Significance of Understanding Organisational Culture as A tool of Improving Quality Service Delivery.
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Abstract
Organizations form key components of a society. In the process of establishing and developing organizations towards achieving their goals, people from diverse backgrounds meet and work in a group resulting in the development of specific type of culture. Hospitality industry is one of the sector that their staff are in contact with the customers they serve making the customers to have a test on the nature of the enterprise. Therefore, it is vital for the management of any industry to understand the significance of organizational culture as it is essential in creating a good relationship between employees that contribute to improved quality of service delivery to customers. The organizational culture plays the role of improving cohesion, inspiration and creativity of employees to work towards the set goals of the organization. To add on this, organizational culture greatly influences the conducts of employee, something that can be easily recognized by the customers from the way they are served.
The current study pursued to find the significance of understanding of organizational culture by hospitality industries as a tool towards improving the quality of service delivery to customers while achieving set goals. It is vital to acknowledge that for an effective quality service delivery in the hospitality industry, understanding organizational culture of the employees is essential as this will ensure that the culture adopted by the organization impacts on the staff positively.
The research proved that understanding of organizational culture makes the employees and the management to have an understanding of what is expected of them in the industry thus making them offer exceptional quality services to their customers while achieving the set goals by the industry.
The data that was used by this thesis was collected from four Hospitality Industries in United States of America. The survey method was employed and when the results was interpreted it was obvious that understanding organizational culture is indispensable in guaranteeing improved quality of service delivery in the Hospitality industry.
The outcomes from the current study prepares scholars with dynamic information and it is one of the first study to establish the connection between the significance of understanding organizational culture as a tool towards improving the quality of services offered by the Hospitality industry.
Keywords: Organizational culture, Quality service delivery and motivation of employee
Contents
1.3 Research questions and objectives. 9
1.4 Objectives of the research. 9
1.5 Statement of Significance. 9
1.6 Limitation of the study. 10
1.8 Organization of the remainder of the study. 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW… 12
2.1 Organizational culture models. 12
2.2 Types of organizational cultures. 16
2.3 Organizational Culture Dimensions. 17
2.3.1 Reynolds’ dimensions. 18
2.3.2 Hofstede’s dimensions. 20
2.4 Change implementation in quality service delivery. 23
2.4.1 Engaging the employees in implementing change. 24
2.4.2 The management should help the employees to connect with the change. 25
2.4.2.1 Authoritarian management conducts. 25
2.4.2.2 Laissez-faire management conducts. 25
2.4.2.3 Connective management conducts. 26
2.4.3 Employee motivation and Customer satisfaction. 26
2.5 Chapter summary and literature gap identification. 29
3.0 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.. 30
3.3 Research Strategy and Time Horizon. 31
3.4 Research Method and Approach. 32
3.5 Data Sources and Research Instruments. 34
3.6 Data Collection Procedure. 35
3.7 Data Analysis Procedure. 36
3.8 Reliability and Validity of the Study. 37
3.9 Ethical Considerations. 38
3.10Limitations of the Research Methodology. 39
4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: INTERPRATATION OF THE REEARCH FINDINGS. 42
4.2 Characteristics of the respondents. 43
4.3 Presentation of findings and their discussion. 44
4.3.2 Significance of Organizational culture in Service delivery. 44
4.3.3 Role of Mangers in Quality Service delivery. 46
4.3.4 Change implementation and Service delivery. 48
4.3.5 Employee’s motivation and customer satisfaction. 50
5.0 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION. 53
5.5 Recommendations for Future Research. 55
1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The hospitality industry is a perfect example of an industry established on the values of quality service delivery. The demand for the hospitality services has exponentially grown over the years and this has made hospitality industries, their clients and staff to be multicultural (Michalska-Dudek, 2014).
Most of the hospitality industries expect their customers to come from across all societies in the world, the increased demand for high quality services has been accelerated by the nature of variation in the economies of the world and continued change in the customer favorites, varieties and testes (Zervas, Proserpio & Byers, 2017). Therefore to meet the customer’s needs while ensuring that the set goals are achieved, the hospitality industry management has to ensure that the culture of the employees is understood because they are the ones who interact with the customers directly.
In an event the quality of services offered to customers by the employees meets their expectation they become good ambassadors of that particular hospitality industry. However, if the quality of the services offered frustrates them they will quit the industry and explore others which can meet their demands. Therefore it is necessary for the entire hospitality industry to understand the significance of organizational culture as tool towards improving the quality of their service delivery (Benavides-Velasco, Quintana-García, & Marchante-Lara, 2014).
According to Panda & Zagade (2017) customer dissatisfaction in the hospitality industry is not as a result of cost but the quality and services offered to them but the quality of the two. The loyalty of the customers in the hospitality industry is equivalent to the level of quality service offered to them.
Jones, Hillier, & Comfort (2016) acknowledges that the capability of hospitality industries to continue meeting the demand of their customers while achieving their goals is the biggest challenge facing the sector.
In hospitality industry employees play a crucial in confirming that the need of the clients are met. Therefore understanding the organizational culture of the said employees is essential. It is of great importance to be noted that the demand from various customers differ and variations in cultures may make the management to look into customizing the nature of their services to meet their demand (Jones, Hillier & Comfort, 2016).
Therefore on this basis, the need for the hospitality industry management to understand the organizational culture role and its influence in offering quality services to their customers is paramount. This is because the customers in the sector come from diverse backgrounds with diverse cultures that need to be understood by the employees serving them. Since the employees serving the customers come from different backgrounds and are the ones who are in contact with the customers, there is need for their culture to be appreciated and accommodated.
When an organization is established, a culture develops slowly internally and its core function is to promote unity, devotedness, motivate employees’ passion and creativeness and to develop the economic productivity of a business (White 2016). Therefore, there is need for the stakeholders in the hospitality industry to seek to understand the nature of its employee’s culture towards making them comfortable and effective in service delivery.
According Kandampully, Zhang, & Bilgihan (2015) the progress of an a company in the hospitality industry can be measured by its capacity to the meet the demand of their customers continuously as this will give the company a competitive advantage in recognizing and handling customers from diverse cultural background.
1.1 Research problem
Consumer fulfillment plays a crucial role in the progress of any hospitality industry. With this in mind, most if the industries in the sector are working towards ensuring that they have a good rapport with their customers. However, many administrators find this difficult in trying to meet the demands of the customers because of lack of coordination or failing to understand the culture of their employees. Therefore, this dissertation aims to find out on how understanding the significance of organizational culture can be employed in taming the quality of service delivery while achieving the set goals in the hospitality industry.
1.2 Aim of the study.
The current research had an aim of investigating the significance of understanding organizational culture as a tool of improving the quality service delivery to customers while achieving the set goals. Through this aim, the link between understanding organizational cultures and how it related to quality service delivery in the hospitality industry will be established.
1.3 Research questions and objectives
The key study question stated; the investigation of the significance of understanding organizational culture in improving the quality of service delivery in hospitality industry. To effectively understand the significance of organizational culture’ and its relationship to quality service delivery to customers, two secondary research questions were employed namely:
RQ1: Why should organizational culture be understood in the hospitality industry?
RQ2: What are the various types of organizational culture that exist in the Hospitality industry?
