The Travel and Tourism Industry and Top Management Coordinating - Research Paper Example

 Traveling and tourism can be defined as the people who are staying at places that are not their usual places for a time period of more than a year for the purpose of relaxing, business purpose and others as such. Management of any organization focuses on the planning, staffing, coordinating and controlling of the employees in the firm. Managers need to have influential leadership qualities so that they are able to handle their subordinates in the required manner and also get the tasks completed on time. There are some major principles of management and leadership that allow the organization to keep on running in a systematic way. The principles of management are basically used in the applications of decision making for organizations, the change management aspects of the organization, the improving of skills of the manager, and to understand that management principles can be applied to a number of different activities in the organization (Miner, 2005). 1.1 Leadership theoretical models The management and theoretical model that seems to be the most suitable for the travel and tourism industry is the Consultative and democratic leadership model. This model is under the Lewin’s research model of leadership. In the consultative style of leadership, the leader and the group members are working in collaboration with each other and the leader acts as a guide for the members of the group. The members of the group in this leadership style can take part in making decisions (Miner, 2005). Under this leadership model, workers perform well even if there leader is not present and they show a high level of loyalty towards their work. Group participation is quite high, the Theory Y principle of management is truly applicable under this model as workers work with interest and they enjoy their environment of working. Role of a manager in travel and tourism organization The typical role of a manager in the travel and tourism organization is that they have to organize their action plans and also staff the employees according to their job roles. The manager needs to form the structure of the work and this includes looking after the assets of the organization as well as the human resources that are going to perform the job roles in the industry of travel and tourism. Travel and tourism is a people oriented industry and therefore the personnel working should be well acquainted with providing excellent customer services to their clients. The manager also needs to constantly command their employees so that the level of work carried out by the employees can be stable and up to the required level as well. 1.2 Management and Leadership skills for travel and tourism organizations Self confidence plays a very important role for the managers for ensuring the better management of people working in the travel and tourism industry. The ability to delegate tasks with confidence may have a positive and influential impact on the employees. The leadership skills should be strong in the aspect of cognitive ability. They should possess good analytical skills and make good judgments according to the situations perceived by them. Sound business knowledge of travel and tourism aspects may allow having a full command on the way they train and command their employees related to work. English Tourist Board and Visit Britain are two travel and tourism offices that provide travel and tourism services for their valuable customers. All information related to the hotels, resorts and information about the tourist place are provided by the offices. The management and leadership skills can further be improved more by keeping a check and balance with the employees that are directly dealing with the end customers. The management level need to conduct constant reviews with the employees of front line so that they know the latest demands of the customers and then the managers can imply changes accordingly so that their customers remain satisfied. The management also needs to make sure that they hire the right employees for the proper designations in the travel and tourism organizations so that the employees deal in a suitable manner with their customers. The management must develop systematic procedures so that the employees may be accountable to their managers and report all the working issues consistently. 2. Groups and Individuals in the organization The nature of groups and the nature of individuals may be quite different from each other while the work tasks are being performed in the organization by them. Groups have their own ways and strengths and individual style of working is also different. A model of human behavior is depicted below (Miner, 2005). 2.1 Groups and group behavior A group is the combination of two or more individuals who join together to achieve common goals for the organization. The group behavior in organizations allows the tasks to be carried out faster and with versatile talent as well. Suggestions and opinions can be achieved from various backgrounds in a group. Group members may feel a level of high prestige when they are part of a valued group in the organization (Robbins and Judge, 2007). The components of travel and tourism are travel agents, tour operators, transportation, attractions, accommodation and catering, and lastly tourist information and guiding services. These all elements need to work together in a consistency so that they can satisfy their customers and therefore group coordination is highly essential. While working in groups, the level of competition is also high and therefore all group members are striving to give in their best performance. 