Customer Satisfaction through Employment Empowerment in Hospitality Industry - Research Paper Example

 Customer Satisfaction through Employment Empowerment in Hospitality Industry Introduction The main reason of employees’ empowerment in the hospitality industry is the improvement of the quality of customer service being offered. Specifically, the main intention of employees’ empowerment is that it would lead to customer delight by the employees who would do their very best towards successful service delivery to the customers. Research of the various initiatives and models reveal a number of meanings and motives arising from employee empowerment. These initiatives have specific varied effects upon the empowered. The managerial motive behind the selection of a specific model and the impact it would have on the empowered is discussed below. How Does Employee Motivation Affect Customer Satisfaction? Literature Review Modern research has concentrated more on how human resource management practices can increase retention of employees and satisfaction. Other studies look into the impact of employee satisfaction on the customer satisfaction. Different definitions exist for “employee engagement.” Gibbons (2006, p 45-62) looked into the research on engagement of the employee and came up with several different definitions, the review revealed that previous researches covered the key drivers of employee engagement which were about 20. A definition by Gibbons defines the employee engagement as: “A heightened emotional connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work.” The article “Strengthening Customer Loyalty through Intimacy and Passion: Roles of Customer–Firm Affection and Customer–Staff Relationships in Services” by Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim, David k. Tse, and Kimmy Wa Chan (2008, p.741-756), examines how satisfaction, trust and loyalty model and the “love” ties affect the loyalty of the customer to the organization. They examine the subject in two ways; the interactions in customer to staff and customer to firm.In the article they confirm that intimacy and passion are two main components forming the customer and firm affection that is a major influence on the loyalty of the customer.The second thing they find is the role in mediating and complementing played by the customer to firm affection in customer loyalty.They also find out how the affection is transferred from the customer to employee, to customer to firm.And lastly, the dilemma faced, when the relationship between the staff and the customer becomes too close.Their findings provide the basis for the managers and other researchers on the subject on how intimacy and passion can be utilized, to better the customer service and also how to manage such relationship effectively. The organizations according to Zemke and Schaaf (1989, p.60) must rely on the motivation of their employees in the delivery of high quality services. In their research they found out that most of the famous organizations like U.S. Air and Federal Express used the empowerment of employee to reach to find customer satisfaction.They defined this customer satisfaction as the empowering of the employees by use of encouragement on their using imagination and their creativity.This meant entrusting them to do the right thing in their dealings with the customer. Cook, Sue, Toby and Peter(1981) described empowerment, as the encouragement by the managers on employees, to make judgments and act on their own and giving them sufficientspace to do this on their own initiative. Parasuraman and Zeithaml (1991, p.255-265)stressed that, the main important factor of quality service is consideration of consumers, because they solely evaluate the service offeredand not the managers.Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1991, p.287-303), stratifiedthis service quality into two parts which are “process quality” and “outcome quality.”The process quality represented thejudgment on the level of service in the process during service delivery and the outcome quality was the review of the consequence of service delivered.Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry came up with a way to measure these expectations by the consumers and the performance delivered.They used the SERVQUAL scale where they used the variants like reliability, tangibles, assurance, responsiveness and others.By using this scale, they found out that it offered a valid and reliable means of measuring the quality of service across a number of service industries. Hartline and Ferrell however, said putting into practice employee empowerment has both benefits and negative outcomes for the employees in contact with the customers.Employee efficacy in handling customers has positive outcomes, but this could lead to frustrations because the empowered employee could feel overwhelmed by their attempts to juggle role demands,that are entailed andthere would be an increase, in role conflict for employees and service quality.Sparks, Bradley and Allan (1997), looked into the results of employee empowerment on the satisfaction of the customers.It revealed that these empowered employees produced more of customer satisfaction in only the case where accommodating style of communication was employed.Hocutt and Stone (1991, p.117-132), found out in their investigations of empowered frontline employees that it led to higher customer satisfaction. One of the theories that try to explain the relationship between the employees, customers of the firm isthe Service Profit Chain (Heskett et al., 1994, p.164-174). The relationship between the attitudes of employees and of customers is identified easily when there is direct contact between the employees and the customers, for example personal sales and retail banking (Bagozzi, 1978; Heskett et al., 1994; Loveman, 1998 p.164-174). This relationship should also be present even when there exists no direct contact between the customer and frontline employees. However, a determination of the characteristics necessary to fill the gap in such a relationship should be considered. The employees play