A fresh look at competency based teaching for hospitality management education: an applied learning approach to a training restaurant environment

This paper explores the design and operationalization of a food and beverage module, introduced onto a hospitality management program in a higher education institute (HEI) in pursuit of enhanced service competencies (e.g. knowledge, skills and attitudes) among its students. The goal of this research is to realign the teaching of hospitality management students in a training restaurant environment to incorporate the service competency requirements of the contemporary hospitality industry. The authors use an action research method incorporating a learning intervention in a student training restaurant environment, supplemented by interviews with hotel specialists to ascertain the service competencies required by the hospitality graduates for industry. This applied research identifies and maps the service competencies required by hospitality graduates working in food and beverage to be better suited to the industry requirements and ultimately enhance guest experience. It also draws on the value of a sequential change management process in a practical teaching environment and delves into the learnings gathered. Subsequently, short self-administered surveys completed by the training restaurant customers ascertain whether the students' service competencies were enhanced as a result of the learning intervention. The proposed food and beverage service competency framework contributes to the professional competency debate in the hospitality domain and may also has training value to industry specialists. Future research seeks to explore engagement with students' service competency development plans