Analysis of good leadership practices in the hotels of the northern region of Portugal

Abstract

This study has as main objective to analyze the leadership in the hotel units of the region of the North of Portugal. Considered the engine of any organization (Palma, 2012) leadership is a process of influence, in which the leader / collaborator interacts and influences each other. Leaders are required to be able to adapt quickly, to make the right decisions at the right times, to give an image of security, trust and persistence to their leaders. According to Goleman (2015), anyone can be a leader, it is enough to develop their emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, empathy and social competence. This author also says that a leader should use several styles: authoritarian, democratic, affiliative and coaching, becoming more efficient and flexible whenever it seems necessary. The leader plays a leading role in attracting and retaining talent (Palma, 2012), because when the organization differs from its competitors through a unique and distinctive image, it allows potential talent to work in the organization and to know their leaders. Being able to inspire your teams and reach levels never before achieved, is the main role of a leader. We focus on the work in the Northern region of Portugal, because its population has a positive attitude towards its brand (Costa & Azevedo, 2014), contributing, therefore, to make it a unique destination. With a strong private investment in tourism-related projects between 2007-2013 (Fazenda, 2015), approximately 75% of this investment was made in hotel accommodation, significantly increasing overnight stays in the region. The question is how to manage employees so that they contribute to the maximum of their abilities, knowledge, skills and simultaneously feel satisfied and fulfilled (Tavares, 2010). Using a quantitative methodological approach, the questionnaire of the best practices of the international management of human resources proposed by Geringer, Frayne and Milliman, 2002) was applied to hotel managers, and 52 responses were obtained. Of the results obtained, 38.8% preferred to work with a participatory style manager, 28.6% with a paternalistic style manager, 24.5% with an egalitarian style manager, and only 8.1% with an authoritarian style manager. In terms of good practices, the leader's need to highlight the high standards of performance and the opportunity for the employees to make their suggestions whenever they wish and think it appropriate, and that this does not interfere in their evaluation, and treat the employee with respect.