1. Management and Supervision Skills for the G.M.

2. Employee turnover rates
The G.M. Sets the Pace
G.M.s feelings & actions about issues will likely impact hotel staff attitudes about those issues.
G.M.s personally direct only the work of department heads and, perhaps, relatively few other staff.
G.M.s’ interaction with department heads directly impacts how they interact with their own staff.
Influence
Stress the importance of human relations in the hospitality industry, and explain how G.M.s can influence human relations between members, as well as between staff and guests.
Human relations are defined as skills needed to understand and effectively interact with other people.
Level of morale
Desired product & service quality
Employee turnover rates

3. G.M.s Must Manage: Organizational Levels
Top-Level Management (G.M.)
Middle-Level Management (Department Heads)
Supervisory-Level Managers (Supervisors/Managers)
Entry-Level Employees
Notice that the G.M. represents the highest management level on the property, and that he / she directs the work of middle-level managers.
Of resources available, people (human resources) are the most complex and important for success!

4. G.M.s Must Manage: G.M. Functions
Management Function
Examples of activity: Working with
department head (if applicable) to:
Planning
Develop an operating budget or a marketing plan
Organizing
Assign responsibilities for an upcoming banquet or conference event
Staffing
Recruit, select, orient and train new department heads
Directing
Supervise the work of department heads
Controlling
Take corrective action(s) when budgeted financial plans are not attained
Evaluating
Assess the extent to which long- and short-range plans were attained
Explain five different management functions and relevant examples of activity.

5. G.M.s Must Manage: G.M. Skills
Conceptual
Ability to collect, interpret, and use information logically
Learning about a new, competing hotel opening nearby and making future marketing decisions accordingly
Ability to understand and interact well with guests, employees, suppliers, etc.
Interpersonal
Skills
Administrative
Ability to organize and direct required work efforts
Ability to develop policies and operating procedures necessary for guest safety
Ability to perform management-specific aspects of the job
Forecasting guest demand for rooms and establishing room rates, etc.
Technical
Discuss the importance of four skills outlined for the G.M.
Ask students to give three additional examples of each of these: conceptual, interpersonal, administrative and technical.
Ask students how they can increase their skills in these areas.

6. G.M.s Must Manage: G.M. Relationships
Staff members
Other hotel employees
Yesterday: dictatorial leadership
Today: facilitators
Tomorrow: empowerment
“Manage by walking around”
G.M.
External organization
Others in community
Participating in community social events
Attending school & athletic events with their children
Joining professional business and community service organizations
Meeting with community government representatives
Empowerment is defined as the act of granting authority to employees to make key decisions within those employees’ areas of responsibility.
Discuss your students’ experiences in which an organization has empowered them; ask how they felt when this occurred, and how this impacted guest satisfaction. Ask students about times they wished they had been given such empowered, but were not (what happened?)
How the hotel can meet and exceed guest expectations
Guests

7. G.M.s Must Manage: G.M. Manage in Times of Change
Relative to their counterparts “yesterday” G.M.s must
Interact with a more diverse workforce
Emphasize teams rather than individual performance
Cope with fast-paced technology changes
Adjust to workplace changes (e.g., re-engineering, downsizing)
React to global challenges
Re-engineering is re-organizing hotel departments or work sections within departments.
Improve quality while increasing productivity
Improve ethical / social behaviors

8. Evolution of Traditional Hotel H.R. Practices
Contemporary
Manager-focused work unit
Team-focused work unit
Manager is dominant
Manager is supportive
Emphasis on technical skills
Emphasis on employee facilitation skills
Manager seeks stability
Manager encourages change
Manager tells and sells personal views
Manager listens
Manager personally responsible for results
Manager shares responsibility for results
Manager personally solves problems
Team problem-solving is employed
Fear and pressure used to motivate staff
Pride, recognition, and growth are used to motivate staff
Autocratic (dictatorial) decision style
Participative decision style
Individual behavior
Team behavior
Ask students whether the trend of the G.M. acting as facilitator and/or team leader rather than as “boss” will continue in hotel human resources practices in the future.
Give examples of autocratic and participative decision styles.

