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The purpose of this report was to conceptualize the organisation management, human resources management and marketing

Home, - Organisation management,human resource management and marketing management

Introduction

The following report is a continuation of the Merchant Bar & Eatery’s concept report. Within this report the service concepts are further elaborated in par with service trinity of operating strategies, human resources and marketing and how all of the elements have an effect on the customer and their satisfaction. This is accomplished by breaking the report to five key sections: exploring the operating strategy, service blueprint, service delivery system, employee management and quality management measures. All sections have a specific focus in relation to the customer of the Merchant and how all aspects affect their satisfaction. 

1. Operating strategy

Levitt (1972) argues that a manufacturing line approach should be incorporated to services to improve quality and efficiency. On the other hand, customers value individualised service, thus fighting against the idea of a standardised service delivery (Lovelock, Patterson &Wirtz 2015).  Or does it?

From management point of view, it is arguably in support of Levitt’s theory to have standardised systems, procedures and approaches in order to maintain consistent quality, performance indicators and overall guideline to operations.  From customer’s point of view having standardised operations ensures a certain expected quality.Truth is, various customers have different expectations in regards to service, however, certain aspects can be designed like at a production line– such as in the service delivery scrips in restaurants: having water on tables or poured by waiters or offering table service or customers order at counter. Furthermore, Lin and Mattila (2010) noted in their research, how customers evaluate consumption experiences holistically, especially evaluating the servicescape, core product and service encounters for positive feelings and satisfaction. 

From operation’s point of view, it is essential to endorse customers’ positive feelings and satisfaction in order for the restaurant to be profitable. The Merchant Bar & Eatery identifies itself as a casual restaurant, with a ‘fast’, full-service concept. Target market research in the previous report indicated that the customers value a different experience, good quality and efficient service with the restaurants capacity to adapt to various sizes of parties, themes and occasions. To ensure efficient seating, food and beverage production and usage of capacity, certain limits can be set. Limiting the amount of online bookings allowed at certain time slots manages the flow of orders to kitchen &bar, and thus ensuring efficiency in preparing dishes and beverages. Moreover, this practice ensures staggered bookings also allowing for walk-ins, balancing the distribution management of the restaurant and reducing wait time for customers (Kimes 2011). Additionally, efficient staffing levels ensure that minimum all sections are covered with few extra helpers, allowing efficient and quick delivery of food and beverages to tables, further improving productivity. These ‘product-lines’ are adjustable to demand.

Back of house marketing management for the Merchant Bar & Eatery will follow recent trend and usage of social media to further enable communication and connection with the customers (DiPietro et al. 2012; Kwok & Yu 2013). Channels will be utilised for promotional usage, but also connecting with customers with instant feedback and responses to feedback. However, the main aspect of marketing is also in correlation to human resources, and that is to realise that the service providers (people) are the marketing face of the restaurant. Their demeanour, behaviour and attitude have a crucial role to customer satisfaction and meeting the expectation. Therefore it is essential that right people, with stress-handling skillset and some knowledge, with the right attitude be hired. Further concepts of service blueprint, service delivery system and service employee management will be covered in the following sections of this report. To measure and assess the employees, customers are encouraged to answer a feedback survey, which will be answered for and also grading the restaurant as a whole in food & drinks, service, atmosphere and value. The averages of these results will help out with quantitative benchmarking of service quality and evaluating productivity against financial figures. 

 

The service blueprint is an overview of the restaurant business. Points highlighted in light red are acknowledged as a ‘failing points’ – widely affecting the customers’ with the customer at all times has the most influence on customer satisfaction, however the two main points of particular importance are the verifying satisfaction and food & drink preparation. These are the points that customers evaluate their value on and where dissatisfaction on physical product can happen and the intangibility of the services is evaluated (Haghighi et al. 2012).Furthermore, Jung and Yoon (2011) distress the importance of non-verbal communication of employees. The intangible product to be aware of is the non-verbal communication of the employee when verifying satisfaction and possible complaint or dissatisfaction management. 

In order to manage food and drink preparation it is crucial to have knowledgeable staff allowing them enough time and equipment for preparation and have the correct stock at hand. From operational point of view, docket management is crucial for the timing aspect of the preparation. This will go further down to reservations, table layout and seating management – all of which are crucial points to ensure a manageable flow of orders. 

Verifying the satisfaction as well as non-verbal communication is crucial part of training the staff, for them to understand the importance, but also during the hiring process to obtain people with the right attitudes. In addition to training, enhancing communication within the team is also essential for the customer satisfaction. With pre-service briefings, evaluation post-service will further help employees to get better and assess situations. 

2. The service delivery system

As a fast casual restaurant, providing a unique experience of Venetian inspired food and atmosphere, the service is regarded as a high contact at the Merchant Bar & Eatery. In the following section the Merchant’s service delivery steps are presented from when a customer enters the premises, followed by an assessment of the quality and productivity of the steps. 

 

1.All staff to greet every customer warmly and welcoming

2. Seat & Greet: customer directed to the table, menus given, first drink order taken

3. Still / Sparkling water offered

4. Section waiter to explain specials whilst pouring water

5. Wine & Food order taken, menus removed

6. Wine served & table set according to food order

7. Wine & waters constantly topped up, offering more drinks when a mouthful is left in glass

8. Entrée served

9. Checking back after couple of mouthfuls

10. Table cleared, when everyone has finished meal, Mains called away (if ordered)

11. Mains served

12. Checking back after couple of mouthfuls

13. Everything aside from napkins cleared, when everyone has finished meals

14. Desserts menus presented, coffee/dessert wine/digestives offered

15. Following up, if customers want anything else, bill offered

16. Farewell

17. Clearing table and resetting

This is the backbone of the services of the Merchant Bar & Eatery. With certain steps, it is ensured that customers get the same level of attention and standards of services. This is also assisting with time management – employees knowing at which stage each table is will further help them with time and thus, productivity. A full dining experience will be assessed within a 2-hour turnaround period of a table, and therefore assessing an employee’s productivity is how well tables are kept within each service delivery step in contrast to time spent. 