1.4 Objectives of the research.
- To scrutinize the role of employee motivation in consumer fulfilment.
- To examine organizational culture and change.
- To advocate the importance of managers to understand the organizational culture.
1.5 Statement of Significance
The current study will help those in hospitality industry and those seeking to venture into the sector to understand the significance of organizational culture and its role in helping them to achieve their goals by improving the quality their services to customers. If the managers are able to fully understand the impact of organizational culture, it will help them to identify areas to pursue in an effort to improve job satisfaction to their employees who will then reciprocate that satisfaction to their day to day customers in terms of the services they offer. The outcome of the current study will also help the management in dealing with turnover in employee because as they pursue the quality services to their customers they will find that it is essential for them to accommodate different cultures of their staff.
1.6 Limitation of the study
Conceding the masters students and the area of research that have been explored, in the process of doing the current study, some crucial limitations were encountered. There are copious information related to organizational culture and service delivery. Therefore, in the study of the significance of understanding organizational culture as a tool of improving the quality of service offered to customers in hospitality industries only secondary that data will utilized.
1.7 Definition of terms
Customer: Is the person who consumes the goods or who receives the services.
Service: It is the offering assistance to the customer.
Quality: It is a characteristics of products or a services that meets the set standard.
Culture: This are values, morals and customs shared by individuals of a certain group.
Organizational culture: Set of shared values, morals and customs that govern how individuals behave in an institution.
Customer satisfaction: customer satisfaction is where goods or services meets the customers’ expectations.
Customer loyalty: This is where a client choose to buy goods or gets offered services regularly.
1.8 Organization of the remainder of the study
Chapter two of this dissertation explores the literature review examining organisational culture and its role in quality improvement in the hospitality industry. The chapter also presents the various models and types of organisational culture available. Dimension of organisational culture and employee’s motivation towards job satisfaction has been outlined. Chapter three presents the research methodology applied to gather and analyse relevant data, the ethical considerations experienced and the limitation of the methodology. Chapter four presents the research findings and their interpretations as well as the discussions from the findings. Chapter five gives the conclusion and recommendations for policy adjustment and further studies. The following chapter presents related literature review.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
Alvesson & Sveningsson (2015) acknowledges that organizational culture has become one of the most concern topic analyzed by scholars and top management of various industries. This is because it is a method that separates members of certain groups and organizations. In practical, there is no single definition that can be used to give the meaning of the concept of the organizational culture.
Huhtala et al., (2015) defines organizational culture as a thinking process that helps an individual in establishing the distinction between members by the use of cognitive thinking. They further go ahead to say that a culture is effective by the guidance that is successfully based on the norms and values that are different among the people while Hogan and Coote, (2014) argues that a combination of philosophies, conduct, customs and values that contribute in making an effective organizational culture.
Manojlovich, & Ketefian, (2016) argue that for employee’s to work effectively in their day to day activities managers need to understand their culture. Therefore, to practically understand the organizational culture and its impact in hospitality industry, the following sub-heading will be of great value by helping in understanding the literature available on organizational culture.
2.1 Organizational culture models
Glisson et al., (2016) reminds us of an onion model by Hofstede that helps in understanding the influence of organizational culture on service delivery in the hospitality industry, the model has got four phases and they include; symbols, heroes, rituals and values. The most apparent phase is the symbols phase. This phase involves the use of words, pictures, and models to pass a particular meaning to those people sharing a culture. In the onion model the symbols are material through which culture is carried by and can be easily be replaced by an alternative method. The second phase is Heroes, this are individuals who have certain traits that are easily identified, and they are famous and can be used as models in presenting the right morals. The third phase rituals which comprises how people use language, how they express themselves and their social deeds which are collection of accomplishments which are used to express different types of emotions and this emotions include respect. In a hospitality industry set up, this are used to pass different orders in specific ways as postulated by Glisson et al., (2016).
Figure 1. Hoftstede onion model
Goetsch & Davis (2014) present’s seven characteristics that capture the essential of the understanding organizational culture: the first characteristic is innovation and risk taking. Under this characteristic the staff are encouraged to take risks and be creative hence generating creativity in the hospitality industry on how they serve and handle customers. Attention to detail is another characteristic which capture the essence of the organization, employees should follow instructions very keenly and instructions usually define the success of the hospitality industry. The third characteristic is outcome orientation, the top leadership of every hospitality industry mainly concentrate on the final outcomes because the final outcomes determines the achievements of organization goals (Manojlovich, & Ketefian, 2016).
The fourth trait is people orientation, management decisions in every hospitality industry have an effect on each stakeholders within an organization. The fifth trait is team orientation, organization occasion are always arranged among groups of people because team work increase efficiency of employees performance thus leading to improved quality of service delivery. The sixth characteristic is aggressiveness, employees are very competitive and aggressive while carry out their daily duties in the work place. The seventh and final characteristic is stability. Under stability, every organization are always looking ways in which an organization can continue to progress in its mission and vision. (Bolman &Deal, 2017).
Presently organizational culture has been linked with management. Cameron & Green (2015) says that there are two crucial features that have an impact on effective cultural management, the features are: integration of superior standard of organization culture and structural stability.
Hogan & Coote (2014) provides a test for Schein model that has three level that can be employed in understanding the organizational culture and its influence of the industry in generals. The first level: is made up of articles and Conceptions: when employees perceive the variations in their cultures makes the beginning of cultural assessment. This is a combination of the observations made by the employee on the variations available on the evident artifact and physical conduct. The employees are able to see the variations in construction, workplaces, equipping and how individuals relate among themselves and with the outside members (Hogan & Coote, 2014).
The second level: Embraced values: This level is made up of the principles that are outlined internally in an organization, they include vision, goals, slogans and missions of the organization and the values of an individuals involved. The second level is seen to be partially visible as some of this values can be illuminated easily while those that are invisible are those that values that can be accepted in one organization and not the other. A variation comes in on how the management continue with decision making. This is because the different organization may choose to have old-style and conventional business while others may opt to be fast in coming up with decisions by taking risks.
The third level: Involves making of basic assumption of an organization that are unstated. Most of these elements are not seen and often not shared. Therefore these assumptions exist without the information of the employees. These assumptions are developed day by day as the organization interact with other organizations in most cases, this are the causes of culture conflict which hinder the manner in which services are offered (Hogan & Coote, 2014).
2.2 Types of organizational cultures
Bolman & Deal (2017) reminds us that there are four types of organizational cultures that exist in the industrial set up. They include;
Type 1: Power culture. This is a type of culture in which power is bestowed among a few individuals and it is mostly practical in organizations that are small. The few individuals with power make decisions easily making the industry to make progress. The employees are expected to follow instructions from their bosses. The leaders here work for the organization while the employees are the tools used by the leaders in achieving the goals of the organization, in this category employees can only remain if they are better paid and in most cases the turnout of the staff is very minimal because they feel dissatisfied. This will then impact negatively on the nature of the offered services because the few employees will get fatigue by the virtue of the fact that they will be overworked (Bolman & Deal, 2017).
Type 2: Role culture. This is a culture that is founded on reasoning, wisdom and pursuit of effectiveness. The organization sets rules and regulations that must be accomplished and not those by group members. In this culture there is labor division and specialization. Therefore employees are expected to abide by rules set. In this culture competition only exists in different departments. To the employees this culture is provoking and shocking and the quality of their service delivery is infective (Huhtala et al., 2015).
