Description
The paper’s purpose is to provide background and practical exercises for management to
gain a perspective on the nature of true employee empowerment
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Exercises in tourism empowerment practice
J ohn E. Timmerman Richard S. Lytle
Article information:
To cite this document:
J ohn E. Timmerman Richard S. Lytle, (2007),"Exercises in tourism empowerment practice", International
J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 1 Iss 4 pp. 273 - 280
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Robert J . J ohnston, Timothy J . Tyrrell, (2007),"Management exercises and trainer's note in sustainable
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328-337http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506180710824217
Rex S. Toh, Barbara M. Yates, Frederick DeKay, (2007),"Executive training exercises in non-performance
and attrition charges in the hospitality industry", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research, Vol. 1 Iss 4 pp. 281-288http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506180710824163
Conrad Lashley, (1995),"Towards an understanding of employee empowerment in hospitality
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Exercises in tourism
empowerment practice
John E. Timmerman
Department of Management Sciences, College of Business Administration,
Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, USA, and
Richard S. Lytle
College of Business Administration, Abilene Christian University,
Abilene, Texas, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The paper’s purpose is to provide background and practical exercises for management to
gain a perspective on the nature of true employee empowerment.
Design/methodology/approach – After a brief overview of the nature of empowerment, a series to
training exercises offers insight into how employee empowerment in the tourism industry can create
deeper investment in the corporate mission and greater customer service. The exercises also examine
approaches for management to avoid.
Findings – Employee empowerment results from recognizing the employee’s ability to be
organization’s eyes and ears.
Originality/value – This discussion and set of exercises provides management with the opportunity
to test their instincts against realistic situations of employee empowerment in the context of service
failure.
Keywords Empowerment, Employees, Tourism management
Paper type Case study
Introduction
This report presents ideas about the employment of empowerment in the tourism
industry. The ?rst section de?nes empowerment. The second section provides a brief
overview of empowerment as a key to tourism success. The third section identi?es
several factors that support empowerment as a management initiative. The fourth
section contains questions for the reader to develop skill in successfully enabling an
empowerment environment. The ?fth section provides sample answers to the training
exercises.
De?ning empowerment
Delineating the speci?c meaning of the term is one of the leading dif?culties in dealing
with the subject of empowerment. However, characteristics of empowerment are
commonly agreed to include:
.
enablement;
.
job ownership;
.
authority and responsibility;
.
autonomy and partnering;
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6182.htm
Tourism
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Accepted April 2007
International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
Vol. 1 No. 4, 2007
pp. 273-280
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6182
DOI 10.1108/17506180710824154
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a sense of competence and impact;
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shared values;
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a process of becoming; and
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decentralized decision making.
De?nitions of empowerment re?ect a strain between the purposes of the organization
and those created by customer demands. One way to relieve this tension is adopting a
de?nition that combines the impact on the employee and the results for the
organization. Therefore, “empowerment” can be de?ned as:
. . . the management-initiated treatment of employees which emboldens and enables front-line
workers to perform independently, within the bounds of organizational policy, and to behave
proactively and with personal integrity on behalf of the organization and its customers.
Empowerment’s role in tourism success
The practice of empowerment is particularly appropriate in the environment of
tourism. Tourism’s setting is one in which service is occasionally unavailable or
delayed, customers have special needs or requests, and other customers’ behavior can
disrupt enjoyment of the service in some way. On these occasions, front-line employees
are positioned to decisively remedy the problem and to restore enjoyment of the
tourism experience, if they have been suf?ciently empowered to act.
Deming captured the quintessential reason for employee empowerment when
Simmerman (1995) said:
. . . it will not suf?ce to have customers that are merely satis?ed. Satis?ed customers switch,
for no good reason, just to try something else. Pro?t and growth come from customers that
can boast about your product or service – the loyal customer. He requires no advertising or
other persuasion, and he brings a friend along with him.
Ordinary policies and procedures do not satisfy customers in all cases. Sometimes
front-line employees need the latitude to make on-the-spot decisions that bene?t both
the customers and the organization.
The empowerment environment is characterized by a conversion of the relationship
between employee and customer from mere service to hospitality. An empowered
service environment tends to be a strategically planned unilateral relationship,
whereas hospitality promotes a dialogue in which the marketer listens, comprehends,
and responds to customer needs and concerns. One of the deadliest of marketing sins is
not listening to and understanding customers (Kotler, 2004). Marketing relationships
are strengthened by extending the hospitality of engaging customers in
“conversation,” especially if employees are empowered to act on the facts learned in
these exchanges (Baier-Stein and MacAaron, 2005).
