Teamwork skills are a significant factor for professional success in tourism and hospitality. IFTM emphasises the development of group work skills among its students, and that is key to them excelling once they are in the labour market, says IFTM Mainland Student Union’s President, John Zhuang Yang.
Throughout his studies at the Institute, John says he has come to gain a deeper understanding of teamwork – and to enjoy it. A team should not work as a hierarchy where some members boss around the others: group work means all members should give their best, contributing to the final outcome with their skills and capabilities, through a collaborative approach, he explains.
IFTM is known for its innovative educational stance of integrating theory and practice. Students have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through special group projects such as arranging charity events and providing business consultancy services to Macao enterprises. IFTM’s organisation of field trips to tourism and hospitality facilities, and its hosting of talks by industry executives, also contribute to the Institute’s theory-and-practice approach.
“Opportunities such as touring the back-of-house of integrated resorts or taking part in discussion sessions with managerial staff are not commonly offered by other higher education institutions,” John says. “At IFTM, we have the privilege to be able to enjoy these types of valuable activity.”
He adds: “IFTM’s principle of encouraging undergraduates to achieve an all-round development by combining theory and practice is beneficial to students.”
John is a Year 3 student in the Bachelor Degree Programme in Hotel Management. He is also Vice-President of the Association of Higher Education Students from Mainland China in Macao.
He says it is important for students at IFTM to engage in extracurricular activities and other programmes available at the Institute. These promote personal development among undergraduates and allow them to learn new skills. John backs his own rhetoric with practical action. Besides his involvement in student union activities, he has joined some special-interest clubs at IFTM, taken part in various competitions and also enrolled on several short courses.
The value of internship
John is currently undertaking his curricular internship with integrated resort operator Wynn Macau Ltd. IFTM bachelor degree students are required to do a 6-month internship in Year 3.
He says the internship gives undergraduates the opportunity to work in the industry to gain practical experience. It also helps them better understand how academic knowledge is applied in a real operations environment.
John opted to do his internship in a back-of-house department, namely as part of the HR Creative and Team Member Communications unit at Wynn Macau Ltd. He says that while people in back-of-house departments do not engage directly with customers, they also play a crucial role in operations.
A native of Shanghai on the Mainland, John was worried that his lack of familiarity with Cantonese – the day-to-day dialect used by Macao people – could pose problems for him during internship. He found that was not the case, partly because of the teamwork skills he had previously developed at IFTM.
“Macao is a multicultural society,” he says. “The colleagues I met at Wynn are all very friendly.”
Instead of criticising his Cantonese, colleagues encouraged him in greater use of the local dialect. The result was a significant improvement in his command of Cantonese, John says. On the other hand, he was able to contribute – as a native speaker of Mandarin – to the production of promotional materials targeting visitors from the Mainland.
John says he has already built friendly connections with his colleagues. Despite some tasks being more troublesome than others, teamwork helps solve challenges and contributes to a harmonious spirit among staff, he points out. “Only people make people happy,” John says, quoting a Wynn group motto.
