Operations Management in Tourism and Hospitality PDF

Lesson 1 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY Operations Management 1. Operations management is a field of business concerned with the administration of business practices to maximize efficiency within an organization. 2. It involves planning, organizing, and oversee...

Lesson 1 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY Operations Management 1. Operations management is a field of business concerned with the administration of business practices to maximize efficiency within an organization. 2. It involves planning, organizing, and overseeing the organization's processes to balance revenues and costs and achieve the highest possible operating profit. 3. An operations manager is tasked with ensuring that the organization successfully converts inputs such as materials, labor, and technology into outputs in an efficient manner. Functions of Management Management planning organizing staffing directing controlling The functions of management are designed as a social process of obligation of economical and effective planning and regulation of operation in business enterprise in the fulfillment of given purposes. It is also a dynamic process of various activities and elements, some of the activities are from operative functions like for example in marketing, finance, human resources, and purchasing etc. These are activities that are common to the managers and supervisors irrespective of the level of his or her status. Henri Fayol Henry Fayol, the father of modern management theory, gave a new perception of the concept of management. He is a French executive, mining engineer, director and author of mines who introduced the theory of business administration called "FAYOLISM." Aside from this, Fayol also contributed the functions of management which is called "POSDICON." POSDICON stands for Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, and Controlling. These are the five functions that work together in the making, execution, and realization of organizational goals. Five Management Functions Planning Organizing Staffing Directing Controlling "POSDICON" – Management is a distinct planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling (POSDICON), performed to determine and accomplish stated objectives using human being and other business resources. 1. Planning According to Bill Davis, MA, CM (2021) core faculty and program chair of Forbes School of Business and Technology at the University of Arizona Global Campus, shares his key management principles, planning is all about predicting the future course of action and making decision in advance. This is a management role of choosing appropriate goals and actions to pursue. Planning is also determining what tactics or strategies to implement/take, and determining what resource are needed to achieve the specific goals. Planning s essential because it secures the proper utilization of the human or non-human resources. Another thing is planning dictates how to effectively organize a business. 2. Organizing The second management function is organizing. Organizing means bringing together or establishing and developing worker relationship allows workers to work together to achieve the organizational goals. According to Henry Fayol in his book of General and Industrial Management, it is essential to provide everything like raw materials, tools, capital, and personnel to achieve the organizational goals. Organizing is a process of: a. Identification of activities. b. Classification of grouping of activities. c. Assignment of duties. d. Delegation of authority and creation of responsibility. e. Coordinating authority and responsibility relationships. 3. Staffing It is the function of manning the organization structure and keeping it manned. The main purpose of staffing is to put the right man on the right job. According to Kootz and O'Donell, "Managerial function of staffing involves manning the organization structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles designed in the structure." Staffing involves: 3.1. Manpower Planning Estimating manpower in terms of searching, choose the person and giving the right place. 3.2. Recruitment Selection and Placement Recruitment and selection objectives include a variety of components related to finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees. 3.3. Training and Development  This refers to educational activities within a company created to enhance the knowledge and skills of employees while providing information and instruction on how to better perform specific tasks. 3.4. Remuneration This includes designing fair and attractive bonus programs, and evaluating how effective the benefit packages are in terms of employee satisfaction. 3.5. Performance Appraisal Managers are responsible for providing employees with constructive feedback on a regular basis. Throughout the evaluation period, managers give their employees ongoing support, feedback, and counseling on performance issues and, when necessary, disciplinary, and corrective action. 4. Directing This function involves articulating a vision, inspiring and motivating people using vision, effective communication skills, and influence persuasion. This is a management function that actuates the organizational process of work efficiently for the accomplishment of the organizational purposes. This is considered as life spark of the business since it sets in motion the action of people because planning, organizing, and staffing are the basic preparations of doing tasks. Direction has following elements: a. Supervision b. Motivation c. Leadership d. Communication 4.1 Supervision This implies overseeing the work of subordinates by their superiors. It is the act of watching and directing work and workers. 4.2 Motivation It means inspiring, stimulating, or encouraging the subordinates with zeal to work. Positive, negative, monetary and non-monetary incentives may be used for this purpose. 4.3 Leadership This may be defined as a process by which manager guides and influences the work of subordinates in desired direction. 4.4 Communications Is the process of passing information, experience, opinion etc. from one person to another. It is a bridge of understanding. 5. Controlling Controlling is the last management function this is the process of inspecting checking whether proper progress is being made towards the objectives or goals or a measurement of accomplishment against the standards and correction of deviation.  Therefore, controlling has following steps: a. Establishment of standard performance. b. Measurement of actual performance. c. Comparison of actual performance with the standards and finding out deviation, if any. d. Corrective action. Different Approaches in Operations Management The management theories address how the managers and supervisors implement the strategies to accomplish organizational goals and it is how they inspire and motivate employees to carry out at their highest capability. There are four types of management approaches: 1. Classical Approach 2. Human Relation Approach 3. System Approach 4. Contingency Approach 1. Classical Approach The classical approach to management focuses on centralized authority, labor specialization and incentives to optimize productivity in an organization and, in turn, drive profits. Importance of Classical Approach The edge of classical approach is the division of work, or it means that the projects activities, and tasks are broken down into specific designated responsibilities. This approach allows employee to narrow their field of proficiency and to specialize in one area to avoid multiple tasking. 