Applying the New Educational Leadership Constituent Council (Elcc) Standards. Corwin Press. Fountaine, D. 2005. Human Resources: Whats Your Plan? Public Management, 87, pp. 25-26. Hayes D.K. Ninmeier J.D. 2003, Hotel Operations Management Prentice Hall; 1st edition. Price, A. 2004, Human Resource Management in a Business Context, 2nd edition. Thomson Learning. Robbins, S. 2002, Organizational Behavior. Pearson Higher. Rutherford D.G. 2001, Hotel Management and Operations, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 3 edition. Segriovanni, Th., Glickman, K. 2006, Rethinking Leadership: A Collection of Articles. Corwin Press; 2nd edition. Read More