Type 3: Achievement culture. In this culture a lot of concentration is put on ensuring that the tasks assigned are performed .This type of culture focuses on groups as members are allowed to be in groups in performing their tasks. The work at hand dictates the manner in which it will be executed. In this culture, skills that are relevant for the task are acknowledged and the employees demonstrate their creativity because the environment is conducive thereby making service delivery effective (Anitha, & Begum, 2016).
Type 4: Support culture. It is a culture that is impartial. The culture has a structure whose main aim is the requirements of employees, the management takes the needs of employees at heart and the information is shared across the members. This promotes fast decision making and this culture is common in communities and cooperatives (Bolman & Deal, 2017).
2.3 Organizational Culture Dimensions
Scholars have come up with different approaches to help in understanding the element of organizational culture. In this dissertation three dimensions are introduced to help shed more light on significance of understanding organizational as tool towards providing quality services to the customers while achieving the set goals. They are namely Reynold’s, Hofstede’s and Schein’s dimensions culture. They provide a mechanism through which the concept of organizational culture can be understood and how it can be utilized as a tool in improving the services quality offered by hospitality industry to their customers (Guiso, Sapienza & Zingales, 2015).
2.3.1 Reynolds’ dimensions
According to Moorhead et al., (2016) organizational culture dimensions from the studies conducted before had an overlap. Therefore, Reynolds came up with 14 dimensions of organizational culture that are independent, the dimensions are applicable in various industries and it is vital for the management to understand.
- External versus internal emphasizing: That in an organization the emphasis was aimed at making the clients or external shareholders comfortable, while the emphasis that was laid internally aimed at activities that were done inside an organization.
- Task versus social focus. The dimension looks at the extent to which the needs of the employees’ and their performance in tasks assigned is perceived by an organization and given the measure that they deserve as outlined by Huhtala et al., (2015).
- Risk versus security. This dimension indicates the level to which an organization is ready to implement a new methodology.
- Conformity versus individuality: This dimension highlights extent to which the distinct and particular behavior of an employee in workplace and social life is abided by.
- Individual versus group prizes. This dimension deals with the manner in which incase of a contribution made by an individual, the procedure used in rewarding as whether to reward an individual or the group members (Huhtala et al., 2015).
- Individual versus group decision making: In this case the dimension looks at the extent to which decisions are drafted by either the group or an individual and the effect the made decisions have on them.
- Unified versus devolved decision making: This dimension outlines the ones who are supposed to participate in the decision making process, either those in top management or those in charge.
- Ad hockey versus development: The dimension involves the manner in which an organization cultivates ad hoc change for all members or the plans an organization has that anticipate great for situations to come (Huhtala et al., 2015).
- Steadiness versus invention, the dimension involves the extent to which an organization is flexible to adopting new methodologies and services.
- Teamwork versus competition: this deals with the personal attitude towards their task .They can either have a competition within an organization or from outsiders for reward.
- Simple versus composite organization: The extent to which an organization has structures that are either complex or and how internal politics is exercised.
- Informal versus formalize procedures: The manner in which the organizations employ either formal or informal procedures in coming up with decisions. The more formal it is the more complex methods that are used in making decisions unlike the informal one where even traditional methods can be used in making decisions
- High versus low loyalty: The manner in which the individuals of an organization are royal to the organization in relation to other group members.
- Ignorance versus Knowledge this dimension deals with the employees skills that are recommended by the organization, what they are expected of and how to work towards achieving the goals of an organization. The framework is vital when evaluating the performance of employees’ (Huhtala et al., 2015).
2.3.2 Hofstede’s dimensions
Beugelsdijk, Kostova & Roth (2017) reminds us about the Hofstede’s six dimensions framework that is used in relating organizational culture:
- Process versus results-oriented
The dimension mainly focused on the efficiency of the organization. A culture that is process oriented lays emphasis on how the tasks are executed. It concentrates on the technical and formal procedures and the employees are expected to avoid making risks by providing an assurance as they work while a culture that is result- oriented concentrates on the outcome and employees are expected to answer on what must be done. In the process the employees are exposed to risks in achieving the set targets (Cascio, 2018).
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- Job versus employee-oriented
This dimension has a close relationship to administration. A culture that is job-oriented takes an assumption on the employees’ tasks and sometimes the employees are coerced to perform while a culture that is geared toward an employee takes a concern on the welfare of the employee.
- Professional versus local
Employees in culture that is professional are acknowledged with their career while in the culture that is local, the character of members is recognized by the group in which they work.
- Exposed versus non-exposed system
This element mirrors the extent to which organizations is accessible or exposed to the members, the channel of communication and how hospitable an organization is. In an open culture the members are free to both those from outside and those from outside while in a closed culture they are not.
- Minimal work versus maximum work control.
The element indicates the control level that is available in an organization in terms of the conduct and the structuring. It indicates the decorum and timekeeping in an organization. In minimal culture the level of control is minimal while in the culture that has maximum control the employees are expected to have decorum and keep time.
- External versus internal driven
The dimension deals with the satisfaction of the client by providing a mechanism on how to deal with the environmental factors. In a culture that is external driven a lot of emphasis is put on the requirements of the clients while in a culture that is internal driven a lot of emphasis is put on the ethics of the business and trustworthiness.
2.3.3 Schein’s dimensions
According to Hogan & Coote (2014) organizational culture and leadership are inseparable. They acknowledge three main level of cultural organization that were developed by Schein. They include adopted values (Espoused), expectations (assumptions) and artifacts.
Diagram 1 Schein dimensions’
The first level: Is made up of articles and Conceptions: When employees perceive the variations in their cultures makes the beginning of cultural assessment. This is a combination of the observations made by the employee on the variations that are available on the evident artifact and physical conduct. The employees are able to see the variations in construction, workplaces, equipping’s and how individuals relate among themselves and with the outside members (Hogan & Coote, 2014).
The second level: Embraced values: This level is made up of the principles that are outlined internally in an organization, they include the vision, the goals, slogans and missions of the organization and the values of an individuals involved. The second level is seen to partly visible because some of this standards can be illuminated easily while those that are invisible are those that values that can be accepted in in one organization and not the other (Hartnell et al., 2017). A variation comes in on how the management continue with decision making. This is because the different organization may choose to have old-style and conventional business while others may opt to be fast in coming up with decisions by taking risks (Schneider et al., 2017).
The third level: Involves making of basic assumption of an organization that are unstated. Most of these elements are not seen and often not shared. Therefore these assumptions exist without the information of the employees. These assumptions are developed day by day as the organization interact with other organizations in most cases this are the causes of culture conflict (Schneider et al., 2017).
2.4 Change implementation in quality service delivery.
Every hospitality industry yearns is to implement changes geared towards improving the quality of services offered to their customers successfully (Bertram, Blasé & Fixsen, 2015).In order make this implementation successful, it is very important for the aforementioned industries to have organizational culture which considers the following; engage their employees, help the employees to connect with change and support the system in the industry that will ensure that the change is effective(Aarons et al., 2015).
