Self Reflection On Employability Skills In Hospitality Industry

Introduction

In today's hospitality industry employability skills are key factors that an employer takes into consideration while recruiting an employee. I have also been continuously developing some of the employability skills (Conflict, Teamwork, Problem-Solving, and professionalism) by implementing those theoretical learnings into practice. Throughout this entire assessment, I would be reflecting on these four employability skills and will connect with the theories that I have learned from various subjects during campus study. some of the subjects are Delivering Guest Service, Room Division Service. The main aim of the assessment is the implications of the employability skills in the workplace which I have learned through various campus subjects and Understanding how the implementation of those theories has impacted on my workplace followed by my reflective practices and its positive outcome to exceed guest expectations thereby creating an exceptional experience for the guest where they can enjoy their special moments during their stays.

Conflict

When the team isn’t working effectively and efficiently it creates conflicts among the team members which affects the overall operation of the department. While working at Intercontinental Hayman Island Resort as a steward, I encountered a situation where my supervisor was overloading me with lots of tasks and gave me an unrealistic time frame to perform those tasks. Moreover, he was overloading his part of the jobs to me as he thought that as I was a newly recruited employee it would be easier for him to dominate and delegates his jobs to me. Moreover, when chefs asked me to clean the fryer and change the oil, my supervisor told me just to give a wipe and change the oil. I remained silent for a few weeks but his workloads and pressure kept on increasing on a daily basis, that’s when I decided to confront him and talk about the matter personally. Ichm “Graduate Quality” (GQ3) states that one must be able to resolve a conflict by collaborating with others and exchanging views and ideas to achieve the desire outcomes fostering teamwork. When I tried to talk with him about how the extra workload and pressure have affected my performance, I also tried to share him my ideas and view to get the task done effectively he did not listen to my ideas and told me that I have to do it no matter what which increased the conflict further. Intra-group conflicts cause task conflicts, which have adverse percussion on employee performance and productivity when two individuals working together have antagonistic perceptions (Thakore 2013, pp. 9). Similarly, we also have a different perspective as my supervisor cut corners and uses loopholes to get the task done by compromising quality whereas I foster ichm GQ6 which makes me aware of and sensitive to ethics and ethical standards in interpersonal, social and industry context which has created conflict between us while performing a task.

While studying Managing Productivity through people lecturers taught us about conflict management where the lecturer said that when there is any conflict between team members if personally talking with the person doesn’t helps take the matters to the head of the department. So, I informed about the situation to the Chief Steward as he repeatedly gave me extra workload and pressure. The chief steward held a meeting with both of us and advised my supervisor not to give extra workload to anyone perform their delegated task themselves. In addition, he also provided clear guidelines stating what each individual will be doing and also reminded supervisors to avoid giving extra workload. Sometimes avoidance might be a solution for the short-term but compromising over a situation for a longer period of time will adversely affect the performance and success of the organization (Wood et al. 2013). If I had not raised the concern with the management the conflicts would have continued which would have affected my performance and ability to perform tasks effectively thereby stopping my growth within the organization. Timely and well-managed conflicts inspire creativity and create a healthy work environment which increases employee satisfaction and boosts overall productivity (Eke et al. 2020, pp. 307).

Teamwork

According to the two subjects, Culinary Techniques and Standards and Delivering Guest Services effective teamwork play a crucial part in achieving organizational and departmental goals in an effective manner. In addition, effective teamwork leads to exceptional guest experiences which helps to exceed guest expectations. Furthermore, teamwork is one of the key employability skills which helps to bring individual strengths to the group where each individuals strength are combined to complete the task in an effective manner and helps in improving individuals existing skills as well as learn new skills that would be useful for rest of their lives (Medhi, B 2020).

While working at The Treasury Casino And Hotel I was working as a Food and Beverage attendant where we faced an unexpected number of guest businesses and the limited staff was rostered on that day as it was the off-peak season. In addition, there was a group of 15 guests who walk in for a birthday celebration, and on top of that two staff from the kitchen called for the sick leave which created chaos in the kitchen as chefs were struggling to deliver the orders.

While studying at ichm we studied that a well-synchronized team creates a sense of responsibility and ownership whereas failing to synchronize team and inability to work effectively would negatively impact employee's productivity, performance, service standard, and overall guest experience (Cohen & Bailey 1997). I talked with my manager about having previous experience in the kitchen department and offered help to chefs in food preparation, plating the food and took those plated menu items and served to the guest and all of my colleagues were actively taking care of guest orders, clearing the plates, resetting tables and finalizing payments while one of the staff from front office helped us to greet and seat the guest.

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During such situation by working hand in hand, supporting and covering each other back we were not only able to delegate work based on individuals strength but also we were able to identify the uncertainty, implement solutions to the problem and overcome the difficult situation, and successfully eliminated inter-departmental conflicts and negative guest experiences (Buil et al. 2019). As per ichm graduate qualities 3 we were able to relate and collaborate with other and exchange views and ideas to achieve the desired outcome through effective teamwork, leadership, networking, and problem-solving. The guest personally thanked us for exceptional service and they stated that they were very much satisfied with us and definitely recommend to others. We were able to handle the situation very well and if a similar situation arises again in the future we are more than ready to deliver the service with a high level of excellence in order to continuously build a positive brand image of the hotel and keep exceeding guests expectations. We also had a meeting where each team member put certain ideas for outsourcing staff during uncertainties where I also put forward my opinions of cross-departmental training and keep lists of staff who are ready to pick up shift whenever needed and every team member and managers appreciated the ideas.

