People-Management Tools to Enhance Levels of Service Quality Exhibited by Low-Budget Flight Assistants - Essay Example

People-management tools can be applied to enhance levels of service quality exhibited by low-budget flight assistants of Submission: Introduction In the present competitive business environment, upbeat human resource leaders continually seek ways on how to engage its employees and strengthen its attention on the company’s strategic goals. Human resources management policies and practices are significant in generating and sustaining a positive work culture, which supports, rewards and anticipates the workers to reliably and considerately center on the quality of their service and work (Durai, 2010). The primary aim is prime customer gratification and the outcomes associated with it. Given the significances of customer satisfaction and service quality, there are numerous questions that pop out; why is service quality often awful? And even with the frequent evaluation of customer gratification by market researchers, why does service quality still continue being dreadful? Merely asking the clients about their service experience and their satisfaction may not give adequate information on what needs to be altered (Laws, 2004). Simply put, customer gratification stems from many things that the customers experience. In order to improve customer gratification and experience, it is essential to engage the workforce involved in the delivery of service to the clients. Consequently, in order to ascertain what internal structures can be improved in order to improve service quality, it is the role of the human resource personnel to identify ways on how to manage the needs and expectations of the labor force. The human resource management has the duty of using numerous tools to assess the performance of employees towards service provision and quality. Several studies have attributed that people-management tools are essential tools that human resource management can employ in improving service delivery. Some of the most common tools that human resources management uses include the performance development reviews, objectives and performance standards, 360-degree feedback, motivation, learning and development and coaching (Durai, 2010). However, the service industries such as hospitality and airline and aviation industry are unique since what they offer is intangible. Therefore, such companies and organizations depend on the customer service skills of the employees in order to gain higher profits. Arguably, in order for such employees to exhibit such skills, there are numerous attributes and emotional expressions that are considered such as being joyful, empathetic, optimistic and attentive. In this regard, these emotional attributes will be measured through the emotional labor scale. Additionally, it is also essential for the human resource management in the service industry to assess how the workers dress and speak and how they present themselves (Laws, 2004). This can be done through the labor aesthetics scale. This paper will offer some of the people-management tools that can be used to improve service quality among low budget flight attendants. Emotional Labor Scale In reference to Hoschild (2012), emotional labor is executed when workers depict what would be deemed ‘appropriate’ emotions and hide what would be deemed ‘inappropriate’ emotions by the company. As a general requirement in the service sector, Smollan (2008) recognizes that a labor force is required to express politeness, friendliness and warmth to all stakeholders and subdue frustrations and anger towards them. Therefore, even if the worker may not want to express these feelings, he or she may be compelled to express and suppress the feelings in order to make the customers and clients within the flights comfortable, thus increasing customer satisfaction. Therefore, the workers may be inspired by the rewards that they will receive by showing these desired emotions. Attaining success and the set goals results in praise and is also anticipated to result to job satisfaction. Emotional labor has been delineated as the management of emotions to generate publicly noticeable bodily and facial display (Sheane, 2011). It is also regarded as the efforts made by the workers to attain set goals by an organization. Emotional labor is a form of impression management since it is a considered effort by a person to direct his or her conduct and behavior towards others to promote social discernments of him or herself. Sheane (2012) denotes that portrayed emotions can act as regulator moves that, as described by Smollan (2008) are a person’s tactical operation of emotional lingoes tailored to affect the conduct of others. Johnson and Spector (2007) suggest that portrayed emotions are not only viewed as typical of the worker, but will be credited to the company as well. Subsequently, emotional labor is essential in organizations because it has a direct effect on sales through the corroboration issued to customers through the positive and desirable emotions. Smollan (2008) connotes that employees in the service industry should manage their emotions as part of their job description. The control of excitements is essential to service workers. For the human resource management to enhance service quality levels among the flight attendants, it is essential to identify and measure the four dimensions of emotional labor (Glomb & Tews, 2004). These four dimensions include frequency of emotional display, attentiveness to display rules, emotional dissonance and variety of emotions to be conveyed. The variety of emotions to be displayed dimension consists of two sub-dimensions, which are concentration and