3 works
Running head: TERM PROJECT 1
TERM PROJECT 10
Term Project
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Phase 1-Define
Business Case
Six Sigma DMAIC process is a good place to start in the journey of making much-needed improvement to better serve the customers. In each stage of the DMAIC process, specific statistical tools are used to help identify real- issues, shortcomings and defects which need to be addressed to make the hotel more competitive (Vendrame Takao, Woldt & da Silva, 2017). In the current business environment, new services continue being unveiled while management is implementing different systems and techniques which they believe will create an exciting, unique and memorable experience for the customers.
In the hotel, employees significantly impact whether clients will take orders and come back again. Warm, cordial and jovial employees such as waiters/ waitresses, concierge, reservationists, receptionists, cook and many others influence customer- relationships. Their appearances, customer skills and how they interact with customers is very significant and mean a lot to the success of the hotel.
The DMAIC process starts with defining the problem based on the scope of the project and the needs of customers (Vendrame Takao, Woldt & da Silva, 2017). To win customers, it is necessary to evaluate internal and external factors and identify areas that require improvement to better serve customers. Reviewing the conducted survey, there is enough evidence that the morale of employees is very low. This might lead to a high employee turnover rate denying the hotel an opportunity to have employees capable of developing a long-term relationship with customers.
Four factors have been identified that negatively affect employees. First, employees are complaining about a lack of empowerment which negatively affects them and has the potential to influence negatively the outcome of work. Second, employees are complaining that opportunities for personal development is limited. With growing competitiveness in the industry, personal development is crucial because it would provide employees with the opportunity to learn new things that would enhance their service delivery and improve how they serve customers. Third, management does little to motivate employees. To boost the confidence of employees and morale of employees, it is important when the managers develop structures and culture to inspire and motivate employees. This enhances innovation and makes employees happier which would be reciprocated to healthier and friendly relationships that employees develop in line with the duty of serving customers. However, frustrated and demotivated employees, out little effort and commitment to deliver quality services to the customers and others tends even to chase away customers because gloomy mood they put on the customers. Finally, employees feel that management does not have a reasonable expectation about them. This means that goals sets on them could either be unrealistic or could always be under pressure which interferes with the possibility of employees to faithfully deliver organizational goals.
In nutshell, low satisfaction of employees and possible incidence of high employee turnover is an issue that management of hotel needs to address. Employees are crying with stress, frustration emanating from a lack of opportunities for personal development and managerial support. Employees want to be empowered to do their work. All these inadequacies and concerns are impediments that adversely affect the delivery of quality customer services.
Having identified the problem, the next stage in the DMAIC process is measurement. This deals with the collection of data and the establishment of priority areas and goals of identified problems. In the hospitality industry, good relations is one ways of managing complex guest experiences. Good relations in the organizations which is contributed by several factors such as working relationship with other employees and conducive working environment created by the management are some of the factors that influence the morale of employees (Laškarin Ažić, 2017). Developing structures that enhance morale and satisfaction of employees are the main areas of interest in the quest to build good relations that is required to manage complex guest experience and provide exemplary, exceptional customer service. Second, the satisfaction of employees promotes improves employee productivity that are needed to promote the financial performance and profitability of the organization (Laškarin Ažić, 2017). Third, high employee turnover will be reduced with the improvement of the satisfaction of employees.
In the third step, the DMAIC process focuses on the analysis, which seeks to evaluate the consequences of the identified problem. This seeks to documents the consequences identified problem is likely to cause if it is not addressed now. The hotel could experience three problems if the problem is not addressed now. First, employee productivity would decrease. Second, the hotel would witness a high employee turnover rate. Third, employees would not have good relations to enable them to handle guest experiences.
Improvement is the next step that considers actions that should be taken to remedy the current situation. Further, the impact of suggested changes to the customers are established. In this particular case, management support and motivation of employees will be required to address identified problems. Management should also roll out programs to personally develop employees. These actions will enable improve customer satisfaction and loyalty to the hotel. This is because employees will develop goods relations with customers and develop a long-term relationship with customers. Further, the value of customers will be increased because employees will be motivated to deliver quality and innovative services to the customers (Harrison, Van Hoek & Skipworth, 2014).
Finally, the completion of the project is expected to deliver financial benefits to the organization. It is expected that the project would improve financial performance. More customers are expected to stream to the hotel due to enhanced good relations in employees to manage customer interactions.
b. Project Scope
The process of improvement begins at check-in and ends at the check-out. This will help to ensure that all employees from check-in point to check-out are satisfied and have their concerns addressed. Further, this helps to ensure the hotel holistically provides a unique customer experience from point of entry until when clients leave the hotel.
