Institute of Hospitality Malta - NEWS   The Institute of Hospitality Malta signs up to the European Road Safety Charter   23rd October 2008 A European Road Safety Charter presentation and signing event was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta on October 23rd, 2008. Maltese companies, associations and non-governmental organisations attended the event, which focused on the country’s goals to increase road safety through improved awareness and infrastructure. 11 organisations signed their commitments to the European Road Safety Charter.   The Hon. Austin Gatt, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications gave a presentation at the event on road safety priorities in Malta, in which he reaffirmed Malta’s commitment to the Charter: “Today, I am proud to say that 11 Maltese organisations have taken up the European challenge to help contribute to the saving of 25,000 lives across Europe through the pledge to take concrete action to reduce road traffic accidents.” Mrs.  María Teresa Sanz Villegas, European Commission Project Officer, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, highlighted that Malta is the smallest country in the EU and has one of the lowest per capita traffic fatality rates with 25 deaths per million.   “However, when comparing the nation’s travel behaviour, such as distances travelled, speed and road infrastructure to that of other member states, the number of fatalities is relatively high.  Much work remains to  be done to reduce accidents on Malta’s roads”, she said.   The highlight of the event was reached when the eleven Maltese entities each signed their unique commitments to the European Road Safety Charter.   The new signatories were: Euro-Med Movement, Institute of Hospitality Malta, Kercem Local Council, Malta Cycling federation, Malta Union of Teachers, Mqabba Local Council, Old Motors Club Malta, Public Transport Association, Qrendi Scout Group, The Malta Chamber of Commerce & Enterprise and the The Sense Group. Institute holds AGM 30th May 2008 During this year's Anual Geneal Meeting that was held at the Victoria Hotel in Sliema the two main items that were decided were: the election of Mr. James Muscat FIH to the committee and the approval of setting-up a sub association for supervisory employees (from Head of Department and higher) working in the industry.                                                            Mr. Tony Coleiro higlighted the activities that were carried out by the association and the work that was done behind the back to ensure a better sustainable industry. This year's AGM was also addressed by Ms Sarah DeMarco who earlier                                      this year went to Ireland on a 2 week placement to get acquainted with                                      the policies and proceedures used in the Clontarf Hotel. She did a great                         presentation that demonstrated to all the great atmosphere that exists                                 between the whole staff complement  - from General Manager to the                                              junior employees  - which she considers to be the reason for the hotel's business success. Any member who would like a copy of this year's Anual Report and Financial results is requested to send us an email and we will forward an electronic copy. For this year's AGM we had a representation of several other oganisations such as MHRA. GWU, UHM, Institute of Management and Federation of Industries. Following the AGM all present were treated to a small reception.   Institute organises Breakfast Meeting for HR Managers 27th May 2008 The Institute has organised a very Succesful Breskfast Meeting for HR and General Managers to discuss the future of the HR Network and discuss some of the programmes that are available for the industry. Dr. Mario DeMarco opened the meeting by giving his                                                              views on the present situation with special attention                                                                    to the Human Resources working in the industry and                                                                 the need to ensure that we have a professionally                                                                  trained and dedicated workforce as on this depends                                                                   the future of the industry. He also stressed the need                                                                    to make the industry attractive to work in by                                                                       promoting the benefits to the employees. Press here to read the whole speech given by Dr. Demarco Mr. Tony Coleiro - Chairman of the Institute stressed the point that HR executives are good at helping business leaders make decisions about employees, then why can’t they provide these leaders with assistance and skill development for decision making with regards to other humans? Shouldn’t the human resource strategy be focused on people or stakeholders? He also said that although there is considerable support for the notion that relationships are an organization’s true asset, in most companies, no one department, person, or group tends to be held accountable for the total stakeholder relationship strategy. Finance is in charge of relationships with shareholders and potential investors; marketing and sales are in charge of relationships with customers; HR managers are in charge of relationships with employees; purchasing and manufacturing are in charge of relationships with vendors, and the list goes on. But no one group is in charge of assuring that there is one coherent stakeholder strategy for a business. Thus, the true asset - human relationships - is often mismanaged. Press here to read the whole speech given by the Chairman Mr Winston Zahra presented a very well laid out presentation on his experiance as an owner manager and what he believes are the ingredients to their success in the business, their core values, which he described as the passion towards their employees.  