EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON HOTEL INDUSTRY (A CASE STUDY OF PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
As we know that employee is the backbone of the organization because he/she is only person who directly touch with the customer on the time of dealing the service. in this research article we have focus on employee empowerment in order to increase the quality of service and customer satisfaction on the other hand we can say that employee empowerment improves the quality of service which automatically improved the satisfaction level of the customer towards the service. Without the empowerment employee not confident, not be creative and not enough knowledge therefore unable to provide better performance as per expectation. Employee will be successful if management provide them some authority and provide them systematic knowledge according to their work, which is known as the employee empowerment. The continuously development of employee empowerment is directly affected the quality of service and satisfaction level of customer towards the service provider. Whereas at present scenario all the service industries are making them self-strong in order to
increase the quality of service and customer satisfaction. Participative management is one of the most popular and most commonly practiced management styles in modern organizations. Employee empowerment is one of the reflections of this modern approach to man management. It invariably leads to a positive change within the organization. Empowered employees are more motivated as compared to those who just follow the given lines. Employee empowerment creates sense of belongingness and ownership towards the parent organization. Empowered employee feel more confident and try to give their best to their employers, as a result, service quality improves. Improved product or service quality generally results into higher level of customer satisfaction. Higher level of customer satisfaction results into a bigger sales volume resulting into an improved profitability. Every business aims at earning profits; however profits and customer value go hand in hand. In order to give maximum value to a customer, the service provider is required to develop a sound understanding of the customer expectations. Once customer expectations are known, then some legitimate freedom of action along with the input of employee in the service or product would create a more favourable environment for the success of a business venture. Although, customers of service organizations are friendly, most of them seek for firms that oer
values, such as close accessibility, security, clean and attractive office layout to do business with. Despite the above, it is worthy to state that where a service firm has well trained empowered staff that treats customers with respect, communicate confidently with them and offer outstanding service, such a firm would increase her customer base more rapidly than her competitive rivals. No doubt, in this globalized era, Customers who have interactive relationship with empowered and skilled employees of their service organizations are likely to be more loyal to the firm in their business transactions. Customer satisfaction in hotel industry is posited to be a function of service quality i.e. customer service, corporate image, price, innovativeness and convenience, among others. Odindo and Delvin (2010) noted that increase customer satisfaction has the potential to enhance organizational performance and as a result managers should have customer satisfaction as a key target. Oloko & Ogutu (2012) stated that, in recent past, employee empowerment has been promoted as a general recipe for enhancing work performance. In support of the above, Manzoor (2012) claimed that, empowerment provides benefits to organizations and makes sense of belonging and pride in the workforce.
