HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY PROJECT , NAPIER UNIVERSITY, EDINBURGH BY PUNAM GARU

8/9/2019 HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY PROJECT , NAPIER UNIVERSITY, EDINBURGH BY PUNAM GARU

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hospitality-industry-project-napier-university-edinburgh-by-punam-garu 1/22

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY PROJECT

N08015439

INTRODUCTION

The topic chosen for the Hospitality Industry Project is Service Quality from the

Management Perspective. The report starts with the secondary findings- findings

from books, journals etc and then the last half of the report deals with the primary

findings i.e. information gathered from the service provider on which this research is

based. The aim of this report is to know about the various models the management

of organisations use to maintain and constantly improve service quality and then see

the implication of these techniques in the real industry example. The report starts off

by discussing the distinctive characteristics of services and its implication for

management. Nextly the concept of service quality is discussed as per various

models. Hence after the various models for managing service quality is discussed.

The secondary findings ends with the discussion of the challenges which the

management faces while managing and improving service quality. The second half

of the report talks about the primary findings gathered from the service provider.

Firstly an introduction about the service provider is given and an insight about the

operations is provided. And lastly the measures used by the management to

maintain and improve service quality is discussed.

1




N08015439

METHODOLOGY

As the report concerns the findings of both primary research and secondary

research, therefore a wide range of methodologies have been considered to make

this report. To gather information relating to secondary research, a number of books

have been consulted. The Napier CD ROM has been of great help in making this

report, it has acted as a guiding tool in gathering information from other sources. The

secondary research has been carried out mostly through telephonic interview. The

manager of the service outlet, Mr Niranjan and one of the senior stewards Mr M.

Ramesh has been of great help in carrying out the research. Information has been

gathered over telephone and more elaborate information about the restaurant and

the hotel ITC Park Sheraton and Towers of which the restaurant is a part, has been

e-mailed.

THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

FOR MANAGEMENT

2




N08015439

1) INTANGIBILITY – Services are in intangible nature which means that it

cannot be touched, tasted, smelled, heard and seen. The very moment

services are rendered they go out of existence. Hence services cannot bephysically demonstrated, displayed or illustrated.

Due to this nature of the service it becomes difficult for the management to

set a cost or price for the service to be rendered. This problem can be solved

if the management focuses on the benefits of the service rendered and the

profits the organisation will incur if the service is provided.

Due to the intangibility of services no patents could be imposed on it. Due to

which any innovative service technique could be easily copied by any other

organisation. This particular problem could be dealt if the tangible quotient of

the service rendered is increased i.e. the services could be given some

physical representation.

The other problem which arises due to the intangible nature of services is that

since sampling of services cannot be done therefore it becomes very difficult

to promote services. Brand names could be used for various services for its

promotion.

Since services are intangible in nature therefore though a customer has

access to service but has no ownership of the activity or facility. Services

could be personalised to deal with this problem.

2) INSEPARABILITY – The next most important characteristic of service is that

that production and consumption of services is inseparable in nature. Unlike

goods which are first produced , then sold and then consumed , services are

first sold and then produced and consumed simultaneously.

Due to the inseparable nature of services the presence of the producer/

service provider at the consumption site is very essential. Hence more

competent and efficient service providers should be trained.

3






N08015439

Since services cannot be stored therefore it is essential for the management to

match the supply of the services with the demand for the services. Because the

service volume is dependent on the demand for the services therefore it isimportant to manage the demand for the services rather than managing the

supply of the services.

[ Reference : Kandampully, J.A., 2002. Services Management - The New

Paradigm in Hospitality, Pearson Prentice Hall: Australia]

DEFINING SERVICE QUALITY

As per Parasuraman et al.(1986),service quality is “an inference about the superiority

of a product or service based on rational assessment of characteristics or attributes,

or an affective judgement, an emotional response similar to an attitude.”

There are also other models which define service quality.

ZEITHAML ET AL’S MODEL

5




N08015439

The Zeithmal et al’s model defines service quality as the difference of the

expectations of the consumer which are a conscious and/or unconscious

representation of the needs of the consumer and the feeling of what should beoffered. Or more simply it could be defined as the difference of perceptions and

expectations.

