5870 RP

The role of the front line staff in the
delivery of quality customer service:
A case study on hospitality industry
(Euro-star hotel)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESEARCH PROPOSAL..........................................................................................................3
TASK 1 FORMULATE A RESEARCH PROJECT SPECIFICATION...................................3
1a.) Factors that contributes in research project selection......................................................3
1b.) Purpose of the research...................................................................................................3
1c.) Literature review.............................................................................................................4
1 d.) Research Project specification.......................................................................................5
1e.) Time plan.........................................................................................................................6
TASK 2 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESEARCH PROJECT WITH AGREED
PROCEDURES..........................................................................................................................7
2a.) Literature Review............................................................................................................7
Introduction........................................................................................................................7
Factor that aids in offering quality services to customers..................................................7
Relationship between delivering quality services by front staff and level of customer
satisfaction..........................................................................................................................9
Challenges that front line staff faces in offering customer service..................................10
2b.) Organizing Questionnaire and Proposed Approaches..................................................11
Questionnaire......................................................................................................................11
Proposed Approaches.......................................................................................................14
2c.) Record and collect the data that have been gathered....................................................19
Data Analysis and Findings...........................................................................................19
TASK 3 RESEARCH PROJECT INTO A SPECIFIED AREA OF BUSINESS....................23
3a.) Analysis with appropriate graphs and Diagrams...........................................................23
3b.) Conclusion and Recommendations...............................................................................25
Recommendation............................................................................................................27
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................29
APPENDIX..............................................................................................................................32
Questionnaire......................................................................................................................32

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
The role of the front line staff in the delivery of quality customer service: A case study on
hospitality industry (Euro-star hotel)
TASK 1 FORMULATE A RESEARCH PROJECT SPECIFICATION
1a.) Factors that contributes in research project selection
There are some of the major factors which helped me in selecting the present research
topic such as:
Previous education and work experience: It is one of the major factors taken into
consideration which helps the researcher in selecting best research topic. At the time of selecting
this topic I have found that my educational qualification and previous work experience both have
supported. In this regard, I have completed my HND level 5 educations in travel and tourism. I
have been working for 9 years in customer service and starting with 2010 I work at Euro-Star.
Here, I work in customer service at Euro-Star and my target is to work as Duty Manager.
Further, this is the field of my interest area. This is the main motivation factor which helps me in
conducting this research and I can develop better findings on the basis of my experience and
knowledge.
Topic is current issue: Another major factor for selection of this topic is that it is widely
used concept nowadays (Denscombe, 2002). Most of the companies are adopting several
strategies through which they can provide quality services to their customers and enhance their
market share as well. Due to the poor service quality overall brand image of company might get
effected, thus research regarding the present subject matter is of greater significance.
1b.) Purpose of the research
According to Mattila and Enz (2002) in today’s highly globalized world most of the
companies founded that customers are the most important asset of their business. They require
developing several strategies through which they can fulfil their needs and demands. In order to
provide quality services to all the consumers within hotel industry front line staff members plays
a crucial role. They are only responsible for greeting all their guests and resolving their any type
of query as well. Boshoff and Allen (2000) in his article define that service quality is having
positive relationship with level of customer satisfaction. Due to this factor, it is essential to
provide proper response to all the guests coming within the hotel. The main purpose of selecting
this research topic is researcher’s area of interest and increasing need to quality services.
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Customers are the major asset and companies need to fulfil all their requirements by providing
them quality services (Bienstock, Mentzer and Kahn, 2015).
In this respect, the present study is based on the role of front line staff members in
delivering quality services to customers. A case study of hospitality industry is taken into
consideration as hotel needs a fresh faces with better communication skills as their front
executive staff. For this, Euro star hotel of UK is being selected which define a tag line that “The
important thing is not which hotel you select, but why you select it”. They currently having 60
privileges establishments located in historical city centres. They mainly target cultural and
business travellers and providing them quality services.
Research Objectives
 To identify the factor that aids in offering quality services to customers.
 To analyse the relationship between delivering quality services by front staff and level of
customer satisfaction.
 To assess to challenges that front line staff faces in offering customer service. To recommend the ways through which overall customer satisfaction level can be
enhanced.
Research Questions
 How quality services delivered by front line staff helps in enhancing the level of
customer satisfaction?
 What are the major challenges faced by front line staff at the time of offering quality
services to guests?
1c.) Literature review
Managing customer relationship is becoming key concerns of every organization. For
this, they are adopting various strategies to maintain and deliver high quality customer services.
According to Bowen and Lawler (2006) front office is the important function as all the
customers’ deals with them as a centre of the hotel. They are highly responsible for greet them
and resolving all their queries regarding their requirements. According to () front line employees
are definitely the face of every hospitality business because customer deals with this staff as the
centre of hotel. The major responsibilities of front staff members are to provide better assistance
to guests, fulfil their needs and meet their wants.
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Seth, Deshmukh and Vrat (2005) in his article stated that there are mainly five
dimensions of service quality i.e. tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy.
