Five star graduates
By Charlotte Knottenbelt
They're international and they're five star, working in senior roles around
the world from Dubai to Glenelg. Only a year after the inaugural class from
the UniSA Le Cordon Bleu MBA in International Hotel and Resort Management
graduated, its alumni are making their marks in all kinds of places.
Sanjukta Ghosh is one such graduate. Born and educated in Calcutta, she
decided to apply for the UniSA Le Cordon Bleu MBA after six years working
for a major international hotel group in India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
“I wanted an international qualification that would stand up in a big hotel
chain, and Australia looked like a good place for it,“ she says over coffee
in the Hilton's plush lounge bar.
Accepted into the program, she moved to Adelaide with her husband, picking
up a part time job as a front desk clerk at the Adelaide Hilton. Two years
on, Ghosh has finished her MBA and has been promoted to assistant front
office manager, responsible for IT and communications solutions.
“I never wanted to be sitting at a desk all day, so what I love most about
this industry is that it's always changing – every person you meet is
different, every day is different,“ she says.
Dealing with guests from all over the world with sensitivity calls for
maturity and poise – an act Ghosh has had to get used to. “As management's
representative I'm responsible for dealing with any complaints. You need to
be very calm – which is something I'm not, so it's a major effort for me!“
Sanjukta's other tips for success in the world of five star hospitality
include having strong decision making skills and friendly staff relations –
“you need excellent staff rapport,“ she says, “nothing works if they are not
with you.“
Sounds
like good advice for management in general, and that's the beauty of the
program says Ghosh – “it's a management qualification with a focus on the
hospitality industry – but you can apply it to any industry.“
UniSA program director Paul Reynolds says the MBA, established as a joint
venture between UniSA's International Graduate School of Management and Le
Cordon Bleu in 2000, was responding to the increasingly complex needs of the
industry.
“The whole idea of education for hotel managers has only come to the fore in
the last 20 years, and I think that's partly been a response to the changing
human resource make-up of the big hotels,“ he says.
“There
are less general managers, and more need for people with marketing and IT
nous. People are multitasking more, not only at operations but also at
management level.“
And while there are fewer owners running more hotels – three major groups
own most of the well-known chains – there's also greater consumer choice,
and for those working in the industry, an increased emphasis on branding.
“Hotels used to be a more homogenous product, but now the consumer can go in
at a whole lot of different price levels – making branding and price points
much more important.“
For more information about the UniSA Le Cordon Bleu MBA, go to
www.lcbaustralia.com