an important part in the implementation and behavior necessary for an organization to function efficiently. The results of past researches seeking to link attitudes to the performance of an organization have been equivocal in whether such a relationship is indirect or direct (Heskett et al., 1994). Moreover, most of these results are in a way inconclusive, suggesting that there could be other concepts necessary in order to fully comprehend such relationships. The core reasoning behind such a relationship in customer and employee attitudes is that the high quality is created by employees who deliver such high quality (Heskett et al., 1994). Oakley J. (2012, p.9-12) investigated the theory, that the attitudes of the employees are transferred by an intervening mechanism to the customers’ response. He proposed that the organizations that are more market oriented were the ones which linked the attitudes of their employees with the customers’ response. He stated that the attitudes of the employees affect the quality of the product and services produced by the organization. These products and services are the ones which are consumed by the customers. In his study, he sought to answer the question, how are internal and external components of the organization linked together? They suggested that the market orientation of an organization was the main link between the employees of the organization and its customers. In their model, they attempted to look at employee attitudes together with those of customers and the results were equivocal in a way. Previous studies have looked into the relationship in the environment of the face to face interaction between the customers and the employees (Heskett, Jones, Loveman,Sasser, & Schlesinger, 1994; Rafaeli, Ziklik, & Doucet, 2008). Oakley J. (2012) studied those employees not having a direct interaction with the customers, in the belief they also play an important role, though indirectly. This is through services and the products produced by these employees, which are the representation of their attitudes and behaviors (p.2). Kotler & Levy (1969, p11), stated that apart from the products and customers, success of an organization was also contributed by its employees. Studies on the relationship between the employee attitudes and the customers’ attitude are rare, however a little research has studied relationship between; employee, customer variable and the financial performance of the organization (Loveman, 1998). Several limitations in these studies exist and they suggest for further researchopportunities. Additional work is required in uncovering the varied effects of its components and their roles in various services relatively. Moreover, the way that customer to firm affection works is a challenge to both the theory design and methods. For example, it mayreturn some of the credit for strong customer–staff relationships. Also, there is assumption of two level approaches but the consumer to consumer level approach deserves consideration. In addition, a cross-sectional approach is used but a more dynamic approach would also be useful. Customers to firm relationships are dynamic in that affection fades and sometimes get challenged. So the organizations must work constantly to continue building and rebuilding with their customers. These relationships cannot take care of themselves and must be built by the firms. Research Methodologies in Existing Academic Articles In the research paper “Impact of Employee Satisfaction on Success of Organization: Relation between Customer Experience and Employee Satisfaction”, the authors Afshan Naseem, Sadia Ejaz Sheikh and Prof. Khusro P. Malik GPHR (2011, p. 41), used the qualitative research methodology. The data was collected through a questionnaire which consisted of open ended questions and multiple choice questions. The results revealed that there existed a relationship between the hotel workers satisfaction and customer’s expression of satisfaction. Other factors which contributed to customer satisfaction were quality food and cleanliness and room services. From the employees side of the story, they singled out incentives like frequent trainings and salaries coupled with a conducive environment led to their satisfaction and they worked with dedication which was collectly reflected by customer satisfaction. Using the basis of literature review, a set of two self-administrated questionnaires was used. One of the questionnaires sought to get answers from customers of the hotels and the other questionnaire was used to get answers from employees of the same hotels in relation to their job satisfaction. In the customer satisfaction questionnaire, the following were observed. 1. The personal profiles of the customers related to their gender, education, income and their desire to stay at those hotels. 2. The customer’s satisfaction was directly related to atmosphere, environmental cleanliness, food, greeting and service quality. In the employee questionnaire data, the following were observed: 1. The satisfaction of Employee related to their training and their working Conditions. 2. The response from the employee related to the amount of work handled In the research paper “The impact of developmental experience, empowerment, and organizational support on catering service staff performance” by Irene Hau-siu Chow, Thamis Wing-chun Lo, Zhenquan Shac, Jiehua Hong (2006, p. 478-495), the questionnaire was constructed and translated into Chinese for this purpose. The management of a large restaurant in Guanzhou was approached and consented to the participation of their staff in the survey. They were distributed and filled anonymously by the hotel staff in China. Out of the 300 questionnaires distributed, 236 were returned andlikert scale was used in this questionnaire. Empowerment was quantified by 11 items designed by Hancer and George (2003), originally developed by Spretizer (1995). These items of measurement were used to capture the ability of the employee to influence outcome at work, competence and meaning. The results showed significant customer orientation as a result of the employee empowerment. In “Customer Satisfaction in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Nigeria”, by Dr. Eniola Samuel (2006, p. 11-50), 400 respondents were administered with questionnaire in four different locations in Lagos. This questionnaire had 2 parts, A and B. part A contained enquiries on age, gender, location and employment while section B contained questions on the quality of the call, billing, duration of use, support from customer care and evaluation of customer satisfaction. The data collected from these questionnaireswasanalyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) while the analysis of customer satisfaction wasanalyzed using linear regression. 