Executive Summary of Internship Project
This report is a detailed analysis of my internship experience form the date of July 7th and August 31st. The internship was carried out at a local five star Hotel. During the eight week internship, I worked on several places at the hotel with varying duties that included Front desk, Concierge, Reception, House Keeping and Butler Department. This report is a detailed analysis of some of the skills I learned in the internship
- My goals for the internship were to build a formidable resume as a competent and reliable worker. Particularly, I was focused on building strong relationship with my fellow workers and learning as much as I could from the experienced personnel. I also wanted to be a professional front desk officer. I was focused on mastering all the available skills to allow me to work effectively as a front desk officer.
- My strong commitment in customer service is underscored by the nature of my society. I come from a relatively humble society. It is for this reason that I engaged in an independent project that was targeting regular customers in the hotel industry. I was aiming at making friendly interaction with customer to implement the idea of superior customer service. In school, I had learned that customer service made the difference on my some businesses were successful than others.
- I have experience from my undergraduate classes on working with people from different backgrounds. I am capable of managing different situations, and the ability to seek for problems for challenges that may arise. My motivation to get this right was generally based on my principle of changing lives for many people. I believe that sometimes one needs to go down and understand what work is like to have a genuine understanding of how stuff work out.
Recommendation
- It is important for organizations to use better management skills that foster cultural understanding and awareness. The world is multicultural and business goes on global scale. Awareness of global business trends is paramount for success in business.
- The idea of management and leadership is transformational in success of any business experience. In case of better business skills, the chances of earning more money are highly increased. On the other hand, bad management reduces the moral of workers. Careful management of people in regards to motivation, appraisals, as well other minor encouraging details go a long way in the success of the business.
Conclusion
My experience as an intern in the Hotel industry was eye-opening. I learned a whole deal of new experiences that I had no idea about. Most important, I made lots of friends that have shaped the way I look at life. I am looking for more experiences in other areas.
First Time Experience and Customer Satisfaction
For this week, I worked at the Front Desk of the hotel lobby my focus for this week was to learn the principles of working on the front desk. I was tasked with the responsibility of meeting new guests and giving the first impression of the hotel. Here, the whole hotel was on my shoulders. I did something that did not measure up to the set standards; I would make the hotel lose customers.
The most significant lesson I learned was that work place improvement is the responsibility of every employer. However, employers must play an instrumental role in ensuring that they create a friendly environment for work. Improving work process requires that a company create a culture of continuous progression and modifications to meet the new demands of the market.
The skill I developed most was that creating this culture includes a process that embraces technology, teamwork, competency among others. After setting up these foundations, the company can then realize a reduction in cycle times, defects, and errors as well as witness a huge transformation in customer satisfaction. After the end of the first week, this lesson became even clearer as I tried to apply the techniques that I had learned in class. The communication skill I used mostly was direct contact with customers. My focus for next week would be the strategies of management.
Different Strategies of Management
For this week, I focused on the idea of management and strategies that would improve management techniques. Week two at the Internship was rather interesting. I had a new supervisor, which was sad because I had built some kind of rapport with the old supervisor. It was sad for me because I had to start all over again. Still, I was not mad because I was learning. It turned out that the change of management allowed me to have a totally different view of management all together. I realized that management depends on who is in charge and leadership has no linear formula.
Still, this gave me an opportunity to learn about relationships at work. I learned that work relationships vary and depends on many personalities. First, the new supervisor treated me like a junior, which I was. I was to be instructed on everything that I wanted to do. I totally had no control of any situation. I found myself getting frustrated at making calls each time. He also made sure that he drew the line of our relationship. I was an intern and he was a permanent worker. This meant that I had no responsibility apart from what I was given. This was different with the first supervisor who had a handoff kind of management style.
Because of this experience, I became an expert on changing management roles. I focused on detailed reading of management skills. In general, I learned that managers take a relatively longer period to adapt to the requirements of the new work environments. Managers with experience of working in different environments take a relatively shorter time to take charge while workers with limited take the longest time to take charge. In addition to work experience, I noticed that managerial techniques and leadership models also accounts for smooth or rough transition.