These factors must be considered by hotel front staff management team such as:
Tangibility: It covers the area of impression on customers by how well they are dressed.
Reliability: Each and every front staff requires welcoming their guests with full warmth.
They must have ability to resolve all the problems encountered by their guests (Räisänen, 2003).
Responsiveness: It covers the area which determines the promptness of staff members. It
is all about the convenience of making reservation, promptness to check-in and check-out
process of guests etc. Clark, Hartline and Jones (2008) stated that front staff members are
responsible for providing the entire tour information guide to their customers.
Assurance: It is quite essential to maintain the security and safety of guests as it is
another major quality concern.
Empathy: This is the major service quality factor in which it is necessary to go through
the proper care of all the customers and provide them attention individually.
Boshoff and Allen (2000) stated that by following all the service quality measures front
line staff members are able to perceive higher customer satisfaction as well. It helps them in
enhancing their profit margin and developing better relations with their customers. Through this,
they can increase the number of loyal customers within their hotel.
1 d.) Research Project specification
As per the given subject matter it can be determine that, researcher is able to make more
appropriate research by the way of collecting suitable information from different sources. In this
present study Inductive research approach will incorporate as it helps in developing appropriate
theory for the customer relationship after accumulating required data (Mackey and Gass, 2005).
In addition to this, data will be collected by both the primary as well as secondary sources. For
this, primary data will be collected by front line staff members of Euro star hotel by the way of
questionnaire technique. The main reason behind this selection is better response about their role.
They can provide how their positive role helps in maintaining better customer relations. For this,
10 front line staff managers will be selected by purposive sampling technique (Collis and
Hussey, 2003). In order to analyse all their responses, qualitative technique will be incorporated
under which thematic and graphical representation technique will be taken into consideration. It
helps the researcher in framing most suitable findings by the way of developing different themes
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on the basis of gathered responses (Clark, 2002). With the help of selection of these methods,
Researcher will able to draw a valid conclusion about the role of front office staff on the
customer delivery services.
1e.) Time plan
Activity 1th
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Find research
Topic
Literature
Review
Drafting of
methodology
Finish Proposal
Design
question and
pilot research
Carry out &
Record
Research
Data Analysis
and
Making Graphs
Discussion and
Conclusion
Final Report
Editing &
Completion
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TASK 2 IMPLEMENTATION OF RESEARCH PROJECT WITH AGREED
PROCEDURES
2a.) Literature Review
Introduction
This section is considered as a most important section in which researcher can gather
appropriate information and data from the past research. However, there are several studies on
the customer’s loyalty as well as quality services. With the help of past studies author can easily
gather most effective and appropriate information.
Factor that aids in offering quality services to customers
According to Cronin, Brady and Hult, 2000 consumers are the most important source of
increasing sales for any organization. Most of the firms are adopting higher competitive
advantage by keeping their customers happy. In order to do so they need to adopt most effective
and best strategies. Goetsch and Davis, 2014 in his article stated that there are several factors
which help in offering quality services to customers such as:
Respond as quickly as possible: Wilson and et.al., 2012 in article stated that the biggest
factors in good customer service are speed. It also defines as a crucial factor at the time of
delivering services to customers especially when a client is requesting something that’s time
sensitive. However, most of the hotel tries to provide any service to their customer as quickly as
possible. However, delivering quality service is one of the values if any organization. Giovanis
and Athanasopoulou, 2014 stated that less waiting time of quality factor for each and every
customer. In this concern, hotels are required to provide quick services to their consumers
instead of waiting for so long.
Know your customers: It is considered as another most important factor which helps
different organizations as well as hotels to develop high level of trust. Bienstock, Mentzer and
Kahn, 2015 stated that great interaction begins with knowing customer’s needs and requirements.
However, consumer’s nowadays love personalization. By knowing them personally they feel
happy and satisfied with the services of company. With the help of this, hotel owners can contact
their customers at any time.
Think long term: A customer is for life: According to Zhao, Zhang and Chau, (2012)
think long term at the time of dealing with the customers. It is the most effective way to keep all
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the customers happy and make them loyal towards the brand. By thinking this that customer is
for the life time staff members go through the value of each customers. It is being defined from
the past studies that positive word of mouth has tremendous value as well (Zeithaml, Berry and
Parasuraman, 2012).
Fixing customer’s problem: In order to support the customers there should be
appropriate training plan developed by line manager of hotel. Through this training plan all the
staff members are trained for their better and exceptional customer support service experience.
By this, they are able to connect with their customers and provide them logical solutions for all
their problems in an appropriate way (Wilson and et.al., 2012). However, in most of the hotels
front lone staff members resolve the queries of their customers and support them all the time
whenever requires (Zhao, Lu, Zhang and Chau, 2012). Further, this is the key factor which aids
in providing quality service and enhancing level of customer satisfaction as well.