duration. The emotional labor scale is a scale that consists of other mini-scales that assess the four dimensions of emotional labor. The emotional labor scale has questions that require a five-point Likert response. This scale would require the flight attendants to give their response to the chief question, “On an average day at work, how often do you do each of the following when interacting with clients?” High degrees of the answer typify high levels of the dimension being evaluated (Johnson & Specto, 2007). The results obtained from the emotional labor scale can be used by the human resource management to identify some of the dimensions of emotional labor that would need to be improved in order to improve service quality among the flight attendants. The fact that the flight attendants are in direct contact with the customers makes emotional labor scale one of the most appropriate tools to enhance levels of service quality. Emotional labor scales can be integrated within performance development reviews where the human resource managers can identify some of the key service delivery areas that need improvement. Emotional labor scale is a simple tool that human resource management can utilize in improving service quality among low-budget flight attendants. This is because the scale comprises of numerous questions that need a few minutes to respond and does not require any additional resource to carry out. Aesthetic Labor in Recruitment Employers within the service sector are emphasizing the significance of their worker’s personal attributes, such as good voice or vocals, eloquence and physical appearance. Currently, human resource management specifies on these personal attributes in the lists of skills and qualifications required for the service jobs. It is essential to stress on these attributes especially in the aviation and airline industry since most of the personnel are in direct contact with the customers. Grugulis et al. (2004) connote that the physical attributes of an employee who is in direct contact with customers are some of factors that determine whether customers would come back for the services. The eloquence and physical appearance of an employee can influence sales in aviation industry. Grugulis et al. (2004) note that the way a person talks and how they present themselves are some of the service quality factors that customers look for in the service industry. Payne (2009) recognizes that workers in the service sector represent the image of the company and it is therefore imperative for them to exhibit a good image of the company in order to improve the perceptions of quality by the customers. Therefore, in order to ensure that the company attains and improves on service quality among flight attendants, it would be significant for the human resource management to integrate aesthetic labor in selection and employee appraisal (Luoh & Tsaur, 2009). This would ensure that the flight attendants are recruited according to their physical appearance, how they dress and how they talk. Flight attendants have to look and sound good and it is the recruitment and selection process that ensures that the company gets the people that suit such requirements. In the aviation industry, dress sense, grooming, manner, tone, deportment, shape and size of body are particularly significant. However, some of these personal attributes can be improved through training. This can allow the human resource management to control the flight attendant’s language and body posture, their hairstyles, the length of their skirts, the size of their burst, hips, thighs, the makeup they put on and their weight (Thompson et al., 2001). In this case, the human resource management can turn the employee’s appearance to what the company deems appropriate in achieving high levels of service quality. Performance development reviews The performance of every employee in an organization plays an essential role in the overall success of the company. Performance development reviews are employee reviews by human resource managers that identify their performance, development needs and potential. In order to improve service quality among the flight attendants, it would be significant for the human resource managers to consider the performance development reviews (Salameh & Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2013). This is because these would offer a platform for the mangers and the workers to communicate and exchange ideas that would assist in personal development affiliated with the company goals and service quality. Needless to say, performance development reviews also give an opportunity for the human resource management to review the behavioral competences of the personnel (Venkateswara, 2004). However, though personal development reviews may also evaluate the emotions and behaviors of the employees, they are distinct from the emotional labor scales that only focus on the motions of the employees. Performance development reviews may be in the form of conversations between the employees and the supervisors (Durai, 2010). These conversations will identify some of the key areas of service delivery that need improvement. Performance development review is a low cost human resource tool that can be applied in low-budget flight attendants. Coaching, learning and development In any service industry, the primary means of improving service quality is the development of the skills and competencies of its employees. Coaching is a critical tool that human resource managers can use to develop the skill sets of flight attendants Coaching often results to personal development. In most cases, coaching can take place throughout the year as opposed to the performance development