GUMMESSON’S MODEL

Gummesson’s Model focuses around the customer perception quality. The customer

perception quality is dependent upon customer expectations which is highly

individual in nature, company image which is actually the reputation of the company

in the market and the actual experience obtained by the customer.

GRONROO’S MODEL

Gronroo’s model says that the service quality is a resultant of not only what service

is delivered but also how the service is delivered. The Gronroo’s model lay stress on

both the technical quality and functional quality of the service delivered. The

technical quality refers to the technical solutions, machines or knowledge used to

deliver the service whereas the functional quality refers to the environment, attitudes

of the staff, customer contacts and availability of services.

[Reference : Kandampully, J.A., 2002. Services Management - The New

Paradigm in Hospitality, Pearson Prentice Hall:Australia

Napier CD ROM – Service Management Module, Chapter 8 , Service Quality]

THE MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE QUALITY

W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran and Philip Crosby were the three American

experts on quality who led the quality movement. The theories and philosophies

extended by them led to the development of the practical tools of quality

management.

W.EDWARDS DEMING (1900-1993)

6




N08015439

Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s basis for approach to quality management were his

famous “14 points”. He believed that quality was not only a matter of checking and

inspection but it was indeed a whole management philosophy.

Deming’s Fourteen points were:

i. A constancy of purpose should be implemented for the continual improvement

of quality.

ii. To improve the service quality the new philosophy should be embraced.

iii. Dependence on checking and inspection to improve the service quality should

be stopped.

iv. The lowest-tender contracts should be ended.

v. Every process should be improved.

vi. On the job training should be imparted.

vii. Leadership should be instituted.

viii. A two-way communication should be encouraged amongst the staff to drive

out the fear.

ix. Barriers between the departments and staff should be broken down.

x. Exhortation like use of slogans and posters should be strongly discouraged.

xi. Setting of arbitrary numerical targets or goals should be eliminated.

xii. Pride of workmanship should be encouraged.

xiii. Learning and education of the staff should be encouraged.

xiv. Top management commitment is essential.

The Deming’s Model of Quality Management has three major disadvantages.

i. This model relies excessively on statistical methods.

ii. There is excess formality in the promotion of standardization.7




N08015439

iii. The top management is not much of an active participant in the progress

towards effective quality control.


Paradigm in Hospitality, Pearson Prentice Hall:Australia]

JOSEPH M.JURAN (1904 - )

A series of disconnected approaches was introduced into the cohesive whole which

is now labelled as ‘total quality management’ by Joseph Juran. According to Joseph

M. Juran quality does not happen by accident; it needs to be planned and executed

by an effective management.

Juran’s ten steps for effective quality management are:

i. An awareness should be built of the need for improvement and opportunity

should be provided for the required improvement in quality.

ii. Proper goals should be set for the improvement in quality.

iii. Efficient organisation is required to reach the goals – a quality council should

be established, problems need to be identified, projects should be selected,

teams need to appointed and facilitators should be designated for a constant

improvement in quality.

iv. Effective training programs should be devised for the staff.

v. Projects should be carried out to solve problems.

vi. The progress attained should be reported.

vii. Recognitions should be given for achieving the set targets.

viii. The results – progress or failures should be communicated to all the staff

members of the organisation.

ix. A score or measure of the progress attained should be kept.

8






N08015439

iii. Quality measurement - quality measurement is done to analyze

business quality performance in a meaningful manner.

iv. The cost of quality- everyone in the business should understand the

need for a quality system, and the costs the business will incur if there is no

quality system in place.

v. Quality awareness – everyone in the business should be made aware

of the impact of the quality systems.

vi. Corrective action – a system should kept in place for analyzing faults in

the system and for applying simple cause-and-effect analysis, to prevent

recurrence of the defects.

vii. Zero-defects planning – a search for business activities should be done

to which the zero-defect logic should be applied.

viii. Supervisor training – supervisors should be well trained in both quality

logic and zero defect appreciation so that they can apply these concepts to

their business activities.

ix. Zero-defects day – quality events should be organised to make all the

members of a section aware of a change that has taken place.

x. Goal-setting – once a change has been implemented in a section of the

business , the employees and supervisors in that section would need to set

up goals to bring about continuous improvement.

xi. Error cause removal – a communication process is essential by which

management is made conscious about the problems to achieve the set

goals, hence follows a re-appraisal of the goals or assistance by

management to achieve the goals.

xii. Recognition – recognition to the employees who participate in the

quality schemes should be given by the management.

