Investigating Employee Empowerment and Customer Satisfaction at Ritz

This dissertation investigates the relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction within the context of the hotel industry, with a specific focus on Ritz. The study employs qualitative research methods and secondary data analysis to examine the factors influencing employee empowerment, such as psychological and cultural aspects, and customer satisfaction, particularly concerning service quality. The research includes a thorough literature review, exploring the concepts of empowerment and customer satisfaction, and a detailed methodology chapter outlining the research approach, philosophy, and data collection methods. Findings are analyzed to assess the direct and positive relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction, providing insights and recommendations for Ritz to enhance customer satisfaction strategies. The dissertation also discusses the limitations of the research and offers a comprehensive understanding of the topic, useful for both academics and industry professionals.

Dissertation

Abstract
To stay ahead in the competition, there is a need to hire talented employees who have
enough capability to maintain the working environment of a business. Similarly, the present
study is also focused upon employee empowerment and customer satisfaction. For that,
qualitative research methods used along with secondary data collection methods that provide a
deep understanding with regard to both terms and examine the relationship between the same.
Further, through secondary research it can be stated that there are many factors that affect the
employee empowerment such as psychological factors, cultural factors, whereas customer
satisfaction is affected through quality of service offered by hotel. Therefore, the entire study
shows that there is a positive and direct relationship between employee empowerment and
customer satisfaction.

Acknowledgment
I would like to thank University who offered me an opportunity to complete the assignment and
enhance knowledge.
I would also thank my teachers who support me and always ready to solve my doubt in order to
take the research into right direction.
Last but not the least I would like to thank my parents who support me economically and non-
economically to complete the assignment.
Thank you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................6
1.1 Background............................................................................................................................6
1.2 Aim and objectives................................................................................................................6
1.3 Rationale................................................................................................................................7
1.4 Scope of the study..................................................................................................................7
1.5 Structure of a dissertation......................................................................................................8
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................10
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................10
2.2 Concept of empowerment and customer satisfaction within hotel industry........................10
2.3 Critically examine the factors that affect employee empowerment and customer
satisfaction in Ritz.....................................................................................................................12
2.4 Relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction.........................14
2.5 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................18
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................18
3.2 Research type.......................................................................................................................18
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................18
3.4 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................19
3.5 Data collection.....................................................................................................................20
3.6 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................21
3.7 Ethical consideration............................................................................................................21
3.8 Reliability and validity.........................................................................................................22

3.9 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................23
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION......................................................24
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................31
4.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................31
4.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................32
4.3 Limitation of research..........................................................................................................33
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................34

Topic: To investigate empowerment and customer satisfaction in the context of hotel
industry: A study on Ritz
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Employees are considered as a backbone of an organization because in hotel industry
they are the only person who directly touch with customers during dealing the service. On the
other side, customers are satisfied when the employees offer effective services and become loyal
towards a brand. These loyal customers give company repeat business and form a major part of a
revenue as well. The continuous development of an employee empowerment is affected the
quality of service they offered to customers (Bose and Emirates, 2018). However, the aim of a
business is to earn profit by offering high quality service to their customers which in turn leads to
satisfy them. Thus, employee empowerment is a wide concept that is used to enhance the work
performance and sustain the brand image at international level as well. Similarly, the present
research also focused upon the employee empowerment and customer satisfaction and also with
the help of thematic analysis, the relationship between both will be identified.
The dissertation is based upon the hotel industry in which Ritz has been used which is
one of the top firm and offer luxurious services to their customers at affordable rates. The
company is also graded as a 5-star hotel and recognized as a most prestigious hotel due to its
high class service. Currently it has more than thousands employees and also operating in
different countries, that is why, it is necessary to enhance the employee empowerment so that it
leads to increase customer satisfaction.
1.2 Aim and objectives
Aim: The aim of the study is to examine employee empowerment and customer satisfaction in
Ritz.
Objectives:
 To understand the concept of empowerment and customer satisfaction within hotel
industry.