reviews (Salameh & Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2013). In this case, the human resource management can coach the flight attendants on the best practices of service delivery in order to improve service quality. Additionally, the attendants can also be coached on how to approach customers and how to express themselves to the customers. In this case, coaching can be used to improve on the emotional and aesthetic labor among the employees (Durai, 2010). Though coaching may be a little costly for any organization, the human resource management can organize for a low budget coaching that can target on only improving service delivery and quality. On the other hand, the performance development reviews offer the human resource management an opportunity to identify some of the training needs of the employees (Venkateswara, 2004). In this case, the performance development reviews can allow the management to identify areas within customer service that the attendants can be trained on to improve service delivery and quality. Training will sharpen the skills and competencies of the employees and improve service delivery and quality. Numerous studies have associated training and development with improves service quality. Durai (2010) acknowledges that training sharpens the skills of employees and can be an essential tool in the service industry to promote service quality. Motivation Motivation is a key performance factor in any firm. According to Durai (2010), motivation is a crucial factor that a corporation can use to inspire the employees to give the best results for the company in an effective and efficient way. Though each of the employees in an organization may have distinct motivation forces, motivation is the best way of driving performance in a company (Salameh & Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2013). In this case, the human resource managers should employ motivation as a tool to promote service quality and delivery among the flight attendants. Therefore, the human resource managers of the airline ought to identify the numerous motivation factors that can motivate the flight attendants and thus improve the service delivery and quality. Notably, workers in an organization tend to offer the best when they are in a work environment that makes them feel valued for getting a pat on the back or getting a thank you. Though some companies may think that employees ought to work well since they get paid at the end of the month, this may not be the case as employees expect to feel valued and part of the organization (Venkateswara, 2004). Remarkably, though salaries may be enough to keep workers in an organization, it is not adequate to guarantee full potentiality among them. Herzberg’s theory of motivation connotes that employees can be pushed to their optimal productivity through motivation. Therefore, the human resources in this case would require identifying the numerous motivation factors that apply to the employees. For the flight attendants, it would also be essential for the management to identify the most cost effective motivation factors such as cognition, promotion and incentives for the employees who are smartly dressed. Conclusion The most significant resource in an organization is its human resource. Therefore, apprehension of the workforce is an essential tool in driving service quality and delivery in an organization. However, in the service industry, provision of high quality service is critical in staying relevant in the industry. In most cases, customers expect more than you can offer before offering their hard-earned money to the company. This makes customer service an imperative and fundamental tool that a company in the aviation and airline industry can use to improve on service quality and increased sales. In most cases, quality customer service has been attributed to numerous factors such as how the customers are approached, how the worker presents him or herself and the emotions that an employee portrays. In this regard, it is vital for the human resource management to use numerous people-management tools to improve service quality among employees. Since an employee is the image of the company, it would be significant for the human resource management in this case to consider emotional and aesthetic labor in its tools. This calls for the use of emotional labor scales and recruitment processes that stress on the image of the flight attendants. Additionally, the management would need to consider the use of performance development reviews in improving service quality. This is because these reviews allow the management to identify some of the areas that require improvement through coaching and training. Finally, the human resource management should motivate the flight attendants since motivation is the key to improved service quality. References Durai, P. (2010). Human resource management. Chennai: Pearson. Glomb, T. M. and Tews, M. J., (2004). Emotional labor: A conceptualization and scale development. Personality and Individual Differences, 44: 679–688. Grugulis, I., Warhurst, C. and Keep, E. (2004) ‘What’s happening to skill? In Warhurst, C., Grugulis, I., and Keep, E. The skills that matter, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Hoschild, A. R., (2012). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press Johnson, A. M., & Specto, P. E. (2007). Service with a smile: Do emotional intelligence, gender and autonomy moderate the emotional labor process? Journal of Occu- pational Health Psychology, 12(4), 319–333 Laws, E. (2004). Improving tourism and hospitality services. Wallingford: CABI Pub. Luoh, h. F., & Tsaur, S. h. (2009). 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