ABOUT MHA'S SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS

Founded in 1985, the Marine Hotel Association is a not-for-profit international organization, which represents the cruise line marine hotel segment and its supporting supplier community.

MHA has made a commitment to professional development and growth by providing annual scholarships to the employees of its member companies.

The Association is proud to be the driving force behind successful training programs offered in conjunction with its continuing education partners: Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and Florida International University - Miami.

As the single most important activity for the Marine Hotel Association, the scholarship program is the culmination of all efforts and the most worthy rechanneling of revenue back to the industry as a direct benefit.

MHA is pleased to make the following courses available:
Professional Development Program – Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration Ithaca N.Y. & Brussels, Belgium
High Performance Leadership Program – Florida International University, Miami & University of Plymouth, United Kingdom

Full details on participation may be obtained by contacting MHA offices: (415) 332-1903, or email us at scholarship@mhaweb.org.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Three-day courses developed in conjunction with Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. Learn prevailing management techniques, presented by internationally recognized Cornell faculty members and industry leaders.

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Essential Skills for Leadership

Course Focus: Understanding yourself is a prerequisite for managing others. Through experiential activities, personal assessments, and interactive feedback, this course will enhance participants understanding of their own managerial styles and interpersonal skills and strengthen their abilities to lead others in their hospitality organization.

Key Benefits: Participants will obtain key insights into their interpersonal skills and managerial styles. They will learn how to overcome any blockages impeding their ability to manage others and how to strengthen their skills to lead people more effectively.

Strategic Hospitality Management

Course Focus: Good strategy creation and execution are the key ingredients in a firm’s recipe for success. This course focuses on how managers can guide their hotels in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of strategies. Our goal is to develop a mastery of the analytical tools to perform analyses of the industry and competitors. Attention is given to strategies for building competitive advantage and generating superior value for customers. Readings and lectures are essential to provide foundation. In addition, effective strategic decision-making requires learning by active problem solving; hence, our emphasis will be on translating concepts into action through the case method.

Key Benefits: Participants will improve skills in thinking strategically about the formulation and implementation of strategies to create value and competitive advantage. They will understand key strategic-management concepts and ideas, learn from case analysis of various hospitality firms and application exercises, and apply analytical tools to their own hotel to refine their own strategic direction and competitive positioning.

Thinking Like a Financial Manager

Course Focus: This course provides an understanding of financial-management concepts for managers, supervisors, and team leaders at any level of a hospitality organization who are responsible for project planning, purchasing decisions, capital project selection, and other important initiatives.

Key Benefits:Participants gain an understanding of financial-management concepts that increase their ability to communicate effectively with hospitality financial-management specialists. Participants acquire analytic tools and a framework for making sound operating and investment decisions that lead to value creation for hotel and restaurant owners.

Strategic Leadership in Turbulent Times

Course Focus: Growing uncertainty, increasing competition, and rising customer demands have intensified the pressure on companies around the globe to provide exceptional service and create unprecedented customer value. As you confront this ever-changing business landscape, or the unfamiliar territory, you need to have the necessary strategies, tools, and techniques to lead with vision and confidence. This course provides innovative strategies and tools necessary to unleash a leadership culture across the organization and gaining a customer-strategic perspective on your personal strengths to deliver superior value.

Key Benefits:By rethinking your approach to management, leadership, and strategy creation process, you will strengthen your individual capabilities, explore how to deliver superior value, link strategies with operations, create a sense of urgency, and sustain organizational performance.

Operations Management for the Hospitality Industry

Course Focus: This course will provide participants with an overview of concepts in the discipline of Operations Management that specifically relate to “managing operations,” and show how those concepts can be used to make their businesses more profitable. The course consists of lectures and in-class discussion of readings, exercises, and the participants’ experiences with similar real-world problems. It is designed primarily for those with decision-making responsibility in the hospitality industry who want an overview of a how to make a system (a collection of employees, customers, equipment and technology) work better. While a quantitative background is helpful, a more important requirement is an ability to think logically.

Key Benefits: Particpants will learn the key concepts in Operations Management and understand how these concepts can be used to improve profitability. They will develop conceptual and, to a lesser extent, your quantitative skills for dealing with the key issues in the management of hospitality operations.

Accounting and Financial Management for Nonfinancial Managers

Course Focus: This course includes a nontechnical presentation of hospitality accounting and financial management concepts for nonfinancial managers.

Key Benefits: Particpants will learn the key concepts in Operations Management and understand how these concepts can be used to improve profitability. They will develop conceptual and, to a lesser extent, your quantitative skills for dealing with the key issues in the management of hospitality operations.Operations Management for the Hospitality Industry.

Leading and Motivating in the Real World

Course Focus: Leadership is about putting on a mind, not putting on an act. This course examines the following two questions: what are the characteristics of authentic leadership thinking, and how can I use them to motivate workers to peak performance? Using cases and participatory exercises, participants will explore the subjects of leadership and motivation in such a way as to transcend cultural differences while at the same time, respecting them.

Key Benefits:Leadership is approached by first having participants examine their current thinking styles. For this purpose the psychometric instrument known as “The Lifestyles Inventory” is used, and is central in tailoring the course to the particular needs of each student. Motivation is handled directionally. We discuss not only the motivation of direct reports, but also of the people over whom the manager has no direct control – that is, colleagues (peers) and the “boss.” Abundant video examples will illustrate how the principles being taught are actually applied in the workplace.

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HIGH PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

High Performance Leadership for Cruise Industry Professionals
Marine Hotel Association Scholarship Foundation, FIU School of Hospitality & Tourism Management & University of Plymouth

October 25-29, 2010
Kovens Conference Center
Florida International University - Miami

Summer 2011
University of Plymouth - United Kingdom

A unique program designed and developed by the Marine Hotel Association in collaboration with Florida International University & the University of Plymouth to meet the needs of management in today's fast-paced cruise industry.