2.4.1 Engaging the employees in implementing change
It is very vital for an organization to have a culture which engages the employees in implementing change (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). A number of conducts from employees can be used as an indicator that they were not included in the process of change implementation. They include;
Passive conducts: This is culture where the employees do very little in implementing the changes that are geared towards quality service delivery strategy and they rarely apply the changes once the implementation is done (Foster, 2014).
Passive -aggressive conducts: This is a culture where employees fully support the changes when observed by the management but they then destabilize the changes when management is not around.
Dominant conducts: This is a culture where the employees are fully against the change that is geared to improving the quality of the services mainly because they feel not included.
Independent conducts: A culture where employees continue to carry their daily activities in their own way irrespective of the new guidelines (Solaja, Idowu & James, 2016).Every employee desires a culture where they are fully engaged in implementing change, they want to act as a team with their colleagues and their management on ways of implementing change and ways of improving returns after implementing the change. The management is required to take the necessary step to get the employees to support the program of change after realizing that employees were not engaged.
2.4.2 The management should help the employees to connect with the change.
The management is required to adapt the culture which employees could easily understand and also help them to connect to that change. The following are ways to ensure change is effectively implemented. However, some have unplanned negative results.
2.4.2.1 Authoritarian management conducts.
Iqbal, Anwar & Haider (2015) argues that some of the management have a culture of commanding change to their staffs. They do the implementation process alone and threaten staffs if they refuse to take the change. Regularly the best return that may result from this kind of management conduct is that staffs only acts on what they are told and cannot do much beyond that. If management continues to command and giving threats to their staff, provoking them, criticizing their staffs and fails to listen to their opinion, they will end up having employees who are not accountable and not committed to their work, this will bring negative results on productivity of an organization. This kind of culture encourage passive conducts and passive aggressive conducts on employees. Staffs will only act on what they are told but they will not commit themselves to the work. Staffs who apply passive conducts will not add much value to an organization change strategy as compared to other staffs who apply the desired conduct.
2.4.2.2 Laissez-faire management conducts.
Managers applying this kind of culture, let their staff to look at the change on the personal level. This will empower staffs acts on the change based on their effort (Bello, Ibi & Bukar, 2016).This fits staffs who have the ability to realize and agree to the change according to their understanding. But majority of staffs are against change even if that change is positive. They better continue with what they are experienced on than trying the new change. This kind of culture is not effective in trying to get support of staffs in implementing change and it is not good for an organization (Deniz, Noyan, & Ertosun, 2015).
2.4.2.3 Connective management conducts.
According to Phelan et al., (2017) the management conducts which are most effective are connective conducts , where all people work together in getting to understand the change introduced and giving the changes introduced their full support. They further argue that the management of the hospitality industry should over continuous training and mentoring programs to the employees and finally rewarding their employees.
Both the staffs and organization benefit when managers apply this kind of culture. Cooperating with staffs and involving them in any decision makes staffs to accept the change easily. Therefore the activities of staffs will only target to give the most desired quality of services to their customers (Deniz, Noyan& Ertosun, 2015).
2.4.3 Employee motivation and Customer satisfaction
In the hospitality industry customer satisfaction is the foundation for its success as compared to other industries. The excellence of foods and services offered dictates whether the customers will be loyal or not (Molina-Azorínet et al., 2015). With the technological innovation in the 21st century, a lot of investors have invaded the sector prepared to meet all the demands of their customers.
This has made customers to have a variety to choose from incase their demand are not met in a particular hospitality industry. Therefore for the industry to remain relevant in relation to the demands of their customers. Therefore need for those already in the industry to look for ways to improve service delivery to their customers as the only tool towards achieving their set goals (Dhar, 2015).
According to Yacob et al., (2016) quality is the process of meeting or going past the customer’s expectation in a value that is equivalent of their price. Quality associated problems in the hospitality industry emerge from absence of vibrant and quantifiable techniques that can be used to direct the hospitality industry personnel on what is supposed to be done in ensuring that the quality of services offered are outstanding.
Employees in the hospitality industry have a fundamental role in creating the customers insight (Tracey et al., 2015). To win the customers mind the employees of the industry play an essential role. In the hospitality industry the customers do not need any marketing for them but the behavior of the employees while interacting with them will affect them. Buntaine, Nielson, & Skaggs (2017) argues that employee’s motivation is a key determinant to effective quality service delivery to the customers. Therefore in the pursuit for improved service delivery other than understanding the organizational culture, there is need to motivate the employees.
Chua et al., (2015) reminds us that quality of services to a customer’s begins by first understanding their requirements and moving fast to meet their demand. Nair & Choudhary (2016) postulates that benchmarking provides the hospitality industry with the chance to learn from industries in the same sector on what they are doing and what is making them to remain competitive in the market.
According to Bizi Mubiri (2016)) the progress of industries in the hospitality sector is directly proportional to the level of customer satisfaction. Therefore creating a need for the managers to adopt to the requirements of their customers. Dhar (2015) argues that since the people working in this industries come from different cultural backgrounds understanding their culture will ensure that they are included in the management in working towards achieving the set objectives.
Bianchi (2015) acknowledges that the loyalty of customers is essential to hospitality industry when satisfied they will tend to buy more and this will increase the profit margins leading to the growth of the completion and the loyalty of customers in the hospitality industry involves the efforts of all the stakeholders in the industry. Therefore prosperity of any hospitality industry demand that all the stakeholders should be geared towards achieving the quality of the products and services to their customers.
Tuntirattanasoontorn (2018) argues that in the modern society characterized by increased demand for quality services and high competition. Therefore, offering quality services to customers is the only competitive advantage available. This is because when customers are offered services of high quality they become satisfied.
2.5 Chapter summary and literature gap identification.
The study aimed at investigating the significance of understanding organizational culture in as a tool towards improving the quality service delivery in the Hospitality Industry .The literature review has analyzed organizational culture related concepts ,employees motivation and change implementation have been examined to comprehend the significance of understanding organizational culture and the manner in which it can be used in improving the quality service delivery in Hospitality Industry. Similarly, various modes and theories and types of organizational culture have been analyzed.
Organizational culture change has also been covered. Despite the existing copious information by scholars exploring on organizational culture in the industrial sector most of them have focused on how understanding of organizational culture can lead to increased profits and reduced industrial unrest, how industries should attract and maintain an efficient staff. None of them has specifically focused on how understanding organizational culture can lead to improved quality service delivery in particular the Hospitality industry. The current research study will pursue to seal that gap in understanding the significance of organizational culture in improving the quality of services provided by the Hospitality industry while achieving the set goals.
3.0 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The techniques and procedures that were employed in the study to gather applicable and inclusive information to ease understanding of cultural organization as a tool towards improving the quality of services offered by the hospitality industry while achieving the existing goals, are elaborated in this chapter. It is vital to employ approaches and procedures that are easily incorporated with the topic under study (Bell, 2014).
The current research sought to investigate the significance of understanding organisational culture in order to implement successful strategies geared towards improving the quality of service delivery in the Hospitality Industry while achieving the set goals. In this view, the study would establish the link between the cultural organisation and the how its understanding can help to increase the quality of services offered to customers.
