SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SELECTED RESTAURANT IN PORT HARCOURT

SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SELECTED RESTAURANT IN PORT HARCOURT

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between quality service management and organizational productivity.

OTHER RELATED PROJECT TOPICS HERE

CHAPTER ONE

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The rapid changes of time and environment have resulted in great competitive pressure on enterprises, for the survival and development; a lot of enterprises actively looking for the enhancement of capabilities and competitive advantages to cope with the challenges in the globalized area. Service management can be seen as the process of managing the quality of services delivered to a customer according to his expectations. It looks at how well a service has been given; so as to improve its quality in the future, identify problems, and correct them to increase customer satisfaction. Service quality has widely been discussed since 20 Service is an intangible product that brings utility or value to the customer. Service Management is thus a managerial discipline focused on a customer and a service. Services must be managed throughout their lifecycle. (ITIL, Information Technology Infrastructure Library)   its idea is still relevant to help today’s organizations in creating differentiation and gaining competitive advantage in an era of a borderless world and globalization ( 2016, Fotaki 2015, (Karatepe 2016&). The US school of thought modified the construct of service quality where it proposes that effective service quality should have five specific dimensions, namely tangible (physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of workers), reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), responsiveness (willingness to help the customer and provide prompt service), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of workers and their abilities to inspire trust and confidence), and empathy (caring, individualized attention the organization provides its customers (Ismail, Rose & Foboy,2016, Baldwin & Sohal 2003) c However, this quality school of thought sourced their ideas developed based on individual attitudes and perceptions [Sriram, Chintagunta & Machanda 2015, Yuen & Thai 2015].Further, this implies that beyond products there should be a positive experience created for these customers in order to beat their expectations which is the major aim of service management. Global business environments are changing from manufacturing orientation to service orientation when enterprises should continuously promote service quality to maintain competitive advantages as service quality has become an instrument to enhance competitiveness. Modern customers have constantly enhanced the requirements for service quality so that the developments of excellent service quality become a critical issue in the fiercely competitive environment. In the knowledge-based 21st century, the importance of service quality for global economic development is similar to its technique for the conventional manufacturing industry; the rapid change in the business environment could be obviously found in either conventional manufacturing industry, in-tech industry, or service industry (Bryson & Annoyer, 2004). The provision of a single product and service could no longer attract customers. Therefore exceptional services do attract customers mostly through word of mouth and the need to manage service to achieve quality service is therefore a paramount issue. Productivity in the public sector is viewed differently compared to productivity in the private sector as this is largely due to measurable outputs. The study conducted by (Parker, Waller & Xu 2013) begins by distinguishing three differences in productivity, i.e., manufacturing products; private commercial services; and public and not-for-profit services. The study reveals that the unit of measure and outputs of manufacturing operations are tangible and output can be measured while its quality characteristics can be objectively assessed. However, organizational productivity in this study therefore makes reference to the private sector. It, therefore, looks at how Quality Service Management relates to organizational productivity.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Ellickson & Logsdon (2001) mention environmental and personal characteristics as the two most influential variables that can hinder organizational productivity. Productivity describes various measures of the efficiency of production. Often (yet not always), a productivity measure is expressed as the ratio of aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production process, i.e. output per unit of input, typically over a specific period of time. The most common example is the (aggregate) labour productivity measure, e.g., such as GDP per worker. There are many different definitions of productivity (including those that are not defined as ratios of output to input) and the choice among them depends on the purpose of the productivity measurement and/or data availability. The key source of difference between various productivity measures is also usually related (directly or indirectly) to how the outputs and the inputs are aggregated into scalars to obtain such a ratio-type measure of productivity variables that determine the level of employee satisfaction which has a positive influence on productivity.

Productivity is a crucial factor in the production performance of any hospitality industry. Service management can increase the profitability in hospitality firms and improves people’s ability to work, enjoy leisure, increase efficiency and effectiveness. Productivity growth can also help hospitality industries to be more profitable (Saari, 2006; Sickles and Zelenyuk, 2019). Through an observation campaign carried out to ascertain the tendency of the subject matter in the research area, it was discovered that most of the food dealers, especially the restaurants in the study area, are prone to mismanagement on service quality therefore the need for this study, notwithstanding the fact that so many extant There are many different definitions of the fact that so many extant literature has contributed on this but not on restaurants in Port Harcourt.

1.3     CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Figure 1.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS

The major variables of this study are Quality Service Management and Organizational Productivity showing the relationship between Quality Service Management and Organizational Productivity of restaurants in Port Harcourt.

