Question 1
Penang Mutiara is a luxurious hotel that operates in the South-East Asia region, Teluk Pahang. It is regarded highly in the market due to its quality services and its beautiful positioning at the beachfront. However, what has made the hotel reap massively in terms of high number of guest and profits is the quality management team of Singapore Mandarin Hotels. The management currently prioritizes quality of service as the sure way of dealing with competition whereby it does not compromise the quality of its services to reduce costs. The managers believe that quality is what can bring the customers back in large numbers. Increased customers will reduce costs per customer hence higher profitability (Operation performance…).
Some of the areas they have shown they are dedicated to the provision of quality include; heeding to customers’ requests, dependability in terms of meeting customers promises, and speed of service. Quality Assurance has made the hotel stand out from the rest in the industry since its competitive advantage of a high volume and reduced overall cost. The high rate of success of Penang Mutiara is a good indicator of successful management. It has thrived in the middle of the cutthroat competition posed by many other hotels in the industry in the Southeast region of Asia under the good job of the management. Therefore, I think that the management of the hotel is appropriate to the way it competes for business.
Penang Mutiara can implement changes in quality of its services or extend to use other techniques. For example, the hotel can extend to vigorous advertising and promotional campaigns, and the use of the online platform to market its services. The hotel, therefore, can implement any of its intended change in strategies as below (Pater, Roest and Kleinreesink 12-34);
- Initiate the change with support from the management
- Establish a reason for the change in strategies
- Involve the employees since they will be the most agents of the change
- Communicate the change of strategy to all relevant stakeholders of the hotel through appropriate channels since non-communicated change is equal to no change.
- Implementation of the intended change
- Follow-up and clearance of any barriers to the implemented strategies
Question 2
The hotel begins to offer quality from the basics; employees being courteous and friendly to the visitors, and they are imparted with the necessary knowledge to answer the guests any questions. Most importantly, the designs are elegant and stylish with top-class materials to create a luxurious ambience (Gumzej and Halang). The quality from the approach of employees and the atmosphere then attracts external customers who come in large numbers to enjoy the quality service.
Speed entails haste in responding towards customers’ needs and requests. Penang Mutiara has done everything at its disposal to ensure that the customer is not kept waiting. The employees are fast enough to ensure that the customers are served on time. This is a good course to attract customers who will want to be served without any delays. In addition, the hotel has managed to afford this speed by incorporating more staff when there are many demands for a fast service regardless of the cost.
Clients would like it when they order for reservations and they find all in place after entering a hotel (Pater, Roest, and Kleinreesink). Penang Mutiara has embraced the principle of dependability since they can keep every promise they make with the customer. Dependable service is of utmost importance especially during grand occasions, and the hotel makes sure it does not fail. Failure to be dependable can make the customers dissatisfied hence; they may not come back again. This factor attracts customers and makes them loyal to the hotel.
Flexibility is another important element at Penang Mutiara that has enabled it to meet customer requirements. The hotel tries to avoid saying no to customers even during the impossible. When a customer requests for a something, not available restaurant, the management makes an effort to get it from retail stores or supermarkets. The flexibility of the hotel also enables it to cope up with changes in demand for their services. Therefore, it has an impact on the external customers.
Regarding costs, the hotel is determined to avoid food wastes because foods and beverages take over 60 percent of the total operating costs. But, quality comes first before saving. These service qualities have resulted to the following advantages to the hotel;
- Increased customer loyalty
- Appropriate utilization of time
- Quality and efficient utilization of resources
- Motivation to employees
- Error-free service delivery and production.
Question 3
Among the several consulting and investment firms in Kuwait, Kuwait Consulting & Investment Co. is a renowned private firm that has been in the forefront to provide various services in the business sector. The company offers financial consultancy, auditing, investment services, market, and promotion studies, among many others (nd). The company has put quality on the top of its priorities towards increasing its client base and building client loyalty. The six quality characteristics of the services produced by the company are discussed as follows;
- Leadership – the management has set out a clear vision and mission for the company towards achieving big success. The company is well structured with Mr. Fawzi Al-jouder as the head of the firm. He has assisted the firm to come up with various incentives and innovations to improve profitability. There is no doubt, a key to any organizational success is quality management with good leadership skills (Stashevsky 2).
- Client and stakeholder involvement – the organization values client feedback that it uses to improve service delivery. Involving customers enables a firm to realize what the trends with customer taste and preferences are hence a better service (Earwaker, Jones, and Toa).
- Employee involvement – employees are the best resources in any organization hence they cannot be disregarded in the efforts to improve quality service delivery (Brewster and Mayrhofer 13). They should be involved and given the motivation, they need in order to improve their service delivery.
- Innovation – there are several firms in the market that can provide the same services hence the company has highly innovative departments that come up with new ideas to improve service delivery.
- Risk management – risks come along with costs that may derail the business performance (Hopkin). Therefore, the company has put up a risk management department to deal with any contingencies that may affect the company, example, legal penalties.
- Measurement – this entails measurement of the extent of customer satisfaction (Gerson 23-40). The company is always determined to know what areas the customers want to be improved and to what extent they need to be served to meet their satisfaction.
The quality characteristics of service delivery appear to be differing from those of touchable items. Tangibles need marketing and innovations such as differentiation whereas in service delivery it all about understanding the client and coming up with ideas of quality service to meet their demands (Gumzej and Halang 43).
Works Cited
Brewster, Chris, and Wolfgang Mayrhofer. Handbook of Research on Comparative Human Resource Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2012. Print.
Earwaker, John, Stephen Jones, and Rob Toal. Customer Involvement in Price Setting. London: UK Water Industry Research Limited, 2011. Print.
Gerson, Richard F. Measuring Customer Satisfaction. Menlo Park: Crisp Publications, 1993. Print.
Gumzej, Roman, and Wolfgang A. Halang. Real-time Systems’ Quality of Service: Introducing Quality of Service Considerations in the Life Cycle of Real-Time Systems. New York: Springer, 2010. Print.
Hopkin, Paul. Risk Management. N.p., 2013. Print.
“Kuwait Consulting & Investment Co.: Private Company Information – Businessweek.”Businessweek.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 July 2015.
Operation Performance. Chapter 2
Pater, Lambert, Saskia Roest, and Esmeralda Kleinreesink. Implementing Change. Utrecht: Lemma, 2005. Print.
Quality management. Chapter 17
Rutherford, Denney G. Hotel Management and Operations. New York: Wiley, 2002. Print.
Stashevsky, Shmuel. Leadership in Organizations. Bradford: Emerald Group Pub, 2006. Print.