Interaction of employees with customers: It is considered as a most important factor
which determines aids in changing mind set of customers towards the hotel. They must have a
positive perception about hotel so that they give appropriate reviews to their friends and family
members as well. At the time of interacting with customers it is essential for employees to be
polite, positive and caring. However, most of them are very good listener and they gives better
and positive response to company (Sobh and Perry, 2006). According to Chen and et.al., 2012 if
a front line staff member demonstrate empathy and good listening skills then he/she begun to
emotionally wow to their customers. The more they provide them exceptional services, the more
they are going to like them. In this particular manner it is being determine hotel employees need
to interact with effective way so that they can engage more and more number of people.
Execution: At the time of working as a front office staff assistant a person must have
appropriate communication as well as listening skills. This is the most essential factor which
requires having good listening skills (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Ganguli and Roy, 2011 in his
article determine that if a customer likes the service of front line staff and feels like they
understand their problems and give them appropriate solutions for their problems again, it causes
them to like hotel staff, value them, and trust them. However, hotel makes sure that customers’
make sure that their needs are fully met and staff members do it with quality, speed, and
excellence then they are able to attain higher customer satisfaction (Zeithaml, Berry and
Parasuraman, 2012).
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According to Cermak, File and Prince, 2011 customer service is the critical factor for the
long term success of every organization. Here, it can be define that keeping all the customers
happy and satisfied is the only way through which higher competitive advantage can be attained.
In this way, there are numerous ways through which organizations can attain large sales volume.
Relationship between delivering quality services by front staff and level of customer satisfaction
Front line staff member play a most important role in delivering quality services to
consumers. These staffs are considered as a most supporting factor in determining customer’s
satisfaction. Yen, 2013 stated that the front office is an important function because every
customers deal with them as the centre of hotel. They are responsible for providing proper
assistance to all the guests by meeting their requirements. A most promising tag line defines that
“First impression is the last impression”. It also implies on the hotel industries. Customer visit
there and make positive perception in their first visit due to the warm welcome from the front
line staff of the hotel. They are highly responsible for the making positive impression in the mind
set of customers. Yuen and Thai, 2015 stated that service quality was determined as the
subjective comparison that customers make between their expectation as well as the way of
services provided by company. Further, it is essential for the front line staff of the hotel to
provide glad and quality services to their consumers. By this only, they are able to provide them
higher customer satisfaction. According to Zameer and et.al., 2015 it is very important to deliver
quality customer service as it is having a huge impact on both existing customer as well as
potential customer. If staff members provide them exceptional services they are highly satisfied
towards the company. A recent survey found that about 58% of customers would react by telling
family and friends about their bad experience. They also post different reviews on the social
networking sites. It is the biggest factor which might leads to decrease the brand image of
company.
According Kärnä, 2014 there are mainly five dimensions through which they are able to
attain high service quality i.e. tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy.
These are the major factors that aids in offering service quality to customers. Here, tangibility is
all about the dressing style of front staff. It creates a positive impression in the mind of
customers. It is the most important factor that how the staff members are dressed up. On the
other hand, reliability is the factors which determines by the ability of front staff to resolve the
queries of customers. In case of resolving queries in excellent way they highly appreciate their
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services and feel good with the service of that hotel. Another major factor that supports in
providing quality services to customers is responsiveness. Under this, they must provide them
appropriate services at the time of making reservation as well as their check in and check out
services. In it is the most important service which provides ultimate satisfaction to customers and
leaves a remarkable experience in their mind. However, most of the hotels provide internet and
free Wi-Fi facilities for all their guests through which they are able to search for any type of
information at any time. Zhao, Lu, Zhang, and Chau, 2012 stated that empathy is another major
factor which affects the overall services of hotel. Under this, all the guests must be treated with
proper care and attention. It makes them happy and attracts them towards the entire services of
hotel. Moreover, the last factor which determines the high level of customer satisfaction is
assurance in which they must provide proper security and safety for all their guests.
Due to this factor consumer feels secure which enhances their trust level towards hotel
and their services. From all these essential factors it can be determine that by delivering quality
service, front office staff of hotel is able to enhance the level of customers satisfaction.
Challenges that front line staff faces in offering customer service
Ganguli and Roy, 2011 in article stated that fulfilling customer expectation is one of the
major source through which firms can easily enhance their sales margin. It is the best source to
increase the customer base by going through their accurate requirements. Expectation of
customers can be evaluated by comparing their pre purchase expectations of what they would
receive from the products and evaluation of post purchase evaluation. Further, it can be
determine that fulfilling customer expectation is becoming one of the most crucial tasks for front
line staff members.
They are required to greet their guests and resolve all their queries by the way of
providing them appropriate solutions. According to Cronin, Brady and Hult, 2000 there are
various challenges faced by front line staff while offering customer. In this regard, one of the
major challenge is related to the interaction and understanding. Front line staff members are
facing huge problem at the time of treating their employees and understanding their needs.
However, most of the times they are not able to understand the needs of customers due to their
increasing demands. In addition to this, one of the key challenge is guest profiling. Under this,
understanding the guest preference and enable delivery services to them is the most crucial task
for them.