1.4      PURPOSE TO THE STUDY 

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between quality service management and organizational productivity, under specific objectives which include the following:

1. Examine the effect of physical quality on customer patronage.
2. Examine the effect of physical quality on word of mouth.
3. Examine the effect of corporate quality on customer patronage.
4. Examine the effect of corporate quality on word of mouth.
5. Examine the effect of Interactive quality on customer patronage.
6. Examine the effect of interactive quality on word of mouth.

1.5     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were coined from the objectives of the study:

1. How does physical quality affect customer’s patronage?
2. How does physical quality affect word of mouth?
3. How does corporate quality affect customer’s patronage?
4. How does corporate quality affect word of mouth?
5. How does interactive quality affect customer’s patronage?
6. How does interactive quality affect word of mouth?

1.6     RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following research hypotheses were stated in their null forms to achieve the objective of this study:

Ho₁.  There is no significant relationship between physical service management and customer’s patronage

Ho₂.   There is no significant  relationship between physical quality service management and    word of mouth

Ho₃.   There is no significant relationship between corporate service management and customer patronage

Ho₄.   There is no significant relationship between corporate service management and word of mouth

Ho₅.   There is no significant relationship between interaction quality service management and the number of customer’s patronage.

Ho₆.There is no significant relationship between interactive quality and word of mouth

1.7     THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

• Management: Managing Service quality has become a very big concern for organizations and today managers who are conscious of effectiveness and efficiency in their various organizations. The importance of being effective and efficient in an organizational structure can never be overemphasized, therefore the need for more studies on the subject matter. The significance of this study, therefore, deals with the importance, uses, and benefits of the study. This research will be helpful to restaurant managers; as this would help them to understand the importance of quality service management towards restaurant productivity.
• Future researchers: this work will benefit researchers and will serve as a preview for more research in the studied area.

1.8     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work inculcates the importance of quality service management and organizational productivity.

CONTENT SCOPE: The content scope of the study is grounded on investigating the relationship between Service Management and Organizational Productivity. In the dimension of physical quality, corporate quality, and interactive quality. And measures the customer’s patronage and word of mouth.

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE: The geographical scope study covers Port-Harcourt metropolis city in Rivers State and questionnaires were distributed to the micro-unit of the selected restaurants and therefore concentrates on employees and managers of the selected restaurant organizations.

UNIT OF ANALYSIS: Management of the selected restaurant will be the study of a unit of which data will be collected.

1.9     LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The major challenges or obstacles that were faced while embarking on this study are as follows:

• A limited number of standard restaurants in Port-Harcourt who are already keeping a record of quality service management as a result of poor record-keeping of date.
• The results of the finding of this study cannot be generalized to other industries since the study was limited to only restaurants in port-Harcourt. It also suggests that studies should also be carried out in other industries and cities.
• Unfavorable attitudes of some respondents were another limitation as convincing them to accept the questionnaire was a big task. Also logistics and financial constraints combined to limiting the study.

1.10   OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

QUALITY-SERVICE MANAGEMENT: This is the process of managing the quality of services delivered to a customer according to his expectations. It basically assesses how well a service has been given, so as to improve its quality in the future. Identify problems and correct them to increase customer satisfaction. Service quality management encompasses the monitoring and maintenance of the varied services that are offered to customers by an organization. (“FitSM Part 0: Overview and vocabulary”. Itemo. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2018).

QUALITY MANAGEMENT:  This is the act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired level of excellence. Quality management includes the determination of a quality policy, creating and implementing quality planning and assurance, and quality control as quality improvement. (Rose, Kenneth H. (July 2005). Project Quality Management: Why, What and How. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: J. Ross Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-932159-48-6.)

INTERACTIVE QUALITY: This is a one-to-one marketing practice that centers on individual customer and prospects’ actions. Interactive quality involves marketing initiatives that are triggered by customer’s behaviors and preferences, for this reason, it is a major shift from traditional campaign-based marketing efforts. A customer-centric strategy. Interactive quality service involves reacting t customer actions and striving to meet their expectations and demands.

CORPORATE QUALITY SERVICE: According to Wikipedia, corporate services are activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based on specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external ) customers and business partners.

PHYSICAL QUALITY SERVICE: is an open-source management framework that uses and integrates existing management methods and techniques to help teams deliver ever-improving services. it is designed to be used by any and all teams within an enterprise including (but not limited to) sales, production, administration, IT, finance, and management teams. Over 60% of organizations across the world covering private and public sector organizations are now service-based. Physical product enterprises can have the majority of their teams involved in performing service activities, mostly the provision of internal services to other teams, referred to as internal customers, with the minority of teams involved in the control of physical products and materials.