He stressed the great importance that they give in remembering their humble beginings and that it was through the workforce that they have managed to grow in the more recent years and that this was all due to the input of their professional employees. Another two speakers related to the actual projects that are at hand or coming on board in the near future. Mr. Joe Cutajar presented the projects that are available and others that are about to be launched. Mr. Karl Grech presented the projects that are currently being carried out and hinted to future activities being carried out by the IFRD     Institute takes part in Conference at ITS 30th April 2008 The Institute was invited to participate in a Half Day conference organised by the Hidden FieldStudent Council at the ITS. The Institute was represented by the Executive Administrator although on the panel another member was also present but on this occasion he was representing the Malta Tourism Authority. ImageThe following is a press release issued at the end of the conference to summarise the speeches and discussion held at the conference. Press here to read the Press Release   Institute holds meeting with GWU 18th April 2008 As part of the strategy of pushing the Institute's agenda to the forefront of the national agenda the institute ha s held another very fruitful meeting with the highest officials of the General Workers Union. As was done with the recent meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism the institute discussed the reasons why there is a need for all Management in the Hospitality industry to be qualified to perform their job. The idea of having a qualified workforce even at front liners level was also discussed and the institute has offered its assistance in achieving this goal. The conditions of work and work practices in the industry were also discussed and both parties showed their concern on the present policy being implemented in some properties and the ripple effect this is having on the entire industry. Here it was agreed that unless the owners / directors accept the principle of investing in the workforce the present situation would not improve. It was agreed that the union would also be invited to the IOH HR Network as this would give a great contribution to this Network.   Institute holds meeting with Dr. Mario DeMarco 16th April 2008 The Institute has held a very interactive meeting with the newly appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Hon. Dr. Mario DeMarco. The Chairman of the Institute stated that he was very satisfied that this meeting took place soon after Dr. DeMarco's appointment. He stated that this shows the respect that Dr. DeMarco is showing to the Institute. During the meeting the Institute presented a discussion paper as has been the procedure whenever it met the authorities. An interesting discussion ensued on the views of the Institute's vision of the Hospitality industry. The institute has again presented its ideas relating to the certification of hotel management, the classification process of hotels and restaurants and the need to have representation of the Human Resources on the Main Board of the Malta Tourism Authority. We also presented our views on the election process from the nine recognised associations and how this could be improved for the benefit of the Tourism industry. The representation on the Board of Governors at the Institute of Tourism Studies was also discussed especially since the institute endorses all certification given by the ITS to its students. At the end it was agreed that further regular working meetings are to be held. It is hoped that the next meeting will be held in three months time or earlier if the institute feels the need for this.     Tony Coleiro to represent IOH on the MTA Main Board 22th January 2008 Tony Coleiro MBA FIH Chairman of the Institute of Hospitality will be serving on the Main Board of the Malta Tourism Authority after IOH was elected according to the Malta Travel & Tourism Services Act of 1999, and specifically to subsection (2)(e) of section 3 of the act, empowering the Minister for Tourism and Culture to appoint two members of the Malta Tourism Authority “ on the recommendation of such other Associations recognised by the Minister as representing other sectors providing travel and tourism services”   The Term of Office of the members currently serving on the Malta Tourism Authority is for one year and expires on the 31st . December 2008. Back to Home page   The Institute elected to the MTA Main Board 18th January 2008 During the elections that were held today at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the Institute has managed to get one of the two seats that are made available each year to represent the nine associations that are recognised by the Ministry. The seat is to be held till December 2008 when fresh elections will be called Back to Home page   The Institute holds a mini conference on the need for the industry to be more competitive 8th January 2008 The Institute has organised a very succesfull hafd a day conference at the newly opened hotel The Grand Hotel Excelsior in Floriana. The theme of the conference was to find ways and means of making our industry as competitive as possible within the EU. As a main speaker the isntitute invited the Hon. Edwin Vassallo, the Parlaimentary Secretary for Small Business and the Self Employeed within the Ministry of Competitivness.  In his address he told those present: “Economic success has placed our country in a situation where we need to choose our priorities. We need more professionals for our enterprise to succeed competitively in the local and global market. It only takes a little bit of carelessness for us to go back to the situation we were in three to four years ago. If we want to continue to grow in capacity we have to offer the best service focused on the client in every sector of hospitality.” Many different sectors of the economy depend on success in tourism. “We are at a crossroads where we can either improve on what we have or go back to how we were a few years ago. We have to find a way to send 10 and not just two people over to train overseas on the Leonardo programme so as to break our insularity and this can be done by sending our junior managers away for training,” he said. The chairman of the Institute of Hospitality, Anthony Coleiro also addressed the conference saying that “The institute gives people within the hospitality sector access to networking and the means to achieving best business practice. We need to identify on a national level why there is a shortage of employees, and find short term solutions for the provision of work permits for foreigners. It is true that there are a number of employees leaving to work overseas however we must avoid employing unqualified staff.” The Institute would like to thank the Grand Hotel Excelsior Management and staff for contributing immensely for the success of the confernece. The Institute would like to thank Mr. Norbert Grixti the hotel's General Manger for hosting the conference and the Pre Conference Lunch.  