Factors that support empowerment
Employee empowerment results from recognizing the employee’s ability to be the
organization’s eyes and ears as well as to make on-the-spot adjustments to the
customer experience that results in customer loyalty. One of the greatest opportunities
that a marketer has to show genuine concern for a customer is when something has
gone wrong. At this time of frustration, courtesy and cordiality in addressing the
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problem is keenly appreciated. In fact, the steps taken for service recovery represent a
golden opportunity for ensuring future customer loyalty. One study reports that, when
immediate responsiveness to service failure occurs, organizations are able to retain up
to 95 percent of their customers who are dissatis?ed (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985).
Customers should be encouraged to complain and employees must be empowered to
respond. This tact is in the best interest of both customers and the organization.
Satisfaction levels after complaint handling can be higher than previous satisfaction
levels (Goodwin et al., 1995).
Customers, who do not complain following a service failure, tend to engage in brand
switching. In such cases, the organization misses out on the opportunity to undertake
service recovery. A number of studies conclude that complainers tend to occupy the
higher socio-economic levels in society, the very segment that makes up much of
tourism’s af?uent market (Moyer, 1984; Singh, 1990; Warland et al., 1984; Zaltman et al.,
1978). The complexity and cost of tourism products means that these consumers are
more likely to complain about dissatisfying experiences or that the results of their
non-action will have greater consequences for the tourist organization. Service failure
represents a crucial moment for front-line employees to be empowered to act and
pre-empt a relationship-breaking event.
Service failure does not necessarily lead to customer dissatisfaction; most customers
accept that things can go wrong. The dissatisfaction arises from the organization’s
response to a complaint. Intentional and clear provisions should exist to make
employees feel empowered to handle service failure and exceptions in the tourism
industry. Furthermore, an employer must convince the employees that their service
contribution is important by rewarding empowered action.
A study of nearly 1,000 employees in a complex, service-intensive industry ?nds
that employees who experienced low-empowerment levels felt:
.
unappreciated;
.
unimportant;
.
uninformed; and
.
often belittled when corrected by an autocratic manager in front of customers
(Lytle, 2006).
As a result, employee empowerment was the lowest rated attribute of their work
environment.
All the evidence reinforces the need for front-line employees to have the autonomy
and authority to act to resolve a customer’s problem without delay and, as a result,
solidify loyalty to the organization. Also, management needs to stand behind the
employee’s judgment. As the welcome statement in the Nordstrom Employee
Handbook puts it, “Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no
additional rules.”
Training exercise questions
Many organizations attempt to implement an empowerment program among
employees, but few succeed in bringing it to full bloom. Arguably, empowerment’s
greatest impact on customers is when service failure occurs. The following exercises
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are designed to address common management dilemmas in the implementation of
employee empowerment.
(1) Historically, Alpine Airlines has permitted front-line ticket agents, gate agents,
and ?ight attendants the latitude to solve customer problems as part of the
airline’s general commitment to employee empowerment. Speci?c acts are not
spelled out, but the agent is left to use resourceful good judgment in resolving
traveler dif?culties. Each of the following situations can be trying for travelers
and tricky for airline personnel. As a gate agent, suggest solutions for each of
the following customer situations to create a win-win situation for the customer
and company. Indicate your choice’s pros and cons and explain the rationale for
speci?c recommendations.
.
A distraught traveler is ?ying home in ?rst class to Europe, having just
received news of the unexpected death of her father. She mentions to the
agent that she has just noticed a good friend ?ying alone in coach. The ?rst
class compartment is only one-third full for this ?ight.
.
Robert, a hardware dealer from Tyler, Texas bought a round-trip ticket in
March from Alpine Airlines for a business trip to San Diego in May. The
?ight involved a plane change in Dallas. Later, he learned that his niece was
to be married in Birmingham just two days before the San Diego trip’s
departure date. Robert proceeded to purchase a second round-trip ticket on
Alpine from Tyler to Birmingham, also with a plane change in Dallas. Since,
the timing of his tickets do not allow him to return to Tyler in time to make
connections, he wants to return through Dallas and switch to the San Diego
?ight. However, on the weekend of the two ?ights, he is informed in Dallas
that airline policy does not permit in – route changes, but that he does have
the option of purchasing a new ticket to San Diego for an amount roughly
four times the original fare.
.
