Interview With Lankan Filling Station Restaurant Manager About Managerial Roles In Hotel Industry

You are required to interview a manager of a company or organisation (you should try to find one with more than 10 staff if possible). If you have a contact please follow up – otherwise your lecturer will help you to find one. 

1. Research the company or organisation using any sources available (published annual reports, newspaper or online reports)
2. Find out what has been written on the topic of operational area that you have chosen by researching academic or practitioner journals and magazines).
3. Using the literature to help you, develop a set of questions to find out about:
a. The firm – a little bit about what it does, whether it is public or private, government or not-forprofit.
b. The number of staff and key areas of activity
c. The role of a Manager (especially within the area of one or two of the topic areas covered in this course).

The main purpose of the interview is for student to gain more insight into what managers really do, what challenges they face, what lessons they have learned, what suggestions they have for you and other students as future team members and managers.

• What has been the manager’s career path to the current position? What companies has he/she worked for and what have his/her responsibilities been?
• If he/she could change anything about his/her career path, what would it be?
• What does he/she enjoy most about his/her current position and responsibilities? What does he/ she enjoy least about her current position and responsibilities?
• What aspects of his/her position are the most rewarding? What aspects of his/ her position are the most frustrating?
• What is the most challenging aspect of his/her position? What is he/she doing to overcome these challenges?
• What current trends could have an impact on management practices within the next 2-5 years?
• How might the business change in the next 2-5 years? How is he/she planning for this?
• What advise can he/she offer you as you are entering the business environment today?

1. This has to be a real experience and one where you can collect and analyse some data to inform your recommendations.
2. Take no more than 45 minutes of the HR manager's time.
3. Either record the interview (but ask permission first) or take careful notes
4. If the manager would prefer anonymity assure her/him that you will not include organisation or company names in any report.

1. Write up your notes 
2. If unsure, discuss your findings with your lecturer, identifying key point

Challenges in Managing the Hotel Industry

An interview is a conversation between two or more people where one asks questions and the other responds. In the normal interview process, the interviewer asks questions while the interview responds allowing notes to be taken.  This is thus a transfer of information where the interviewer seeks to understand a few things about the respondent. Interviews are used in research because they allow the researcher to gather purpose data by asking relevant questions that relate to the research (Dipboye, 2012). The main aim of the interview that I did with O-Tama Carey, the manager of Lankan Filling Station restaurant in Sydney. The purpose of the interview was to understand the career life of the manager and the role of a manager with such organizations (Lankan Filling Station, 2018). The interview seeks to understand the background of the organization and the key business objectives that drive their operations and the responsibilities of the manager. This means that the interview will rely more on the words of the manager and supplement this with the existing literature on the topic. The interview was done on a one on one basis for fifteen minutes which had been pre-booked with the manager. The scope of this research is the functions of managers and the responsibilities that they carry out within the hotel industry and any challenges that they face in their day to work. This study will also offer recommendations that management can take to address the issues faced.

Managing a restaurant or the hotel industry can be challenging as compared to other mainstream businesses. This is because the services sector offers more challenges and creates an environment where the client interacts with the quality of the service offered instantly. This is because the industry suffers low and high seasons throughout the year that require managers to work on ways that ensure the business survives. This is based on the location of the restaurant and the strategies that managers put in place. According to Chibili, Benhadda, Bruyn, & Chibili (2016) most hotel industry players find it difficult surviving the turbulent forces because it drives the industry. Most players find it difficult to run their business throughout the year if they are not located at strategic points. This means that the hotel industry presents more difficulties in running the business as compared to other industries.

Managing client expectations is one of the issues that every hotel manager faces regardless of the nature of the business. If you check out the restaurants Facebook page, then you will see both positive and negative reviews about the hotel. This is because clients have different expectations and not all of them can be met. Despite this challenge, the manager has to attract new clients and at the same time struggle to achieve more return clients to make the business grow. Page (2009) adds that businesses that can manage and achieve returns on investment have a higher growth rate since they can increase their sales from the value of a return client. When clients are not satisfied with the service that they receive, it becomes difficult for them to return since they foresee the same problem. On the other hand, those who have positive reviews are likely to come back since they feel there is value for money on what they received from the service.