10




N08015439

xiii. Quality councils – to bring about a focussed approach to a business

quality regime both should be used - specialist knowledge and employee

experience.

xiv. Do it over again – to bring about continuous improvement this process

should be practised again and again.


Paradigm in Hospitality, Pearson Prentice Hall:Australia]

EXPECTANCY-DISCONFIRMATION THEORY

Service quality is considered to be a ‘gap’ between customer’s expectations and

their perceptions of the actual service quality by the Expectancy-Disconfirmation

theory. A two cycle model has been suggested by Brogowicz et al. (1990)

The positioning gap

The positioning gap could be narrowed or bridged by improving feedback from

customer’s. Here the aim is to minimise divergence between quality provided

and quality experienced.

The specification gap

Specification gap could be narrowed down by making the technical attraction

quality as similar as possible to that mentioned in the customer feedback.

Critical incident analysis and quality audits could be effective measures for assessing the gap.

The delivery gap

Improving communication between those who deliver the service and those

who design it could be effective in bridging the delivery gap. It is important to

train the front-line staff and the training should comprise the results of service

quality assessment, especially that from qualitative techniques such as criticalincident analysis or profile accumulation.

11




N08015439

The communication gap

The communication gap could be bridged or narrowed by relating advertising

and promotion of the service outlet to survey data about customer satisfaction

and perceived quality.

The perception gap

When all the above four gaps are closed then the perception gap

automatically gets narrowed down.

Defects of the gap model

The gap model cannot serve as a comprehensive checklist of quality defects or

remedial action and this is because the gap model does not consider the difference

between service quality and customer satisfaction and it does not discuss the actions

required to be taken in respect of informal shapers of customer expectations , such

as word-of-mouth etc. The gap model focuses upon a few easily recognizable gaps

and hence neglects many less obvious areas where service provision may go wrong.

[ Reference: Leask, A & Yeoman, I, 1999.Heritage Visitor Attraction, An

Operations Management Perspective, Continuum: New York]

CHALLENGES FOR THE MANAGEMENT

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS NEEDS

Customers are of prime importance for any organisation and customers can

again be categorised into four brand groups:

External customers – they are an organisation’s end-consumers

Internal customers – they comprise of the employees and managers of the

organisation

12




N08015439

Competitor’s customers – these are the customers whom the organisation

target to attract and make their loyal customers. In fact they comprise the

target market of the organisation.

Ex- customers – they are the customers who have left using the services of

the organisation and are now using the services of a competing organisation.

But the most vital brand of customers whom the organisation should first

satisfy is the internal customers i.e. its own employees and managers. This

is because the management would firstly have to sell its service concepts to

its firm’s employees, before trying to sell it to its external customers.

Employees who actually deliver the service to the external customers are of

prime concern for the organisation and hence the management needs to

acquire a philosophy of selling its service concepts firstly to its internal

customers and then to its external customers.

[ Reference: Leask, A & Yeoman, I, 1999.Heritage Visitor Attraction, An

Operations Management Perspective, Continuum: New York]

DEMAND MANAGEMENT

Since services are perishable in nature and hence cannot be stored for future

sell, therefore is very essential to manage the demand for services rather than

managing the supply of services. Usually when the demand for services is low

then the productive capacity is wasted and when the demand is high , a lot of

potential business is lost due to the inability to supply services as per the

demand.

Some measures adopted by the management to deal with this challenge is:

At times of high demand for services part-time employees are appointed and

facilities are rented to cope with the increase in demand.

13






N08015439

and shaped by chef Pravin Anand who is the present executive chef of ITC Park

Sheraton and Towers. Dakshin is unique for its authentic presentation of the

finest creations from the four south Indian states – Andhra Pradesh , Kerala ,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Dakshin has the architecture and interior designing of

a South Indian temple, with heavy wooden and brass doors, idols of Sri Ganesha

and Nataraja which are worshipped on every Wednesday and paintings of raas

leela which are hung on the walls of the restaurant. Live south Indian carnatic

instrumental music is played in the restaurant by a group of musicians during the

lunch and dinner sessions. The hotel ITC park Sheraton is located at the heart of

Chennai , near the boat club region which is one of the most poshest locations inChennai. Therefore the type of clientele which Dakshin targets is mostly

corporate and also local families. Therefore in a way Dakshin has carved a niche

for itself in the market.

