MBA652 Strategy and Leadership in Tourism and Hospitality Case Study Sample

MBA652 Strategy and Leadership in Tourism and Hospitality

Your task

Individually, you are required to write a 1200-word critical analysis based on a case study that focuses on the effects of burnout on tourism and hospitality employees.

Assessment Description

The purpose of this individual assessment is to foster students’ ability to understand the relationship between human resource management and the broader strategic planning functions within an organisation by critically evaluating the utility of various human resource functions within a tourism and hospitality context. More importantly, students will be given an opportunity to recommend ways in which current leadership practices and styles can be applied in the context of a diverse and dynamic workforce.

Assessment Instructions

At the end of the week 7 class, your workshop facilitator will provide you with a case study that you will need to analyse critically. Once received, your first task is to read it carefully and to identify the symptoms and reasons for burnout by drawing on the leadership failures that may have occurred. Based on the identified symptoms and reasons for burnout, your next task is to develop a set of organisational strategies and tactics aimed at engaging, motivating, mentoring and training tourism and hospitality employees by drawing on the importance of managing stress and mental health from a leadership perspective. In developing these strategies and tactics, you will need to utilise relevant theories and concepts covered in weeks 2 to 7.

To conclude your case study analysis, you are to make a recommendation to the business owner as to which specific leadership qualities must be sought from a leader who will be placed in charge of implementing the above-mentioned organisational strategies and tactics. In justifying your recommendation, you must draw on at least three recent industry examples of a successful change in leadership approach within the tourism and hospitality sector.

In preparing your case study analysis, you are required to use at least 12 sources of information and reference these in accordance with the Kaplan Harvard Referencing Style. These may include websites, government publications, industry reports, census data, journal articles, and newspaper articles. These references should be presented as in-text citations and a reference list at the end of your case study analysis. Wikipedia and other ‘popular’ sites are not to be used.

Solution

Introduction 

The human resource management is considered to be an instrumental component that enables businesses in the dynamic tourism and hospitality industry to function effectively (Li 2016).A broad range of issuesin the internal and external setting might come into play and affect the contribution of the employees to the overall strategic objective of a hospitality business. According to the MBA Assignment Experts, A critical analysis of a case study has been presented that revolves around the surge in psychological injuries among hospitality staff during the pandemic. The role of leadership has been identified in order to tackle the issue the impact of burnout among tourism andhospitality staff can be curtailed. 

Identified Symptoms and Reasons for Burnout

A major symptom of burnout in the work setting is emotional exhaustion among the employees which has affected the performance of the winery. Due to the pandemic, there was a shortage of workforce. IT has increased the work pressure for the existing staff members and is one of the main reasons for their burnout.  Many staff members have been working double shifts to deal with the work pressure which has increased the burnout problem in the hospitality business setting and hampered their quality of performance. Employees have been facing exhaustion at the emotional as well as physical level during the pandemic which has compromised their quality of service. In the case Jenny has observed specific symptoms and instances showing employee burnout. For example, some of the staff members were seen being hasty with the customers and causing unnecessary delays in customer orders. Such instances are the signs that show the symptoms of exhaustion among the staff which has affected their commitment and performance.Chi (2021) has identified that the complexities that employees face during the pandemic can adverselyaffecttheir work engagement, burnout as well as turnover intentions (Chi et al. 2021). The current scenario shows high symptoms of exhaustion in the hospitality setting shows a failure in the leadership approach.

Organisational Strategies and Tactics from The Leadership Perspective

In the hospitality setting, it is imperative to devise suitable organisational strategies and tactics so that the issue of employee burnout can be effectively managed.  From the leadership point of view, the main objective is to focus on engagement, motivation, mentoring and providing training to the tourism and hospitality employees so that they will be able to manage stress and their mental wellness can be improved.

Focus on stakeholder/employee engagement – In the hospitality setting, the leader must engage with the employees to get an insight into their current situation and the challenges that they are encountering during the pandemic. While showcasing leadership skills, Jenny must use her vision, and persistence to energise the stakeholders so that they can be actively involved in the tourism and hospitality processes.

Motivating employees through transformational leadership – In the challenging tourism setting, keeping the employees motivated is crucial to improve their mental health and reduce their levels of stress. The transformational leadership approach can be adopted for motivating the staff so that they can perform beyond expectations. For motivating the employees, some of the key techniques that can be adopted are introducing monetary and no-monetary rewardsbased on performance, recognition techniques and improved working conditions (Astuti et al. 2016). In the challenging situation, there is a need for transformationalleadership so that suitable changes can be introduced so that the exhaustion and stress of employees can be curtailed. Motivational theory- It is imperative to motivate the employees in the tourism and hospitality setting so that they can thrive, sustain and contribute to the evolving work setting. The intrinsic vs extrinsicmotivation theoretical model can help to ensure that employees are motivated at diverse levels. For example, training and mentoring will serve as effective intrinsic motivators that can help them to grow and learn. On the other hand, elements such as rewards and other incentives will act as extrinsic motivators in the hospitality setting. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation elements have been integrated into the strategy so that the employees of the winery will be interested in to carry out their work.

Creation of an inspiring organisational environment – For creating an inspiring organisational environment, emphasis must be laid on training and mentoringaspects. A mentor can be assigned to the staff for guiding and offering the right direction during the trying times. His input and advice will be crucial to help the employees, who have been facing severe burnout issues and high levels of exhaustion that has taken a toll on their mental health.  