Furthermore, capacity of the restaurant does not only rely on how many customers the restaurant can seat at once, but the capacity to handle all orders in a timely manner, within the backbone of the presented service delivery steps.

Essentially, empty tables generate zero revenue to the reservation and the goal is to have tables filled with customers, with as much turnaround as possible. Reservation systems, such as ResDiary used in Melbourne, allow easy accessibility to online reservations, but also assist with managing table seating from the restaurant point of view.

However, it is essential to manage the seating arrangement in a manner of productivity. That is, it is necessary to balance how each section is filled, how many customers are seated at one time and at the same time leaving room for walk-ins. Utilising the Bar as a holding area further assist in capacity management of the eatery and the crowd management. With these limitations in place, management of waiter’s, kitchen’s and bar’s capacity to handle and provide the best possible service is ensured. 

3. Serviceemployeemanagement

Lovelock, Patterson and Wirtz(2015) explain how service personnel are the key source of customer satisfaction, product value, loyalty and competitive advantage. Moreover, especially in a restaurant the frontline provides constantly high-contact services and thus is extremely stressful and difficult, requiring various skillsets from staff to manage them. Various roles played by the employee to meet organisational goals, customer satisfaction and sales goals, coping with customer aggression and balancing personal and work life are all examples of everyday situations an employee at a service frontline has to handlewhen performing at their job (Lovelock, Patterson &Wirtz 2015; Wilkinson 2010). Referring to the service blueprint, fail points have been noted to be mainly by the frontline contact person’s visible actions andall stress triggers could happen at any point throughout these actions that affect the perceived quality of customers.

Researches (Gazzoli, Hancer& Park 2010; Kandampully, Zhang &Bilgihan 2015; Yee, Yeung & Cheng 2010) indicate that a service business is profitable when its employees are loyal to the company. This loyalty to the organisation portrays in the motivation to work and further advancing quality of service. Therefore, it is essential that an organisation heighten employee motivation, maintaining lower retention rates. When hiring for The Merchantcertain traits of personalities are favoured to collect a group that works cohesively together, providing a fun place to work that does not shy away from stressful situations. The restaurant is not ideal as a first workplace, due to preferring certain knowledge (of wine and food). However, if a right attitude is found, knowledge skills do take time, but can be taught. 

Due to the nature of the restaurant industry it is also essential to promote cross-organisation relationships and treat the team as a family. Knowing each employee personally, organising a few staff gatherings and activities throughout the year are chances to distress the employees, boosting teamwork and overall morale to work. It is also crucial to listen to individual needs that a team member might have and show the capacity to accommodate those needs, such as family commitments, hobbies or special interests. As Lovelock, Patterson and Wirtz noted, it is essential to a person’s health to let them be themselves and not constantly act and pretend, as it leads to severe health complications (2015, p. 253). 

4. Quality managementmeasures

Customer satisfaction is key to the business’ success. Multiple researches indicate that maintaining a regular customer is at a lower cost than attracting new ones (Jung & Yoon 2011; Lin &Mattila 2010; Yee, Yeung & Cheng 2010). Evaluating quality of service is more complex, because of the intangible, inseparable and multifaceted nature of the delivery. The concept of SERVQUAL identified five dimensions for service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Lovelock, Patterson &Wirtz 2015, p.345). Additionally, the gap model indicates various gaps between expected and perceived services. Five key gaps are identified that management need to take into consideration to ensure customer satisfaction. From the service blueprint it is essential that customer expectations need to constantly be met, therefore the Merchant will use the service gap model to identify satisfaction expectations of customers and meet these expectation, incorporating the dimensions of SERVQUAL throughout the process.

 

Gap 1: Extensive market research will be done to know the segment, however when in operation, tools to build customer profiles (such as ResDiary) will be used to know customers individually and adjust specific service delivery to their individual needs. A flat organisational structure encourages upward communications, but also connect upper management directly with the customers to further understand the expectations. 

Gap 2: Ongoing training, support and mentoring will ensure all staff member are knowledgeable on service standards and sequence of service. Regular feedback is provided by managers, but also obtained from customer feedback surveys to monitor the quality of service.Employees are rewarded when attaining certain goals.

Gap 3: All dimensions of the SERVQUAL are being assessed, and therefore it is essential employees are aware of how their actions at certain roles have an impact on customer satisfaction.  Understanding the service blueprint is key. 

Gap 4: Promotion and marketing is done in a fashion that has clear and attainable promises, such as different price point menus or special occasions, like Mother’s Day. 

Gap 5: Customers need to be understood at individual level, in order for the restaurant to know what expectations have been influence and how customer interpret these expectations to their perception of service. 

Conclusion

The purpose of this report was to present the trinity affecting customer experiences and satisfaction by presenting the Merchant’s operations, human resource and marketing management at different sections. It is essential to management to understand that each component cannot be measured in isolation to the others, but that all evaluations indicate something in the various sectors in a holistic way.Therefore, to understand the effects on customer expectation and satisfaction it is essential to evaluate all aspects of operation, human resource and marketing management and how each component has an affect on the customer respectively. 

 

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