Grooming future hospitality leaders: A competencies model

Abstract

Competency models can be useful tools for identifying and grooming future leaders. Rather than base leadership assessment on personality traits or other unrelated characteristics, competency models specify the actions and behavior needed for successful leaders. While some hotel companies have begun to identify leadership competencies, the hotel industry does not have an overall competency model. Starting with competency models from other industries and the assessments from a pilot study, the authors compiled a list of 99 competencies or skills (grouped into eight overarching factors comprising 28 dimensions) that might contribute to leadership success in the hospitality industry. Those competencies were rated on a five-point scale, ranging from not at all important to extremely important, in a survey of 137 industry leaders. The competency labeled "self-management" was the top dimension (of the 28)-composed of ethics and integrity, time management, flexibility and adaptability, and selfdevelopment. Second in importance was competency in strategic positioning, comprising awareness of customer needs, commitment to quality, managing stakeholders, and concern for the community. (However, concern for the community was rated least important compared to the other three dimensions in that category). Industry knowledge, leadership, and interpersonal skill were factors that, while important, were ranked lower by the respondents.

How to Increase Response Rates When Surveying Hospitality Managers for Curriculum-Related Research: Lessons from Past Studies and Interviews with Lodging Professionals

“…More recently, several studies (Cho, Erdem, & Johanson, 2006;Chung-Herrera, Enz, & Lankau, 2003;Dopson, 2004;Gursoy & Swanger, 2005;Hsu, 1995;Moncarz & Kay, 2005;Nelson & Dopson, 2001;Woods, Rutherford, Schmidgall, & Sciarini, 1998) have reported low response rates when surveying hospitality managers to determine knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies expected of hospitality graduates. However, other researchers (Baum, 1991;Brownell, 1992Brownell, , 1994Brownell, , 2004Chung, 2000;Connolly & McGing, 2006;Hsu & Gregory, 1995;Kay & Russette, 2000;Kriegl, 2000;Ladkin, 2000;Peters & Buhalis, 2004) were successful in obtaining a higher response rate (more than 40%) when surveying hospitality managers.…”

Employability Skills for Hospitality Students in Malaysia

“…As indicated by Akrivos et al, 2007;Chung-Herrera et al, 2003;DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994;Kay and Russette, 2000;Ladkin and Juwaheer, 2000;Munar and Montaňo, 2009;Ng and Pine, 2003;Sewell and Pool, 2010, correspondence and relational skills are essential for hospitality industry representatives These abilities incorporate the capacity to look after connections, arrange, convey viably, utilize dialect, and take an interest effectively in creating and keeping up interpersonal organizations with associates and clients.…”

Secrets of a Head Chef: Exploring Factors Influencing Success in Irish Kitchens

“…Whilst a wide variety of data exists on the broader hospitality and tourism industry (Agut, Grau, & Peiro, 2003;Chung-Herrera et al, 2003;Jauhari, 2006;Akrivos, Ladkin, & Reklitis, 2007;Wang et al, 2011), specific research on the culinary world remains proportionally underrepresented. Only four journal articles that examined competencies for success of chefs could be found from database searches (Balazs, 2001(Balazs, , 2002Birdir & Pearson, 2000;Zopiatis, 2010).…”

“…This knowledge will benefit future culinary arts students, educators, and current employees in highlighting the factors needed for culinary success. Findings can be used in selecting, developing, coaching, or mentoring tomorrow's industry leaders (Chung-Herrera, Enz, & Lankau, 2003) by providing insight for employers wishing to identify suitable candidates for promotion to senior positions based on recognition of important characteristics for success. In this regard, they are essential for companies that hope to remain competitive as they can be used to plan for management succession or the selection, recruitment, and training of staff (Sengupta, Venkatesh, & Sinha, 2013).…”