According to Saunders, Thornhill & Lewis (2012), positivism, interpretivism, and pragmatism (realism) research philosophies exist that can be used to reflect how a researcher thinks about the approach used in knowledge development and its impacts. Researchers employing positivist school of thought claim that realism being examined is constant between respondents who have the same encounters regarding the phenomenon under research. Researchers who employ the interpretivism perceptions advocate that reality cannot be consistent between viewers because there is variation among the viewers. Pragmatism way of reasoning acknowledge that reality can be both consistent and inconsistent between diverse observers. In this view, varying responses obtained via interviews were applicable in the study (Saunders et al., 2012). The interpretivism philosophy reasoning which permits the researchers to apply methods allowing them to collect varying responses but with in-depth insights from the respondents was employed in the current study. The semi structured interview questions allowed for the getting responses that were varying.
3.3 Research Strategy and Time Horizon
There are diverse strategies that can be employed to support the manner in which data is gathered in the field of research. They include studies, reviews, tests just but to mention a few. Scientific methods are functional when examining a phenomenon of research using experimental design and is conducted in a lab. In experiments findings from the research are quantified against anticipated results to examine any similarities or alterations (Benoot, Hannes, & Bilsen, 2016). In studies employing the approach of case studies, researchers only select few scenarios in trying to understand the research area thus limiting the study scope. Survey method is employed when researchers choose an area of study that is wide. Survey strategy in the current study was employed since it cheap and time sensitive as well as suitable between respondents. It was also employed due to their capacity to provide real-time contact to the interview respondents (Benoot, Hannes & Bilsen, 2016). Finally, the survey strategy was used since it permitted the utilization of the interview procedures in evidence gathering from respondents.
Two kinds of research studies exist centred on timeframe namely longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal research is employed by researchers who wants to understand a section of study therefore requiring a lot of time in examining variables that are different. Scholars utilizing ross-sectional approach in their research requires a short time to examine a given phenomenon of research (Saunders et al., 2012). The study pursued to understand the importance of understanding the organisational culture in improving the quality of services offered by the hospitality industry, it required data collection within the existing settings hence cross-sectional type of research was employed.
3.4 Research Method and Approach
Bryman & Bell (2015) present three research approaches that are applicable in the in the research field. They include; mono research approach, mixed research approach and multi-research approach. The approaches can be applied in qualitative and quantitative research. In quantitative research technique concepts are measured either directly or indirectly by the use of scales. The numerical data obtained is then analysed by the use of arithmetic procedures. However, the method may look simple when using percentages but when complex statistical tool are employed such as the use of software. In qualitative research technique involves the use of observation and interviews in interpreting a particular phenomenon under study. Scholars who employ the mono-research approach utilize one type of research technique in information gathering whereas in applying mixed-research approach two techniques of research are appropriate in data gathering. Finally, individuals employing multi-research approach utilize more than one techniques of research in evidence collecting in order to support a given phenomenon of study (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The present study applied the mono-research approach more particularly the qualitative research technique to gather in-depth responses regarding the understanding of the organisational culture. The method was identified to be used in the study as it was supported by the research philosophy applied which predicated the collection of qualitative data, unlike positivism which supports quantitative data collection (Creswell, 2013). The interpretivism philosophy requires individuals to use qualitative methods in gathering evidence if they wish to use qualitative methods in assessing the trustworthiness of the findings. Saunders et al. (2012) outline three types of approaches of research that can be used in pursuing a research study including inductive, deductive and abductive. When evaluating a given research area against a previously established model, researchers employ deductive research method. When pursuing to utilize collected information to develop theoretical model that is new, inductive research method is employed. In using abductive method,logical inference of an individual is built though seeing and to launch an explanation that is linked with findings that were obtained. Conflicting to deductive kind of reasoning, theoretical framework anticipations do not offer surety of conclusion but fairly an individual observes findings that are diverse and makes a resolution from the findings on how best the questions of research can be answered (Woo, O’Boyle, & Spector, 2017). The current study employed deductive research method to find out the significance of understanding the organisational culture as a mechanism through which the nature of services offered to customers can be improved at the time achieving the set goals. Interpretivism philosophy allows one to employ deductive approach.
3.5 Data Sources and Research Instruments
The study employed primary sources in gathering information. Therefore interview respondents were the sources of proof pursued. The primary information sources were employed because they provided an opportunity to the researcher to inspect first hand data in connection with the diverse views from people regarding the study topic (Nardi, 2015). The current research used humans as the instruments of research to aid in gathering first hand data regarding the significance of understanding organisational culture in hospitality industry as a tool towards improving the quality of the services offered to customers. To obtain evidence from the research participants, on can apply questionnaires and interviews that either structured or semi structured.
Questionnaire technique comprising of closed-ended questions is best employed when gathering data that will be used to provide a solution to a given phenomenon by quantitative approach. The open-ended questionaires is employed when pursuing to analyse information using qualitative approach (Creswell, 2013). The structured interviews are also best used when seeking to answer the research questions using qualitative means. When using the questionnaire technique, emerging questions are not considered as in the case of using the semi-structured interviews (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015).
The nature of the present research that sought the application of qualitative techniques in analysing data, the semi-structured interviews were applied since they would allow the researcher to ask any emerging questions aimed at solidifying the evidence obtained, gives the respondents a chance to highlight valuable information that is comparable, allows the respondents to express their personal interpretations in relation to the topic study, allows the researcher to have enough time in preparing the interview questions and also the respondents to prepare well for the interview; (Bell, 2014). The framework by Schein’ was employed because it gives an understanding of organizational culture from the root. The interview had 9 categories of questions that were to be answered through skype in about 50 minutes. The questions were derived from the research hypothesis and the objectives of the study.
Collection of information was achieved by the use of interviews that were semi-structured. Before data gathering commenced, an agreement was sought by the researcher from research ethics board of the university who revised the topic of study and proposed the appropriate methodology to ascertain their relevance. After getting university consent, another consent was pursued from research participants who were recognised through their LinkedIn profiles, the respondents were chosen based on the criteria that all of them were workers of the hospitality industry who were regularly in contact with the customers directly or indirectly. After approving their willingness to participate, they were communicated using their phone numbers they provided while sending the agreement form back to let them be aware of the time of conducting the exercise. The telephone was also meant to determine their satisfaction with the set time for the interviews. In the day of interview as agreed previously the respondents were contacted personally earlier to prepare for the interviews to avoid cases of tensions.
During the interview session, the researcher sought respondents’ demographic information after which the interview questions followed. The interview period was 50 minutes as highlighted above. As the respondents were giving their opinions and views concerning the questions being asked, their responses were recorded using a digital audio recording system. The audio recorded responses ware then downloaded onto the computer of the researcher with a password protection. Some of the responses were retained in the computer as a duplicate was stored using an encrypted US disc which was stored in the lockable cabinet. The interviews were carried out from 4th January to 2st March, after finishing the interview, each individual respondent was thanked for taking part and promised dissertation copy once made available.