9. Evolution of Traditional Hotel H.R. Practices (continued…)
Contemporary
G.M. forces compliance
G.M. earns the team’s support
What one says is inconsistent with what one does
What one says is consistent with what one does
Inconsistent “moments of truth”
Consistent “moments of truth”
Reactive management/supervision style
Proactive management/supervision style
Bureaucratic “rituals”
Flexible routines
Top down – one way communication
Multi-directional communication
Hierarchy of control
Empowerment
Power
Consensus
Short-term H.R. strategies
Long-term H.R. strategies

10. Management Basics: Planning
Vision
What the hotel will strive to be
Mission Statement
What the hotel must do to be successful and how this will be accomplished
Long-Range Plan
Hotel’s goal for long-range (e.g., five year) time span
Short-Range (Business) Plan
Hotel’s goal within a one-year time span
Introduce Management Basics (planning, decision-making, organizing, delegation, communication flow, motivation) by explaining that they represent a range of strategies and tactics that G.M.s use to attain organizational goals.
A strategy is a plan to achieve a long-range goal; a tactic is an action to attain a short-term objective.
Share examples of vision and/or mission statements of prominent hospitality industry firms with students.
Ask your students if they are familiar with the mission statement of the company/ies where they have (do) work; if many students are not well aware of the vision and/or mission statement of their current firms, encourage them to find out what they are if they exist.
Operating Budget
Anticipating revenues and expenses during short-range plan implementation
Marketing Plan
What must be done to generate revenues anticipated by the operating budget

11. Management Basics: Decision Making
Before making a decision
Who is the correct person to make decisions?
Will a decision about a specific issue bring the hotel closer to
attaining objectives and goals?
How will the decision affect guests?
Is there only one acceptable alternative?
How much time and effort can be spent on the decision?
How does one’s experience help with decision making?
Must the decision please everyone?
What are the ethical aspects of the decisions?
Give examples of programmed and non-programmed decisions.
Stress that non-programmed decision methods present more challenges and opportunities for creativity than do non-programmed decision methods.
Programmed decision
Non-programmed decision
Routine and repetitive decisions made after considering policies, procedures, or rules
Infrequent decisions requiring creative decision making abilities

12. Management Basics: Decision Making Approach
Continuum of decision making
Manager makes decisions unilaterally
Traditional
Manager makes decisions after input from others
Recent
Manager allows team to make decisions
Contemporary
Discuss three possible decision-making approaches: traditional, recent, contemporary.

13. Management Basics: Decision Making (continued…)
Advantages
Disadvantages
Considering broad range of information
Generating more creative alternatives
Whole team keenly aware of issues and problems
Achieving higher morale
Easier implementation
Possible conflicts
May be forced to “take sides” if alternative opinions are expressed
Domination by staff members with strongest personalities
Time-consuming
Not applicable when fast decisions necessary
Group decisionmaking process
Do students agree with the advantages / disadvantages of the group decision-making process stated here? What are those?
Discuss student group decision-making processes by considering their experiences at their school doing group projects; do students feel that they become involved in the team decision-making process at their current employers?

14. Management Basics: Organizing Principles
Unity of command
Span of control
Each employee should report or be accountable to only one boss for a specific activity
Limit to how many staff members one supervisor can manage effectively
Distribution of authority
Types of authority
Used by
Example
Advisory
Staff managers
Develop orientation program for all hotel employees
Line
Line managers (within departments)
Hiring and firing employees within a specific department
Functional
Line managers (between departments)
Executive housekeeper establishes table linen laundry schedule with F&B dept.

15. Management Basics: Delegation
Delegation benefits for the G.M.
What work might be delegated by the G.M.?
Allows the G.M. to do most important things first
Effective process to train employees
Allows more work to be accomplished
Improves controls
Work that others can do as well as the G.M.
Work that is less important than other work
Work that should be learned by more than one person
Delegation is the process of assigning power to subordinates so they can do work which a manager at a higher organizational level would otherwise do.

