The Hotel Companies’ main characteristic is the period of provision of services: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
This permanent relationship between employees of different hierarchies and each of the departments that are part of the organization chart of a hotel such as Food and Beverage, Front -office, Housekeeping, etc., results in that although all parts of the structure tend to say that no one in their company takes bad to anyone, if you look a little more closely, you discover behaviors that pit of a sector with another by opposing interests.
These clashes are imperceptible until their consequences affect the service the hotel offers its guests , especially considering that are the lowest sectors within the organizational level of the Hotel , such as housekeepers or repair or maintenance staff who attend guests in case of breakage or non-functioning of an air conditioner or a remote control TV. This is the moment when you reveal latent conflicts that existed between people or groups of people working in the organization.
In most of these incidents, companies decide to hide the disagreements, to protect the image of the Hotel, which is one of the most prominent marketing tools at the time the guest is going to make a reservation for his stay at the hotel.
If you think for a moment what would happen if we decide to consider these conflicts, individualize and find the causes to channel them efficiently, creating a Department of Resolution and Internal Conflict Prevention that has experts on issues related to the difficulties that occur internally in the organization can be the best response to this situation.
Mediation is one of the most effective methods of prevention, management and conflict resolution. However, for an effective mediation process is not only important to appoint a person to act as a third part but also to show opponents the virtues of mediation, contact them with the views of the beneficiaries of mediation processes that have harvested mainly satisfactory and have a strong political and financial support within the organization.
Improvised mediation projects without adequate coordination, although it has the best of intentions, do not collaborate in order to achieve a solution which is maintained over time to any disputes that may arise between the staff of the Hotel Company.
Distinctive features with which mediators must carried forward functions within the department created specifically to manage disputes as another sector within the Company must include, neutrality, empathy, active listening, integrity, reliability and all ability to use lateral thinking to generate options and encourage employees to participate in the process to loosen the tie to his linear thinking, empowering them in finding a solution that is own to resolve a conflict proper to them and helping them to overcome prejudices that are often a major obstacle to overcome.
It is also important to note that the mediator is a facilitator who assists the parties in its communication to establish or re-establish dialogue, the mediator is not a judge, his duties are limited to direct dialogue, facilitate the process and by proper training, encourage the parties to create a shared solution outlining the strategy to overcome disputes declared, future or latent. For these purposes, we understand declared disputes as those which have already arisen between the parties, future disputes those already established between both parties that failure to engage in dialogue and early agreement can evolve into a greater conflict with their respective consequences and latent controversies as those not yet manifested and therefore unknown whether or not they will become a declared interpersonal conflict within the organization.
Clearly, then mediation through the creation of an internal area in the Hotel Company dedicated specifically to Internal Conflict Management and conflicts resolution can mend conflicts have already occurred, resolve conflicts in the moment they are producing , and prevent conflicts eventually be produced, all benefiting guests who are the main recipients of paid hosting service.
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