coaching in hotel management

Question

Mr Fitsum is a very dedicated employee at Sheraton Addis Hotel and currently working as a waiter in the F&B Service Department. Academically, he is a graduate of Level IV in F&B Service Supervision from Ibex College. Mr Fitsum’s long term vision is to reach a Senior Consultant level through relevant education, training and support from senior professionals on the F&B Service area. His current work at Sheraton Addis is just to get some practical insights on the F&B Services and to earn some money for his long term vision. Dr Fekadu, who is a PhD holder in Hospitality Management, has a desire to support Mr Fitsum on how to reach to his long term goals.

Answer 1

This question seems to be rather culture (or country) specific, in that in the United States, a person with a graduate degree in hospitality is usually already in back-of-the-house management and would not be a waiter. I'm not sure what a "Senior Consultant" level is in the hospitality industry, but it sounds like it would be in management. I think it's great that Mr. Fitsum wants to understand what the service-level employees experience in the front-of-house, and waiting tables is great to really understand the practical applications of his hospitality degree, but I would recommend that Mr. Fitsum fairly quickly apply for and move into entry-level management (so as not to get "stuck" there). To do that, he'll likely need to move to a new company. This is because most hospitality companies, especially those the size of the Sheraton, have a fairly distinct line between the exempt and the non-exempt (hourly vs. salary) employees, and it's often difficult to move from being a waiter to being upper management within the same company. Of course, some companies (and the Sheraton might be one of them) have manager training programs and other pipelines to moving into leadership roles, but many don't. Having Dr. Fekadu as a resource is great, so Mr. Fitsum should definitely tap into Dr. Fedadu's network and have Dr. Fedadu make introductions to people.