Managing Client Expectations

However, the industry is faced with the challenge of innovation since business ideas are limited. Unlike product related industries, innovations propel the business and create competitiveness since once the new product has been accepted in the market, then the organization enjoys the business benefits associated with the product. On the other hand, hotels have to maintain standard levels and work on quality as the main driver of their business competitiveness. The only way that such an industry can innovate is through business competitiveness. This is because it takes time for a new food type to be invented but rather what happens is improving the existing ones to create a new taste or recipe for the customer. Nieves & Mercedes (2015) states that the only way that the hotel industry can innovate is through the influence of employees on how they can improve the products that they make and externally by engaging with the clients to determine the ways through which they can be satisfied more or how they want the services to look like.

Despite the challenges, managers that have succeeded in expanding their businesses have managed to work on management innovations to improve the business and satisfy their clients more. Through internal relations with the employees and external relations with clients, management can develop new ways of doing business and develop a competitive advantage to meet the needs of the employee. In most hotel industries, survival entails improved service delivery and increased customer satisfaction (Wang, Hung, & Shang, 2006). Despite that competitiveness in this industry depends on destination competitiveness which focuses on the strategic location of the business and the clients that it targets. This is because some destinations have low and peaks seasons such as those that rely on tourists and specific events of the year, while others run throughout the whole year. 

Lankan Filling Station restaurant was founded by O-Tama Carey the former chef of Berta restaurant in Sydney. According to Mitchell (2018), her food philosophy centers on fresh seasonal food made in Italian and Sri Lanka tastes that give customers a taste that is not easy to find in Sydney. The business is run by a small team of people under her management at the Lankan filling station. The main objective of opening the street eating joint is to give customers a continued taste of Sri Lanka flavors. According to Bristow (2018), the restaurant is focused on blending traditional and sustainability in its cuisine to give customers a casual eatery with the focus on hoppers.

The Need for Innovation in the Hotel Industry

Tukamushaba, Musinguzi, Katongole, & Xiao (2012) suggests that managers play different roles within the organization that vary from industry to industry. One such role is managing organizational resources to ensure that they are utilized accordingly. This is the process of creatively thinking and allocating the resources in the organization based on the needs of every activity. This can entail drawing monetary budgets and at the same time allocating tasks to employees within the organization. Managers are charged with the role of ensuring that each resource in the organization is utilized efficiently. Efficiency leads to business competitiveness since it allows resources to be available and utilized in time to create the product or service that the organization needs (Dhar, 2015). By balancing the resources based on the needs of the activity, the manager takes a functional approach to ensure there is stability by distributing resources across the organization.

Another role that managers play is working to increase business revenues or growth. The business metaphor of the organization as an organism sees the business as an element that has life and the potential to grow. The role of the manager is to work on business growth through increasing revenues, business expansion and new market penetration (Sanderatne, 2014). As seen in the case of Lankan Filling Station restaurant, the business just started recently thus management has to work on ways of ensuring that the business generates revenues through its business operations. One way of meeting such objectives is through increased efficiency which leads to reducing wastage of resources and increased customer satisfaction. Other strategies like diversification, product expansion and acquisition will come in in future to make the business more competitive thus generating higher resources.

Complying with business regulations is a key feature in any hotel industry. Managers have to ensure that their business meets industry requirements as set by law. For example, Australian hotels have the Australian Hotel Association that has regulations on matters that pertain to the industry while at the same time the Australian government has regulations on services offered and employment relations that determine how businesses in the industry operate (Knox & Dennis Nickson, 2006). This means that the manager has to ensure that the business complies with all the regulations that exist in the industry and must acquire any relevant certification that exists. Without proper compliance, the organization can suffer regarding legal suits by clients or civic groups and closure of the business until the certification is achieved. Managers have to watch out and prepare for any new changes taking place in the industry and put strategies in pale to meet these requirements.

Managerial Roles in the Hotel Industry

In addition to that managers carry the image of the organization. Thus they are supposed to promote and market the business. This allows the organization to be noticed and at the same time creates brand value for the organization. For example, Lankan Filling Station uses Facebook and its website to market its products and increase acceptability with the public. The theory of image management is based on the creation and maintenance of organizational image by strategically communicating with stakeholders to encourage desirable images (Gilpin, 2010). This means that as a manager O-Tama is charged with the responsibility of carrying the image of the organization every time. This is because the quick success of the restaurant is based on her success while working at Berta. Therefore, she has to maintain this image and replicate the same through the services that customers receive.