Back to Home page   Committee Monthly meetings The Committee of the association meets regularly on a monthly basis. These meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month starting at around 6.00pm. Should you have any suggestions or wish to bring up any matter for discussion of the committee, please write to the General Secretary so that this could be discussed in one of the following meetings . Back to Home page                                                                                                               ITS Seminar Qualifications, Skills and Competences for Tomorrow’s Tourism Industry 30th April 2008 Qualifications, skills and competences together form the most valuable passport which students will use to get into their future as professionals. It is with this awareness that the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) Students Council has decided to organise on the 30th April, a half day seminar for ITS students called ‘Qualifications, Skills and Competences for Tomorrow’s Tourism Industry’ with the support of National Commission for Higher Education. The idea for this initiative originates from a conference organised by the National Commission for Higher Education in November 2007 called ‘Gearing Education towards Future Work: the Students’ Perspective’. On that occasion, the ITS Students Council, together with 14 other student councils and organisations from Further and Higher Education institutions came together to discuss strategies which can be implemented on what future education systems should look like and more importantly what do future labour markets require from education systems today. As a follow up, the ITS Student Council approached the National Commission for Higher Education to organise a seminar for ITS students. The guest speakers for this seminar were chosen from public and private entities such as Malta Qualifications Council (MQC), the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), ITS Alumni Association, the Institute of Hospitality (IOH) and the Malta Hotel and Restaurants Association (MHRA). Dr James Calleja from MQC opened the seminar with a presentation about the National  qualifications Framework and the ITS-MQC Protocol. Dr Calleja explained how the European Union has started a new culture about qualifications to ensure that when students get qualifications, they get a passport for employability. He referred to past key events at European level that lead to the harmonisation of qualifications such as the Bologna Process and the Copenhagen process and which ultimately lead to the convergence of qualifications into a European Qualifications Framework. It is targeted that by 2010, all EU countries should have their own qualification framework and this is to be aligned to the European Qualifications Framework by 2012. Dr Calleja explained how MQC has taken concrete steps to reach these targets and set up the National Qualification Framework. This framework, based on aspects of learning outcomes, occupational standards and quality assurance, makes qualifications more understandable to employers, institutions and students. ITS was the first institution to sign a protocol with MQC in order to align ITS qualifications with the National Qualifications Framework. Alumni experience can contribute greatly in bringing real-world perspective to the academic pursuits of ITS and help in the fulfillment of ITS educational mission. Mr Marco Debono, from the ITS Alumni Association, described his professional journey from sales manager at NSTS to marketing executive at Food Chain Holdings. He encouraged the students not to underestimate skills acquired from shop floor job experiences because they also help to build up more concretely one’s professional development. He strongly recommends the value of extracurricular activities that also help students to strengthen their skills. Mr Debono concluded that continuous development and lifelong learning are important objectives for the Alumni Association because alumnis realize tourism profession requires continuous updating of knowledge and skills. In the second part of the seminar, Mr Karl Grech from MTA, Mr Charles Martin from IOH, Ms Michelle Seguna from MHRA and Mr Marco Debono from ITS Alumni Association engaged in a debate with the students. The debate was chaired by ITS lecturer Mr Henry Mifsud. Mr Mifsud opened the debate by asking the speakers to illustrate what kind of skills and competences are still lacking in the tourism industry. From her experience of recruitment, Ms Seguna, explained that quite often job applicants do not realize the importance that attitude and personality have during an interview. The personality side is assessed to trace the attitude profile of an applicant and usually a typical profile of a successful applicant would exhibit a passion for the industry and a sense of involvement and commitment in work. Mr Charles Martin from IOH agreed with Ms Seguna’s intervention and re-iterated though even though an institution might give the students the right skills, the attitude has to be nurtured by the students. He stressed that unless there is a caring approach in this profession, tourism industry will not succeed. Building a caring attitude has many facets which range from having a polished image to being committed to your profession. To this end, IOH always had an ITS student as member on the board in order for the students to have opportunities to collaborate with the association. Mr Karl Grech from MTA joined in the debate by illustrating that professionals have to always seek for positive aspects of their work in order to build a constructive approach in meeting the many day-to-day demands. He said that ITS provides a very sound education base but in the world of work professionals need be active in networking, follow the news and be part of associations. The