DIVERSITY AT WORK
For this week, my focus would be to understand how diversity influences our work. Workforce diversity refers to the unique aspects that make people distinct and those that make people similar. Workforce diversity has become an gradually become more important issue in the last few years as employees, managers, consultants, and the government finally recognizes that valuing diversity only benefits the workplace and when a workplace does discriminate, an issue arises. Today’s workforce in America is a variety of different races, ages, genders, ethnic groups, religions, and lifestyles. As an intern that works in hotel industry that works with different types of people, it is becoming a key task in the job to ensure that there is no discrimination and to help guide the variety of different people in the organization in a way that each of their individual talents are maximized in order to improve the organization. Diversity in the workplace can bring a competitive advantage to and organization. If not, however, the work environment can become harsh, uncomfortable and unwelcoming, not only to employees, but customers as well.
Perhaps the most significant lesson I learned about working relations was on the aim of diversity is to foster cultural understanding and global awareness. Diversity produces a lot of joy for the community and reinforced the original idea of the United States as the melting pot of cultures. It not only provides the authenticity of cultures but also brings meaning to the community creating a bond that transcends, race, culture, religion and nationality. The cultural pluralism at my work place makes me understand the importance of identity and belonging. I realized that culture is the essence of life. It was an eye-opening experience because I have never thought that culture was a big deal. I was always enclave in my own culture and never sought to expand it. This experience taught me how to celebrate humanity to practice the idea of oneness.
The skill I learned this week was the process of understanding diversity and treating everyone as equals. My focus for next week would be motivation.
This was I wanted to understand the idea of motivation. What made our workers wake up every morning and show up for work? After the first three weeks of doing the same thing over and over, I had a blue day. I was having a problem of waking up and going through the same routine. I realized that it is important for me to understand why I was here. I need some motivational thoughts. I decided that I was going to focus the week on understanding motivation. I wanted to know why people would do the same thing for over thirty years and never think about quitting.
The first thing I did was to ask myself why I was motivated to complete the internship. I am motivated to complete internship because I am motivated to attend school because I would like a good life in future. I think Education is the most practical way of realizing life dreams. I realized that working relationships depend on motivation. The fact that we show up each and every morning motivates others.
The skill I learned this week was setting goals and accomplishing them. Internship was my goal and I was ready to do everything to finish it. What motivates me as a student is the desire to accomplish set goals and to meet the societal expectation of completing school. In Marlow’s Hierarchy of need I am in self-esteem because I would like to improve my self esteem, self confidence, achievement and respect of others and from others. Regardless of my threats such as indulgence and desire to make money before completing school, I keep myself motivated by focusing on my goals.
For this week, I learned that our guest at the hotel were our employers. We had to do everything to ensure that they are happy. This was the biggest part of my duty. In addition, I learned that first aspect of communication was communicating to me. My inner self and telling myself that I had to do stuff for me, and not for others.
Motivation is a process that initiates, maintains and guides behaviors that are goal-oriented. It is a psychological concept that is directly connected to such important functions as job satisfaction and overall organizational performance. Motivation process involves social, emotional, biological and cognitive forces that activate behavior. It is critical to point out that the employees or the entire human resource fraternity is the life and blood of the existence of the organization. Upon understanding why I was motivated, I just did fine waking up and going to work. I did not mind the long hours I put in without pay. I figured I was doing something more important that hanging out with my friends. For next week, I was focusing on service delivery.
I dedicated this week to learn the skill of being a concierge. After four weeks of doing front desk, I was ready for a change. I was assigned the duties of a concierge. Unlike the front desk, the duties of a concierge are slightly personal. Concierge is slightly more personal and requires specific details on what people would like to be done so that they are happy. The goal of concierge service is to save time as well as to have things handy for guests coming into the hotel. My duties included scheduling appointments for incoming guests, making reservation for them, and handling their baggage once they come in.
During this week, I learned that a concierge is someone whose primary responsibility is to act as a personal assistant for different people that come into the work place. Most of the time, concierges are hired by hotels to ensure smooth customer service. In modern times, some corporations have also started hiring concierges. To be a successful concierge, one must understand that it is a multifaceted career that takes different shapes every day. First, one must understand the local city from which one is based. It would be important to show people around on some of the scenes that you would think will be of interest for them. Second, a concierge a concierge must have the ability to be effectively organized in areas of booking reservations, and an excellent rapport in customer service. His pride is effective communication. Broken down communication would destroy a smooth operation for a concierge.
