Research Report: Employee Training's Impact on Customer Satisfaction

This report delves into the critical relationship between employee training and customer satisfaction within the dynamic food and beverage industry. Employing a qualitative research methodology, the study focuses on the impact of employee training programs on customer perception of service quality. The research methodology includes a structured interview with a single manager from a food and beverage establishment, employing purposive sampling to gather in-depth insights. The report outlines the data collection process, coding and analysis techniques, and ethical considerations. Limitations, such as the small sample size, are acknowledged, along with suggestions for future research, including the need for a larger and more diverse sample to draw comprehensive conclusions. The study highlights the importance of employee training in achieving customer satisfaction and competitive advantage, particularly in the context of globalization and the increasing importance of customer experience. The appendix includes the interview questions which were used to obtain the data.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Business Research Methodology: “Training of employees to achieve customer satisfaction in
food and beverage industry”
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Research topic: “Training of employees to achieve customer satisfaction in food and beverage
industry”..........................................................................................................................................2
1.0 Introduction:..............................................................................................................................2
2.0 Research Methods:.....................................................................................................................2
2.1 Methodology:.........................................................................................................................3
2.2 Sampling technique:..............................................................................................................3
2.3 Data Collection:.....................................................................................................................5
2.4 Analysis:................................................................................................................................5
2.5 Ethical Considerations:..........................................................................................................5
2.6 Limitations:............................................................................................................................6
3.0 Conclusion:................................................................................................................................6
References and Bibliography:..........................................................................................................8
Appendix:......................................................................................................................................10

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Research topic: “Training of employees to achieve customer satisfaction in food and beverage
industry”
1.0 Introduction:
In the recent times there has been the rapid development of the food and beverage
industry. In this regard it can be said that the importance of providing customers with the best of
service has become extremely crucial. It is therefore necessary for the service markets to
understand the customer’s perception of service quality and meet out the needs of the customers
accordingly. In the food and beverage industry the customer perception and therefore the service
quality is a crucial weapon for attaining competitive advantage (Colakoglu, Culha & Atay,
2010). In the present era of globalization, understanding the different behavioural intentions of
the customers is extremely important. This is basically the most effective way of establishing a
market strategy with the limited resources a person possesses (AbuKhalifeh & Som, 2012).
To ensure that the staff of the food and beverage industry provide proper service to the
customers there are several training programs which are conducted. These training programs
help the employees understand the impact of their service quality and provide the best of service
in order to retain their consumers.
2.0 Research Methods:
The research methods section is used to discuss the procedure of data collection which
has been utilized in the research on the relationship between employee training and customer

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satisfaction in the Food and Beverage Service. It aims to understand how the training of the
employees impacts the customer satisfaction.
2.1 Methodology:
The methods which are used to collect data are qualitative in nature. The particular
research case has been used to understand the viewpoint of the person who has participated in the
survey. The aim of qualitative research and methods of collection of the data are used to
understand the opinions of the participants in the survey. Basically, it is the aim of qualitative
survey to understand why the people react in a particular way. There are a plethora of contexts in
which qualitative survey can be conducted. In this particular case, the food and beverage industry
has been taken into consideration. The impact of employee training and its influence on the
customer satisfaction in the food and beverage industry has been considered (Patton, 2002).
The role of the person who undertakes the research is to basically understand the thought
processes of the individuals participating in the survey. Often the researchers are faced with
many challenges at the time of conducting surveys. The information which is extremely
confidential may not be disclosed by the interviewee. In case the results conducted in a
qualitative survey are accurate and genuine, it helps in paving the way for a quantitative survey
in future. The researcher in this case obtains general conclusions by the observation of the
specific phenomenon and procedures by understanding the behaviour of the interviewees and
therefore a certain degree of inductive reasoning is also necessary in this particular case (Wu,
Huang & Chou, 2014).

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2.2 Sampling technique:
Sampling is a crucial step for the methodology. The most important steps for sampling
included the proper definition of sampling technique and the sample design and also the
appropriate sample size. The nature of the data which had been collected in this case was that of
primary data. The size of the sample in this case the interviewee was one. Only one manager of a
food and beverage industry had been interviewed. It is known that primary sources of the data
were much more reliable than any other secondary sources. In this research the qualitative
sampling method had been adopted. The two persons involved in the interview process were the
researcher and the interviewee. The researcher needed to be technically competent at the time of
conducting the interview. There should not be any personal bias or errors with the interviewer at
the time of conducting the interview (Patton, 2002).
The different possible types of techniques that can be adopted in the collection of primary
data are purposive sampling, convenience sampling, quota sampling and snowball sampling. The
method of sampling which has been adopted in this particular case is that of purposive sampling.
In this sampling procedure the researchers recruit participants who are capable of giving an in
depth and proper detailed information about the phenomenon which is being studied. This study
can be completely subjective and it can be governed by the researcher who is generating the
qualifying criteria (Torres & Kline, 2013).
The three different types of interviews which can be conducted are that of structured,
semi-structured and unstructured. Structured interviews are such that are essentially administered
in a verbal manner and in this type of interview the questions which are to be asked are pre-
determined and there is very little or no variation at all from the pattern which is to be followed.