 To critically examine the factors that affect employee empowerment and customer
satisfaction in Ritz.
 To access the relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction.
 To suggest effectual customer satisfaction strategies which can be used by Ritz.
Research questions
 What do you understand by empowerment and customer satisfaction?
 What are the factors that affect employee empowerment and customer satisfaction in
Ritz?
 What is the relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction?
1.3 Rationale
The reason for conducting the research on this topic is such that to study on employee
empowerment and customer satisfaction within Ritz. Now a days, it is not easy for companies to
strengthen the employees performance and for that they uses different strategies to improve the
productivity. Therefore, this is recognized as an issue because due to having low employee
empowerment, it directly affects customer satisfaction which in turn creates impact upon
financial performance of Ritz as well. Also, due to poorly designed empowerment strategies,
company is failed to produce results and that is why, managers of an organizations must have
focused upon different strategies pertaining to employee empowerment so that it leads to satisfy
customers too (Empowerment, 2018). Thus, by using thematic data analysis, scholar may also
shed the light upon different aspects pertaining to employee empowerment and customer
satisfaction.
Another rationale for conducting research on this specific topic is such that scholar have
their own interest to study on employee empowerment and customer satisfaction, as it leads to
enhance the knowledge as well. Further, it will also help investigator to use the same in their
future either in their professional career or personally.
1.4 Scope of the study
The research will provide an insight to the implication of employee engagement to
employers of Ritz and develop a relationship between employee empowerment and customer

satisfaction within hotel industry. This, the study helps the company to understand the concept
and identify the factors that might affect both variables. On the other side, the study will also
beneficial to other scholars who study on similar topic so that they can use the content as a
secondary resource and develop an understanding about the topic as well. Apart from this, study
is also helpful to other hotels (competitor of Ritz) to examine the impact of employee
empowerment and customer’s satisfaction upon the overall performance of a company.
Thus, it can be stated that managers in other organizations will also find the study more
useful in order to enhancing their appreciation of the need to empower employees. Along with
this, different new concepts will be used in the study that are useful to researchers in the context
of hotel industry which includes organizational image, effectiveness and trust etc.
1.5 Structure of a dissertation
Chapter 1: Introduction
It is the first chapter of a dissertation where scholar describe aim and objective,
background of the dissertation. Along with this, scholar also describe the reason for conducting
the study on this specific topic. Further, scope of the study has been discussed in this chapter that
provide usefulness of conducting research on the chosen topic I.e. investigation on empowerment
and customer satisfaction.
Chapter 2: Literature review
Second chapter of the dissertation, in which scholar consider all the secondary sources
which includes books, article, journals relevant to the topic. Further, investigator also used
author’s point of view in order to designed themes on the basis of research objectives. This
section helps researcher to develop a deep understanding pertaining to employee empowerment
and customer satisfaction.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Another important chapter of a dissertation in which scholar critically evaluate the
study’s validity and reliability. For that, different techniques will be used to analyze the
information about a topic which includes research type, approach, philosophy, data collection
methods and ethical considerations, reliability and validity.

Chapter 4: Data analysis and discussion
Forth section of a dissertation in which scholar analyses the results derived through
secondary research and company’s information available on Internet. Through this section,
scholar examine the relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction of
Ritz by designing themes referring to research objectives and use images, graphs that helps to
present the findings in effectual manner.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations
Last section, which provides summary of entire dissertation by concluding all section.
Further, researcher will suggest different ways to Ritz in order to satisfy their customers which in
turn sustain the brand image. The section also includes limitation of a research so that in future,
it will be minimized.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Literature review is a scholarly source on a specific topic that helps to provide in-depth
information with regard to chosen topic. Further, it is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific
topic that allow investigator to identify the relevant theories and methods in an existing research.
Similarly, the present section will provide a critical view of author by choosing relevant books,
articles and journals which are published after 2017. In the present section, scholar will describe
the concept and models related to employee empowerment and customer satisfaction. Further, it
will also elaborate the relationship between employee empowerment and customer satisfaction
within Ritz and then describe the challenges faced by the company while managing customer
satisfaction.
2.2 Concept of empowerment and customer satisfaction within hotel industry.
According to Kumar and Kumar (2017) employee empowerment is a way in which a firm
provides their employees with a certain degree of autonomy and also controls their day to day
activities. This is considered an important factor which helps to install greater trust in leadership
and also encourage employee motivation that leads to improve employee retention. This all also
support the firm to generate positive output and causes positive impact upon the financial
performance of a business. Similarly, Idris, See and Coughlan (2018) also argued that
empowerment enables them to represent their interest in a responsible manner so that they
develop effective results that helps customer to enhance their visiting experience.
Saengchai, Siriattakul and Jermsittiparsert (2019) shared their views on customer
satisfaction which refers as a measurement that determines how satisfied or happy the customers
are with offered services. This can be done in different forms and it also helps to determine how
to best improve hotel's offerings. Moreover, for every company it is necessary to identify
satisfaction level of customers. Such that if they are satisfied then users become loyal and as a
result, they provide repeat business. For example, in Ritz, conduct survey in order to get their
level of satisfaction regarding products and services offered by firm. This in turn also assists to
examine the weakness of a firm and then develop strategies to improve the same.

