Assessment 4 – Reflective Writing Original Survey – 13/3 Insert a copy of your first ‘spiderweb’ profile here. Second Survey – 31/5 Insert a copy of your second ‘spiderweb’ profile here. Part A The Competing Values Framework (CVF) identifies eight competing roles that a manager must have competency if they are to achieve true mastery (Quinn et al 2015). These roles are divided among four quadrants: collaborate, create, compete and control. From my first survey, the strongest quadrant for me was collaboration, in particular the role of mentor. Unsurprisingly, this remained my most competent area of managerial skill, with notable improvement to the role of facilitator (4.8-5.2). This again reflects the fact that I get the most satisfaction from the human element of the hospitality industry, in particular the opportunity to be a positive influence on people who are new to the industry. With such a high turnover of staff being typical of the hospitality industry, I believe that this will continue to be my strength as a manager in the future. My most significant area of improvement was in the control quadrant, where I scored higher for the roles of both monitor (4.0-4.5) and coordinator (3.8-4.4). The initial survey highlighted this as my weakest quadrant and it has certainly been an area that I have been particularly focused on improving since then. In particular I have been more focused on establishing routine and consistency with my approach to work. Restaurants are chaotic by nature, but I have found that placing extra focus on controlling the environment as much as possible has resulted in better personal performance and by extension, more satisfied guests. The quadrants of external focus, compete and create, were where I was somewhat stagnant, with points being lost for the roles of producer (4.6-4.4) and innovator (4.5-4.2), although there were small improvements to the roles of director (4.4-4.8) and broker (3.7-4.0). My first survey placed rational goals as my second strongest quadrant, where it remained following my second survey, which may be why it was not an area that I placed particular focus on. I do find that I am driven by personal goals, which then translates to meeting targets for the businesses I work for. Similarly, the creative side of management is not something that I feel I have been particularly focused on in recent times, and is an area that I must certainly look to improve in the future. It takes a lot of confidence to sell new ideas and for me, I believe that this is something that will come with more experience. The CVF provides a clear definition of the competencies that must be mastered to become a highly successful manager. For me, it has confirmed where my strengths lie and where I need to improve. Part B The second community blog assessment had us explore the statement, ‘Understanding the external environment is a necessary attribute of a modern tourism and hospitality manager.’ There were two blog posts that highlighted the impact that perceived political instability can have on a destination’s tourism industry; one in reference to Australia’s image for potential Asian travellers, following politician Pauline Hanson’s divisive rhetoric toward them, while the second focused on the recent drop in visitor numbers to Barcelona following episodes of political unrest. Coelho’s (2017) piece pointed toward emerging technology as being the key to increasing bookings during times of instability, which falls in line with managerial competencies related to open systems style management, in particular, innovation and adaptability (Quinn et al 2015). Coelho (2017) also suggests that managers in Barcelona develop stronger relationships with their guests, advising them to, “sell the features and benefits of your hotel and stay away from discussing the conflict. Make your guest feel assured, safe and welcome.” Negotiating new ideas and selling them to people is one of the key skill of open systems management, in particular for the role of the broker (Quinn et al). Litvin, (1999) on the other hand, calls on Australia to turn toward South Africa as an example of tourism growth following political unrest, which falls more into the quadrant of compete (Quinn et al 2015). Whether it be through awareness and ability to utilise new technology, or the ability to learn from and compete with other tourism systems, it can be concluded from these pieces that an understanding of the external environment is paramount for a successful manager. The competing quadrant of rational-goal style management within the CVF is that of human relations (Quinn et al 2015) which was alluded to in another blog post, regarding a piece by Turkay, Solmaz & Şengul (2011). It was ascertained that the gathering of information from the external environment is paramount to the success of any hospitality organisation, although Türkay, Solmaz & Şengül (2011 p. 1068) concede that hotels, “also evaluate the employees as a highly important channel,” in regards to collecting vital information. The means-end theory of human relations management, that involvement leads to commitment (Quinn et al 2015), is seen at play in this instance, where lower level employees are involved with and relied upon by upper management to contribute to the business’ success in a more significant way. The final topic of the community blog related to meaning, motivation and mastery, in relation to Alan Watts’ speech, ‘What if money was no motivation?’. A piece by Patel (2014) ascertained that the key to motivating staff was to have them setting personal goals, and as a manager, encouraging and helping them to achieve these goals. This was identified to be an example of competing competencies associated with the director (setting goals) and the mentor (nurturing talent) (Quinn et al 2015). Another piece by Walo (2000) was referenced in the community blog a put forth a similar message, referring to the progress that students had made toward mastering management skills during their internship programs. Again, it was concluded that the combination of strong mentoring and a goal-based objectives were ideal for growth in management competencies. Quinn et al (2015) identify a paradox of goal based management; that too strong a focus on results can lead to high stress and ultimately unhappiness, which is essentially what Alan Watts warns against in his speech. Another blog post put forth the idea that a creative environment is the key to maintaining a motivated workforce, which was supported by IBM’s (2010) survey of CEOs, who agreed that creativity is the most crucial factor for crucial success. This again highlights an external outlook having a positive impact on the internal environment of organisation, which is very much in line with the thinking behind the CVF. These findings also fall in line with the paradoxes of controlling management; that innovation is stifled by traditional structure and daily routine will undermine new initiative (Quinn et al 2015). Although this community blog was focused on the external environment, the sources that were referred to all seemed to conclude that an external focus will have an effect on the internal process, and vice versa. All of this evidence brought forward in the group blog suggests that for managers in the hospitality industry, mastery of all the competing values is a path to success. References: Coelho, M 2017, ‘Catalonia: Why technology is more important than ever in times of political upheaval’, Hotel News Resource, 22 December, viewed 31 May 2018, . International Business Machines 2010, ‘IBM 2010 Global CEO Study: Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future Success’, viewed 31 May 2018, . Litvin, SW 1999, ‘Tourism and politics: the impact of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party on Australian visitor arrivals’, Journal of Tourism Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 51-60. Patel, R 2014, ‘5 Ways to Keep Your Hospitality Team Motivated’, LinkedIn, 13 November 2014, viewed 31 May 2018, . Quinn, RE, Bright, D, Faerman, SR, Thompson, MP & McGrath, MR 2015, Becoming A Master Manager: A Competing Values Approach, 6th edn, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York. Tragedy & Hope 2013, ‘What If Money Was No Object? – Alan Watts’, YouTube, online video, viewed 11 May 2018, . Türkay, O, Solmaz, SA & Şengül, S, 2011, ‘Strategic analysis of the external environment and the importance of the information: Research on perceptions of hotel managers’ Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 24, pp.1060-69. Walo, M 2000, ‘Assessing the contribution of internship in developing Australian tourism and hospitality students’ management competencies’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 12-28.
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