16. Management Basics: Delegation (continued…)
Steps in effective delegation
Organizational climate necessary for delegation
Assign specific duties & responsibilities to employees
Grant sufficient authority for carrying out assignments
Supervisor & employees agree on expected results
Communicate responsibilities to minimize confusion
Managers make feedback system to measure progress

17. Management Basics: Flow of Communication
Multi-directional communication
Managers/ Supervisors
Department Heads
(Executive committee)
G.M.
Employees
Vertical Comm.
Horizontal Comm.
Distinguish between formal and informal communication channels.
The grapevine is an example of an informal communication channel; note that often informal communication channels can be accurate and can be used to assess employee perceptions of the hotel’s “current events.”
Vertical communication means communication between individuals which flows up and down throughout the organization, while horizontal communication relates to communication between individuals at the same organizational level.
Formal channel (example): coaching
Informal channel (example): grapevine / rumor mills

18. Management Basics: Motivation
Poorly motivated staff
Inconsistent performance for required quality or quantity standards
Guest dissatisfaction
Increased operating costs
More motivated employees’ leave
Hotel suffers

19. Management Basics: Motivation (continued…)
Strategies to motivate employees
Follow sound management advice
Effective orientation
Train correctly
Manage a professional hotel
Supervise as you want to be supervised
Encourage effective communication
Manage a friendly hotel
Help your employees succeed

20. Management Basics: Leadership
Effective leaders will:
implement the property’s Mission Statement
have an objective & measurable “picture” of hotel’s desired future
help others develop the knowledge and skills needed to attain hotel’s vision (e.g., orientation, training, and coaching)
utilize the empowerment process
develop team of staff committed to hotel’s success
Coaching has a goal of helping staff members and the hotel team to reach their highest possible performance levels.
achieve a reputation for quality service consistently delivered to guests
cultivate a reputation for fairness and honesty

21. Management Basics: Discipline
Discipline: activities reinforcing desired performance
or correcting undesired performance.
Steps in a progressive discipline process
Oral warning (no entry in employee’s record)
Oral warning (entry in employee’s record)
Written reprimand
Progressive discipline is a process of negative discipline in which repeated infractions result in increasingly severe penalties.
Suspension for specific number of days
Discharge

22. To be a good team leader, the G.M. must
Team Building Tactics
Self-directed team
To be a good team leader, the G.M. must
More control over work responsibilities
Make work assignments within the team
Schedule themselves
Evaluate each other’s work
Assign compensation increases
Have high standards and expectations
Support individual members and maintain trusting and respectful relationships
Practice participative management and solicit input from members
Demonstrate that own personal goals and individual team member goals should not be placed before team goals
Share credit for team successes
Contemporary management focuses on team behavior rather than upon individual behavior.
Determine what concerns (if any) students have regarding self-directed teams.

23. G.M. Competencies
G.M.s never have a daily routine; every day is different
Actual daily activities undertaken by a G.M. vary from day-to-day & month-to-month as well as from property-to-property
Daily involvement in guest relations are quite visible
G.M. is on duty eight or more hours daily and is often on-call even when not on the property

24. G.M. Competencies: Employees
Possible interactions with employees: positive examples
Daily conversations with long-term staff
Learning employees’ suggestions about possible operating improvements
Welcoming new staff to the team
Congratulating personnel about significant events in their families’ lives
Mentoring younger workers
Following employees’ careers as they are promoted within the organization
Providing non-job related advice when requested
Observing employees at a company picnic enjoy themselves
Observing staff who participate in community organizations/activities

25. G.M. Competencies: Employees
Possible interactions with employees: negative examples
Disciplining or terminating staff
Confronting staff known to be stealing
Learning about illegal acts committed off-property by staff
Assigning work responsibilities to cover “no show” employees
Discovering employee “sabotage”
Supervising staff violating hotel policies, requirements, and rules.
Comforting an employee whose child has passed away
Observing an intoxicated employee attempting to come to work
Explaining to staff why they did not get promotions they sought

26. G.M. Competencies with Guests
Possible interactions with guests: positive examples
Interacting with frequent guests
Receiving spontaneous “Thank You Notes” from happy guests
Observing hotel guests celebrate significant family / professional occasions
Providing service / assistance to guests
Receiving input from guests who genuinely want the hotel to be successful
Interacting with guests as peers at community / professional meetings
Providing accommodations to guests stranded by adverse travel conditions
Receiving guest input about hospitable staff members

27. G.M.Competencies with Guests
Possible interactions with guests: negative examples
Interacting with police called to hotel for disturbances or illegal guest activities
Guest deaths in sleeping rooms or in the hotel’s public spaces
Dealing with visibly intoxicated guests
Preventing on-site prostitution
Preventing guest theft of money, products and/or services from the hotel
Preventing property vandalism
Calming irate guests stranded by adverse travel conditions
Discovering overt guest room damage