During my week as a concierge, I learned that the best way is to give clients the most honest advice on different activities that would be pleasing to them. It is also important to allow your clients understand the costs, the timing, and the risks involved in choosing one activity over the other. Concierge is a fun experience as it gives people the opportunity to connect with different personalities at a close and personal level. It could be a ticket to great things. My focus on the next week would be being a good butler.
My focus for this week was to be a professional butler. This means that my working relationship revolved around pleasing the clients as well as working in coordination with my co-workers. I was entrusted with the responsibility of serving wine as well as other beverages. One requirement for being a butler is the ability to understand drinks and beverages. In addition, butlers act as the representatives of the hotel while in communication with the guests. For example, when a guest needs a drink, the butler would be required to attend to the guest and serve the drink. While many people would assume that the butler’s responsibility is easy, it is actually tasking.
The lessons I learned being a butler is that are a job that requires constant attention in addition to physical strength. The structure of the job requires the ability to read people’s faces and to serve them with the most peace and confident. In the process, one gets physically exhausted and is left with much less energy for moving up and down. Historically, butlers used to be people of lower education; however, being a butler has become a career choice for many young people in the hospitality industry. Butlers must be people who have the ability to hold interesting conversations and keep the guest entertained on any type of discussion they would like
Perhaps the greatest lesson that I learned this week was that that people have the tendency to view themselves in relation to the environment. This means that the conditions that we are, shapes the way we look at the world. A broadened understanding of the world comes out of our interaction with different people, travel, or desire to know more. The second lesson I learned this week was that our guest appreciate good service. My focus for next week would be communication.
Most people agree that good communication is the zenith of success in human relationships. For this reason, my focus for this week would be communication. Communication is also important for success at work. The lesson I learned about working relationship is that just like every relationship, communication professional or personal depends on the effectiveness and accuracy of communication. While many folks will assume that communication is mostly verbal, research has pointed out that humans communicate more in nom verbal ways that by words alone. Non verbal communications aspects such as the body language which includes body language, eye contact, posture, voice tone and facial expressions. The skill I developed this week was the ability to understand the human non-verbal communication is pivotal for connecting and understanding other people. It is important for sending the right message, creating friendship and slide through awkward situations. People who master non-verbal communications can build stronger and healthier relationships.
Communicating clearly
Smiling and listening carefully
Responding to questions
Acting and what one says
My focus for next week was how to solve conflict
My focus for this week was how to solve conflict at work. Working with groups can be difficult in innumerable ways but working without groups is plainly impossible. While with different people, we should be thinking in terms of what makes work with others effective. The intrusting thing I learned about working in groups is that the fact that conflict exists does not imply a bad thing. As long as conflict is resolved effectively, conflict can lead to personal and professional growth. In many cases, effective conflict resolution can make the difference between positive and negative outcomes.
I developed the skill of conflict resolution. To resolve the conflict, one party has the responsibility of sufficiently understanding the partner’s point of view, including the conflict context, before offering additional perspectives. The sharing of perspectives from different wronged parties resolves tensions and creates opportunity to hear different sides of the story. Conflict resolution is about helping someone reflect on the cause of the conflict and to insinuate change. The different warring segments should be aware of the different perspectives to the conflict. It is only through stepping out of the opinion enclaves that one can successful conflict resolution is possible. Is conflict resolvable?
Depending on how conflicts are resolved, the long-term effects in the relationship can be tarnished. In most cases, it is important to maintain a good relationship. This is mostly true if the relationship would need to work together in the future or if one party is more influential to the other in terms of the future aspirations of one individual. However, this is not usually the case, sometimes a healthy relationship is difficult to maintain and the best that can be done is keeping an arm’s length away. In the case our guests, it is necessary that a helpful negotiation platform is realized so that each of the parties do not feel aggrieved.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the whole experience was an intern in the hotel industry gave me the opportunity to learn on a personal level about business and its importance to the world. First, I learned that business is most successful when it customer friendly. Second, I learned that success means hard work. One has to love what they do, or else he or she will be burned out in the process.
In terms of my goals, I feel that I achieved my goals of working for the betterment of the community. I was also successful in building a formidable resume by enhancing my work skills in the areas of the Front desk, Customer service as well as other areas where I was stationed.
In terms of my skills, I realized that I am good with people. I am a people person. This means that in future, I would do very well organizing people/ management. I also learned some basic business skills such as organization, working schedules, serving drinks, and handling money. I was challenged with the boredom and the requirement to be available every single day. For the most part, I think I did just fine.