students’ responded to this debate with a series of key questions mostly about recruitment; for e.x. how employers gauge attitude, the validity of pre-screening applicants before an interview and how is career switching valued in recruitment. The speakers gave examples of how attitude is screened through specific body language signs and that career switching is valued where there is a justified progression to better professions. Ms Ritienne Gauci, from the National Commission for Higher Education, wrapped up the seminar by highlighting the key messages which emerged from this seminar and concluded by saying that in the next 10-15 years, Europe will need more and more people with higher qualifications, better skills and competences. These are the jobs of the future and these are the jobs which each ITS student has the potential to aspire for.In tomorrow’s tourism industry, it will not be enough to keep at pace with this changing world; one will need to be protagonists and exploiters of this change. To this end, tourism education will need all possible support from tourism industry stakeholders, because education faces the challenge of having to prepare students for a life-time of careers, rather than a single career for life. Top         OPENING ADDRESS BY THE HON. MARIO DE MARCO, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR TOURISM, AT THE INSTITUTE OF HOSPITALITY BUSINESS BREAKFAST – “AN EFFECTIVE HR STRATEGY IN HOSPITALITY ESTABLISHMENTS” – ST. JULIAN’S – 27.05.2008 Heritage, Hospitality and Diversity are the three key selling points we often use when promoting Malta for tourism purposes, with no intended order of priority.  But whilst the heritage and diversity that our islands have to offer are not put in dispute, the hospitality factor seems to be the prodigal son amongst this “gang of three”, if I may so call this trio, occasionally wanting to take a sabbatical. Now for most of you here this morning, these words are not news for you.  We have heard these words before. Complaints notwithstanding the tourist figures are rising.  But good results should not give rise for complacency.  Indeed the higher the figures of tourist arrivals coming to Malta, the more urgent is the challenge to tackle the matter. Our biggest challenge at the moment is and will continue to be that of attracting and retaining the right people for our industry. Skilled people nowadays have more choice than ever before and opportunities are many. To members of Generation Y, the lure of SmartCity, financial services is proving stronger than that of the tourism industry which contributes approx 28% of our GDP and is therefore without doubt one of the most important, if not the most important industry is our country’s economy. Hospitality managers, and more importantly, entrepreneurs whose own investment is at stake here, must not overlook the fact that the very nature of hospitality and service is people.  Although a lot is being done on this front by our education and training institutions, we need to create new and innovative approaches to the challenges we face in the management of our people, our so-called “internal customers”, if this industry is to grow and prosper. In an increasingly competitive world market, the way to increase efficiency, profitability and productivity is to attract and retain talented and committed people who feel satisfied and motivated at their place of work. Allow me to share with you some of my concerns as to how we can meet these challenges: We need to be more innovative in our recruitments polices and methods; We seriously need to improve and reconsider the conditions of employment we offer.  Whilst using part-timers when the industry was going through a bad patch is understandable, it is certainly not a long term option.  Moreover if we do not reconsider our conditions of employment, the hotel sector in particular could experience a skills drain of up to 1000 employees within the next few years; We need to put the "human" element into our management philosophy - People want to work in an environment where others care and are concerned about their welfare and career development;  We need to improve orientation and training programmes to ensure that our people are equipped with the necessary product knowledge and skills to succeed in this industry and in your organisations; We need to keep investing in our people - Employees are too often considered to be a business cost, when it comes analysing the bottom line, as opposed to an asset that can appreciate the value of our business concern; Gender Mainstreaming in employment can create an efficient and effective workplace, through family-friendly measures for both sexes. This Business Breakfast is an opportunity to address human resources issues, to exchange information and highlight solutions on effective people management practices within the hospitality industry.  The key to the success of the Maltese tourism industry is to offer quality service by ensuring value for money. A culture of continuous change and improvement through the development of people will ensure that our industry can deliver to the tourists’ expectations. The MTA has taken various initiatives to support people development and a quality service culture within the tourism industry. I applaud the Institute of Hospitality for the initiatives it is also taking in this regard and encourage it and other professional associations to create a synergy with the MTA to achieve more. For the future success and sustainability of tourism in Malta, we count on the professional service rendered by each entrepreneur, owner / manager, supervisor and employee working in tourism to exceed our guests’ expectations. I look forward to the return of the prodigal son from our gang of three! I take this opportunity to thank Mr Tony Coleiro and the IOH Board who made this event possible, but most especially you as participants who made an effort to make today’s discussion session a priority in your busy agenda.   