Program Introduction

More than ever, today's emerging leaders in the Cruise Industry are faced with numerous and diverse challenges that make demands on their time, expertise, energies and productivity ... and are expected to respond effectively and lead their people through these challenges.

Maximizing leadership capabilities begins with having an understanding of one's unique leadership strengths and opportunities. Once participants are aware of what to do, it is important to strengthen their skills and apply this knowledge for maximum results.

This program is geared towards the unique needs of leaders in the Cruise Industry. We begin the program by identifying each leader's personalized strengths, with a concentration on individual leadership styles, enabling individuals to broaden their leadership approach for optimal results. Workshops will take place in a collaborative, highly interactive environment using case studies and participants' own work-place experiences to allow individuals the opportunity to explore situations, techniques and solutions in real-world scenarios.

Participants will gain strategies for leading through change and building effective teams. Specific tools for effective planning; time-management; problem solving; conflict resolution; communications; training and performance management will be learned, equipping Cruise Line Professionals with the necessary leadership capabilities to tackle challenges they meet in today's Cruise Sector.

Program Objectives

Participants will be engaged in a series of learning events which will enable them to:
• Develop awareness and understanding of their own leadership style and build an action plan to optimize
• on strengths and improve areas of opportunity.
• Learn how to set priorities and align actions with strategic imperatives, improving productivity and
• removing time-wasters through focused goal-setting.
• Learn ways to engage, involve and motivate team members, through alignment of individual and
• organizational goals.
• Develop skills, techniques and tools to manage employee performance on a daily basis, and to optimize
• employee productivity and effectiveness.
• Explore the benefits of functional teams and develop approaches for organizing individuals into highly
• effective work-groups.
• Learn how to create a positive work-environment through appropriate identification of problems and
• conflict resolution.
• Develop effective communication skills and techniques to effectively communicate ideas and thoughts
• powerfully, convincingly and persuasively.
• Explore models for effective implementation of change initiatives and enhance individual and group
• capabilities to facilitate change towards mutual goals.

Program Curriculum

This hands-on program is delivered over a 5 day intensive workshop using a mix of tutor led group workshops, lectures, in-depth case-studies and adventure orientated outdoor exercises. Participants are challenged to examine their own practices and reflect on developmental needs, commencing with a pre-course assessment and resulting in a highly individual personal development plan. Topics covered over the 5 day program include:
• Leadership Style: Characteristics and Competencies of Effective Leaders
• Strategic Alignment: Aligning People Practices with Company Purpose and Direction
• Strategic Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Motivational Theories: Strategies for High Involvement
• Performance Management: Coaching for Maximum Performance
• Effective Goal Setting and Continuous Development
• Effective Communication Strategies
• Conflict Resolution
• Identifying & Analyzing Learning Needs
• Closing the Performance Gap through Training
• Effective Training methods and Techniques
• Leadership essentials for the Cruise Industry
• Personal Action Planning

Program Expectations and Approach

Participants will be expected to complete a 360° assessment of leadership style prior to attendance and complete some pre-course assignment work. The program will be designed to create a quality learning experience through interaction, challenge and support, and idea exchange. The mix of participants from different cruise lines will create a excellent environment for exploring ideas and challenging assumptions, and this opportunity will be utilized extensively throughout the program. The role of the instructors will be to encourage and stimulate these discussions while providing contexts for practical application of theory.

Participant Mix

The High-Performance leadership program is designed for individuals who have over 2 years experience in management roles in the marine hotel sector. Participants are top-performers who have been recognized for their leadership potential and placed in positions of authority.

Companies are encouraged to nominate a cross-functional selection high potentials which will allow the program to make optimal use of learning transfer between participants.

Faculty

The High Performance Leadership Program is designed and delivered by faculty at Florida Intl. University and University of Plymouth, representing a unique mix of accomplished academics, business leaders and skilled facilitators. The team includes professionals with extensive cruse industry background. All of the faculty remain involved and connected to emerging business needs and possess an in-depth understanding of business operations both strategic and tactical.

Admission Requirements: Admission is selective and based on professional achievement and current position in the cruise sector. No formal educational requirements apply, but proficiency in written and spoken English is essential.

Program Fee: The program fee of $800.00 covers tuition and case materials. (Accommodations and evening meals are not included.)

Accommodation: Reasonably priced hotel accommodation is available in close proximity to the Universities and can be arranged by prior notice. Please contact MHA headquarters for additional information on rates and location.

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HPL ALUMNI LIST & BLOG

This blog is a place where alumni from the High Performance Leadership (HPL) program and anyone interested in Leadership Development in the Cruise Sector can find a forum to discuss progress, share ideas and post items of interest.

Every program produces such a great team dynamic we hear again and again that this is one of the most valuable features of the program. We also hear that participants would like to have a venue to continue sharing ideas and best practice; so here it is!

Click Here to view the HPL Alumni List

Click Here to view the HPL Alumni Blog

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UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX

Marine Hotel Association and University of Phoenix are dedicated to your professional, educational and personal growth. That’s why all Marine Hotel Association employees now qualify for savings on the cost of tuition on undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as certificates and individual courses. Additionally, with Prior Learning Assessment, you may be eligible to turn Marine Hotel Association training into college credit.

Click here for more information

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OUR EDUCATION PARTNERS

The Marine Hotel Association is proud to be associated with its education partners:

Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration
Florida International University - Miami
University of Phoenix
University of Plymouth

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REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Contact Information:

Email: scholarship@mhaweb.org
Phone: 415.332.1903
Fax: 415.332.9457

Register Via Mail/Fax:

MHA-CourseApp.pdf

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