A student is departing on the ?rst leg of a study abroad program. After
checking in, he is instructed to hand-carry his checked luggage to the TSA
security agent. On arriving at the baggage security scan, he is reminded that
he may wish to remove any ?lm to prevent accidental exposure. The student
digs through the stuffed bags to locate the various disposable cameras he
has tucked away in convenient voids. After leaving his bags with TSA
personnel, he proceeds to security check-in for the passenger waiting lounge.
At this time, he realizes that his boarding passes are missing. After a hasty
search, the student concludes that he must have dropped his boarding
passes inside one of the open bags while retrieving the ?lm. Normally, bags
that have been processed through security and passed on to the airline
baggage crew cannot be accessed. To reissue a ticket will cost the student
another $1,200. The student turns to the ticket agent in desperation.
.
An automotive executive boards an airplane headed for Detroit in
preparation for an important one-day meeting with a major original
equipment manufacturer (OEM). As he takes his seat in business class, his
only suit pants are snagged and signi?cantly torn across the thigh by an
exposed sharp edge on the seatback. His schedule will be very tight in
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Detroit, so he will have no time to visit a tailor or clothing store before his
meeting. This meeting could make or break next year’s budget goals.
.
A frequent ?ier of Alpine Airlines (350,000 þ miles) made advanced travel
arrangements for his wife to go home and care for her mother subsequent to
a scheduled major surgery. The mother-in-law’s hospital stay was to be ?ve
days, so he made travel arrangements coinciding with the expected hospital
release date. Two days prior to the ticketed departure, doctors extended the
mother-in-law’s planned hospital stay, delaying the date for which
post-hospital care would be necessary. While trying to make late changes
to the reservation, he discovered that the airline’s policy would not allow a
reservation change for less than an $850 fee. The original ticket was
purchased for $300. He tried to explain that the change was necessary due
the changing health condition of his mother-in-law who might have cancer
and that his wife could only be gone for a limited number of days, having her
own children to care for at home. Given his allegiance to the airline for many
years, he reasoned that the airline should be able to help him.
(2) Even though Alpine Airlines has made a genuine effort to implement an
employee empowerment program, management’s non-supportive actions seem
to drag the initiative back time after time causing personnel to be gun-shy and
hesitant to take independent action. For example, according to company policy,
gate agents are required to deny customer requests. However, when the
customer demands to see a member of management, a supervisor readily
overrides the agent’s objection in front of the customer, an action which leaves
the agent feeling undermined. Evaluate the following approaches to handling
the problem once the supervisor is called on the scene.
.
In the presence of both the gate agent and the customer, to make an irate
traveler happy the supervisor readily reverses the action of the agent,
indicating that the policy and/or the agent’s action were ill-advised.
.
The supervisor takes the agent’s aside, with the customer waiting, and tells
the agent never to drag him into the middle of a disagreeable situation again.
.
The supervisor appears, listens to a succinct description of the situation by
the agent. Next, the supervisor asks if the customer has anything to add to
the description. If the agent’s determination seems reasonable, the
supervisor commends the agent in front of the customer, indicating that
he correctly applied airline policy to the situation. Having af?rmed the agent
publicly, the supervisor then proceeds to make whatever supervisory
determination she feels is proper under the circumstances.
.
A member of “management” is not readily available. In fact, most
supervisors are usually too busy to respond to such customer requests
and/or problems. The agent simply uses his best judgment, hoping that
management will be pleased.
Discussion
The preceding exercises were contrived from realistic situations that are encountered
by travelers. These examples serve as the basis for understanding the various
ways that an empowered service recovery encounter can go right, or go very wrong.
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A degree of trust and emotional intelligence is required of management to facilitate
meaningful empowerment among employees. The relationship component to the
management-employee dyad is often the crucial ingredient to a successful
empowerment program. A supervisor can crush the spirit of empowerment among
employees by a thoughtless or distrustful approach.
Often, workers are promoted to supervisory positions with no leadership training.
Organizations employing empowerment programs should stage training sessions to
sensitize supervisors to issues that can facilitate the program’s success. A productive
activity in these sessions is role reversal exercise in which the employees get to act out
their perceptions of management in response to management’s role assumption of the
empowered employee. The results could be telling.
Answers to exercise questions
How should Alpine’s empowered works create win-win solutions for customers and the
company? A number of creative solutions to these real-to-life problems can be
generated. In each scenario, keep in mind two outcomes:
(1) responses have a way of become precedents; and
(2) reasonable, but satisfying, solutions to the customer’s dif?culty likely will win
the airline high marks for responsiveness and seal customer loyalty.