To realize the improvements proposed in the project, numerous resources will be needed. Foremost, financial resources will be required. Investing in human capital development and improvement is a capital-intensive affair that the organization must be ready to facilitate. However, the organization must be able to evaluate costs and gains from the investment to conclude whether the investment is worth such expenditure. Challenges keep coming and a new trend emerging in human resource management. Human resource information technologies are also emerging and organizations need to ensure that they can improve and equip their human capital to the capacity needed to comfortably use these technologies (Barros, Ramos & Pere, 2015). However, procuring and installing modern technologies will require financial resources. Labor and experts is another resource that will be needed. This resource will be needed to train, improve on skills and provide leadership training as well as promote emotional intellectual development that is necessary for the personal development of employees. Top management is another resource that will be required to enhance the interpersonal relationship and closely relate employees to motivate and empower them.
In the process of making the desired improvement, two hindrances could slow down the process of implementation. Financial constraints is one factor that could act as an impediment to the realization of desired changes in the hotel. The second, the unwillingness of the top managers. Counting on the resources demanded to implement the changes, management might be reluctant to approve the resources. Additionally, management could be having a fear that developing employees by advancing their skills, increases their bargaining power and also makes them more employable. This could instill fear in the management and go slow in implementing the changes.
c. Timeline
In each project, tasks are defined, resources allocated and schedules are developed. This serves as the basis upon which deliverables and milestones are developed which are used as a basis for monitoring and tracking the progress of the report (Pinto, 2019).
To improve the morale of employees and promote staff satisfaction, the following key tasks will be conducted; need assessment to determine areas of interest that need to be addressed to improve satisfaction, analysis and provision of feedback, conduct training and investment, develop teamwork activities and workshop to enhance the interpersonal relationship among employees and top-level management, improvement of the work environment and lastly, build strong sociable culture.
In each developed schedule, activities are allocated both time and budget. These two are essential to ensure execution and implementation. The allocation of schedules is important because this helps the client to establish when the project would be delivered. The schedule also helps project managers to regularly evaluate the progress through earned value management (Pinto, 2019). This is potentially important because it creates a room in which changes or adjustments are carried to ensure that project is on schedule. For the identified key tasks, estimate timelines for each task is: need assessment-14days, analysis and provision of feedback-7days, training and investment-21days, teamwork activities-3days, improvement of work environment-20 days and building strong sociable culture-30days.
Phase 2 Measure Phase
Survey Section
a. Survey Questions
With great honor, you are invited to participle in the employee survey. The survey is intended to identify areas needed for improvement to better serve customers. The survey is anonymous will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Respond to the following statement with a level of agreement or disagreement (Strongly Agree=SA, Agree=A, Neutral=N, Disagree=D and Strongly Disagree=SD).
1. I was properly trained for my current position
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
2 I have necessary tools to do my job
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
3. My manager has reasonable expectations about me
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
4. My manager(s) motivate their employees.
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
5. My fellow employees treat me with respect
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
6. I feel happy and accepted in my work environment
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
7. I feel empowered in my work environment
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
8. My department embraces overall mission of company
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
9. My benefits package is competitive
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
10. There are adequate opportunities for promotion
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
11. Opportunities for personal development are plenty
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
12. I strongly comprehend benefits available for me
SA [ ], A [ ], N [ ], D [ ], SD [ ]
b. Tally sheet.
1. I was properly trained for my current position
SA [10], A [23], N [7], D [5], SD [5]
2 I have the necessary tools to do my job
SA [10], A [30], N [ ], D [10], SD [ ]
3. My manager has reasonable expectations about me
SA [3], A [7], N [ ], D [35], SD [5]
4. My manager(s) motivate their employees.
SA [3], A [7], N [ ], D [35], SD [5]
5. My fellow employees treat me with respect
SA [10], A [17], N [3], D [7], SD [3]
6. I feel happy and accepted in my work environment
SA [8], A [25], N [ ], D [7], SD [10]
7. I feel empowered in my work environment
SA [8], A [15], N [5], D [20], SD [2]
8. My department embraces the overall mission of the company
SA [15], A [17], N [7], D [10], SD [3]
9. My benefits package is competitive
SA [13], A 23[ ], N [ ], D [10], SD [4]
10. There are adequate opportunities for promotion
SA [ ], A [30], N [ ], D [15], SD [5]
11. Opportunities for personal development are plenty
SA [10], A [10], N [ ], D [20], SD [10]
12. I strongly comprehend the benefits available for me
SA [25], A [15], N [5], D [5], SD [ ]
c. Measurement tool
d. Bar Chart for each question.