Data analysis took place in three stages including the initial review, identification of major themes and interpretation plus assessment of the collected information. The process of capturing themes emerging from the data was done using the inductive approach after which the general themes were narrowed down to identify key themes using the deductive approach. The process was followed to ensure the gathered information was consistent in relation with goals centred on conformability test (Eriksson &Kovalainen, 2015). The preliminary data review was conducted after two of interviewing and it entailed going through the audio responses three times (Lamont & Swidler, 2014). The first time was to ascertain that the interview was well recorded and as an assurance that every information needed was available. The second time involved reading through the audio data and taking notes randomly for all the respondents. The third time entailed taking notes from each interview respondent’s response. Note-taking involved recording keywords and phrases and identifying where the emphasis was directed regarding significance of understanding organisational culture as a tool in improving quality service delivery in hospitality industries while achieving the set goals. The written notes were used to come up with the key themes associated with the interview questions that helped in accomplishing the core objective of our study. The bracketing technique was applied to capture the key themes identified and were defined in each response obtained so as to make sure they were well understood as recommended by Bell (2014). The third reading was meant to highlight the specific themes captured in the understanding of organisational culture. At this phase, the deductive approach was applied to categorise themes effectively based on the highlighted elements in the strategy. The identified themes were then used in chapter four to facilitate our understanding of the importance of understanding organisational culture in hospitality industries as a tool towards improving the quality of services offered to customer.
3.8 Reliability and Validity of the Study
Credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability were employed in examining reliability and validity of the research findings which characterises reliability and trustworthiness of the information gathered (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). According to Silverman, (2016) Credibility is the correctness of research findings in connection to population sample encounters. To ascertain the credibility of the responses given, the interview respondents chosen were working in the different hospitality industries in the United States of America and were conversant with the importance of understanding organisational culture in an industry as a way of improving the quality of services offered to customers. They were also those who were in contact with customers either direct or indirect. Through member checking whereby the respondents were tasked to examine the compiled response to ascertain if they were accurate, credibility was also checked. Transferability is the extent to which findings from a research is was relevant to the target population and research settings as well as policy improvement (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015). Transferability was boosted by increasing the research scope through employing the survey strategy which allowed for the research respondents to be identified from diverse hospitality industries. The research dependability is centred on the consistency of the methodology used in that particular research (Silverman, 2016). Dependability was assured by certifying that the methodology of research applied presented in-depth insights concerning the significance of understanding organisational culture in hospitality industry as tool towards improving the quality of the services offered. The review of the current literature ensured that the method followed confined all aspects. Confirmability of the research study was exercised through availing supportive evidence to assertions made and offering an inclusive explanation of methodology research to enrich the reliability of the study outcomes (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015).
Bell (2014) reminds us that, for a research to be becomes successful a researcher must overcome ethical concerns. In the present research a number of ethical attentions were pursued: first, the researcher pursued approval from research ethics board to decide on the practicality of the topic of study and mythology to carry out the study (Harriss & Atkinson, 2015). After agreement, approval was pursued from the research participants of whom six agreed to take part. The consent contained data about the study topic, methodology to be employed and study aim (Gelinas et al., 2017). Freedom of the interview respondents was guaranteed by informing them that they had liberty to leave the research study process if they felt so (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The agreement form also addressed methods of ensuring the participants in the study remained anonymous and this was effected by the use of letters and that confidentiality of the information they gave would be guaranteed. Confidentiality was enhanced by destroying information once the dissertation was published and that information gathered was safely stored using USB discs, password protected computers and lockable cabinets (McPeake et al., 2014). The interviewees were informed of the audio recording of their responses and it was with their permission that it was to be recorded.
3.10Limitations of the Research Methodology
The target sample population for the current research was small implying generalisation of the research findings to a large population would not be appropriate. In this view, it meant that generalisation of the research findings could only be done to a small target population. By applying the qualitative research method, the findings were to some extent distorted as a result of respondent anger as well as bias as acknowledged by Bell (2014). The bias issues were real as the respondents relied on their personal experiences to give responses pertaining to the interview questions meaning their objectivity was limited making the findings distorted. Such concerns could only be overcome through a thorough elaboration of the research topic, objectives and purpose to the respondents so that they could give accurate responses as a result of being conversant with the research phenomenon as suggested by Silverman (2016).
The current research study was conducted to understand the significance of the understanding organisational culture in an in the hospitality industry set up as a way of improving the quality of the service offered while achieving the set goals. The research methodology has highlighted and discussed ways in which inclusive data to effectively answer questions for research to accomplish the aim of the research was collected. The section has explored the research philosophy that guided selection of the research methodology and strategy. The interpretivism philosophy was identified to be used in the current study since it allows the gathering of qualitative evidence that is not consistent among the respondent but varying depending on the experiences of each person involved. Furthermore, it has explored ways in which the collected data could remain trustworthy during its utilisation to come up with conclusions. The restrictions that were met while applying the methodology of research are also highlighted in this part. Lastly, the section has captured ethical considerations that were pursued before the collection of data commenced to make it useful. The next chapter presents the findings and their interpretations as well as their discussion.
4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: INTERPRATATION OF THE REEARCH FINDINGS.
4.1 Introduction.
The current study pursued four objectives to accomplish the study including the understanding the importance of organizational culture in an organisation set up as a way of increasing its productivity while achieving the existing goals, to examine the positive and negative effects of organisational culture, the available categories organisational culture and factors influencing organisational culture. To investigate the role of managers and their impact on organisational culture in controlling the behaviour and attitude of the staff members and to make recommendations that enhance the motivation of individual employees in business environment.
The empirical research results after the analysis of the interview data are represented in chapter four. The presentation is based on the key themes identified during the scrutiny and their interpretation as well as discussion to identify any similarities or differences with the existing literature. The qualitative findings are presented using a textural and descriptive manner. The findings of the study are based on 6 interview respondents who took part in the interview exercise to give responses pertaining to the importance of understanding organisational culture in the hospitality industry as way of improving quality service delivery to the customers while achieving the set goals of the industry.
4.2 Characteristics of the respondents
| Respondents | Gender | Age | Marital Status | Rank in the organization and Place of Work | Work Experience
(years of work) |
Nature of the hospitality Industry |
| A | Female | 41 | Married | Waiter | 24 | Food and Beverage |
| B | Male | 47 | Married | Hotel Manager | 27 | Accommodation |
| C | Male | 24 | Single | Tour guider | 5 | Tourism and Travel |
| D | Female | 42 | Single | Accommodation
personnel |
15 | Accommodation |
| E | Male | 34 | Married | Chef | 10 | Food and Beverage |
| F | Female | 36 | Married | Driver | 13 | Tourism and Travel |
Table 1:Characteristics of Respondents
From table one, it is clear that the number of female who took part in the interview was the same as the number of male meaning that the information gathered about organizational culture is relevant as far as gender is concern , all the respondents are aged between 24 and 47 years implying that their life experience is enough to explain the perceptions regarding understanding the significance of understanding organisational culture in hospitality industry as a way of improving the quality of services offered to customers while achieving their goals. They have more than 5 years’ work experience in different hospitality industries with diverse cultures and customer needs, an indication that their experience will be of great importance. The respondents had different job responsibilities in the various hospitality industries making the study to have diversified responses from different prospects of life thus making generalisation possible to the target population. Therefore, the respondents selected were appropriate for providing evidence to study the research topic effectively as most of them work in areas where they are in contact the customers directly thus able to give out their view on the significance of understanding organisational culture as a tool towards improving the quality of services offered to customer while achieving their goals.