With respect to precedent, good rationale for exceptions is paramount; otherwise,
customers that become aware of the exception will plague the organization with special
requests. Nevertheless, minor actions taken to delight the customer that have little or
no cost to the organization and these actions pay tremendous dividends in terms of
loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. The following are some considerations for each
situation.
.
For the traveler returning to Europe to attend her father’s funeral, the natural
response would be to arrange for the friend in coach to join her friend in
?rst-class to provide consolation. The humanitarian justi?cation is obvious and
any minor costs to the airline will easily be off-set by the good-will created on the
part of both travelers.
.
Some travelers work the fare structure of the airline to take advantage of
incentive prices to remote destinations with the aim of intentionally skipping a
leg of the ?ight. This practice is categorically discouraged by the airlines.
However, in Robert’s case, the traveler seems to be operating out of ignorance
rather than a desire to defraud the carrier. This example is one of those occasions
when the ticket agent needs to make a judgment about intent and whether
penalizing the customers will create needless ill-will. After all, the tickets have
already been purchased and the intent was not apparently malicious.
.
The student in this case is probably an inexperienced and harried traveler who
made a mistake in the excitement and confusion of the moment. If there is
suf?cient time and the agent has the authority to recall the bag, he should by all
means do so.
.
The executive’s ripped pants are a dif?cult situation with few easy answers.
The ?ight attendant de?nitely should apologize. Second, the passenger should be
moved to another seat. Third, the jagged edge on the seat in question should be
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?xed and/or ?agged, showing it is inoperable. This visible response will speak
powerfully to those watching (all airline passengers will watch like hawks to see
how the customer is treated). If a sewing kit is on board the aircraft, it could be
made available for repair work. Or, there might be a way to have some help in
having the customer’s luggage brought out as a priority upon landing. Other
ideas might be helpful as well. The key is to react in such a way that the
organization is going beyond customer expectations. Remember, customer
satisfaction is a result of expectations versus experiences.
.
Employees must be trained to analyze and understand the value of the customer
to Alpine and the truth/reality of the customer’s situation. This task is not easy.
However, the analysis must be conducted and a strategy for resolution must be
provided. For starters, this faithful Alpine traveler has been and frequent ?ier for
more than 20 years. Second, the customer’s records indicate no “exceptional”
requests over the last two years. Third, most customers today expect to pay
some reasonable fee for a last minute change. At issue here is providing a
solution that goes beyond customer expectations. Thus, the logical and prudent
response for the airline is to move beyond the $850 fee and either to switch the
wife into a bereavement fare or to charge a customary $100 change fee. Alpine
Airlines should not add to the traveler’s grief and frustration over a situation that
is clearly exceptional and beyond the traveler’s control. The airline should work
with the customer, especially in view of her frequent ?yer status, to adjust the
dates of the trip.
For question two, how should Alpine’s supervisor and gate agent handle unique
customer requests? Frankly, scenario D is most likely. Not only do supervisors usually
have little time to respond individually to every customers concern, but employees in
truly empowered organizations would also be expected to take care of most situations
themselves.
However, some occasions do arise in which the customers will not be put off by the
front-line employee. In these cases, scenario C represents the optimal response. If the
customers will not be put off in his demand for a supervisor, then the supervisor should
do everything in her power to af?rm the agent’s position. The key here is that “the
customer comes second.” That is, for empowerment to be successful, management
must ?rst meet the needs of employees. If employees are happy and af?rmed in their
work, they will feel empowered to take care of customers well.
Scenarios A and B both represent situations in which management actually, though
perhaps inadvertently, contributes to the “un-empowerment” of the employee.
By allowing the agent to be caught in a dilemma in which he is not able to do what the
company or customer wants, over time he will be drained of his self-esteem and
rendered ineffectual at taking independent action.
Conclusion
Empowerment programs are often undermined by distrust, management’s fear of
giving away too much power, short-sighted attention to ?nancial goals, and failure to
reinforce and support empowered actions. As a result, employees come to believe that
promises of empowerment and job enrichment are simply tools to manipulate workers,
making “empowerment” either a hollow attempt at participatory management or,
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worse, a euphemism for work intensi?cation. If management does not succumb to the
urge to micromanage employees, empowerment can bring vitality and success to an
organization, especially in the tourism trade.
