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MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY

Service quality can be described as a reflection (can either be positive or negative) of a service encounter
between a customer and a service provider. Customers have a perceived expectation of services that they
avail compared to what they actually receive (Morgan, 2018).
As customers tend to compare service quality, making measurements of it to determine an organization’s
competitive advantage is a part of the strategy.
The most widely used instrument in measuring service quality is the SERVQUAL developed this model in mid-
1980s.
There are five (5) service dimensions in the SERVQUAL model:
 Responsiveness – willingness to provide help and prompt service to customers (ex. an airline staff
solving a problem and a front office staff attending to the needs of guests in the hotel)
 Assurance – the employees’ ability to ensure trust and confidence to customers (ex. high level of
competencies of hotel staff and taking care of the airline passengers’ luggage)
 Tangibles – physical appearances of equipment, personnel, facilities, and communication equipment.
(ex. interior of a restaurant, facilities of a hotel, and airline passenger features)
 Empathy – care and attention that is given to customers (ex. personalized customer service and
remembering the preferences of a regular customer)
 Reliability – performing the service as it was promised accurately and dependably (ex. on-time
departures in airlines and accuracy of waiting time in restaurants).
Measuring service quality often assesses aspects of customer satisfaction. Using these service dimensions, the
quality of service is reflected in how the service satisfied or exceeded customer expectations.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Strategic management process is a full set of commitments, decisions, and actions required for a firm to
achieve strategic competitiveness. Strategic competitiveness determines the success and value of
implementing a strategy and earning above-average returns. Above-average returns is described as an excess
of what is expected to be earned from an investment (Hitt, 2015).
In this process, the strategy sets the long-term goals of a company by determining the needed courses of
action and using the necessary resources to achieve these goals.
The strategic management process has three (3) main components. These are the following (Evans, 2015):
1. Strategic analysis is when information is thoroughly and systematically collected and analyzed. This has
two (2) needed elements:
 Internal analysis involves the examination of an organization’s strengths and weaknesses. In this
stage, the organization is provided with a detailed and full understanding of its core competencies,
the ways to achieve a competitive advantage, and the courses of action to ensure the organization’s
survival.
A core competency is best described as the way an organization uses its competencies (attributes,
skills, knowledge, and/or features that are made possible from the resources an organization has)
and resources (input used by businesses for their activities) better than its competitors, which results
into outputs that are of higher value and preferred by customers.

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The evaluation of existing core competency in tourism and hospitality can be done by determining if
the following attributes are present in a product/service:
o Customer focus – The focus on the value that is given to customer needs.
o Uniqueness – The ability or inability to be imitated by competitors.
o Flexibility – The ability to adapt to any market or industry conditions.
o Contribution to value – The extent of adding value to a product or service.
o Sustainability – The superiority that is sustained over time.

 External analysis involves the examination of opportunities and threats that an organization faces.
This stage includes the analysis of everything that is outside the organization’s control. It can be
viewed in two (2) levels:
o Macro-environment – Also known as the far, broad, or general environment, this refers to
the factors affecting all that is involved in the industry (ex. economy, politics, nature, and
weather).
o Micro-environment – It is also known as “competitive environment.” It refers to the area that
an organization interacts more often. Changes in this environment can impact an
organization dramatically and quickly (ex. customers, competitors, and suppliers).

2. Strategic selection is when decisions are being made regarding an organization’s future and its responses
to the pressures and influences identified during strategic analysis. The choices present in decisions made
from strategic selection has three (3) levels:
 Corporate Level – This level is concerned with the overall purpose and scope of an organization. It
involves choices such as the areas the organization wants to get involved with, its mission and vision,
and the corporate values. These are usually determined by the executive level of the organization
(e.g., board of directors and chief executive officer).
 Business Level – This level has choices that address how an organization will successfully compete in
certain markets. This level also focuses on breaking an organization into departments that will handle
different responsibilities for the advancement of the organization.
The business level addresses the following organizational concerns:
o How can the organization gain an advantage over other competitors?
o Which product or service should be developed? Which market should these be available to?
o What methods can be used to gain an advantage over competitors and in developing the
product or service?
 Operational Level – This level addresses how the corporate and business level decisions should be
put into practice. It looks at how the lower level organizations, including managers and employees,
adopt the corporate and business level decisions.

3. Strategic implementation is where the strategies are executed into action, considering all issues that are
addressed during the analysis and the selection phases. It is important to note that in tourism and
hospitality, as well as with other businesses, implementation is not a one-off process, or something that is
to be left alone after it is done. Implementation should be viewed as an ongoing process where feedback
is provided to the analysis phase and goes through the cycle all over again.
These are the most important issues that are considered in strategic implementation:
 Does the organization have the necessary resources? If not, how will the organization obtain it?

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 Are all parts of the organization aware of the overall strategy?

 Is the structure and culture in line with the overall strategy?
 Is there any leadership that will affect the different roles and responsibilities within the strategy?
 Is the organization capable of international growth?

