Introduction
Working in the hospitality industry is both exciting and strenuous since it provides a plethora of opportunities for personal and professional development, simultaneously creating an impressive workload. As an intern at the Connaught Hotel, I managed to develop a range of communication and teamwork skills, the ability to organize and self-manage my tasks, and the tendency to educate myself by learning from workplace experiences. By focusing on time management and communication, I created the environment in which I could succeed continuously due to the active learning process and the promotion of self-directed learning.
According to the contract, I had to work 40 hours a week, with five working days and two days off. Since there were three shifts at the reception desk (early: 07:00-15:30, late: 14:30-23:00 and night: 22:30-07:00.), I kept rotating from morning tonight. While it was rather difficult to adjust to the specified schedule at first, it provided opportunities for managing my time more effectively.
Log Entries
Conclusion
By introducing the principles of self-management and aligning my priorities, I have succeeded in becoming not only a proficient receptionist but also an active learner during my current internship at the Connaught hotel. The focus on developing teamwork-related skills has proven to be particularly important since it allowed me to enhance the process of knowledge-sharing and time my performance. Thus, overall, the experience at Connaught was priceless due to the important lessons that I inferred from my work at the hotel.
Evidence Portfolio
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report
Corporate Social Responsibility: Definition
The phenomenon of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was coined quite a while ago, has become an integral part of numerous corporate philosophies. At Connaught, the significance of CSR is very high, with managers focusing on integrating CSR-related principles into the process of decision-making (Kaiser 2017). Martínez, Fernández, and Fernández (2016) define CSR as the ability of an organization to be socially accountable for its choices. The specified definition signifies that CSR makes the cornerstone of modern corporate ethics and empowers a company to meet the needs of every stakeholder involved, including customers, partners, communities, and even the global community as a whole (Garrick 2015).
Why Companies Need Business Philosophy in the Workplace
The usefulness of business philosophy oriented at sustainability, corporate values, and global well-being might not be evident at first, yet after scrutinizing the effects of business philosophy, one will realize that it affects the productivity and quality of a company’s performance greatly. By promoting a particular business philosophy, an organization sets rather rigid standards for employees to follow during decision-making. As a result, the efficacy thereof rises exponentially due to the focus on promoting customer satisfaction, following corporate principles of quality and ethics, and promoting communication across the organization.
Connaught Hotel and CSR
The ideas of CSR are fully supported and actively promoted at Connaught. The organization’s values and corporate philosophy are geared toward enhancing CSR and encouraging staff members to make informed decisions with the values and philosophy of the company in mind (Dorobantu, Aguilera & Luo 2018; Kotler, Maon & Lindgreen 2016). According to the official statement of the organization’s representatives, the Maybourne Hotel Group, to which the Connaught hotel belongs, takes the idea of CSR very seriously and strives to promote the relevant values across its chain (Maybourne Hotel Group n.d.). Specifically, the company states that “Social responsibility and care for the environment are an integral part of the Maybourne philosophy” (Maybourne Hotel Group n.d., par. 10)
Therefore, the company does its best to position itself as the firm that upholds CSR values and maintains the associated ethical principles. Given the experience of working at the Connaught hotel as a receptionist, it would be reasonable to say that the statement provided above is quite honest and true. Although there are certain issues in the current approach for implementing corporate philosophy and ethical standards, the overall attitude toward managing organizational processes is well-meaning. Minor adjustments will have to be made to increase the efficiency of the Connaught hotel and increase customer loyalty levels.
Good Examples of CSR at Connaught
Environmental Efforts
Overall, the strategy that the Connaught hotel uses to maintain its environmental footprint at the minimum level possible is worth mentioning as its doubtless advantage. The organization demonstrates outstanding levels of responsibility regarding its use of recycling. All members of the organization are instructed to recycle used materials, which they follow precisely. Due to an elaborate system of waste classification, none of the utilized materials is wasted, which contributes to managing one of the key problems in the modern hospitality industry and especially in the setting of luxury hotels (Kang et al. 2015; Ghaderi et al. 2019).
The situation mentioned above is the exact manifestation of CSR principles thriving in the Connaught hotel setting. Due to the focus on the rational use of resources, the organization has been maintaining its status of an environmentally-friendly company and contributing to the cause of the recent environmentalism-related programs (Su et al. 2017; Mac et al. 2018). Although there are currently minor issues with the management of resources at the Connaught hotel, in general, the focus on recycling empowers the firm to affect the global community positively.