4.3 Presentation of findings and their discussion
4.3.1 Introduction.
The understanding of organizational culture in hospitality organizations identified improves quality of goods and services offered to customers while achieving the goals of the industry. Understanding the organizational culture is the only option that the management of the hospitality industry can use improving the quality of services offered to customers. When customers receive service that are of high quality , they will be loyal thus leading to increased profits which is one of the objectives of the hospitality industry .Therefore its mandatory for the hospitality industry management to understand the culture of its employees. The understanding of the organizational culture practices as a mechanism towards enhancing the quality of the goods and services offered to customers were categorized into six themes namely ; importance of understanding organizational to the company, customer satisfaction , the management and the employees, loyalty of customers , and change implementation.
4.3.2 Significance of Organizational culture in Service delivery
Most of the organizational face a problem of low employee turn out when the culture of the employees is not well understood leading to reduced quality of service delivery to customers because the few employees available are forced to multitask. Therefore, understanding of the organizational culture was known to increase the turn out level of the employees as they felt inclusive in the events carried out by the organizational. Three of the interview respondents argue that when an organization understands the culture of the people it becomes easy in knowing what to be done and what to be expected from the employees as well the management thus improving quality service delivery. Two of the interview respondent acknowledged that they were ready to resign and go home if they find themselves in an organization which does not understand their culture. Respondent A echoed this argument by saying:
“…. Our industry is one of the best to work in and the quality of services offered to customers is high because the industry management is able to connect the various culture of its employees thus ensuring that there is cooperation of the employees towards meeting the customers’ demands …” (A).
In light of this revelation, and other views of the two respondents it is argued that when organizations understand the culture it becomes easy in improving the quality of services offered by the industry thereby making it possible for it to achieve the set goals. According to four of the respondents such understanding can only be realized if the organization establish the key strategies that are geared towards ensuring that benefits fits of understanding organizational culture are well articulated to both the management and other stakeholders. Respondent C argued that;
“…promoting culture understanding in an organization is one of the strategy that will ensure the industry improves quality of services offered to consumers thus making it easy to realizes its mission and vision…’’ (E). Respondent D on his reasoning said that:
“….understanding organizational culture will not only ensure smooth running of the organizational but also ensures that the employees are free to exercise their fully potentials in serving the customers …’’(C).
Based on the interpretation above, it is evident that understanding of the organizational culture is important to organizational as a way of ensuring that the quality of services offered to customers is improved thus leading to achieving the set goals. The existing literature supports the idea that understanding organizational culture is vital for any hospitality industry that want to progress because customers play an essential part in ensuring the progress. For instance, Ahammad et al., (2016) agree that organizational culture understanding is essential because it ensures that the employees are comfortable with the working conditions thus improving their productivity while serving the customers. Authors in the existing literature also acknowledge that understanding organizational literature is very instrumental in the progress of the hospitality industry. For example while reviewing the ways in which the culture influences the progress of the industry Manojlovich & Ketefian (2016) argue that when organizational culture is well understood it directs employees towards becoming motivated thus leading to the improved quality of services offered to customers.
4.3.3 Role of Mangers in Quality Service delivery
Three of the interview respondents acknowledged that their working conditions have been made conducive by the fact that their managers understood their culture. This made it possible for them to come up with an internal culture that puts the interests of all the employees at heart. Two of the respondents said that in their organization the employees are free with their managers and in most cases they are included in decision making on how the quality of customer satisfaction can be increased. Making them feel that oneness hence it easier when coming up with new innovations because they have the support the need from other staffs. In this view respondent B from the accommodation industry said that:
“…when I joined my current industry I was very comfortable because the manner in which I found the employees relating to each other and the managers at large…’’(B)
As argued by three of the respondents, when the managers understand the culture of the employees they are working with, it becomes easier in performing their duties and how to exercise them by ensuring that they are able to see the expectation of the consumers thus ensuring that the quality of services offered to customers is improved. Respondent A acknowledged that when he could not to meet the customers demand in a particular day the industry manager was able to understand the challenge he had thus solution was sought that gave a lasting solution and from then all the demand of the customers in that section have always been achieved.
Three of the interview respondents argued that managers should unify the staff in the hospitality industry by acting in speed in integrating organizational culture changes to reduce doubt and nervousness among the employees. Respondent D said that:
“… An interim team is necessary when introducing a different organizational culture to reduce the anxieties thus unifying the employees…’’ (D)
Based on the above interpretation, it is beyond reasonable doubt that most organization have ensured that their managers understands the culture of the people they are working with as away ensuring that they do not get any resistant when they want to come up with new strategies that are geared towards ensuring that the quality of services offered to customers is improved and the set goals achieved.
The available literature supports the finding because Dhar, (2015) argues that managers need to train their employees on what is expected as far as quality is concern. Bertram, Blasé & Fixsen (2015) acknowledge that when coming up with new strategies geared to improving the working conditions and the manner in which work is done mangers need to outline programs to guide other staff members towards achieving the quality of services expected of them
4.3.4 Change implementation and Service delivery.
Two of the interview respondents acknowledged that involvement of the employees in the process of change implementation in an organization will make them fully support the change by dedicating themselves to adopt the new changes that are geared towards improving quality of services provided to consumers. When not engaged they will be reluctant to accept that change, some may even pretend they support the change in the presence of the management but in their absence they resistant to those changes. Respondent D said that:
“… Their managers used to make implementation and force the employees to abide by the changes without consulting them and this made the employees to resist the change thus making the customers to feel that there was some disagreement between through the nature of the services offered to them that were below their expectation and this reduced the number of the customers. However, this changed when the new manager came in …’’ (D).
The same sentiments were echoed by respondent C said that:
“…change implementation in our organization is inclusive of all the subordinate staff and that has made us to fully support any changes that take place in our organization…’’(C).
As argued by three of the interview respondent it essential when an organization helps the employees to connect with the change introduced. Because this will help the employees work as a team to ensure that they are able understand and support the implementation of the changes. One of the interview respondents acknowledged there are some organization where employees are trained and mentored whenever anew innovation is embraced by an organization. Respondent F said that:
“… because of the connection created by our top management am able to accept any new changes that are introduced by our organization geared towards improving the quality service delivery to customers…” (F).
Two of the interview respondents argued that for a change implementation to be effective in an organization, the system of that organization must support that change. To be particular respondent A said that:
“…an effective change implementation is that which get all the support from the entire system in that the management must put across all the elements that are to be considered in the implementation process… “(A).
All the respondent were in agreement that the when the entire system support the implementation of a change it becomes successful. Based on the above illustrations on change implementation, it important that the employees are involved in change implementation because they are the ones who are in contact with the customers, the management should help employees to connect to the change by educating them and mentoring them on why it is necessary for them add value on the services they offer to customers.
The management should also ensure that the system of the entire organization supports the implementation changes aimed at improving service delivery to the customers as they are the foundation of progress in the hospitality industry. The available literature supports the finding from the study that for an effective change implementation the employees must be connected, engaged and the system must support the change as acknowledged by (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).
Bertram, Blasé & Fixsen, (2015) when industries are introducing changes that are geared towards coming up with programs aimed at improving the nature of the services offered, employees must be included in giving their view on what should be done and why they feel so.
