The ability to identify the skills and competencies required for tomorrow’s industry leaders is essential for companies that hope to remain competitive. Some firms, such as Marriott International and Choice (Enz and Siguaw, 2000) have made identifying leadership competencies a priority. | A Conceptual Framework of the Hotel General Manager’s Job Eddystone C. Nebel, III and Ajay Ghei Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Major hotels of today are diverse, multifaceted, and fast-paced businesses. The GM is the executive with overall operational responsibility for a hotel. “The general manager is the key implementer of the business strategy for the property and the behavioral role model for the entire management team” (Eder & Umbreit, 1989). Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. This article takes a close look at the context in which GM’s of major hotels work and how this context affects the nature of their job. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Participants of the Study Ten successful GM’s. Average of ten years experience in this position. Smallest participating hotel was about 400 rooms, and the largest was nearly 2000 rooms. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Methodology The author stayed as a guest at each hotel, observing for three days. Followed closely of the work by Kotter (1982). Employed a combination of participant observation of GM’s at work, extensive personal interviews with both the GM’s and 53 of their key division heads, background surveys, and analysis of organizational and operational information from each hotel. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Contextual Elements of the GM’s Job Two major contextual elements of the GM’s job that affect the specific job functions and the generic managerial work roles are job demands and relationship issues. These job demands and relationship issues, depending on whether they relate to the short-run, the intermediate-run, or the long-run time frame, give rise to certain specific job functions. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Job Demands and Relationship Issues The Short Run – The short-run demands | A Conceptual Framework of the Hotel General Manager’s Job Eddystone C. Nebel, III and Ajay Ghei Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Major hotels of today are diverse, multifaceted, and fast-paced businesses. The GM is the executive with overall operational responsibility for a hotel. “The general manager is the key implementer of the business strategy for the property and the behavioral role model for the entire management team” (Eder & Umbreit, 1989). Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. This article takes a close look at the context in which GM’s of major hotels work and how this context affects the nature of their job. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Participants of the Study Ten successful GM’s. Average of ten years experience in this position. Smallest participating hotel was about 400 rooms, and the largest was nearly 2000 rooms. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley &