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Corresponding author
John E. Timmerman can be contacted at: [email protected]
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doc_825323838.pdf
The paper’s purpose is to provide background and practical exercises for management to
gain a perspective on the nature of true employee empowerment
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Exercises in tourism empowerment practice
J ohn E. Timmerman Richard S. Lytle
Article information:
To cite this document:
J ohn E. Timmerman Richard S. Lytle, (2007),"Exercises in tourism empowerment practice", International
J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 1 Iss 4 pp. 273 - 280
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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:
Robert J . J ohnston, Timothy J . Tyrrell, (2007),"Management exercises and trainer's note in sustainable
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328-337http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506180710824217
Rex S. Toh, Barbara M. Yates, Frederick DeKay, (2007),"Executive training exercises in non-performance
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Research, Vol. 1 Iss 4 pp. 281-288http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506180710824163
Conrad Lashley, (1995),"Towards an understanding of employee empowerment in hospitality
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Exercises in tourism
empowerment practice
John E. Timmerman
Department of Management Sciences, College of Business Administration,
Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas, USA, and
Richard S. Lytle
College of Business Administration, Abilene Christian University,
Abilene, Texas, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The paper’s purpose is to provide background and practical exercises for management to
gain a perspective on the nature of true employee empowerment.
Design/methodology/approach – After a brief overview of the nature of empowerment, a series to
training exercises offers insight into how employee empowerment in the tourism industry can create
deeper investment in the corporate mission and greater customer service. The exercises also examine
approaches for management to avoid.
Findings – Employee empowerment results from recognizing the employee’s ability to be
organization’s eyes and ears.
Originality/value – This discussion and set of exercises provides management with the opportunity
to test their instincts against realistic situations of employee empowerment in the context of service
failure.
Keywords Empowerment, Employees, Tourism management
Paper type Case study
Introduction
This report presents ideas about the employment of empowerment in the tourism
industry. The ?rst section de?nes empowerment. The second section provides a brief
overview of empowerment as a key to tourism success. The third section identi?es
several factors that support empowerment as a management initiative. The fourth
section contains questions for the reader to develop skill in successfully enabling an
empowerment environment. The ?fth section provides sample answers to the training
exercises.
De?ning empowerment
Delineating the speci?c meaning of the term is one of the leading dif?culties in dealing
with the subject of empowerment. However, characteristics of empowerment are
commonly agreed to include:
.
enablement;
.
job ownership;
.
authority and responsibility;
.
autonomy and partnering;
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1750-6182.htm
Tourism
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Accepted April 2007
International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
Vol. 1 No. 4, 2007
pp. 273-280
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6182
DOI 10.1108/17506180710824154
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a sense of competence and impact;
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shared values;
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a process of becoming; and
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decentralized decision making.
De?nitions of empowerment re?ect a strain between the purposes of the organization
and those created by customer demands. One way to relieve this tension is adopting a
de?nition that combines the impact on the employee and the results for the
organization. Therefore, “empowerment” can be de?ned as:
. . . the management-initiated treatment of employees which emboldens and enables front-line
workers to perform independently, within the bounds of organizational policy, and to behave
proactively and with personal integrity on behalf of the organization and its customers.
Empowerment’s role in tourism success
The practice of empowerment is particularly appropriate in the environment of
tourism. Tourism’s setting is one in which service is occasionally unavailable or
delayed, customers have special needs or requests, and other customers’ behavior can
disrupt enjoyment of the service in some way. On these occasions, front-line employees
are positioned to decisively remedy the problem and to restore enjoyment of the
tourism experience, if they have been suf?ciently empowered to act.
Deming captured the quintessential reason for employee empowerment when
Simmerman (1995) said:
. . . it will not suf?ce to have customers that are merely satis?ed. Satis?ed customers switch,
for no good reason, just to try something else. Pro?t and growth come from customers that
can boast about your product or service – the loyal customer. He requires no advertising or
other persuasion, and he brings a friend along with him.
Ordinary policies and procedures do not satisfy customers in all cases. Sometimes
front-line employees need the latitude to make on-the-spot decisions that bene?t both
the customers and the organization.
The empowerment environment is characterized by a conversion of the relationship
between employee and customer from mere service to hospitality. An empowered
service environment tends to be a strategically planned unilateral relationship,
whereas hospitality promotes a dialogue in which the marketer listens, comprehends,
and responds to customer needs and concerns. One of the deadliest of marketing sins is
not listening to and understanding customers (Kotler, 2004). Marketing relationships
are strengthened by extending the hospitality of engaging customers in
“conversation,” especially if employees are empowered to act on the facts learned in
these exchanges (Baier-Stein and MacAaron, 2005).