4.3.5 Employee’s motivation and customer satisfaction.
Hospitality industries should ensure that their employees are motivated as an individual or as a group in any good job done to ensure that this enhances their innovation in the work place thus ensuring that are determined towards satisfying their customer’s needs. Three of the interview participants argued that motivation in companies is very essential be it as a group or an individual. Such motivations may include salary increment, organized trips and promotions. In this view, respondent C said that:
“…when employees are motivated they feel like they own the industry hence they will do anything possible in order to confirm that they fulfill the expectations of the customers which is spillover effect towards achieving its set goals.
Employees (E) said that:
“… I joined my company with form four education but the motivation I received made to yearn to go back to school through evening classes to pursue a program in hospitality management which helped me in rising to my current position…’’(E).
As noted from the above where there is motivation of employees there is direct reflection in the performance of the employees in serving customers which can even be felt by customers from the way they feel satisfied. Four of the respondents agreed that whenever they are motivated they feel comfortable in the work place thus making them concentrate in offering their services to customers to their level best.
The existing literature supports that when employees are motivated and allowed to be creative they work as team ensuring that their full potential is geared towards meeting the customer’s expectation as well as achieving the set goals of the organization (Dong et al., 2015).
Zablah et al., (2016) acknowledges that hospitality industries which have a well-planned inspiration structures to its employees makes them to work towards achieving the set goals thus in the long run meeting the expectation of the consumers becomes a clarion call in their everyday activities.
4.4 Chapter Summary.
As identified from the literature review section , to effectively understand the significance of understanding organizational culture in the hospitality industry as a tool towards improving the quality of service delivery while achieving the set goals service delivery ,types of organizational culture organizational change and culture the following themes were identified through thematic analysis of the various information from the respondents. Thematic Analysis (TA) which is technique that is uses patterns of the responses provided by respondents to come up with themes in deductive way (Smith, 2015).The themes were, significance if organizational culture in quality service delivery, the managers role in quality service delivery, change implementation in quality service delivery and employees motivation and service delivery organizational culture effects, impact of motivation on employees and process of change implementation. Existing literature confirmed that understanding the organizational culture is vital in achieving the goals of the industry through service delivery (Rahimi, 2017). The next chapter presents the conclusion of the findings from the research and the recommendations made from the findings regarding the recommendation that will enhance the motivation of staffs in industrial set up and policy changes and the future research studies.
5.0 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.
5. 1. Introduction
The summary of findings from the current study regarding significance of understanding organizational culture in the hospitality industry as a tool of improving the quality of services offered to customers in the three hospitality industries identified is outlined in this section. The chapter also presents a number of recommendations following the research findings from the three hospitality industries that were used in the current study. The challenges that emerged during the study are also outlined. Finally, it recommends areas and ways accomplishing the future studies related to the current research topic of study. The chapter ends with few remarks, to sum up the whole dissertation.
5.2 Objectives evaluation
The study objectives included assessing the significance of understanding organizational culture in the hospitality industry stakeholders as a mechanism of ensuring improved quality service delivery to customers, understanding the types of organizational cultures available in organization, role of managers in quality service delivery and employees motivation in relation to customer satisfaction and change implementation in service delivery. It was identified the organizational culture exists in the identified organizations, the organizations are also promoting the understanding of the culture because they understand the importance it plays to their organization. It was also identified that the manager are equipped with the knowledge of understanding the organizational culture as a method of ensuring that they are able to achieve their existing targets through increased productivity.
5.3 Conclusion.
The current study had an aim of investigating significance of understanding organizational culture in the hospitality industry as a mechanism in improving the quality of services delivery while achieving their goals in the three hospitality industries that were identified. The aspect of organizational culture that were being investigated were the effects of organization culture on hospitality industries, the types of organizational culture, the role of managers in quality service delivery, change implementation in quality service delivery and employees motivation in connection with customer satisfaction (Anitha and Begon, 2016). As indicated earlier, to fully understand the importance of organizational culture in organizations one first sought to understand the types of organizational cultures available, the models used to describe the organizational culture, the dimensions of organizational culture available and the impact it has to organizations.
Therefore for the enhanced understanding of significance of organizational culture in hospitality industries, the industries must focus on the aforementioned determinants and give them the concentration they deserve. In so doing this the quality of service delivery in the hospitality industry will improve and they will achieve their goals. Employees motivation as agreed by some of the respondents from the interviews indicated that for them motivation is the key factor in ensuring that their full potential is released while serving the customers (Bianchi, 2015). The respondents also acknowledged that once the industries are able to have a culture that understand their diversity, streamlining of new innovations and strategies by the managers will be fully embraced by the staff thus making it easier for the management to achieve their goals of providing the best services to their customers.
5.4 Study Limitation.
While carrying out the research the following challenges were experienced. The financial constraints: the data collecting procedure was expensive as it required the use of interview technique to gather evidence from the respondents and time-consuming (Lamont & Swidler, 2014). Meeting of the respondents was also another challenge as most of them were working on shifts in their organization. Another challenge was in trying to convince the staff to take part in the interview as some felt uncomfortable to leak sensitive information to the researcher that could lead to their dismissal as acknowledged by Ahmad, Bosua, & Scheepers (2014).
5.5 Recommendations for Future Research.
The current study employed qualitative method to understand the significance of understanding organizational culture in improving quality service delivery in the hospitality while achieving the set goals. Future studies should employ the mixed research method to have a clear understanding on how each element of organizational culture affects quality service delivery in the hospitality industry. The issues associated with the schedules that are tight making some of the respondents not ready to participate in the interview will be avoided by the use of the mixed method. In this view, stakeholders in the hospitality industry and those who wish to venture into the sector will be able to understand better the significance of organizational culture as a means of improving their service delivery to their customers (Bianchi, 2015). In order to accomplish such, the longitudinal research must be employed to assist researchers in studying the phenomenon in a longer period say four to five years. Future studies should also examine how each type of hospitality industry organization is trying to deal with the diversity of the culture as a tool towards achieving their goals.
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APPENDIX 1
Interview Questions
The main aim of this study is to find out the significance of understanding organizational culture as a tool of improving the quality of service delivery to customers while achieving the set goals in the four hospitality industries identified. This will facilitate my understanding of the extent to which organizational culture influence the quality of service delivery and the progress of the industry. I am grateful for your acceptance to participate in answering some questions regarding the significance of organizational culture in quality service delivery. The interview will take 50 minutes.
A Demographic Data
- What is your gender?
- What is your marital status?
- How old are you?
- How many years have you worked in the hospitality industry?
- What is your level of education?
B Interview Questions.
- Does your company motivate its employees?
- How does your company ensure that the expectation of the customers are met?
- Does your company believe that employees are her ambassadors to their customers?
- Does your company understand the significance of cultural diversity of its employees?
- How does your company ensure that its customers remain to be loyal?
- Does your company involve its employees in new change implementation?
- Does your company believe that customer’s satisfaction is a combined effort of all stakeholders in the industry?
- Does your company acknowledge the creativity of employees?
- Does your company understand the organizational culture and its effects in the industry?
Once again thank you so much for finding time to participate in answering the questions. All information that you have provided will be highly confidential and only be utilized in learning purposes. All the best.
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