As per the Kanter Management theory, it is examined that management must provide
support to increase productivity and companies must gather reviews from peers and management
in order to identify the performance of employees. Author also stated that empowering staff
refers to no- barrier concept, unfortunately most of them are fails to do so. As, organization
cannot specify the employee's goals without relevant resources and to attain the same, training is
provided. The theory also proposes that staffs who feel that they have a reasonable workload,
then they must rewarded which in turn helps to encourage and being engaged towards their work.
Therefore, the same strategy is applied by Ritz where benefits are rewarded to their employees
when they attain the defined target for a specific tenure.
Rodgers, Anthony and Cudney (2021) explained three main elements of employee
empowering which needs to be followed by the companies that improve the customer service and
make valid decision as well. Such that Clarity, which is first step of empowering employees in
order to clarify the goals and expectation. Actually, an individual can only progress at work if
they have a clear idea of results which they are expected to deliver. That is why, manager needs
to clarify the expected outcome and also communicate them frequently in order to generate the
valid outcomes. On the other side, Support is the second element of empowering. AlArafat and
Doblas (2021) investigated that employee always looking for a support from their seniors in
order to overcome any obstacles. This requires not only time, resources and encouragement, but
support as well as guidance from their management that helps them to eliminate the barriers of
success.
Moreover, Autonomy is last element which means giving them independence to do their
work. In that, trust plays an important role because if manager can trust their employees then
they work together and this in turn lead to positive working environment as well. Rao, Narayana
and Niranjan, (2021) supported that in a positive work environment people are actually
empowered to do their job in successful manner. Thus, workers are positive only when they
consistently lead toward progress that helps to meet the meaningful goals. That is why, there is a
need to comply with such principle in order to generate best outcome.
AlKahtani and et.al., (2021) also supported that to increase the productivity and enhance
the performance, it is essential to collect reviews and also involve employees within decision
making so that they considered themselves as an important pillar. Further, strong empowerment

leads to improve productivity and it also contributes towards customer satisfaction. That is why,
it is essential for the company to have a good command towards their employees so that they will
meet the defined aim.
2.3 Critically examine the factors that affect employee empowerment and customer satisfaction
in Ritz.
In the views of Bani-Melhem and et.al., (2021) psychological factor is considered the
biggest factor that affect employee empowerment directly. This includes personality and its
dimension i.e. self- confidence, psychological styles, stability, compatibility etc. Most of the
secondary study shows that happy people possess strong confidence and friendly relationship
that assists to satisfy the need of a customer. Also, due to psychological factors, management
team of a company is also able to provide positive environment to their customers and able to
attain the defined goals as well. Also, Pham Thi Phuong and Ahn (2021) shared their opinion
that influence of cultural factor also affects the employee empowerment. As in large brands,
there is high number of employees who belongs to different culture. Thus, it is quite difficult for
the management to manage them, for that different policies are defined which helps to improve
the performance and build a trust among them so that a sense of empowerment is generated
among others, Therefore, there is a need to mitigate the problem because it affects the overall
performance of a company.
On the other side, Pakpahan, Mariatin and Ananda (2021) emphasized that apart from
employee empowerment, there are many factors which also leads to affect customer satisfaction.
This includes accessibility in which customer face difficulties to find the location in order to
access the service offered by the company. As, there are many companies who use different
channels in order to aware their customers so that they will easily access their location. This in
turn cause positive impression upon customers and enhanced their satisfaction level as well. On
the same time, Augustain, Agu and Okocha (2019) argued by if the customer service of hotel is
not appropriate then it also leads to cause negative impact upon them and this in turn decrease
the satisfaction of customers. This reflects that behavior of employees is also mattered because
they are the only person who come direct contact with customers. That is why, it is necessary for
the hotel industry to identify the factor that affect the overall performance of employees and
decline the customer satisfaction level as well.