THE STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR INFLUENCE

Since the strategic management process sets the activities of an organization, there are entities that can be
affected by these activities. An example of this are the stakeholders. Stakeholders are any group or individuals
who can affect or can be affected by the achievements of an organization’s objectives (Freeman, 1984, as cited
in Evans, 2015). An individual or a group is qualified to be a stakeholder if they have a legitimate interest in
the organization’s activities (Evans, 2015).
Table 1 shows the summary of stakeholder groups in tourism and hospitality.
Internal Stakeholders (within the organization) External Stakeholders (outside the organization)
Board of directors Shareholders
Employees collectively Creditors (existing and potential)
Individual employees (ex. founding entrepreneur) Suppliers (existing and potential)
Employees’ representatives (trade unions, Customers (existing and potential)
associations, etc.) Trade bodies (ex. Philippine Travel Agencies
Functional business areas (marketing, finance, etc.) Association [PTAA])
Geographical areas of the organization (ex. Europe, Pressure groups (ex. environmental)
Asia, etc.) Competitors (current and future; national and
international)
Government (legal, fiscal, and regulatory impacts)
Private individuals
International regulatory bodies (ex. International
Air Transport Association [IATA])
Local community
Table 1. A summary of stakeholder groups
Source: Strategic Management for Tourism, Hospitality and Events, 2015. p. 36

As stakeholders are affected by organizational activities, they can, in turn, influence the organization’s
activities. Stakeholder influence is dependent on the stakeholder’s position and ability to influence the
organization.
A model proposed by Mendelow (1991) ranks the stakeholders’ influence on an organization’s objectives
depending on two (2) variables, which are as follows (Evans, 2015):
 Stakeholder power – the stakeholder’s ability to influence an organization
 Stakeholder interest – the extent of the stakeholder’s willingness to influence an organization.
It then follows that
Stakeholder Influence = Power x Interest.
This means that a stakeholder is most influential with both high power and high interest and least influential
with low power and low interest.

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MISSION-VISION AND QUALITY POLICY

Mission-vision is a statement in which a firm or organization informs its stakeholders of what the firm or
organization is all about, what it seeks to accomplish, and whom it seeks to serve after studying and gathering
all the information on the external environment and internal organization.
Confusion may arise on how to communicate the quality policy to employees given that a company also has a
mission and vision statement. For clarity, here are the definitions of the three (3):
 Mission – It is a statement that expresses an organization’s fundamental purpose which contains
several components, such as:
o Company philosophy – the organization’s set of beliefs
o Company identity – what the organization is known for
o Principal products/services – what the company offers to people
o Customer and markets – who they intend to sell their products or services to
o Geographic focus – where they intend to sell their products or services
o Obligations to shareholders – what they intend to offer to shareholders
o Commitment to employees – how the company addresses the well-being of its employees.

An effective mission statement should be:

o Clearly articulated – specific, easy to understand, and has an impact on the behavior of
individuals that deals with the organization
o Relevant – in line with the organization’s history, culture, and shared values
o Current – acts as guidance to the organization’s future
o Positive in tone – encourages commitment and provides inspiration to employees.

 Vision – It is the statement of an organization on what it aspires to be and what it will look like if it
achieves its mission.
The following characteristics are found in a powerful vision statement:
o Concise – easy to communicate and remember
o Clear – direct to the point
o Future-oriented – consists of more than one (1) specific goal
o Stable – flexible enough to deal with changes and fluctuations
o Challenging – able to motivate staff members to achieve desired results
o Abstract – suggests longer-term goals and allows individual interpretations
o Ability to inspire – desirable and states goals that inspire the staff.

 Quality Policy – This guide mandates how an organization should provide products and services to
customers (International Organization for Standardization, n.d.). Demonstration of quality policy may
be accomplished by the presentation of a quality policy statement in line with the statements of the
organization’s mission and vision.
A quality policy statement should be:
o Consistent with an organization’s purpose as stated in the mission statement
o Consistent with an organization’s context as stated in the mission statement
o Supporting the organization’s strategic direction as stated in the vision statement.

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Policies and procedures are a set of principles, rules, and guidelines formulated or adopted by an organization
to reach its long-term goals. These are typically published in a booklet or other form that is widely accessible
to employees. (Businessdictionary.com, n.d.).
These are the following steps in implementing policies and procedures:
 Step 1: Consultation. Developing company policy and procedure requires consultation from all
stakeholders (these include contractors, health and safety representatives, and employees).
 Step 2: Tailor the policy to the business. Policies and procedures need to be tailored to the needs of
a business.
 Step 3: Define obligations clearly; be specific. Policies should be short and brief.
 Step 4: Make the policy realistic. Make sure that time, resources, and personnel are available in
implementing the policy.
 Step 5: Publicize the policies and procedures. Policies and procedures should be in writing and made
available for the entire workforce.
 Step 6: Train all employees in policies and procedures. Every organization is obliged to provide
adequate information, instructions, supervision, and training to employees.
 Step 7: Be consistent in policy implementation. The workplace should be supervised to ensure proper
implementation of policies and procedures.
 Step 8: Review all policies and procedures regularly. Policies and procedures must be regularly
reviewed. If changes occur, these must remain relevant and effective.
 Step 9: Enforce the policies and procedures. Policies and procedures should be strictly and
consistently enforced.

References:
Evans, N. (2015). Strategic management for tourism, hospitality and events. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2016). Strategic management: Competitiveness & globalization.
Australia: Cengage Learning.
Hoyle, D. (2017). ISO 9000 quality systems handbook: Increasing the quality of an organization’s outputs:
Updated for the ISO 9001: 2015 standard. London: Routledge.
Morgan, E. (2018). Quality management in hospitality industry. New York: Larsen & Keller.
Weekes, J. (2017, November). Step-by-step: How to implement effective policies and procedures. Health &
Safety handbook, Health & Safety bulletin. Retrieved from
https://www.healthandsafetyhandbook.com.au/

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