2.2 Individual’s traits and characteristics at work The individuals’ traits and characteristics have a direct impact on the behavior and performance on work. The outcomes of the any individual working in the organization can be predicted if the behavior is known. The biographical characteristics, the ability skills and the learning skills are the three elements that portray on how the individual may perform in the any organization and in this case the travel and tourism organization (Western, 2010). The biographical characteristics are present with the managers and this shows that the employees who will be directly at the customer end need to be young and energetic and also need to be well aware of their knowledge of the business so that they can attract the customers towards their traveling services. Ability skill of the employee has a direct relationship with the performance of the employee. The more sharp and skilled the employee is in handling travel related matters, the better performance may be observed. The learning skills of the employees depict how willing the employee may be in taking trainings for performing their work well in the organization of travel and tourism. Training is important in this field (Robbins and Judge, 2007). 3. Elements of organizational behavior on business success in travel and tourism According to the definition of Keith Davis; Organizational Behavior is usually defined as the study of how the various human resources are behaving in the organizations; while as individuals and also while working in groups. The study of organizational behavior is highly important for the management of the organization as this study depicts the employee nature on their jobs and also allows proper decisions to be taken by the management for the organization. The tool of organizational behavior is an extremely powerful tool that also allows studying the relationships with the various groups and teams in the organization. The three elements of organizational behavior that may be required for the business success of travel and tourism are as follows (Miner, 2005): People: People or the human resources present in the organization are the vital part of the system within any organization. The human resources may be working as individuals in the organizations or they may be working in formal groups or informal groups. Monitoring the behavior of all employees during work is highly important. The way the human resources think, feel, and perform their duties are related to the success of the organization. For travel and tourism business, the front end employees need to be people oriented and be skilled in handling customers. The way the people in the organization perform their travel related jobs affects the services provided to customers. Structure: The structure of the organization is related to the different relationships that are operating their tasks in the organization and also the placement of employees according to their job roles come under the category of structure. Technology: In this advance level of world technology is vital element to be implemented by businesses for success. Technological resources in Travel and tourism businesses may help in facilitating the customers at a fast pace and also make things easier. 3.1 Organization structures 3.2 Functional structure and Divisional Structure Functional Structure The functional organization structure of any organization is based on staffing employees according to the required functions to be carried out for the job. The functional structure requires the employees to conduct a specified category of tasks that are usually specialized tasks for the job type. With the implementation of functional structure in the organization the efficiency level of the operations improve within the groups performing the tasks (Jacobides, 2007). Divisional Structure The organizational structure having the divisional structure groups each of the various functions into divisions. All divisions then are given the resources and functions for conducting their operations efficiently. Divisional structures are usually divided as by the various products. All product lines of a certain organizations may have different divisions. The two organization structures may be dependent upon the activities that are taking place in the organizations and also according to the requirements of the work. The functional structure focuses more on the employees able to carry out the specific functions of the job and divisional structure focuses on the knowledge of being able to work on the product lines of the organization (Jacobides, 2007). 3.3 Organizational culture impacts on business success Deal and Kennedy (1982) has identified organizational culture as the norms of doing things and other work in any office environment. The level of commitment in any organizational culture depicts the level of success that may be attained by the business. The stronger the organizational culture, the determined the employees may be towards their work and the higher the success the business may observe, in this case the travel and tourism may be successful if their organizational culture is strong and dedicated towards work. The organizational culture has a strong impact on the success level of the business. The culture of the organization depicts how much the working environment is appreciated by the employees and how they perform their duties. The main aim of the organization is to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization for attaining success. The performance of the employees is impacted by the way their supervisors deal with them and the correspondence of the top management level also matters. The organizations with open cultures may not have restrictions on the employees to take decisions at their level and this way timely decision may prove to be successful for the organization (Black 2003). 