Philanthropy
The focus on philanthropy is another characteristic of Connaught that is indicative of its high SCR rates. By encouraging employees to participate in charity-related activities, the organization fosters the corporate philosophy aimed at support and assistance to those in need, especially the community members (Xiao, Heo & Lee 2017; Melissen et al. 2018; Supanti, Butcher & Fredline 2015). As a result, the current policies concerning philanthropy increase the levels of CSR among employees and foster the development of corporate values such as empathy and compassion in them.
Ethical Labor Practices
Of all its advantages regarding the promotion of SCR, the emphasis on ethics and equality is, perhaps, the most important one used at Connaught. The managers of the hotel ensure that the needs of all stakeholders from customers to partners to employees are met completely. The described strategy is quite demanding and painstaking, which makes the endeavors made by the hotel managers all the more valuable and worth appreciating (Farrington et al. 2017; Kim et al. 2017; Cha & Bagozzi 2016; Hughes & Scheyvens 2016).
The principles of ethical treatment are closely intertwined with the idea of social and cultural diversity at the hotel. At present, Connaught employs people from a large number of ethnicities and backgrounds, each of the staff members being provided with the required rights and opportunities. It is also remarkable that the organization focuses on deploying not only the principles of equality but also the idea of equity in its context, thus addressing the problem of unequal opportunities for a certain staff member.
Employees’ Well-Being
In addition to ensuring that the rights of staff members are recognized and met, Connaught managers provide numerous options for its employees to maintain proper health and prevent the development of disorders and diseases.
Due to the physical strain under which employees may find themselves, the services of a physician and a masseur are provided weekly. The specified addition to the list of advantages and benefits that staff members can enjoy in the workplace makes the Connaught administration especially thoughtful and caring (Eichar 2017; Jamali 2016; Aluchna & Idowu 2016). The observed attitudes toward employees at the Connaught hotel can be seen as the direct influence of the CSR principles that determine the organization’s focus and its relationships with its staff.
Contribution to Personal Development
My experience at Connaught has helped me to improve the current skills of information management, interdisciplinary collaboration, and decision-making, Also, it was important to see the process of a hotel functioning from within to recognize the underlying issues and learn to address the factors that may afterward become hindrances in delivering high-quality services. Working at Connaught was a crucial stage of my professional growth and it has provided me with a valuable experience that I will use in the future.
Bad Examples of CSR at Connaught
Housekeeping
From the environmental perspective, the approach that is used at Connaught to manage room order warrants a serious discussion. Due to the automatic change of linen, the organization leaves a large environmental footprint and causes significant damage (Zientara & Bohdanowicz 2016; Palacios-Florencio, Castellanos-Verdugo & Rosa-Díaz 2016). To address the problem described above, one should consider changing linen and performing similar services upon customers’ request. Thus, the extent to which the organization affects the environment will be reduced.
Food Waste
The high standards that the Connaught hotel sets condition the inevitable overuse of the available resources, food is one of them. Since the hotel must be prepared for any number of visitors at every point in time, food and drinks are changed very frequently to maintain the quality and freshness of the product. Moreover, meals are produced in abundance so that every guest could have a plethora of food and drinks from which they could choose.
As a result, the waste levels are extraordinarily high at the Connaught Hotel, which makes its CSR strategy somewhat questionable. From the perspective of resources management, the approach that Connaught managers utilize is far from being flawless due to the current food policy. Since the produced dishes are located in the rooms and lounge most of the time, its spoilage rates are very high at present. With the amount of food that the Connaught hotel produces, the described spoilage rates have to be curbed.
To address the problem described above, one should change the hotel policies toward the storage of food. For instance, it will be necessary to provide food only in the instances when visitors require it (Farmaki & Farmakis 2018; Mak et al. 2018; Ettinger, Grabner-Kräuter & Terlutter 2018). During the rest of the day, the dishes are to be kept in refrigerators and other storage tools that provide the necessary temperature, humidity levels, and other characteristics for extending the shelf life of food. Also, the policy concerning food preparation will need to be altered. Specifically, Connaught cooks will have to avoid creating excessive amounts of food. To reduce the waiting time until dishes are cooked, hotel managers will create opportunities for entertaining visitors that a receptionist could offer while the dishes are being cooked.
Absence of Digital Newspapers
For a company of the Connaught’s size and scale, keeping in pace with the current technological trends is critical for maintaining its success. Thus, the absence of digital news media, particularly, newspapers, affects the company significantly. Customers need access to the latest information both for entertainment and as the means of receiving information about the Connaught hotel and changes in its services. Therefore, online periodicals and newspapers are an absolute necessity at Connaught. The proposed changes can be implemented by creating an online application that will allow all visitors to browse relevant newspaper publications uninhibitedly.