Lastly, managers handle both internal and external complains that the organization faces. Internal complaints stem from employee-related issues which require immediate attention to ensure that work is not compromised (Gilpin, 2010). According to Herzberg’s two-factor theory, handling employee complaint is part of the motivation process of working on intrinsic factor within the organization to make the employees comfortable (Masse, 2015). This is in turn increases, harmony, coordination and teamwork among employees which in turn leads to increased productivity and job satisfaction. On the other hand, external complains relate to service delivery and how employees are satisfied with the way they are served. This relates to several factors that require probing and working on ways that can solve them. This can entail reviewing customer complaints and feedback to determine ways that the organization can be improved.

Managers in the hotel industry face several challenges that make them unable to meet the requirements of their organization or to work effectively. One major challenge is the changing nature of technology within the industry. Technological innovations keep on changing and customers require organizations to evolve with these technologies as they change (Jin-zhao & Jing, 2009). This can be challenging and expensive to smaller businesses like Lankan Filling Station restaurant since such technologies require a lot of resources and work better for a large customer base. This means that such businesses struggle to use technological applications that can make the business more successful. Such managers struggle to align their business with the current technological needs even if they are expensive. Further, limited resources make it difficult to spot technology trends since they lack resources for working on the technological changes that take place within the industry.

Compliance with Regulations

Hotel managers also face operational challenges within the organization. Umasuthan & Park (2018) suggests that when running business operations in the hotel industry, managers have to ensure that business operations are run efficiently.  This includes housekeeping and ensuring that all the business operations are run efficiently. For example, in the Lankan Filling Station, the manager has to ensure that all activities run well and at the same time employees are coordinated well to achieve the required targets of the day. When working in the hotel industry managers focus on hygiene standards, quality of the services and abide by the required standards. Sometimes this becomes difficult since quality management inspection has to be done at different levels of the organization. Sometimes coordinating all these activities becomes challenging for a single manager thus requiring the support of other employees within the top management level.

Sometimes hotel managers face leadership challenges due to the corporatization of the sector. As businesses grow, they become more complex leading to changes in the business structure of the organization. As the business grows and becomes more complex, it becomes difficult to manage customer service standards or ensuring consistency. To achieve proper standards, managers have to ensure that they create and maintain team unity by establishing communication and coordination between teams (Dhar, 2015). This becomes difficult as the business grows and becomes more complex thus leading to leadership challenges. In most cases, when such businesses start up, they start with a smaller number of employees which later grows due to business development. This growth makes it difficult for managers to lead due to employee differences that emanate from new and older employees.

Lastly, meeting customer expectations is another challenge that hotel managers face in their line business. Since this industry offers direct products that clients use immediately, then it becomes difficult to meet the needs of such customers. Further, customer needs are not constant but rather evolve and their tastes keep on changing. The onset of information technology has made it easy for customers to access any sophisticated information on what they are supposed to be served with (Herington, McPhail, & Guilding, 2013). This means that managers have to find ways of reaching out to customers efficiently, meeting their expectations and needs and at the same time satisfying them. This is the biggest challenge that managers face since they have to work achieving higher customer expectations every time.

Marketing the Hotel Industry

One lesson learned from the experience is that entrepreneurship is about developing a business solution to address a gap in the market. Since leaving Berta, O-Tama had embarked on a business journey of establishing her eating point. This means that entrepreneurs are successful because of the zeal to succeed against all odds. This is seen in the quick success of Lankan Filling Station restaurant which is slowly taking Sydney by storm. Further, every business needs a business brand that identifies it and differentiates it from other business. This forms the organizational image that people associate the organization with through a single product that stands out. In the case of the O-Tama, the restaurant is known for offering Srilanka flavors which the manager and the head chef is known for.

Conclusion

From the case of O-Tama and her eatery, it is evident that businesses survive only if they have a business niche that they specialize in as their main area of business. This leads to a defined image and brand that customers identify with the business. Such businesses are more competitive since they have a way of satisfying customers by meeting their tastes and preferences. Despite this, hotel industries face several challenges that make the business difficult thus leaving it to the survival of a few that have established a business niche and work hard to satisfy customers within that line. Leadership, quality management, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and business growth are the biggest challenges that hotel managers face when running this line of business. This means that they have to put proper strategies in place to address these needs as they occur.

Despite the challenges of managing in the hotel industry, O-Tama can survive the turbulent challenges in the industry by working on business growth strategies.  This is through working on diversity to ensure that the business meets the diverse needs of customers thus increasing revenues. Further, management has to work on customer satisfaction to increase customer loyalty and at the same time have increased customer satisfaction. This will lead to increased business returns thus creating an opportunity for expansion.

References

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