Internal Customer Dissatisfaction in Hospitality Organization

Introduction

The success of any hospitality organization lies behind the cooperation of the various departments found within the organization. Before any service reaches the final consumer within the organization, it has to go through numerous departments with each department adding value to the services. In other words, hospitality organizations consist of numerous functional units with each unit using outputs from another unit as its input. To ensure that the final consumer receives quality services or products, the functional units within a hospitality organization must view one another as internal customers based on the sequence a process takes before it reaches the external customer (Agarwal, Harding & Schumacher 2004, p. 2-4). For instance, the department responsible for receiving orders from external customers who wish to use the hospitality facility is expected to ensure that it effectively process all information regarding the customers such as the number of people who will visit the premise, their preferences with respect to food and accommodation and duration they will spend in the hotel. This information is then forwarded to the department responsible organizing for visitors’ accommodation and preparing their meals. Failure by the department responsible for receiving customers’ orders to furnish the accommodation department with correct information may result in the accommodation department not effectively organizing for accommodation to hold all the visiting customers. In the end, the organization may end up not satisfying all its customers (Batterly, R., 2004, pp. 8-21).

Case of internal customer dissatisfaction

Kamuga Boarding and Lodging is a hospitality organization that receives and caters to visitors from different parts of the world. The organization has various departments to ensure that all visitors receive quality services on visiting the premises. There is the sales department that receives all orders being placed by customers wishing to visit the country. The department compiles information on the number of customers, the type of accommodation they require and then forwards the information to the boarding and lodging department and catering department to ensure that they effectively organize for visitors’ accommodation. The catering department prepares meals for various customers based on what they ordered and their place of origin (Czinkota & Kotabe 2001, pp. 123-146). To effectively serve the visitors, it has to rely on information supplied to it by the sales department. This calls for effective communication between the two departments.

An incident occurred within the organization where the catering department had to prepare Chinese meals for thirty-two Chinese visitors who had called into the organization. At the same time, there were three couples from Nigeria who also wished to use the hospitality facility for three days. Consequently, the department was required to offer them Nigerian meals. However, when it came to receiving information from the sales department, the person responsible for the department supplied the catering department with wrong information (Farner, Luthans & Sommer 2002, pp. 348-359). Rather than informing the department that it had to prepare Chinese meals for thirty-two people and also prepare Nigerian meals for the three couples, the information supplied stated that the organization expected to receive thirty-eight visitors from China. Eventually, the three couples from Nigeria had been incorporated in the number of Chinese visitors visiting the premises. In the end, the department was astonished to find that it had prepared excess food for the Chinese than the number of visitors and at the same time forgotten to cater for the three couples from Nigeria. The blame was all directed to the catering department as the three couples complained to the management about the poor quality of services offered in the organization. This resulted in the two departments having a sour relationship as the catering department felt to have been blamed for a mistake it was not accountable for. On the other hand, the sales department was not willing to admit its mistakes.

Improving internal customer satisfaction

Various strategies can be employed to ensure that there is effective communication between the various departments in Kamuga Boarding and Lodging hence ensuring that all departments are supplied with the correct information towards providing quality services to the visitors. For instance, the management needs to ensure that every department is aware of the information it is expected to collect and supply to the other (Frei 2008, pp. 76-80). Failure by the department to collect and correctly compile information about the visitors resulted in the catering department preparing meals for only one category of visitors. This cost the organization as some of the meals went into waste while the departments ended up not relating well. By collecting and supplying the right information to the subsequent department within the organization, it will lead to all processes running smoothly hence ensuring that there is cooperation among various departments. Insisting on collecting all the required details pertaining to specific visitors will ensure that the sales department eventually supplies the catering and other subsequent departments with the correct information thus being able to effectively organize for the visiting customers (Shaw & Ivens 2002, pp. 345-367).

Failure by the sales department to offer the catering department accurate information resulted in the two departments not cooperating towards achieving organizational goals. The loyalty that the catering department had in the sales department became compromised as the department felt that the sales department was not competent in its responsibilities. The department had to always ensure that it confirms whatever information supplied to it from the sales department. By informing every department about all its responsibilities, it will rejuvenate the initial good relationship between the two departments as every department will be accurate in its duties.

It is also imperative to organize interdepartmental seminars. This is to bring together different departments and inform them of the various information they expect to receive from each other. It is during these seminars that staff will also be informed on the need for ensuring they relate well in realizing organizational goals. Staff will learn about their value to the organization thus striving to ensure that they play their role in a bid to help the organization realize its objectives (Glynn & Barnes 1995, pp. 27-41). Lack of adequate knowledge on the information required by various departments results in these departments not effectively playing their roles in adding value to a product or service being offered by an organization. If the catering department knew all it expected to get from the sales department, it could have resulted in questioning the sales department on some missing information thus making them realize their errors prior to embarking on preparing for the coming visitors.

Every department within the organization has its head. Kamuga Boarding and Lodging need to educate all departmental heads on the importance of ensuring that their departments collect their information effectively. By educating all the departmental heads, these staff will be able to regularly remind their staff to ensure that they accurately compile their information. This is because the heads have a direct relation with staff in their departments. There is a need for the establishment of brochures and manuals that remind staff of the required information from their departments. This can be pinned on the walls of different offices in the department and supplied to new staff (Gronroos 2000, pp. 300-335). By so doing, staff will always be aware of what is expected from them. New employees will also be able to memorize these requirements thus becoming accustomed to them. In the end, all information supplied by one department to another will be accurate thus avoiding cases of one department receiving wrong information from another.