Factors that support empowerment
Employee empowerment results from recognizing the employee’s ability to be the
organization’s eyes and ears as well as to make on-the-spot adjustments to the
customer experience that results in customer loyalty. One of the greatest opportunities
that a marketer has to show genuine concern for a customer is when something has
gone wrong. At this time of frustration, courtesy and cordiality in addressing the
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problem is keenly appreciated. In fact, the steps taken for service recovery represent a
golden opportunity for ensuring future customer loyalty. One study reports that, when
immediate responsiveness to service failure occurs, organizations are able to retain up
to 95 percent of their customers who are dissatis?ed (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985).
Customers should be encouraged to complain and employees must be empowered to
respond. This tact is in the best interest of both customers and the organization.
Satisfaction levels after complaint handling can be higher than previous satisfaction
levels (Goodwin et al., 1995).
Customers, who do not complain following a service failure, tend to engage in brand
switching. In such cases, the organization misses out on the opportunity to undertake
service recovery. A number of studies conclude that complainers tend to occupy the
higher socio-economic levels in society, the very segment that makes up much of
tourism’s af?uent market (Moyer, 1984; Singh, 1990; Warland et al., 1984; Zaltman et al.,
1978). The complexity and cost of tourism products means that these consumers are
more likely to complain about dissatisfying experiences or that the results of their
non-action will have greater consequences for the tourist organization. Service failure
represents a crucial moment for front-line employees to be empowered to act and
pre-empt a relationship-breaking event.
Service failure does not necessarily lead to customer dissatisfaction; most customers
accept that things can go wrong. The dissatisfaction arises from the organization’s
response to a complaint. Intentional and clear provisions should exist to make
employees feel empowered to handle service failure and exceptions in the tourism
industry. Furthermore, an employer must convince the employees that their service
contribution is important by rewarding empowered action.
A study of nearly 1,000 employees in a complex, service-intensive industry ?nds
that employees who experienced low-empowerment levels felt:
.
unappreciated;
.
unimportant;
.
uninformed; and
.
often belittled when corrected by an autocratic manager in front of customers
(Lytle, 2006).
As a result, employee empowerment was the lowest rated attribute of their work
environment.
All the evidence reinforces the need for front-line employees to have the autonomy
and authority to act to resolve a customer’s problem without delay and, as a result,
solidify loyalty to the organization. Also, management needs to stand behind the
employee’s judgment. As the welcome statement in the Nordstrom Employee
Handbook puts it, “Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no
additional rules.”
Training exercise questions
Many organizations attempt to implement an empowerment program among
employees, but few succeed in bringing it to full bloom. Arguably, empowerment’s
greatest impact on customers is when service failure occurs. The following exercises
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are designed to address common management dilemmas in the implementation of
employee empowerment.
(1) Historically, Alpine Airlines has permitted front-line ticket agents, gate agents,
and ?ight attendants the latitude to solve customer problems as part of the
airline’s general commitment to employee empowerment. Speci?c acts are not
spelled out, but the agent is left to use resourceful good judgment in resolving
traveler dif?culties. Each of the following situations can be trying for travelers
and tricky for airline personnel. As a gate agent, suggest solutions for each of
the following customer situations to create a win-win situation for the customer
and company. Indicate your choice’s pros and cons and explain the rationale for
speci?c recommendations.
.
A distraught traveler is ?ying home in ?rst class to Europe, having just
received news of the unexpected death of her father. She mentions to the
agent that she has just noticed a good friend ?ying alone in coach. The ?rst
class compartment is only one-third full for this ?ight.
.
Robert, a hardware dealer from Tyler, Texas bought a round-trip ticket in
March from Alpine Airlines for a business trip to San Diego in May. The
?ight involved a plane change in Dallas. Later, he learned that his niece was
to be married in Birmingham just two days before the San Diego trip’s
departure date. Robert proceeded to purchase a second round-trip ticket on
Alpine from Tyler to Birmingham, also with a plane change in Dallas. Since,
the timing of his tickets do not allow him to return to Tyler in time to make
connections, he wants to return through Dallas and switch to the San Diego
?ight. However, on the weekend of the two ?ights, he is informed in Dallas
that airline policy does not permit in – route changes, but that he does have
the option of purchasing a new ticket to San Diego for an amount roughly
four times the original fare.
.