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Further, with this, as per the view point of Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 2012 one of
the most significant challenge which is being faced by the employees of front line staff is to
handle the queries of two or more customers at a time. The statement which author have depicted
is right. This is because, in this context it has been seen that employees will not face any kind of
difficulty when it is dealing with one single customer. In this situation, employees handle the
queries of one specific individual only. Thus, they make efforts in terms of giving answers to all
their queries appropriately. However, the major problem occurs when two or three customers
gather at the counter and communicate about their respective problem. This is the challenging
type of situation because employees cannot ignore any of its customers. However, if done then in
the given circumstances the brand image of hotel will be impacted. Furthermore, due to this the
brand image of hotel will also be impacted in a negative way.
In addition to this, as per the view point of Chen and et.al., 2012 language is the another
most crucial barrier which restrict the front line employees of hotel with regard to deliver their
high quality of services to the guest. Here, due to the language barrier both customers as well as
employees can communicate the specific thing to each other in a manner in which they wanted to
say. This leads to miscommunication between them. As a result of this several complications will
be developed between both customers and employees. This type of thing will lead to hamper the
satisfaction level of the respective buyers and because of this impact can be seen upon the sales
and profits of corporation. Moreover, Bienstock, Mentzer and Kahn, 2015 have also stated that
maintaining and interpreting the database of customers is another challenge which is being faced
by the employees of front line staff. This not the major challenge but it is being faced by those
employees who do not have any knowledge regarding the manner of interpreting and managing
the database of customers. Due to this, employees faces problem when they have to resolve the
queries of their respective customers. Overall, it can be said that these are the major challenge
which hospitality firm must addressed. It is due to the fact that, if not addressed then in this
condition it will become difficult for the enterprise with regard to carry out their efforts in terms
of attracting the large number of customers towards the firm in an effectual manner (Zhao, Lu,
Zhang and Chau, 2012).
2b.) Organizing Questionnaire and Proposed Approaches
Questionnaire
1. Name: ________
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2. Age: ________
3. Gender:
o Male
o Female
4. What are your responsibilities as the position of front line staff member?
5. Does Euro star provide highly affective services to all the customers?
o Yes
o No
6. Does your hotel provide you the necessary training to treat all your customers
effectively?
o Yes
o No
7. Do you think that by responding quickly to your customers and fixing their problems
helps you in providing them quality services?
o Highly agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Highly Disagree
o Disagree
8. According to you what are the major factors which attract your customers towards your
hotel the most?
o Interaction of front line staff members with customers
o Well-dressed staff members
o Ambience
o Responsiveness
o Other
9. Do you agree that by delivering quality front line staff services by knowing your
customers you are able to enhance their level of satisfaction?
o Highly agree
o Agree
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o Neutral
o Highly Disagree
o Disagree
10. According to you, what is the major challenge faced by you as a front line staff at the
time of handling different customers?
11. What are the major challenges faced by you at the time of working as front line staff?
12. I am offer with enough responsibilities to make decisions and use my own judgement for
meeting with the needs of customers
o Highly agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Highly Disagree
o Disagree
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Proposed Approaches
Research methodology is one of the most crucial and significant part of the research
study. This section of the study adopts various tools and techniques in order to create a wide and
effective study for the research (Vaivio, 2008.). Research methodology focuses on the research
problem so, it differ from one problem to another. The present study focuses on evaluating the
role of the front line staff in the delivery of quality customer service for the hotel industry. In
order to attain the research aim the researcher has adopted research onion option to evaluate the
research methodology for the study. It will helps in developing a structured and well developed
measure to seek the research aim.
Illustration 1: Research Onion
(Source: McMillan and Schumacher, 2014)
Research philosophy
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This is the outermost layer of research onion which focuses developing an
effective and structured means to resolve the research issue and attain the aim of the study.
Research philosophy is a broad framework which comprises perception, beliefs and
understanding of several theories and practices that are used to conduct a research (Whiteley and
Whiteley, 2006). The present study has adopted the interpretivism philosophy to carry out the
research report. This study helped the researcher in efficiently considering the social values of
consumers and employees of the company in order to develop an effective and structured report.
In contrary to this positivism is a rigid approach which focuses on theories and techniques
applicable (Creswell, 2013). The present study considers the social value and concern hence this
approach was not appropriate for the present study. The researcher has applied the qualitative
measures to approach the research questions for the given report to evaluate the effective and
valid results for the study. Interpretativism was thus the suitable philosophy to support the same.
Research approach
The next layer of research onion focuses on analyzing the effective approach for
the given study. The research approach helps in evaluating the research objectives and seeks the
most suitable techniques to attain the research aim and objectives in the limited available
resources. The most common measures adopted to develop a research approach for the study are
inductive and deductive approach (Smith, 2000). These measures help the business unit in
creating a wide and effective impact on analyzing the data and attain research aim. The current
study is developed to analyze the role of front line staff in delivering quality services to the
consumers. For attain this research aim inductive research approach has been adopted. The
researcher has adopted this approach because the research aim of the study will be attained
through data collection measure (Formulating the research design, 2015.). A appropriate sample
size has been selected to conduct the research and collect relevant data for the given study.