OPERATIONS OF THE RESTAURANT

The restaurant opens for lunch at 12.30pm till 2.45pm and then for dinner at

7.30pm till 11.45pm. A steward reports at 10am in the restaurant and does the

setting up of the restaurant, then again he does the setting of the restaurant for

dinner from 3 pm to 5pm. This job of setting up the restaurant is allotted as per

the duty roster. The food for the restaurant is prepared in the south Indian

kitchen of the hotel. A live counter is also set up in Dakshin known as the Iyer’s

trolley which prepares various savoury items and south Indian coffee for the

guests. The requisition for stationary and dry stores is given to the purchase

department on every Tuesday/Wednesday. Requisition and purchase for food

production department in Dakshin is done by the chef in charge of the south

Indian kitchen. The brassware used for the restaurant is purchased from Delhi

15




N08015439

and the glassware is purchased from oceanic and spiglo. Daily polishing of the

brass wares used is done. Silverwares are polished once in a month. Lights and

air conditioners are switched off after the guest leaves the restaurant. This is aneffective step to save energy. Fire extinguisher is set up next to the Dakshin

kitchen for the environment safety of the organisation.

MANAGING SERVICE QUALITY

MANAGING THE INTERNAL CUSTOMERS

Staff briefing

The staff is briefed twice a day – 11.45 am and 5 pm by the restaurant manager or

the restaurant supervisor. During briefing the following things are mentioned :

1) The list of reservations in the restaurant and the tables which are reserved are

informed to the staff. The guest profile is also mentioned and a notice of any

VIP or VVIP guests who may come to the restaurant is mentioned.

2) The VIP/VVIP residential guests list is read out during the briefing and the

necessary welcome procedures to be followed is mentioned to the restaurant

hostess.

16




N08015439

3) Any changes in the menu of the restaurant – non availability of certain food

items or beverages is informed to the staff during the briefing.

4) The previous day’s guest comment cards are read out to the staff. This is

done to ensure that any guest complaint or personal request does not goes

unnoticed. The staff also gains motivation when their hard work gets

appreciated.

Training

1) A brief history of a wine which is sold in the restaurant is learnt by the

staff along with the food and wine matching for the respective wine. This

learning is done on a regular basis so that the staff can recommend various

wines to the guest which would complement their ordered food. This is a good

measure for training the staff as well as increasing the revenues of the

restaurant.

2) Tasters’ panel – the tasters’ panel is a training method incorporated by

the restaurant where the chef’s special for the day which includes two main

course ( vegetarian and non vegetarian) and a dessert is provided for the staff

within 12 pm ( before the restaurant opens) , so that the staff may taste the

food and form its opinion on it. This is done to boost the confidence of the staff

so that they can recommend certain dishes to the guest as per the

requirement.

Staff evaluation

Staff evaluation is done by making appraisals for the staff. The appraisals are

done by interviewing the staff personally by the restaurant manager or the

assistant food and beverage manager of the hotel. The appraisals are done

on a six month basis.

CATERING POLICIES

17




N08015439

Restaurant policy : The restaurant policy defines the standard service

sequence of the restaurant – “ as soon as the guest comes in the reservation

should be checked if any, the guest is then seated and cold towel is offered ,the menu card is provided , water is served, five varieties of chutney is served,

five varieties of pickle is served, Iyer’s dosai is served, appalam ( papad

basket) is served and then order is taken.”

MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR ATTRACTING EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS

Marketing strategies in case of a branded restaurant like Dakshin is limited as

compared to an independent restaurant, this is because the brand values

within which the operations need to be carried out are given. This particularly

helps in the marketing of the restaurant, as a branded outlet is consistent and

reliable for its service quality. A branded outlet through its specific brand

values delivers clear messages to the customers about what to expect and as

per the customers expectations the operating systems are designed to deliver

these expections. Even Dakshin has its own specific marketing strategies to

project its image into the market. The following are the strategies :

1) Many theme festivals are organised by Dakshin to break the monotony of

routine menu and decor. The south Indian festivals – onam, pongal, tamil new

year, telugu new year, karaikudi festival and ganesh chathurthi is celebrated

18




N08015439

in Dakshin. As festivals are seasons for family get togethers , therefore these

festivals are organised with a motive to attract familyholders in the restaurant.

