Principles of Hotel Management

Front Office Organisational Hierarchy of a Large Hotel
Front office
Manager
Assistant Manager
Front Office
Steno Typist
Front Office
Night
Suppervisor
Auditor
Telex
Reservation
Information
Registration
F.O
Operator
Assistant
Assistant
Assistant
Cashier
or Receptionist
Note: Dotted line indicates operational control relationship
as opposed to administrative control relationship.
The figure below suggests hierarchy of a small hotel.
Front Office Organisational Hierarchy of a Small Hotel
Front Office
Front Office
Front Office
Cashier
Assistants
The Assistant : A Job Description, by its very nomenclature
is a written description of the job to be performed in a job

---

254
Principles of Hotel Management
position. It specifies the parameters within which a job is done.
It is thus a realistic guide to any employee recruited for a
particular job. These parameters not only include the duties and
responsibilities of the job position but also the working hours,
reporting relationships, authority, equipment handled,
coordinational specifications with other departments and job
positions, status within the departmental hierarchy, etc.
Professional organisations would normally hand over a job
description to all new recruits. This offers several advantages:
1. The new recruit knows exactly what his job entails. This
in itself is a vital part of induction.
2. A job description acts as a basic foundation to set
standards of performance. This induces and informs the
employees of what exactly is expected of them.
3. The job description ensures that both the superior and
subordinate view the job required to be performed in
commonality, otherwise this could lead to misperception
of the job and thus friction.
4. It acts as a legal document for any disputes arising out
of lack of role clarification.
5. It protects an employee from an unreasonable superior
who may like to over-burden an employee through
unnecessary role deviations.
To enable readers of this book to appreciate the full
significance of subsequent chapters, the following pages
elucidate typical job descriptions of front office personnel. In
order to comprehensively cover the front office operations the
job descriptions of the Front Office Cashier and Night Auditor,
have been included. These two positions would normally be
under the Accounts Department but their roles would take us
a step further to complete the cycle of front office actions. It is
prudent for hotels to train their front office staff to acquire
multiple skills thereby enabling them to handle the reception,
reservation and information. Multiplicity of skills gives the

---

Hotel Organisation
255
management the flexibility while scheduling staff so that all
positions are manned in spite of absenteeism, leave, staff
turnover, etc. the front office employee reciprocally views his job
as enriched and is saved from the monotony of doing one job
only. The job description offered for front office basic staff is
common, with subsections provided for the unique activity offered
in various job positions in the departments. We have found it
important to give the front office cashier and night auditor
separate job descriptions in view of their specialised tasks
though front office staff in smaller hotels are adept at these roles
also.