A student is departing on the ?rst leg of a study abroad program. After
checking in, he is instructed to hand-carry his checked luggage to the TSA
security agent. On arriving at the baggage security scan, he is reminded that
he may wish to remove any ?lm to prevent accidental exposure. The student
digs through the stuffed bags to locate the various disposable cameras he
has tucked away in convenient voids. After leaving his bags with TSA
personnel, he proceeds to security check-in for the passenger waiting lounge.
At this time, he realizes that his boarding passes are missing. After a hasty
search, the student concludes that he must have dropped his boarding
passes inside one of the open bags while retrieving the ?lm. Normally, bags
that have been processed through security and passed on to the airline
baggage crew cannot be accessed. To reissue a ticket will cost the student
another $1,200. The student turns to the ticket agent in desperation.
.
An automotive executive boards an airplane headed for Detroit in
preparation for an important one-day meeting with a major original
equipment manufacturer (OEM). As he takes his seat in business class, his
only suit pants are snagged and signi?cantly torn across the thigh by an
exposed sharp edge on the seatback. His schedule will be very tight in
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Detroit, so he will have no time to visit a tailor or clothing store before his
meeting. This meeting could make or break next year’s budget goals.
.
A frequent ?ier of Alpine Airlines (350,000 þ miles) made advanced travel
arrangements for his wife to go home and care for her mother subsequent to
a scheduled major surgery. The mother-in-law’s hospital stay was to be ?ve
days, so he made travel arrangements coinciding with the expected hospital
release date. Two days prior to the ticketed departure, doctors extended the
mother-in-law’s planned hospital stay, delaying the date for which
post-hospital care would be necessary. While trying to make late changes
to the reservation, he discovered that the airline’s policy would not allow a
reservation change for less than an $850 fee. The original ticket was
purchased for $300. He tried to explain that the change was necessary due
the changing health condition of his mother-in-law who might have cancer
and that his wife could only be gone for a limited number of days, having her
own children to care for at home. Given his allegiance to the airline for many
years, he reasoned that the airline should be able to help him.
(2) Even though Alpine Airlines has made a genuine effort to implement an
employee empowerment program, management’s non-supportive actions seem
to drag the initiative back time after time causing personnel to be gun-shy and
hesitant to take independent action. For example, according to company policy,
gate agents are required to deny customer requests. However, when the
customer demands to see a member of management, a supervisor readily
overrides the agent’s objection in front of the customer, an action which leaves
the agent feeling undermined. Evaluate the following approaches to handling
the problem once the supervisor is called on the scene.
.
In the presence of both the gate agent and the customer, to make an irate
traveler happy the supervisor readily reverses the action of the agent,
indicating that the policy and/or the agent’s action were ill-advised.
.
The supervisor takes the agent’s aside, with the customer waiting, and tells
the agent never to drag him into the middle of a disagreeable situation again.
.
The supervisor appears, listens to a succinct description of the situation by
the agent. Next, the supervisor asks if the customer has anything to add to
the description. If the agent’s determination seems reasonable, the
supervisor commends the agent in front of the customer, indicating that
he correctly applied airline policy to the situation. Having af?rmed the agent
publicly, the supervisor then proceeds to make whatever supervisory
determination she feels is proper under the circumstances.
.
A member of “management” is not readily available. In fact, most
supervisors are usually too busy to respond to such customer requests
and/or problems. The agent simply uses his best judgment, hoping that
management will be pleased.
Discussion
The preceding exercises were contrived from realistic situations that are encountered
by travelers. These examples serve as the basis for understanding the various
ways that an empowered service recovery encounter can go right, or go very wrong.
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A degree of trust and emotional intelligence is required of management to facilitate
meaningful empowerment among employees. The relationship component to the
management-employee dyad is often the crucial ingredient to a successful
empowerment program. A supervisor can crush the spirit of empowerment among
employees by a thoughtless or distrustful approach.
Often, workers are promoted to supervisory positions with no leadership training.
Organizations employing empowerment programs should stage training sessions to
sensitize supervisors to issues that can facilitate the program’s success. A productive
activity in these sessions is role reversal exercise in which the employees get to act out
their perceptions of management in response to management’s role assumption of the
empowered employee. The results could be telling.
Answers to exercise questions
How should Alpine’s empowered works create win-win solutions for customers and the
company? A number of creative solutions to these real-to-life problems can be
generated. In each scenario, keep in mind two outcomes:
(1) responses have a way of become precedents; and
(2) reasonable, but satisfying, solutions to the customer’s dif?culty likely will win
the airline high marks for responsiveness and seal customer loyalty.