Deductive research however is a measure adopted by the company where researcher uses the
hypothesis in order to attain the research aim. This approach will not be suitable for the current
research qualitative research data will be collected through data collection measure.
Research strategy
After developing the research approach the next layer of the study is to opt the
most suitable and effective research strategy for the research. Research strategy develops an
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effective and structured measure to approach the research aim. It focuses on analyzing research
issue which will help in determining which strategy will help the researcher in developing the
effective design for the study to attain the research aim. Various designs adopted to develop the
research strategy include case study analysis, survey method, experimental research, descriptive
research etc (Kuada, 2012). These measures develop proper and structured design for the
research. The current research will be adopting the survey method in order to collect the relevant
data for the research. The research issue for the current study deals with social values and
choices. The preferences of every individual depend on his/her own needs and preferences.
Hence for this study survey method has been chosen. This helped the researcher in collecting the
relevant primary data form the staff of the Euro-star hotel in order to attain the appropriate
results for the study. Strategies such as case study or grounded strategy were not applicable as
the research objectives seeks to find the measures which help the employees of the company in
choosing the effective ways to attain consumer satisfaction.
Research choices
The next layer of research onion method is to seek the effective research choices in order
to develop a well-structured and calculated measure to approach the research study. This
measure helps in analyzing that research types for the study. Researches use measures such as
qualitative, qualitative and mixed measures to approach the research problems. These research
types help in effective attaining the research aim. The aim of the present study is to analyze the
role of front line staff in delivery of quality consumer service (Sobh and Perry, 2006). The
research aim for the study is broad and qualitative. The choices of every individual vary on the
basis of his/her conditions and issues. Hence the present study will adopt the qualitative research
type to attempt the research questions. This method will help the research in effectively
analyzing the employee needs and preferences. This method will helps the researcher in
efficiently and most appropriately attaining the research aim. Qualitative measures will be not be
appropriate for the current study as thematic analysis has been adopted for the same.
Time Horizon
A research study is a long run process for the researcher as it has to carry out wide
measures of analysis by applying various tools and techniques. The researchers are most often
developed to resolve the research question and attain the objectives developed (Pickard, 2012).
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Time horizon of the study focuses on analyzing the usability of the research for the proposed
study. The time horizon for the researches are majorly segregated on two basis which includes
longitudinal and cross sectional (Mackey and Gass, 2005). The longitudinal study is developed
on a broad topic and is an ongoing process for the researcher. The research objectives of such
studies are very broad and extensive and take a long time frame to be attained. On contrary to
this cross sectional horizon refers to researches which are developed to research about the
specific research issue and is not very broad. The current research topic is specific for the
researcher thus cross sectional time horizon will be adopted for the same.
Data Collection
In order to develop an effective research study data collection plays a significant and
most crucial role for the same. This layer helps in gathering information about the research
subject which assists in resolving research issues and getting appropriate solution for research
questions (Lindlof and Taylor, 2010). Various methods used to collect the data for the research
are primary and secondary method. The primary data collection measures focuses on collecting
new and fresh data through authentic sources and measures. This helps the researchers in
providing the most effective and latent information for the research. Secondary research on the
other hand is adopted by the researchers to collect the past and used data in order to seek the
effective information from the same (Singh. 2010). The present study will adopt both primary
and secondary data collection measures in order to attain the research aim for the given study.
Primary data has been be collected by front line staff members of Euro star hotel by the way of
questionnaire technique. The main reason behind this selection is better response about their role.
They can provide how their positive role helps in maintaining better customer relations. The
authentic secondary research for the study has been conducted through internet, past company
data etc.
Sampling
This is a critical yet very crucial means of research analysis. This measure helps the
researcher in developing the authentic and reliable research in order to attain the research aim
and objective (McMillan and Schumacher, 2014). In order to conduct the primary research for
the present study the population was the staff members of Eurostar hotel. To develop a reliable
and authentic sample for the study a sample size of 10 front line staff members were selected
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adopting probabilistic sampling measure. This helped the researcher in seeking the most
effective and reliable research result for the given study.
Data analysis
The data analysis helps the researcher in attaining the effective and appropriate research
results to gain the effective findings. In order to analyze all the responses of front line staff of the
company, qualitative technique has been incorporated under which thematic and graphical
representation technique has been taken into consideration. It helped the researcher in framing
most suitable findings by the way of developing different themes on the basis of gathered
responses (Collis and Hussey, 2003). This method was effective and efficient for the research
study in order to attain the appropriate and reliable research results.
Research Limitations
Limitations are the factors which often restricts the researchers to carry out the research.
In order to conduct the present research, embracing better time-management techniques is very
crucial Further some other limitations that can be found in a research study are:
 Primary sources of data collections consume lot of time which delays the achievement of
aims and objectives in desired time period (Denscombe, 2002).
 Less availability of time is another issue for conducting the research. Managing all the
tasks and analyzing collected data will requires much time to get represented. Therefore,
effective planning will be required to save time.