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There might be a little issue with the problems that can arise in case certain responses require a
certain part of elaboration.
Unstructured interviews on the other hand, do not have any structured system following
which the interview is to be conducted. Such type of interviews does not have a pre existing flow
and can go in any direction depending on the way in which the manager is responding to the
questions of the interviewer. Certain untrained researchers might face problems in conducting
these sort of interviews in case they are not properly trained.
In this particular research the interview method which had been adopted is that of a
structured interview. In this case the researcher was provided with a set of predetermined
questions which helped him or her to proceed with the interview successfully.
2.3 Data Collection:
In this particular research one manager of a restaurant of the food and beverage chain had
been interviewed. In other words the size of the sample was one. The nature of the data collected
in this case was qualitative and primary by nature.
2.4 Analysis:
The procedure of coding was applied in this particular research. At first open coding was
applied and then axial coding was considered. The topics on which the researcher was
questioned and the answers which were provided by him helped in the eliciting of a proper
response and the categorisation of his answers into proper headings and subheadings for future
scope of research on this particular topic. The application of axial coding after open coding
helped in the overall completion of the analysis.

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2.5 Ethical Considerations:
Any research is incomplete without any sort of ethical considerations on the study. In this
case, the structured form of interview was utilized and therefore the position and responsibility
were utmost important for the interview. The ethical considerations of the interview were
maintained in the sense that the personal details of the manager were not disclosed by the
researcher at the time of analysis of the results. The manager of the interview was made to sign
on an agreement where it was mentioned that the personal details would not be disclosed at any
cost. Thus the ethics of conducting the interview were maintained at all levels.
2.6 Limitations:
The limitation of this particular study is the absence of sufficient data. Interviewing a
particular manager of a food and beverage service hotel or restaurant is not enough to gain
considerable knowledge on the topic of research. In case the data collected are not enough,
conclusions to me made are also not suitable for the data to be collected. It is necessary to collect
more opinions from more managers so that a comprehensive conclusion can be drawn about the
particular service. Different managers from separate food and beverage service industries needed
to be collected.
3.0 Conclusion:
There were several possible ways in which the analysis would have been much more
accurate and applicable. The ways and methods of training of employees are bound to be
different in different industries and therefore the impacts on their customers will also be
different. The customer type and the target customer range based on the prices of the products on
offer were also bound to be different. Thus the discussion and explanation of experiences of the

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managers will also be different. Unless there are a range of different experiences mentioned and
discussed it is not possible for the researchers to make befitting conclusions.
In order to make much better conclusive statements about the relationship between
employee training and customer satisfaction the number of people to be interviewed should have
been more. Customers have the power to either make or break a particular industry. Specifically
the food and beverage industry is such that it heavily relies on the opinions of its consumers and
they can either lead to the success or failure of the industry. The managers are people who
closely study the impact of the industry consumers and the treatment of customers by their
employees, However in this particular research there is much scope for improvement.

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References and Bibliography:
AbuKhalifeh, A. N., & Som, A. P. M. (2012). Service quality management in hotel industry: a
conceptual framework for food and beverage departments. International Journal of
Business and Management, 7(14), 135.
Colakoglu, U., Culha, O., & Atay, H. (2010). The effects of perceived organisational support on
employees' affective outcomes: evidence from the hotel industry. Tourism and hospitality
management, 16(2), 125-150.
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Alcott, P., & Pantelidis, I. S. (2018). Food and beverage management.
Routledge.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for
qualitative research. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury, CA: SAGE Publications.
Mensah, L. D., & Julien, D. (2011). Implementation of food safety management systems in the
UK. Food Control, 22(8), 1216-1225.
N. Torres, E., & Kline, S. (2013). From customer satisfaction to customer delight: Creating a
new standard of service for the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 25(5), 642-659.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (Vol. 3). Thousand Oaks,
C.A.: Sage Publications.

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Spradley, J. P. (2003). Qualitative Approaches to Criminal Justice: Perspectives from the Field.
Thousand Oaks, C.A.: Sage Publications.
Wu, P. H., Huang, C. Y., & Chou, C. K. (2014). Service expectation, perceived service quality,
and customer satisfaction in food and beverage industry. International Journal of
Organizational Innovation (Online), 7(1), 171.

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Appendix:
1. What is customer satisfaction according to you? (Customer satisfaction)
2. How would you ensure customer satisfaction is maintained? (Customer satisfaction)
3. How do you feel training helps in the achievement of best rates of satisfaction? (employee
training and customer satisfaction)
4. What are the trademarks of the best quality service according to you? (Customer satisfaction)
5. Who are your main target customers? (Customer satisfaction)
6. What innovations would you bring with the employees’ help ensure the restaurant tops the
customer list of preferences? (employee training and customer satisfaction)
7. What are the employee training methods which are given here (employee training)?
8. What according to you is the most important part of employee training (employee training)?
9. How to you carry out the recruitment process (employee training)?
10. How do you train your team (employee training)?
11. How do you deal with low performance level and decisions of attrition in instances where
customer satisfaction is not met? (employee training and customer satisfaction)
12. What are the criteria for you to recruit trained staff? (employee training)
13. Do you feel only experienced and properly trained employees are able to give best customer
service? Why? (employee training and customer satisfaction)

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14. Do you feel that the quantity and quality of turnover rate impacts the training of employees?
(employee training and customer satisfaction)
15. What according to you is the best way to ensure the customer satisfaction in your restaurant
(customer satisfaction)?