1. I was properly trained for my current position
SA [10], A [23], N [7], D [5], SD [5]
2 I have necessary tools to do my job
SA [10], A [30], N [ ], D [10], SD [ ]
3. My manager has reasonable expectations about me
SA [3], A [7], N [ ], D [35], SD [5]
4. My manager(s) motivate their employees.
SA [3], A [7], N [ ], D [35], SD [5]
5. My fellow employees treat me with respect
SA [10], A [17], N [3], D [7], SD [3]
6. I feel happy and accepted in my work environment
SA [8], A [25], N [ ], D [7], SD [10]
7. I feel empowered in my work environment
SA [8], A [15], N [5], D [20], SD [2]
8. My department embraces overall mission of company
SA [15], A [17], N [7], D [10], SD [3]
9. My benefits package is competitive
SA [13], A 23[ ], N [ ], D [10], SD [4]
10. There are adequate opportunities for promotion
SA [ ], A [30], N [ ], D [15], SD [5]
11. Opportunities for personal development are plenty
SA [10], A [10], N [ ], D [20], SD [10]
12. I strongly comprehend benefits available for me
SA [25], A [15], N [5], D [5], SD [ ]
1. CTQ Trees
This a tool that helps to determine factors that drive quality to the customers. This essentially important because it enables companies to factors which are valued by the customers when developing new product or service (MindTools, n.d). For the case of the hotel in the case study, the following CTQ tree diagrams are developed.
Affordable
Value for money
Price
Good flavour
Customer satisfaction n
Taste
Pleasant
Hygiene
Ambience
Clean
Correct answer to customer questions
Knowledgeable staff
Excellent Customer Service
Greet customers with a smile
Friendly staff
Listens attentively to customers
Short wait time
Attends to customer upon arrival
Order delivered in 2 minutes
Attend to customer quickly
Motivation
Increase employee productivity
Sociable
Training and Dev
Staff satisfaction
High emotional intelligence
Offer unique customer service
Innovative services
Empowerment
Demonstrate high competency in work
According to above developed CTQ trees, customer satisfaction is the main need for the customers which is influenced by many quality drivers such as friendly staff, short waiting time, the taste of food and knowledge possessed by the staff. Similarly, for staff to provide desired customer needs, they also demand improvement in the satisfaction influenced by numerous variables such as training and development, empowerment and motivation. Essentially, for customers to be served best and their needs addressed optimally, needs for employees must be addressed first.
Decision Tools
To decide on the components to include in the CTQ tree, customers and employees were evaluated simultaneously. For the customers, customer satisfaction is the most important factor for which influences choices they make. Similarly, to enhance customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction is needed to give them the morale to provide high-quality customer care services.
Another important tool considered to come up with CTQ was brainstorming. This entails thinking critically and evaluating possible factors that are used to inform decisions made by the consumers to purchase goods and services. Taking the position of consumer and experience as a consumer, it was established that customers measure utility or satisfaction to determine the bundle of goods to consume. Therefore, through brainstorming, customer satisfaction was identified as the main component that forms the basis of the CTQ tree from which drivers can link metrics such as value for money and maintenance of hygiene.
Considering three CTQ, value for money, attending to customers quickly and provision of unique customers are appropriate metrics that can be used to 3 CTQ respectively. These three metrics are central to evaluating customer and employee satisfaction.
Process Flow Chart
Improved Employee satisfaction
Unique Customer Service
Customer Satisfaction
Ambience
Taste
Price
Pleasant
Hygiene
Clean
Full Flavors
Value for money
Affordable
References
Barros, V. F. D. A., Ramos, I., & Perez, G. (2015). Information systems and organizational
Harrison, A., van Hoek, R., & Skipworth, H. (2014). Logistics management and strategy: Competing through the supply chain (5th ed.). London, England: Prentice Hall Financial Times.
Laškarin Ažić, M. (2017). The impact of hotel employee satisfaction on hospitability performance. Tourism and hospitality management, 23(1), 105-117.
Management, 12(1), 45-63.
memory: a literature review. JISTEM-Journal of Information Systems and Technology
MindTools. (n.d). Critical to Quality (CTQ) Trees. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/ctq-trees.htm
Pinto, J.K. (2019). Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage (5th ed). Boston: Pearson
Vendrame Takao, M. R., Woldt, J., & da Silva, I. B. (2017). Six Sigma methodology advantages for small-and medium-sized enterprises: A case study in the plumbing industry in the United States. Advances in Mechanical Engineering, 9(10), 1687814017733248.
SA A N D SD 3 7 0 35 5Level of agreement
Respones
SA A N D SD 3 7 0 35 5
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 10 17 3 7 3
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 8 25 0 7 10
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 8 15 5 20 2
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 15 17 7 10 3
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 13 23 10 4
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 0 30 0 15 5
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 10 10 0 20 10
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 25 15 5 5 0
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 10 23 7 5 5
Level of agreement
Responses
SA A N D SD 10 30 0 10 0
Level of agreement
Responses