Problem-Solving

While undertaking my work-integrated learning during 1st year at the Majestic hotel I was able to develop a strong understanding of problem-solving. Problem-solving skill is one of the essential techniques that individual must acquire no matter whichever field they are working in. in addition, formulating various solution and critically thinking various techniques to tackle various difficult problems are the valuable skill that every employee must have (Masterclass 2020). Working at the Majestic Hotels and dealing with many guest complaints I have been able to determine the root cause of the complex problems, select various solutions, and implement the effective solution to the complex problems. Similarly, Ichm GQ4 also states that one must have an ability to research, evaluate, critically think and formulate effective ideas or solutions to the problems to demonstrate your capacity for innovation, taking initiative, and judgment. I have always been praised by my managers for exhibiting strong initiatives to find an effective and efficient solution to guest problems and providing them with an exceptional environment to enjoy their stays. According to (Mokhtar et al. 2019) by identifying the problem and improving the quality or implementing an effective solution to or beyond guest expectations is key for higher guest satisfaction and building customer loyalty. I have implemented a similar theory while handling a guest complaint.

While working at the Majestic Hotel a long-staying guest in room no 107 complained that her rooms have not been cleaned properly by the previous housekeeper and she was really angry about it. From the theoretical knowledge based on Rooms Division Service Standards, a key to resolve angry guest complaints is to actively listen to his problems and provide an effective solution to it as guest usually complaints in order to receive a quick response to the solution (Wren 2020). Keeping this theory in mind I stopped my work and listen to the guest's complaint evaluated the situation and apologized to the guest on behalf of my colleague and I personally went to the room and instantly cleaned the room. she was very happy that I responded quickly to her problems and she thanked me for the instant response. This timely response to guest complaints not only helped solve the problem but it also gave me an opportunity to turn a negative experience into a positive experience and retain customer loyalty (Wren 2020). Moreover, I also notified my supervisors that the designated colleague have not cleaned the room properly to the hotel standard so that a similar situation doesn’t arise again. The later manager checked on the system and found out the staff and issued him a warning letter since then we never had any guest complaints about dirty rooms.

Professionalism

Professionalism is a form of courtesy that mainly links to respectful and courteous behaviors of an individual in the workplace which can benefit both one's career and improve the chances of becoming a successful leader (Fuller 2020). In addition, punctuality, expertise, honesty, and integrity, respect, and accountability are some of the attributes of professionalism which are valued greatly in the workplace (Porcupile, DW 2015). Throughout my entire life, whether it is a professional or personal life, I have always fostered professional behavior at all times and also have been appreciated by many peoples and managers. Working at Intercontinental Hayman island resort as a steward through 2 weeks of ongoing orientation and training I have acquired a systematic, logical, and in-depth body of knowledge relating to the IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group), their basic principals & concepts, and associated industry communication and professional skills which also fosters ICHM GQ1 that I have learned during campus study.

Showing professionalism in a workplace also means being careful how you treat your co-workers and guests and at the same time ensuring a positive workplace attitude which can help you enhance productivity and effectiveness in the workplace as unprofessional behaviors such as coming late to work or being rude with co-workers and guest effects Teamwork as well as the overall success of the business. While working at Hayman island I face a situation where I was walking by the restaurant area where I greet the guest and asked him is his stay and the guest shared his disappointment about the cleaning standards of the housekeeping team as his room was dirty. At this situation, as being a steward most of the people just ignore the guest complaints as they feel that it's not their responsibility but what I did was I apologized a guest for the inconvenience, asked him the room no he was staying at and I informed the front office about the guest dissatisfactions about his room. Later, the front office informed housekeeping team and they instantly went to the guest room and cleaned the room to the perfection before the guest arrives. The next day I was appreciated by my chief steward for the approach I took to turn the guest bad experience into an amazing experience. According to the learnings from Delivering guest service, it states that guest complaints provide an opportunity to the hotel to show their true value to the guest by solving their problems as quickly as possible and turning their bad experience into one of the amazing experiences. In addition, we can see guest complaints as an opportunity to earn guest loyalty and repetitive guest business as solving their problem as quickly as possible not only target increasing profitability of the business bust also guest’s perspective where both hotel and guest receive the net value of their effort and expenses (Hayes & Miller 2011).

Conclusion

To conclude we can say that employability skills are one of the important skills which help each individual to become a successful leader. This assessment also gave me an opportunity to evaluate my employability skills and reflect on my experience that I have learned through the implementation of theoretical knowledge into the workplace and also helped me to improve my existing skill. From the above-discussed fours, employability skills professionalism is the key factors which bind all other employability skills as being professionalism make you more ethical, responsible, respectful, and accountable towards business or department which embraces teamwork as well as helps to solve guest problems and resolve conflict or have a healthy conflict which increases productivity and efficiency.