With respect to precedent, good rationale for exceptions is paramount; otherwise,
customers that become aware of the exception will plague the organization with special
requests. Nevertheless, minor actions taken to delight the customer that have little or
no cost to the organization and these actions pay tremendous dividends in terms of
loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. The following are some considerations for each
situation.
.
For the traveler returning to Europe to attend her father’s funeral, the natural
response would be to arrange for the friend in coach to join her friend in
?rst-class to provide consolation. The humanitarian justi?cation is obvious and
any minor costs to the airline will easily be off-set by the good-will created on the
part of both travelers.
.
Some travelers work the fare structure of the airline to take advantage of
incentive prices to remote destinations with the aim of intentionally skipping a
leg of the ?ight. This practice is categorically discouraged by the airlines.
However, in Robert’s case, the traveler seems to be operating out of ignorance
rather than a desire to defraud the carrier. This example is one of those occasions
when the ticket agent needs to make a judgment about intent and whether
penalizing the customers will create needless ill-will. After all, the tickets have
already been purchased and the intent was not apparently malicious.
.
The student in this case is probably an inexperienced and harried traveler who
made a mistake in the excitement and confusion of the moment. If there is
suf?cient time and the agent has the authority to recall the bag, he should by all
means do so.
.
The executive’s ripped pants are a dif?cult situation with few easy answers.
The ?ight attendant de?nitely should apologize. Second, the passenger should be
moved to another seat. Third, the jagged edge on the seat in question should be
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?xed and/or ?agged, showing it is inoperable. This visible response will speak
powerfully to those watching (all airline passengers will watch like hawks to see
how the customer is treated). If a sewing kit is on board the aircraft, it could be
made available for repair work. Or, there might be a way to have some help in
having the customer’s luggage brought out as a priority upon landing. Other
ideas might be helpful as well. The key is to react in such a way that the
organization is going beyond customer expectations. Remember, customer
satisfaction is a result of expectations versus experiences.
.
Employees must be trained to analyze and understand the value of the customer
to Alpine and the truth/reality of the customer’s situation. This task is not easy.
However, the analysis must be conducted and a strategy for resolution must be
provided. For starters, this faithful Alpine traveler has been and frequent ?ier for
more than 20 years. Second, the customer’s records indicate no “exceptional”
requests over the last two years. Third, most customers today expect to pay
some reasonable fee for a last minute change. At issue here is providing a
solution that goes beyond customer expectations. Thus, the logical and prudent
response for the airline is to move beyond the $850 fee and either to switch the
wife into a bereavement fare or to charge a customary $100 change fee. Alpine
Airlines should not add to the traveler’s grief and frustration over a situation that
is clearly exceptional and beyond the traveler’s control. The airline should work
with the customer, especially in view of her frequent ?yer status, to adjust the
dates of the trip.
For question two, how should Alpine’s supervisor and gate agent handle unique
customer requests? Frankly, scenario D is most likely. Not only do supervisors usually
have little time to respond individually to every customers concern, but employees in
truly empowered organizations would also be expected to take care of most situations
themselves.
However, some occasions do arise in which the customers will not be put off by the
front-line employee. In these cases, scenario C represents the optimal response. If the
customers will not be put off in his demand for a supervisor, then the supervisor should
do everything in her power to af?rm the agent’s position. The key here is that “the
customer comes second.” That is, for empowerment to be successful, management
must ?rst meet the needs of employees. If employees are happy and af?rmed in their
work, they will feel empowered to take care of customers well.
Scenarios A and B both represent situations in which management actually, though
perhaps inadvertently, contributes to the “un-empowerment” of the employee.
By allowing the agent to be caught in a dilemma in which he is not able to do what the
company or customer wants, over time he will be drained of his self-esteem and
rendered ineffectual at taking independent action.
Conclusion
Empowerment programs are often undermined by distrust, management’s fear of
giving away too much power, short-sighted attention to ?nancial goals, and failure to
reinforce and support empowered actions. As a result, employees come to believe that
promises of empowerment and job enrichment are simply tools to manipulate workers,
making “empowerment” either a hollow attempt at participatory management or,
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worse, a euphemism for work intensi?cation. If management does not succumb to the
urge to micromanage employees, empowerment can bring vitality and success to an
organization, especially in the tourism trade.
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Corresponding author
John E. Timmerman can be contacted at: [email protected]
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doc_825323838.pdf