There is a need for the management to ensure that it regularly monitor and evaluate information transferred from one department to another. This is to ensure that all departments are supplied with the correct information. By conducting a performance appraisal of every department in the organization, staff in these departments will ensure that they countercheck their records before forwarding information to subsequent departments (Hart 2007, pp. 30-32). Lack of the sales department to scrutinize its records before forwarding them to the catering department resulted in it feeding the catering department with wrong information. Had the organization established departmental evaluation, it would have led to staff in the sales department ensuring that supply other departments with accurate information. Lack of management to evaluate the performance of the different departments has led to staff abdicating some of their responsibilities. They do not put into consideration the importance of ensuring that they accurately collect all the relevant information in their department to help other departments carry out their duties.

Apart from regularly evaluating the various departments and organizing interdepartmental seminars, Kamuga Boarding and Lodging ought to install Information Management System to facilitate its operations. The system ensures that all the various departments are networked and effectively convey information between them. Management information system (MIS) assists an organization in establishing guidelines to be followed when assessing the needs of customers thus helping the organization ensure that it gets and understands all customer needs. In the process, using MIS in decision making leads to organizations ensuring that they involve all departments in making a decision on matters to do with operations in the organization (Heskett, Sasser & Schlesinger 1997, pp. 112-131). As a result, the system acts as the arbitrator of information, opinions, and suggestions being exchanged between departments. By using the system, every department becomes responsible for the decision it makes. Eventually, it becomes easy to identify the department from which problems affecting an organization emanate. This helps in avoiding cases of blaming one department for mistakes it did not commit as was witnessed in Kamuga Boarding and Lodging. In other words, by implementing MIS in the operations of a hospitality organization, every department ensures that it accurately collects and conveys its respective information as it knows that the management will be capable of noticing errors coming from it.

Effectiveness of the selected strategies

Ensuring that there is effective communication between the various departments within an organization leads to the development of a sense of trust among staff. They perceive to be empowered thus willing to work on suggestions emanating from different departments. In the process, every department takes responsibility for its activities thus improving the reputation of the organization. Staffs empowerment results in them being responsible (Karten 2004, para. 2-5). Eventually, they ensure that they supply other departments with accurate and timely information. Interdepartmental communication also facilitates ensuring that the different departments respond on time to errors coming from one department. Rather than a department blaming the other for errors coming from it, they work together in coming up with ways of mitigating the repercussions of the error to the entire organization. In simple terms, interdepartmental communication leads to cooperation among staff in various departments thus sharing ideas on how to react to problems facing the organization (Lewis 1995, pp. 57-59). The idea of staff empowerment makes them responsible for their duties thus ensuring that they accurately receive and record information regarding customer orders. This avoids cases of neglect and carelessness as witnessed from the sales department of Kamuga Boarding and Lodging.

The introduction of MIS in the organization will help in ensuring that every department is responsible when making decisions and compiling its information. With all information in every department being stored and easily accessed by other departments, it will be possible for one department to confirm if it has received the correct information from the other (Papa 2009, para. 6). This will help in identifying errors made by one department on time thus preventing the errors from having an impact on the services offered to the final customer. Organizing interdepartmental seminars will help staff understand their value to the organization as well as the need for all departments to work together. Consequently, every department will strive to ensure that it cooperate with others in managing operations within the organization. Regularly evaluating the performance of individual departments will lead to staff becoming more responsible. As a result, they will ensure that accurate records and convey information to other departments (Swinburn 2006, p. 13). This will facilitate in reducing cases of neglect among staff.

Conclusion

In the hospitality industry, every department plays a vital role in adding value to services offered to customers. Each department uses inputs from another department as its raw materials, processes them before forwarding them to the subsequent department. It is in this respect that the receiving department acts as an internal customer to the one forwarding information to it. To facilitate in ensuring that the final customer receives quality services, every department needs to ensure that it satisfies its internal customer. This can be achieved by ensuring that there is effective communication between these departments.

Reference List

1. Agarwal, A., Harding, J. R. & Schumacher, J. R., 2004. Organizing for CRM [online]. The McKinsey Quarterly.
2. Batterly, R., 2004. Leading Through Relationship Marketing, Australia: McGraw-Hill.
3. Czinkota, M. R. & Kotabe, M., 2001. Marketing management (2^nd ed). USA: South-Western College Publishing.
4. Farner, S., Luthans, F. & Sommer, S. M., 2002. An empirical assessment of internal customer service. [Online]
5. Frei, F. X., 2008. The four things a service business must get right. Harvard Business Review.
6. Glynn, W. & Barnes, J., 1995. Understanding services management. United Kingdom: Wiley.
7. Gronroos, C., 2000. Service Management and Marketing. England: John Wiley and Sons.
8. Hart, C. W., 2007. Beating the market with customer satisfaction. Harvard business review.
9. Heskett, J. L., Sasser, W. E. & Schlesinger, L.A., 1997. The Service Profit Chain. New York: The Free Press, 112-131.
10. Karten, N., 2004. Establishing service level agreement. [Online]
11. Lewis, B. R., 1995. Customer care in services: Understanding services management, United Kingdom:: Wiley.
12. Papa, N., 2009. Effective interdepartmental communication. [Online] Web.
13. Shaw, C. & Ivens, J., 2002. Building great customer experiences. Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.
14. Swinburn, A., 2006. Customer rage on the rise. Professional Marketing, 23(2), p. 13.