Adoption of positive leadership in the winery – In the winery, there is a need to adopt the concept of positive leadership so that a healthy work environment can be established and the current burnout and exhaustion issues of the employees can be addressed. Jenny must act as a positive leader and encourage the staff to flourish in the work setting. It can have a positive impact on the wellness and the levels of stress of the staff members. For adopting positive leadership throughout the winery some of the main areas that must be focused upon are establishing positive relationships, creating a positive climate, using positivecommunication methods.It can have a constructive impact on organisational trust, the commitment of the staff members, and their level of job satisfaction (Kang et al. 2021).

Hiring of talented staff – For addressing the high exhaustion issue among the staff members, it is imperative to attract and recruit talented staff. A well-defined and systematic recruitment strategy must be adopted which is aligned with the exactrecruitments needs of the winery. This tactic will help to reduce the work burden of the staff and minimise their exhaustion and burnout and positively impact their mental health.

According to thetransformational theory, transformational leaderswork along with teams and identify the need for change (Astuti et al. 2016). In the challenging tourism and hospitality situation, there is a need for applying the core concepts of transformationalleadership so that suitable changes can be introduced so that the employees can adapt to the changed work setting during the pandemic.For example, such a leader can use his vision to address the issue relating to employee burnout, exhaustion, and poor mental health which has the potential to sabotage the service quality of a hospitality business(Khan et al. 2020).By showcasing empathytowards the hospitality staff, a transformational leadercan show that he cares for theholistic needs as well as achievementsof the staff (Rahman 2017). It has been identified that being empathetic is a critical attribute that leaders must possess for extending help to employees who suffer from exhaustion (Rubini 2017). 

Recommendations 

A number of recommendations have been made to the business owner regarding the specific leadership qualities that must be sought from a leader in order to effectively implement the organisational strategies and tactics.

• Empathy is one of the main leadership qualities that is necessary for the leader to implement the above-mentioned organisational strategies and tactics. The quality can enable the leader to create a positive emotional culture and treat the employees with empathy and compassion. Example - Mark Hoplamazian, the CEO of Hyatt Hotels has been leading his business during pandemic by focusing on empathy(Fortune 2022).

• Effective communication and engagement are other important qualities that the leader must adopt for implementing the organisational strategies and tactics and creating positive relationships with the staff. Example - Geoff Ballotti, the CEO of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has focused on engagement with customers as well as employees.

• Having a vision is vital for a leader as it can help to create a flexible and inspiring climate throughout the organisation. The quality can ensure that the leader provides guidance to the entire team during tough times.Example – Keith Barr, the CEO of IHG Hotels and Resorts has used his farsighted vision and helped the company to face the unimaginable challenge that has occurred due to Covid.

Conclusion 

The Covid 19 pandemic has increased the complexity and challenges for employees working in the tourism and hospitality setting. In the specific case, the issues that have been identified that affect the hospitality staff are emotional exhaustion and burnout. Leaders can play a proactive role to extend help to the employees so that they can deal with the issue and their performance will not be compromised.  

References

Astuti, S, Warso, M and Hasiholan, LB 2016, Analysis of Influence Transformational Leadership. Compentation, and Satisfaction Work of Loyality and Productivity Employees SinarMulyaAbadi, Journal of Management, 2(2).

Chi, OH, Saldamli, A and Gursoy, D 2021, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on management-level hotel employees’ work behaviors: Moderating effects of working-from-home, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 98.p.103020. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103020

El-Toukhy, MES 2021, The Importance Of Implementation And Strategic Control In The Effectiveness Of Strategic Plans, PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology,18(4). pp.3271-3290.

Fortune 2022, How Hyatt's CEO is leading with empathy through COVID-19 and a corporate reckoning with racism, [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 January 2022].

Grobelna, A 2021, Emotional exhaustion and its consequences for hotel service quality: the critical role of workload and supervisor support, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management,30(4). pp.395-418. Doi : doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2021.1841704

Harjanti, D 2019, Burnout and employee performance in hospitality industry: the role of social capital, JurnalTeknikIndustri. 21(1). pp.15-24. Doi: 10.9744/jti.21.1.15-24

Kang, SE, Park, C, Lee, CK and Lee, S 2021, The Stress-Induced Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism and Hospitality Workers, Sustainability, 13(3), p.1327. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1327/pdf

Khan, H, Rehmat, M, Butt, TH, Farooqi, S and Asim, J 2020, Impact of transformational leadership on work performance burnout and social loafing: a mediation model, Future Business Journal, 6(1), pp.1-13. https://fbj.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s43093-020-00043-8

Li, T 2016, A study on the impact of mergers & acquisitions on shareholders’ wealth and efficiency, In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 25, p. 02013), EDP Sciences, Doi : 10.1051/shsconf/20141201076

Okolie, UC 2020, The Advantage Of Integrating Human Resource Planning With Corporate Planning, Annals of SpiruHaret University. Economic Series, 20(1), pp.25-50.

Rahman, WAWA 2017, Transformational leadership and empathy: The impact of quality in the health care services in Kelantan, Malaysia, International Journal of Economics Business and Management Studies, 4(1), pp.50-56.

Rubini, LL 2017, Enhancing the Pace and Process of Change: Realizing Outcomes Through Leadership Empathy.https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=od_theses_msod