Ethical issues and considerations
The present report adopted the ethical measures and regulation to conduct and completed
the research. The researcher used the authentic and reliable sources for data collection and
analyses. The whole study for attaining the current aim has been conducted on the ethical
grounds. Plagiarism and manipulation in collected data is one of the major ethical issues for
research. In order to avoid such issues effective citation and references has been used by the
researcher. Moreover the personal information of the employees of the company was safety
stored and used. The sensitive data of the company was well protected and utilized by the
researcher. Furthermore for conducting the present research authentic and appropriate data was
used. This helped in developing an appropriate and authentic research study.
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2c.) Record and collect the data that have been gathered
This section is considered as a most important sections of any research in which
researcher can easily go through the appropriate and most suitable findings for research. Here, in
the present study, qualitative techniques have been taken into consideration in order to analyse
most suitable information as per the given subject matter. Under this section, researcher goes
through most appropriate data analysis and with the help of thematic as well as graphical
representation. In this regard, different themes as well as graphs are presented on the basis of
gathered information from the different viewpoints of front line staff members.
Data Analysis and Findings
Theme 1: As the position of front line staff member my responsibilities are different and
keeping my customers satisfied.
Findings: At the time of gathering responses from different respondents, when front line
staff have been asked about their responsibilities then most of them replied that understanding
consumers’ needs and quickly respond them. Majority of staff members replied that they are
responsible for welcoming their hotel guests and resolving their any type of hotel query. In this
concern, it has been founded that there are different responsibilities which front line staff
members need to fulfil. In this, they have to deal with every guest of hotel as they are the centre
of any hotel. Further, the majority of them replied that front staff members are to provide better
assistance to guests, fulfil their needs and meet their wants.
Theme 2: Euro star hotel provides appropriate training to all their hotel staff in order
to provide quality services to their customers.
Findings: When different front office staff members have been asked about the training
support from Euro star then most of them replied in affirmative manner. Majority of them replied
positively and stated that their hotel provide them monthly training in which they are getting
trained about the appropriate interaction with customers and understanding their needs. Here,
from the above graphical theme it can be determine that majority of respondents (80%) were
replied in affirmative manner and stated that they attain weekly training. With the help of this,
they are able to understand more about their nature and how to greet and treat their guests. By
proper training hotel industry can easily deliver quality services to their customers. Further, it has
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been founded that with help of proper training front line staff members are able to acquire higher
customer satisfaction.
Theme 6: Hotels offers necessary training to the employees for treating customers effectively.
From the responses of front line staff of Euro Star, it has been found that they are offered
with sound and necessary training on regular basis. In this context, 9 out of 10 employees stated
“yes” whereas 1 stated “no”. Considering this, it can be interpret that cited hotel offer training
within the context of treating customers and addressing their need with all courtesy and respect.
In this regard, company offers preliminary training to all new joinee in this department in which
they are been monitored while they are working in simulated environment. From this training set,
new employees are able to gain knowledge about standard practice within the hotel and hence
they carry the learning from it. Through this, they are able to offer required and appropriate
services to in-house guest. Beside this, training are even conducted on regular basis in which
ways of addressing and treating are taught to any special guest who will be visiting in the hotel.
It can be analysed from this that training aids in developing confident level in employees through
which they are able to offer sound and effectual customer delivery.
Theme 7: Quality services are been offered by quick responding to customers and fixing their
problem as well.
Based on the above graph, it has been analysed that employees are able to offer quality
services by meeting with the needs of customers and quickly addressing their problems. In this
context, 8 out of 10 agree with the statement whereas 2 are not agree with it. From this, it can
interpret those employees who disagree to the statement thought of offering more quality
services. They don’t perceive quick responding as quality services rather thinks it as their
responsibility. However, 8 employees agree to it which signifies that they are offering quality
services by quickly responding the guest and addressing the issue or grievances. This is so
because customers want that their issues should be addressed with high priority. Additionally,
customers seek instant responses from staff member and it essentially boosts the satisfaction
level of customers. Considering this, front line staffs are highly focused on offering instant
responses to guest and also fixing their issues so that they can develop healthy relations with
them. This also helps in attaining the business objectives by meeting with the satisfaction level of
customers in effectual manner.
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Theme 8: Interaction with customers and Responsiveness are major factors that been sought
by customers
From this study, it is evident that sound interaction with customers and responsiveness
are the major factors that help the company in catering the attention of customers. This has been
analysed from the responses of employees in which 4 out of 10 stated interaction with customers
as crucial factors and another 4 personnel stated responsiveness as most crucial factors. Due to
this viewpoint, company is focusing on these aspects majorly and offering sound services to
customers by addressing their needs quickly. In order to ensure interaction with customers,
company offers sound training and also assess the needs of customers on regular basis. Further, it
makes efforts on responsiveness in which they respond to the issues of customers with high
priority. In this, company make inter communication for the purpose of gathering information so
that needs of customers can be fulfilled in desired manner. However, two personnel consider
ambiance and well-dressed staff member also as key factors but this cannot be considered as key
factors. However, this aids in boosting the satisfaction level of customers but ultimately it
doesn’t cause negative satisfaction if sound ambiance and well-dressed staff are not present in
the premises of hotel.