2) Hoardings and displays informing about the restaurant are put up on the lobby

level of the hotel itc park Sheraton and towers. Other ITC properties in the

near vicinity of Dakshin are informed about any ongoing festivals in Dakshin

so that proper promotional measures are taken by those properties to inform

and motivate their guests to visit Dakshin.

3) A guest record register is maintained by the restaurant. This record maintains

the guest name, guest and family members birthday/anniversary and PR calls

are made from the restaurant between 3pm to 6pm to these guests on their

days of anniversary/birthday and asked about their next visit to Dakshin.

4) Give away gifts are always kept for special guests which are gifted to them on

their special occasions (birthday/anniversary) when they visit the restaurant.

Brass bells or crystal ganesha is gifted to these special guests.

5) Sheraton plus membership cards are given by the hotel, the beneficiaries of

this card can avail a discount at the restaurant. A 50% discount is offered on

food when two people are dining, 33% discount is offered on food when three

people are dining, 25% discount is offered on food when four people are

dining and a 20% discount is offered on food when more than four people are

dining. All these discounts are offered flat and a 20% discount is also offered

on beverages.

19




N08015439

MEASURES OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

1) The wow guest comment card is given to the guest during the check

out process, where the guest may write their experience during their stay at

the hotel. If the guest happened to visit Dakshin during his/her stay then the

guest may even comment about their experience at Dakshin. The wow guest

comment card is an important measure as it is directly sent to Nakul Anand,

the divisional chief executive of ITC. Hence the comments received from the

wow guest comment card is of prime importance as a staff could get

recognition from the company incase a guest sends his personal appreciation

for the staff and even the staff could be dismissed from his job in case there is

any guest complaint.

2) Guest comment cards are provided to the guests while their visit to the

restaurant. The guest comment cards are read out the next day to the staff of

20




N08015439

Dakshin during their morning briefing. Hence the guest comments are worked

upon and the scopes of improvement are searched.

3) The restaurant staff and sometimes the chefs from the south Indian

kitchen come up to the guest to interact and know their comments and

recommendations about the food and service quality of the restaurant.

[ All the information regarding the primary research is been given by the

Manager of Dakshin and Assistant Food and Beverage Manager of ITC Park

Sheraton and Towers Mr. Niranjan and a Senior Steward of the Restaurant Mr

M.Ramesh]

CONCLUSION

It is observed that the report starts with the discussion of the distinctive

characteristics of services and its implications for management, where service

characteristics – intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability is

discussed and due to these distinctive features it also poses a number of

challenges to the management. Intangibility of services poses difficulty for the

management to calculate the cost or price of the service. It also makes the

sampling of services difficult and no patents could be imposed on the services.

Similarly inseparability of services demands the presence of the producer whiledelivering the service at the particular delivery spot. Heterogeneity of services

causes difficulty in standardisation of service quality and since services are

perishable, therefore it is challenge for the management to control the demand

for the services rather than the supply of the services. Nextly various models for

managing service quality is been discussed. These models include – Demings

“fourteen points”, Juran’s “ten steps”, Crosby’s “four absolutes” and “fourteen

steps” and the Expectancy- Disconfirmation theory. At the second half of the

report the primary findings are listed, which shows the measures which are

21




N08015439

applied in the real industry example to manage the service quality. These

measures definitely relate to the principles which are discussed in the model.

Prime importance is given to the internal customers- the employees and manager of the service outlet. Special stress is laid on the briefing, training and evaluation

of the front line staff. Nextly it is observed that a number of marketing strategies

is been adopted to attract the external customers who are the potential source of

revenue for the restaurant. A number of theme festivals is been organised in the

restaurant, gifts and discounts are given to guests at various occasions and a

number of PR strategies is been adopted to bridge up between the organisation

and its external customers. Lastly the measures of customer satisfaction is beendiscussed which is the most vital evaluator of service quality for the restaurant.

22

Documents

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY PROJECT , NAPIER UNIVERSITY, EDINBURGH BY PUNAM GARU