3.3 Importance of effective communications within the organization The importance of having effective communications within the organization is extremely important. Effective communications allows all immediate workings on a certain task to be conducted as required. The upward flow of communication allows all the employees to communicate the progress of any task or to be clear about any issues pertaining to the organization. The downward flow of communication allows all tasks and issues to be delegated as required (May et al., 2005). Correspondence to the employees may become more effective about the latest market trends that are pertaining in the travel and tourism industry once the issues are communicated effectively in the organization. Customer demands are constantly in a state of change and to meet up to the expectations of the customer demands it is important for the management to conduct effective internal and external communication. 4. Change management in travel and tourism. The process of change is a dynamic and constant phenomenon and it cannot be escaped by anyone or any business. All businesses have to face changes in their industry. The world has become a global village and usually changes at one end of the world may tend to have its effects on the other part of the world as well (Hounmafar et al., 2003). 4.1 Organizational change The travel and tourism industry has faced a huge amount of change during the last decade. A lot of world transformations have also impacted this industry to a very large extent. The happenings of wars, the differences and upheavals in the political environment, the spreading of various types of diseases around the world, the restructuring taking place in the industry of airlines, the advance use of technology in conducting operations and other such factors have impacted the travel and tourism industry and has forced them to accept this change and carry forward with their tasks. 4.2 Managing change aspects in the organization The steps for implementing change successfully are as follows (Carter, 2004): Firstly, unfreeze the individual and the organization about the aspects that are being changed. The change in processes of the organization needs to be communicated to the employees so that they become well aware of what is happening in the organization. Then is the process of implementing the actual change stage. The individuals need to be educated on why is the change taking place in the organization and all employees for their well being and also for the success of the organization need to implement the change factors. Lastly is the Refreezing stage that is once the employee has accepted the change then freezes them at that stage with the change. 4.3 Factors involved in managing change The factors involved in managing change are as follows (Carter, 2004): - Pressure for managing change The pressure to accept change is on the whole organization, therefore the senior management needs to make worthwhile commitments so that less amount of resistance is faced from employees. - Vision that is clear and shared It should be well communicated to the employees that the change is for the betterment of the organization. - Change capacity All resources should be provided by the organization so that change can take place positively. - Action All communication channels should be kept open and evaluations should be conducted constantly. 4.4 Strategies being applied to travel and tourism industry The above mentioned strategies can be applied to the travel and tourism industry so that while the change takes place there is less amount of resistance faced by the organization from the employees. Travel and tourism being a people oriented organization need to accept all the changes and cope up with the pressure to change by their top management coordinating and cooperating to their optimum level (Western, 2010). Customer demand may keep on fluctuating and the travel and tourism industry need to focus on the demands of the customers at a constant rate so that they remain successful. The organizational culture of the travel and tourism should be of a flexible nature so that the change in policies can be implemented on an immediate basis. The employees should be well trained and proper training and development programs should be conducted by the organization so that a proper organizational change can be implemented. Less resistance may be observed by employees on the conducting of the training programs. The effectiveness of the organizations is highly dependent upon the rate at which the change is adapted by the organization and this is highly correlated with the strategic management aspects of the firm (Herbert & Deresky, 1987). The leadership and management skills that are applied to the industry must be influential and should deliver the purpose to the employee. Under good leadership, the outcomes attained are positive for the industry. Tourist are the most important customers for the travel and tourism industry and it should be made sure that customers are satisfied with the new changes that the travel and tourism industry is implying. For this, the employees of the industry need to be clear on the goals and mission desired by the travel and tourism industry so that necessary work can be done by the employees to achieve this task. A clear goal and vision may allow a clear direction for the employees to follow. Change management is very vital task to be conducted and management of the travel and tourism organization must make sure that they implement the change elements to the employees in a manner that they can easily adjust to. The industry needs to provide all the resources required so that the change can have a positive influence on everyone and all employees readily accept the change that has occurred. The capacity to change should be highlighted strongly by the organization. References Black, Richard J. (2003) Organizational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success, London UK. Carter, Louis L. (2004), Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change, Jossey Bass. Deal T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books. Herbert, T. T., & Deresky, H. (1987). Generic strategies: An empirical investigation of typology validity and strategy content. 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