Theme 9: Employees are free to take decisions so that they can offer quality services to
customers.
From the below figure it has been evident that almost every employee agrees to the
statement that they are offered with enough responsibilities to take decisions and use their own
judgement for addressing the needs of customers in effectual manner. From 10 employees, 9
agreed to it whereas 1 disagreed to it. With this stats, it can be articulate that Euro Star practices
of delegating authority and responsibility to employees so that they can take decisions in order to
make sure fulfilling the needs and issues of guest.
This practice helps the company in boosting the morale of the employees from which
they are able to offer quality services to customers. This aids in attaining the business objectives
of addressing the needs of customers and through which overall efficiency of the company gets
attained. Further, it helps the company in engaging employees from which better strategies is
developed by the company. From the approach of offering responsibility to employees for taking
decision, company is able to meet with the requirement of customers from which they feel
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satisfied. This leads to attainment of loyalty from their side from which chances of repeat
purchase increases up to great extent.
Theme 10: Do you agree that by delivering quality front line staff services by knowing your
customers you are able to enhance their level of satisfaction
The purpose of the researcher was to derive whether knowing the needs of the customers
helps in enhancing the level of satisfaction of the customers or not. On getting the responses it
was discovered that 40% highly agree, 30% agree, 10% were neutral and rest 20% were highly
disagree and disagree. This shows that knowing the needs of the customers helps in knowing
their level of satisfaction. It is evident from the fact that Front line staff of the Euro Staff hotels
adopts different types of approaches in order to understand the requirements of their clients.
Feedback is the most commonly used instrument for them. Generally in other organizations, the
feedbacks are while the guests moved out of the hotel but in Euro star hotel feedbacks are taken
from the guests during their stay also. It helps them to bring improvements in the services at
immediate point of time only. In order to understand the needs and to remain in touch with them,
hotel also makes use of online channels. Things like email; social networks etc. are used to
identify what they will be expecting when they will return to the hotel for services.
Theme 11: major challenges faced as a front line staff at the time of handling different
customers.
The purpose of the researcher was to derive what are the major challenges faced by the
front line staff at the time of handling different customers. On getting the responses it was
derived that 40% of the sample said “interaction and understanding” is the biggest issue and 30%
of the sample said “handling the queries of the two or more customers at a time is another big
issue. They are facing problems at the time of treating their customers and understanding their
needs. However, most of the times they are not able to understand the needs of customers due to
their increasing demands. The major problem occurs when two or three customers gather at the
counter and communicate about their respective problem. Further handling multiple customers at
one time may create confusion and chaos. This can hamper the quality of front line services also.
If they deal with single customer only then it is expected that they will be able to deliver in more
appropriate manner.
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TASK 3 RESEARCH PROJECT INTO A SPECIFIED AREA OF BUSINESS
3a.) Analysis with appropriate graphs and Diagrams
Theme 6: Hotels offers necessary training to the employees for treating customers effectively.
Theme 7: Quality services are been offered by quick responding to customers and fixing their
problem as well.
Theme 8: Interaction with customers and Responsiveness are major factors that been sought
by customers
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Theme 9: Employees are free to take decisions so that they can offer quality services to
customers.
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Theme 10: Do you agree that by delivering quality front line staff services by knowing your
customers you are able to enhance their level of satisfaction
Theme 11: major challenges faced as a front line staff at the time of handling different
customers
3b.) Conclusion and Recommendations
The present study was based on the role of front line staff members in delivering quality
services to customers. A case study of hospitality industry was taken into consideration as hotel
needs a fresh faces with better communication skills as their front executive staff. The research
tried to find out the answers for following research questions:
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 How quality services delivered by front line staff helps in enhancing the level of
customer satisfaction?
 What are the major challenges faced by front line staff at the time of offering quality
services to guests?
From the above study it can be concluded that front line staff plays an important role in the
delivery of hospitality services. They people act as the face of the organization because they are
the one who firstly interacts with the incoming guests. They are responsible for greeting all their
guests and resolving their any type of query as well. Customers are the major asset and
companies need to fulfil all their requirements by providing them quality services. Customers are
the major asset and companies need to fulfil all their requirements by providing them quality
services. There are many dimensions of service quality which includes Tangibility, Reliability,
Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. The front line staff members are required to appear to
be top class on all the above dimensions.
It can also be concluded that front line staff members are required to be highly professional
and skilled. For that purpose, there is a need to focus on developing appropriate measures for
training and development of the employees. They all should be trained effectively at all the front
office levels so that customers do not have to suffer any kind of problems. They should be
trained enough to solve their queries and complains. It is to be noted that hotel industry is a very
dynamic industry and the perception and viewpoints of the customer’s changes from time to
time. The business environment is also very highly competitive. In that scenario, it can be very
difficult for the Euro Hotel to maintain a very high standard of front office services. This is due
to lack of brand image and lack of awareness about the hotel name in the industry. In that case
there is a need to achieve differentiation and to maintain a workforce which has the potential to
deliver high quality services to the customers.