One might make a very slim argument that not all guests may be interested in using electronic editions of newspapers. However, the advantages of integrating digital are far too numerous to dismiss the opportunity to integrate them into the environment of the hotel. For instance, with the creation of the described services, the Connaught hotel will provide customers with access to the readings that would otherwise demand their subscription (Chen, Murphy & Knecht 2016).
As a result, customers will enjoy a wide array of information resources that they can use for both leisure and learning. Also, digital newspapers can be used to appeal to all types of customers due to a plethora of topics that these editions cover and the information that they contain. Thus, visitors will appreciate the quality of hotel services even more.
Thus, it is strongly recommended for Connaught to focus on providing its guests with access to digital newspapers. Although being a seemingly minor addition to an already plentiful range of the hotel services, the specified change will increase the potential of the organization and improve the efficacy of its services, leading to a rise in customers’ satisfaction levels. The concept of digital mass media as a part of the hotel services is not new, yet the opportunities that it encompasses are truly ample.
Poor Corporate Governance
The issues mentioned above might seem minor and easily manageable, yet I also observed the problems that could be regarded as the source of major concern. Dents in the corporate governance model applied at the Connaught Hotel was, perhaps, the least expected and the most menacing issue that I witnessed at Connaught during my practice. Specifically, the issue regarding the mismanagement of financial processes within the organization and the further creation of misleading financial statements deserve to be discussed.
The problem regarding the mismanagement of financial statements has damaged the reputation of Connaught and had a severe impact on its economic well-being nearly putting a range of its processes to a halt. Similar instances have already been observed at Connaught, which has affected the company’s performance and blemished its reputation to a great extent (Financial Reporting Council 2016). Therefore, changes to the current corporate governance approach are needed immediately, with a set of more stringent rules for financial reporting.
Therefore, the issue of corporate governance must be addressed at Connaught immediately. The described problem affects the company at its core, undermining its values and quality standards, as well as jeopardizing the safety and security of customers. With a shift in the corporate policy to a more rigid framework for financial control and monitoring activities, one will be able to avoid further complications and increase the overall efficiency of the company.
Energy/Water Waste
Another concern that is related directly to the problem of resource management mentioned above concerns the unreasonable use of water and energy. While Connaught strives to meet the existing criteria for an environmentally sustainable business, it lacks insight into the problem of resource usage that could help it become more sustainable. On the one hand, the proposed approach is fully justified by the standards that the company upholds.
Indeed, given the fact that the Connaught hotel positions itself as a luxury service, it is to be expected of the hotel to provide its guests with excessive luxury and represent a cornucopia of food and entertainment. On the other hand, the organization also has to maintain the status of an environmentally friendly company that strives to minimize the environmental footprint that it produces. Therefore, the Connaught hotel should find a framework for allocating its energy- and water-related resources in a more sustainable way.
Creating a water management plan with frequent audits allowing one to estimate the amount of water consumed and wasted will help to control the process of managing the specified resources more effectively. When considering the factors that prevent Connaught from saving energy and water, it will be necessary to direct one to the same problem of communication. Being unaware of the exact date and time of guests’ arrival, room service managers have to keep rooms fully lit and furnished with the necessary resources, which causes the waste levels to rise.
Thus, it is strongly recommended to improve the communication framework used at Connaught (Kang et al. 2015). By reinforcing the communication framework, one will be able to ensure that rooms are prepared within a relatively short time before the guests’ arrival. Thus, the waste rates will drop immediately and Connaught will be able to become more sustainable in its resource management policy.
My Contribution to CSR at Connaught
Although my experience of working at Connaught has been comparatively short, UI has managed to add to the promotion of CST within its setting. For instance, with the focus on information management and the promotion of collaboration between staff members, I have succeeded in addressing some minor issues within the organization, such as unprepared rooms or the absence of specific services. Thus, I have made it possible for customer satisfaction rates to increase and the loyalty levels among them to rise.
It would be wrong to state that I somehow revolutionized the concept of the receptionist’s role at the Connaught hotel. Instead, I was simply performing my duties and doping my best to meet the set standards. However, I hope that the idea of information sharing and collaboration that I promoted while working t the Connaught hotel has affected the overall quality of customer service and helped to prevent admittedly rare instances of service mismanagement.
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