| The successful practice of leadership involves a considerable amount of time, effort, and knowledge. The hospitality industry is service intensive and requires leadership effectiveness. Understanding the front line leader's knowledge and its source, ability to apply the knowledge, and time allotted in the work environment to utilize this knowledge is of great importance to future hospitality leadership research. Although leaders exhibited negligible knowledge about leadership and indicated very little familiarity with leadership theory and concepts, all communicated standard thoughts about leadership traits and characteristics. However, hospitality leaders do not model the behaviors and skills they list as being characteristic of a good leader. Front line hospitality leaders are attaining their perceptions of leadership from somewhere other than school or company training. This freelancing leadership method may not be in alignment with a company's vision or mission. Leaders spend very little time, quite often no time, on the act of thinking about leading their teams. Leading by example has become a weak alternative to applying thought. Thus, hospitality leaders are reactive versus proactive when dealing with leadership activities. There are steps that both industry and educational institutions can do to improve this dilemma. Allowing front line leaders of this caliber to control a company's destiny equates to the outsourcing of an important commodity; leadership. |