57 percent of the respondents were satisfied. The overall customer care relationship played the biggest part in customer satisfaction while age, gender and employment variables demonstrated weak relationship. The Appropriate Method for Dissertation By students The research question to be addressed would be whether the customer attitude is directly affected by the employee attitude, and whether such a relationship has financial implications on the organization. Improved customer satisfaction levels lead to high customer retention (Bolton, 1998), and high satisfaction derived from goods and services lead to improved repeat business and improved gross margins (Fornell, 1992, p. 6-21). This is largely because; satisfied customers buy and consume the product more often (Reichheld, 1996, p. 46-54). So, we would seek to prove that; 1) The employee attitude directly affects the customer attitude and 2) whether that relationship between the employer and customer has financial implications on the organization. As noted previously, most literature on the subject highlight on the need to study customer, staff and organization’s relationships to uncover the processes in a service, requiring staff involvement. These processes help us study how customer to staff trust and loyalty eventually transfers to customer to firm loyalty and trust. Gummesson (1987 p. 69-116) states that a positive customer to staff relationships in the frontline, which makes use of the social dimension, leads in a way toperceptions of the customer on the service quality of the organization. Strong relationships between customers and staff lead to the commitment by the staff to the firm, which concentrates on strengthening the customer to firm relationship (Butcher, Sparks, and O’Callaghan 2002, p. 503-514). The best method of research in this case for a student is through current review of literature on the performance of the front office staff in relation to their relationship with the customer, and how such a relationship influences the overall firm performance. The primary data would be collected through a forum on the net and interviews with key staff of the organization which is the subject of the study. Then the empirical analysis would be conducted on the data on satisfaction by the customer. The literature review focusing on the engagement of the employee and the satisfaction of the customer, lays the foundation for the key individuals related issues in the subject of study. Empirically, it is our core objective to weigh the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction in the study. This research would help in • Providing an assessment on the metrickinds useful for considering employee involvement and satisfaction • Having a starting point establishment for connecting the employee engagement to performance, as quantified by a dashboard on behavioral and the outcome metrics would be based on customer experiences and their satisfaction. The analysis of the data would be done through statistical methods to evaluate therelationship between the employee satisfaction and the customer satisfaction. By comparing the scores in the analysis the strongest relationship would be revealed. References Afshan Naseem, Sadia Ejaz Sheikh and Prof. Khusro P. Malik GPHR. (2011), Impact of Employee Satisfaction on Success of Organization: Relation between Customer Experience and Employee Satisfaction International Journal of Multidisciplinary Sciences and Engineering (ISSN 2045-7057), Vol. 2, No. 5 Berry, L., J. Conant, A. Parasuraman. (1991), A framework for conducting a services marketing Audit. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 19 (3) 255-268. Biju, M. R. (2006). Development management under globalization. S.l.: Mittal Publications. Bolton, R.N. (1998). A dynamic model of the duration of the customer’s relationship with a Continuous service provider. Marketing Science, 17(1), 45–65. Butcher, K.J., B. Sparks, and F. O’Callaghan (2002), “Effect of Social Influence on Repurchase Intentions,” Journal of Services Marketing, 16 (6), 503–514. Chi Kin, B., David K., T., & Kimmy Wa, C. (2008). Strengthening customer loyalty through Intimacy and passion: Roles of customer–firm affection and customer–staff relationships in services. American Marketing Association. 741-756 Cook, J., J. Sue, D. Toby, B. Peter. (1981), The Experience of Work. New York: Academic Press. Dr. Eniola Samuel. (2006), Customer Satisfaction in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Nigeria” Blekinge Institute of Technology, Department of Management, Ronneby, Sweden Fornell, C. (1992). A national customer satisfaction barometer: The Swedish experience. Journal of Marketing, 56, 6–21. Gibbons, John. (2006), Employee Engagement: A review current research Hau-siu Chow, I., Chun Lo W., Zhenquan S., Jiehua H. (2006), The impact of developmental experience, empowerment, and organizational support on catering service staff performance.International Journal of Hospitality Management vol. 25 issue 3 September, 2006. p. 478-495 Heskett, J.L., Jones, T.O., Loveman, G.W., Sasser Jr., W.E., Schlesinger, L.A., (1994), Putting the service–profit chain to work. Harvard Business Review 72 (2), 164–174 Hocutt, M., T. Stone. (1998), The impact of employee empowerment on the quality of a service Recovery effort. Journal of Quality Management 3 (1) 117-132. Horney, N., 1996. 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