Top             HR NETWORK NATIONAL CONFERENCE Honourable Parliamentary Secretary, distinguished guests, welcome to the HR Network Conference. Just a quick note on the Institute of Hospitality, IOH is a non-profit making professional organization, dedicated to maintaining and improving the Management standards of the professionals working in the Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Industries. We accomplish our objectives through education, training and professional development of our membership. The Institute forms part of the international Institute of Hospitality network established in more than 100 countries with an international membership of more than 13,000 and all the students in an ever increasing number of Colleges (including the ITS) and Universities, presently numbering more than 35 worldwide. Important to say as well that it has become a priority to be affiliated to this elite body of hospitality professionals. Few of the benefits that our members are eligible for are the granting of free and exclusive access to our valuable range of information sources and services, including the innovative virtual library, various special programmes, international conferences and small business seminars that are organised from time to time. A key benefit of membership of our Institute is the access our members have to other like-minded business men and women, working within the hospitality industry. Our Institute offers the opportunity for members to meet at social and formal events and make use of our network opportunities worldwide. All of these and more serve to maximize your knowledge, skill and performance and encourage you to achieve best business practice. Today’s conference will be dealing with HR which in fact is linked to Human Resource, a network made up of humans.  Who Are The Humans? When we talk about humans in human resources, why do we limit our discussion to only employees? What about all the other humans with whom an organization does business? It seems to me that if HR executives are good at helping business leaders make decisions about employees, then why can’t they provide these leaders with assistance and skill development for decision making with regards to other humans? Shouldn’t your human resource strategy be focused on ALL of your people or stakeholders? As long as we stay tied to the notion that "humans" are only employees, then the Institute of Hospitality HR Network cannot be strategic. Leaders make decisions, and they need to consider the effect of their decisions on everyone. If our job is to help develop and support leaders who need to be strategic, we cannot do this by limiting our definition of humans. Consider the current interest in expanding the external brand within the firm. We know that brand loyalty is important, and therefore, many organizations are trying to use branding to build a stable base of loyal external customers and internal employees. These firms recognize that all of the humans with whom they do business see the same advertisements, deal with the same managers, and are exposed to the same messages. Therefore, to be strategic, the message should be consistent at all times. If we agree that the "human" in "human resource management should be more than employees, then to be strategic, we must consider why humans are important to business success. The mere existence of humans is not enough; however, the field of human capital management does seem to lead us down a path of thinking that humans are assets. According to the rules of accounting and financial management, assets need to be controlled. Control of the human asset would then be important for long-term business success. However, I argue that humans are not the asset. Relationships with humans are the true asset, and relationships cannot be controlled (have you ever tried to do this at home and quickly learned it does not work?). Relationships are negotiated and renegotiated and then renegotiated. Relationships take care and nurturing and you have to constantly monitor how you are doing. When relationships are optimized, you get "above and beyond" behaviours as a result. This may be translated into loyalty, engagement, trust, and more. With employees, my experience in the hospitality industry shows that above and beyond behaviours include more teamwork, submitting suggestions and new ideas, helping another team member when it’s not part of the job, and more. With customers, above and beyond behaviour means sticking with a vendor even when their prices go up. It’s interesting to note that, although there is considerable support for the notion that relationships are an organization’s true asset, in most companies, no one department, person, or group tends to be held accountable for the total stakeholder relationship strategy. Finance is in charge of relationships with shareholders and potential investors; marketing and sales are in charge of relationships with customers; HR managers are in charge of relationships with employees; purchasing and manufacturing are in charge of relationships with vendors, and the list goes on. But no one group is in charge of assuring that there is one coherent stakeholder strategy for a business. Thus, the true asset - human relationships - is often mismanaged. However, it seems that the HR departments could be in the perfect position to fill this void. Why can’t HR Managers take on the role of REAL human relationship strategy (note that I changed the term from resource to relationship to reflect the key asset)? As the key group in charge of leadership and management development, HR Managers can impact the decisions leaders make about humans If HR Managers does not start down the relationship management path, someone else will, and as "old" HR Managers continues to be outsourced, one must wonder what will be left for today’s HR executives? Relationship management is an opportunity that can be seized by HR executives who are truly strategic and who understand what is needed for their businesses to succeed today and remain competitive as the business landscape continues to evolve and change. Points being discussed and brought up to our attention by the HR Network within the Institute’s set-up need serious attention and immediate considerations by all stakeholders:       The Bad Publicity on the state of tourism in Malta has had a negative effect on prospective employees.       The negative perception of a career in Hospitality as well as the negative perception of employees & potential employees towards HR Managers.       ITS & University Students having an unrealistic understanding of their future opportunities in the workplace who often expect management roles before ever working in operational positions.