Professionalism in the Hospitality Industry - Research Paper Example

Professionalism is perceptibly a choice that a person makes by being in control of essential intangibles such as attitude, concentration, and effort. This paper explores attitude and concentration as two main elements that constitute professionalism in the hospitality industry.

Attitude is a key factor in professionalism, and auspiciously, it is controllable. It denotes a person’s opinion towards a profession, and it is from this opinion that the character of a person is confessed.  Every activity a person executes in the course of his hospitality career is a reflection of his or her attitude, such as the manner in which one relates with guests, coworkers, and customers. Being in control of one’s attitude is beneficial since one can develop a healthy attitude and sincere respect for the people one serves or works with, rather than seeing them as a necessary evil.  A positive attitude will make the customers respond positively, as well.

In addition, the concentration of a person on a given task is a sure way of exhibiting professionalism. Concentration refers to being adept at what to do and at what time. Intrinsically, effective concentration involves the garnering of knowledge on what it takes to get a given task done. As Longstreet maintains, “There is no question that concentration takes practice” (Longstreet, 2013, P. 43). Practice is required to ensure that the actions and the decision-making of a person are in harmony with each other. Naturally, the mind has the ability to carry out several tasks simultaneously and hence causing a person’s concentration to disperse. However, through practice, a professional gets to learn how to control his or her attention, which leads to effective self-control, a requisite skill in professionalism.

In conclusion, each person working in the hospitality industry should be committed to being a professional and hence instancing growth in the industry. Through effective management of the controllable intangibles, such as attitude and concentration, professionals have the ability to enhance the hospitality industry. Professionals ought to have a healthy attitude towards their job, which involves the customers they serve, guests, and their coworkers. In addition, the right attitude will help the professionals create sincere respect for the job, as well. Additionally, the professionals need the right concentration for them to execute their tasks effectively. Since concentration involves learning, a professional can heighten his or her concentration through learning by joining hospitality associations and finding a mentor in the hospitality industry, from whom the professional learns. Without a doubt, professionalism makes the worker be proud of his or her job and the coworkers and guests are satisfied, as well.

I think Longstreet’s point is considered relevant to the hospitality industry because of its involvement in legions of interactions with customers and guests and there is no question of exhibiting professionalism at any given time. For instance, my attitude towards the job determines my mood for the day, and hence the quality of services I will offer to the organization’s clients. Clients are often delighted with quality services and exhibit rude behavior when they do not get quality services, and they may not make a repeat purchase or visit the organization. Quality services have everything to do with proper concentration and the company I work for encourages its workers to join associations to heighten their knowledge of the hospitality industry, and hence enhance concentration. In my personal experience, attitude and concentration are controllable and very important in the purview of hospitality. Given that, I believe Longstreet’s article is a great insight into the saliency of professionalism in the hospitality industry.