There are some challenges which are faced by the front line employees during the services.
These include interaction and understanding, Guest profiling, Handle the queries of two or more
customers at a time, Language barrier and Maintaining and interpreting the database of
customers. Among all the barriers, language barrier is the most common one however it is very
cunning also. It happens in the case when there are cultural and language differences between
both the parties. Hence employees are to be trained in every language and every kind of
communication.
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The front office corner of the hotel is very important because employees belonging to this
department are the face of the customer services. They people are responsible for reflecting the
true picture of the services of the hotel. In that case if anything bad happened it may negatively
impact the reputation of the organization. In that context constant improvements are needed in all
the service levels. There can be many methods which can help in measuring the service
satisfaction level of the organization. These include feedbacks, surveys, benchmarking, balance
scorecard approach and many other approaches. These methods can find out the gapes and
loopholes in the services and can assists in filling those gapes.
Recommendation
Several recommendations are suggested to the managers of Euro star hotel which is if
applied by them at that time they can perform significant improvement in quality of customer
services which is being delivered by them. In accordance with the given context, it is
recommended to the cited firm manager that it should make measures in terms of placing the
right employees at the right position. In order to perform the given task, it is recommended to the
hotel managers that it must streamline its recruitment and selection process. Here, in the
recruitment and selection process of the firm, manager must involve different type of tests such
as psychological, aptitude and varied other tests. Here, with the help of these given tests
capabilities of the workers can be assessed. Thus, the given thing will enable the Euro star hotel
managers with regard to carry out the recruitment of right employee at right position. Thus,
through this way firm can raise its chance of delivering the high quality of services to the
employees in an effective manner. Due to this, significant improvement in the sales and profits
of the corporation will be carried out.
In addition to this, it is also suggested to the Euro star hotel manager that it must make
measures with an aim to organize the training and development activities to its employees. With
the help of given approach, significant improvement in the particular skill of worker can be
carried out in which they are hindering. Thus, the given thing will enable the front line staff of
hotel with respect to give high quality of services to the customers. Thus, through this way
satisfaction level of cited firm hotel employees can be enhanced. The given thing will tend to
provide benefit to the corporation in terms of increased profits and sales in an effective way.
However, with an aim to assess the training need of front line staff of hotel it is
recommended to the HR manager of Euro star hotel that it should take help from the approach
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such as training need analysis. This approach consists of number of steps which plays crucial
role with regard to get the information about the particular skill in which employees are facing
problem. Thus, training and development program can also be consider as one of the type of
effective measure with the help of which the satisfaction level of cited firm customers can be
maintained as well as enhanced.
Further, with this, it is also recommended to the manager of cited corporation that it must
make efforts with regard to reduce the stress among its employees in an effectual way. In this
context, it has been seen that the front staff employees has to handle the queries of number of
customers on daily basis. The given thing will lead to cause stress among the employees. Due to
this, the service delivery process of firm will be hampered. Thus, in order to reduce the stress
among the worker it is suggested to the firm that it must organize different type of activities
within hotel on monthly biases. In this context, firm can organize different team building
activities. Furthermore, stress among workers can also be reduced by arranging short tour or
picnic with the family members of respective employees. Through this way, opportunity can be
provided to the respective employees with regard to spend some quality time with their friends
and family members.
Moreover, high quality of services can also be delivered by hotel staff if they feel highly
motivated as well as satisfied from their working culture. In accordance with the given context, it
is recommended to the manager of Euro star hotel that it should establish proper link between
reward and performance as being carried out by the employees. Here, cited firm manager must
offer high reward to those employees who will perform well during the specified time period.
Through this way, employees will feel internally motivated. As a result of this, they will make all
sort of efforts with respect to give high quality of services to the customers. Thus, by working as
per all the given recommendations Euro star hotel can maintain the satisfaction level of its
buyers.
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire
13. Name: ________
14. Age: ________
15. Gender:
o Male
o Female
16. What are your responsibilities as the position of front line staff member?
17. Does Euro star provide highly affective services to all the customers?
o Yes
o No
18. Does your hotel provide you the necessary training to treat all your customers
effectively?
o Yes
o No
19. Do you think that by responding quickly to your customers and fixing their problems
helps you in providing them quality services?
o Highly agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Highly Disagree
o Disagree
20. According to you what are the major factors which attract your customers towards your
hotel the most?
o Interaction of front line staff members with customers
o Well-dressed staff members
o Ambience
o Responsiveness
o Other
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21. Do you agree that by delivering quality front line staff services by knowing your
customers you are able to enhance their level of satisfaction?
o Highly agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Highly Disagree
o Disagree
22. According to you, what is the major challenge faced by you as a front line staff at the
time of handling different customers?
23. What are the major challenges faced by you at the time of working as front line staff?
24. I am offer with enough responsibilities to make decisions and use my own judgement for
meeting with the needs of customers
o Highly agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Highly Disagree
o Disagree
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