2. Human Relation Approach Human Relation Approach as an area of management practice is the integration of people into a work situation in a way that motivates them to work together productively, cooperatively and with economic, psychological, and social satisfaction. Management recognizes employees as humans with needs rather than cogs of a machine. Human relations approach is essential because it will develop and maintain a positive work environment, the result the employees will retain to stay in the workplace at the same time the employees will be more productive in their job, a positive workplace and culture encourage personnel friendships, improves well-being, and ultimately benefits to the bottom line. 3. System Approach System approach is a management perspective that can be used to all the business domains like administration, banking, insurance, hospitality, etc. This is the method or framework used to aid and help to analyze and explore the operation and interactions which exist in the system around us. 4. Contingency Approach This is also known as situational approach. Organizations are individually different, face different situations, and it requires different ways of managing. A contingency plan is a backup plan, or approach that refers to the idea that business  leaders need to review and adjust leadership styles based on the scenario or situation at hand The aim of the contingency plan is to become balance of a business leader's natural style and understanding where and when it needs to be altered. One of the best examples of a contingency plan is to back up all data, just in case a website gets hacked. If this situation happens, it's easier to restore the data after changing passwords and regaining access. Who is Operations Manager? 1. Operations managers oversee operational activities at every level of an organization. 2. Their duties include hiring and training employees and managing quality assurance programs. 3. An operations manager also strategizes process improvements to ensure everyone completes their tasks on schedule. Who qualifies as operations manager? Applicants with a degree in business administration, business management, or accounting, and relevant experience in a position that would prepare them for the responsibility of operations manager are typical qualifications. What are the skills required for operations manager? Skills like project management, delegation, flexibility, and business finance knowledge help operations managers make decisions about product development, risk management and cost reduction strategies. Aside from this, operations manager are responsible to formulate strategy, improve performance of business, procure materials and resources, and secure the compliance. The operations manager should be ready to mentor their team members, they need to find ways on how to increase quality of customer service and implement best practices. Other functions include: 1. Product Design This involves creating a product that is matched to the end consumer, Product design is involved in generating ideas and expanding the current ideas in a process that will lead to the production of new products. Operations manager's task is to ensure that the products sold to the consumers meet their needs and expectations, as well as the current market trends. The consumers are more intent in the quality of the product more than the quantity, and the organization must create a system that ensures the products produced meet the needs of the consumer. The product designer is responsible for understanding and empathizing with an audience, before building a product that suits their needs. 2. Forecasting Forecasting is a process of estimating the future based on the analysis of past and present data. Usually in the restaurant industry, restaurant managers rely on past and present data to uptake the company's product to know or determine the future trends in consumption. Forecasting is essential because it helps the company to know the volume of products needed to meet the market demand. One  of the best examples the company might estimate the revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual results; through this the managers have an idea on the things that they need to prepare based on the analysis of past and present data. 3. Supply Chain Management According to Jason Fernando of Investopedia (2022), supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods and services and it includes all processes that transform raw materials into final products. He mentioned that by managing supply chain, the companies can control or cut excess cost and deliver products to the consumer faster and efficiently. He added that supply chain management represents an effort by suppliers to develop and implement supply chains that are efficient and economical as possible. Supply chains cover everything from production to product development to the information systems needed to direct these undertakings. The operations manager usually manages the supply chain process by keeping and maintaining updated the inventory management, the distribution, sales, production process, and sourcing of suppliers to supply required goods at reasonable prices. If it is properly managed, it will result in a good and efficient production process, timely delivery of products to consumers and low overhead costs. 4. Delivery Management According to Kristina Lopienski (2021), delivery management is overseeing the transportation of finished goods from one location to the next. For commerce businesses, it refers to optimizing last mile delivery. For shipping customers, order delivery management is the ability to manage the deliveries to arrive on time and undamaged. It's important to note that order fulfillment and inventory management both play a key role in delivery as they can either speed up or slow down the process. Kristina Lopienski mentioned in delivery management guide: improve your delivery management systems. It is important to know on how to measure the efficiency of the delivery management system, here are some ways on how to measure the delivery management: monitor delayed deliveries, know your average time per delivery, track your average cost of delivery, and keep track of your customer satisfaction score. Ideal Skills of an Operations Manager 1. Organizational Abilities It is the ability of the manager on how to concentrate on different projects or task without getting distracted by the many processes. The operations manager must be able to plan, execute, check, and monitor the project from the start to the end without losing focus. Organizational abilities is the way in which the organization divides its labor into tasks and then achieves coordination among them. If a manager is not organized, some tasks might not be completed such as losing documents in the process, and it might take much time finding lost documents that could be avoided had the manager been organized. Being organized can increase the production efficiency and it helps the manager to save time.  Make it habit to keep things at the proper places in order to minimize time wasted on unnecessary search for documents. Always prepare a task plan list at the start of the day. Sort activities and highlight important things that need to be done in a particular day as per their importance and urgency. 2. Coordination Coordination is considered an essential element of administration. Coordination is the integration, synchronization, or orderly pattern of group efforts in the institution towards the accomplishment of common objectives. For example, in hotel industry, the interaction between housekeeping department and front office is essential. The Housekeeping Department has a very important role to play in any hotel operation. The housekeeper is responsible for preparing guestrooms for sale, guest laundry services and the cleanliness of all public areas in the hotel. Close liaison between housekeeping and reception is essential so that rooms are available to let as quickly as possible. Very often guests will request, 3. People Skills The major responsibility of an operations manager is to deal with people. This means that operations manager must know how to relate with their outside stakeholders, employees, and other members of senior management. The operations manager must know how to manage the fine lines with their colleagues by knowing how to listen, communicate and relate to them on professional and personal levels. Workplaces are made up of people from diverse cultures, the operations manager must show tolerance and understanding to other people and the operations manager should be able to resolve conflicts and conciliate disputes between employees and members of the senior staff. 4. Tech-savvy Tech savvy means well informed about usage of modern technology, most specially with the use of modern computers. The operations manager must embrace the relevant technology to increases his/her skills. If the operations manager is familiar with the latest innovations in the tech industry, they can use the innovations to improve internal processes and it will make their task easier and faster.