Hotel Escargot
Hotel Escargot
Order Instructions:
As a consultant hired by the Hotel Escargot management team, you have been asked to collect data on the three main areas of focus (check-in, check-out, and hotel offerings) and graph the data to identify any issue occurrences. Use the hotel information provided here (in Learning Materials.) Collect the data, create graphs and/or tables, and describe any work measurement and time study analysis you would do. Then, from this analysis, select one main area of focus and create a fishbone diagram that captures all potential root causes. Provide a brief analysis of descriptive text on the identified items. Also describe how work sampling and time study assist in analysis. The team wants to see all of your charts, diagrams, and analysis summary.
The submission must be in APA format, Double Spaced using a 12Pt. Times New Roman. The minimum length is 5 Body Pages plus the Cover Page, Abstract, and Reference Page (8 total pages.)
The submission must include a minimum of four references and in text citation
SAMPLE ANSWER
Hotel Escargot Preliminary Time Study
Name
Institution
Hotel Escargot Preliminary Time Study
Introduction
Setting service standards that enhance customer satisfaction plays an imperative role in enhancing company performance. Accordingly, performing time studies and work measurement can help organizations to develop standards that ensure that customer service is enhanced. Hotel Escargot provides various services as part of its operations including check-in, check-out, valet parking, restaurant services and room service among others. Major disparities however exist in terms of time taken to provide each service. In order to improve on this, the company must strive to achieve a considerable level of uniformity; and thus standardize their services. This paper aims at exploring work measurement and time study analysis for Hotel Escargot; and consequently develop a fishbone diagram illustrating the root causes in one of the service identified.
Graphs and Analysis
Based on the data, the following graphs indicate the Hotel’s performance based on different measures that were considered.
The check-in time takes between 1-15 minutes. This may be influenced by different factors including speed of the customer care representative, client queries and time taken to confirm client details. The need for standardization of this service is apparent since it marks the beginning of a customer’s experience at the hotel (Lyle, 2012). Accordingly, this is an area in which work measurement and a time study analysis can be conducted to determine root causes of service time variation; and thus improve customer experiences.
The graph on completion of room service requests shows major disparity between times needed to complete the requests. The graph oscillates considerably and it can therefore be established that there is a significant level of inconsistency in offering this service. While the service may be completed within two minutes in some instances, there are situations in which it takes 35 minutes. In this regard, there is need to conduct work measurement and time study analysis to establish factors that may be affecting the provision of this service.
Check out times vary significantly and while it may take as little as one minute to check out, there are several instances where guest spend 20 minutes at check-out. This is an illustration that there is need to perform a time study analysis to determine factors that may be affecting service performance during check-out.
The time taken to serve at the bar differs based on the order made and this can explain the fluctuation of the graph. The restaurant/bar waiting time is a service area that would be considered for work measurement and time study analysis. Waiting time at restaurant and bars influences customer satisfaction to a great extent and it should therefore be as standardized as possible.
This graph indicates that depending on the type of maintenance to be done, it may take between one minute and 739 minutes. The huge difference can be explained by varying difficulty in different maintenance tasks, availability of staff and material to complete the services. This however warrants a work measurement and time study analysis to determine the underlying causes of the differences in performance.
Valet parking at the hotel appears to be the most stable service among those studied in this report. The service takes between one minute and five minutes most times, with six minutes having been recorded only once. This shows that the service is to a great extend standardized, although it could be improved further through work measurement and time study analysis.
Analysis and fish-bone diagram
Maintenance request completion times appear to be the most affected service area and is therefore the focus of the analysis. The fish-bone diagram of the root causes is illustrated below.
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The above fish-bone diagram represents the various factors contributing to delays in maintenance request completion (Lyle, 2012). The nature of the task including complexity, urgency and history of the problem may determine how long the maintenance would cost. The second factor is people, which portrays that the availability of individuals with the right skill set to address the maintenance problem is of great significance in determining performance. The same applies for machines and equipment, which must be available for the maintenance work to be completed.
The fourth factor based on the above diagram is the process and policy; which to a significant level influences the speed at which the activity is executed. The method, which entails the approach towards diagnosis and the maintenance action, determines whether the activity will be successfully completed. Poor diagnosis for example could mean that the job may have to be repeated several times, thus influencing the time taken achieve the set objective. Finally, the environment may influence ability of workers to perform the maintenance works. In the event of power outage, the work may need to be postponed, thus causing delays.
Work sampling and time study play an important role in analysis. Work sampling helps in identification of work condition characteristics and task elements involved in performing a particular activity (Lyle, 2012). This is important in analysis as it assures that there is a clear understanding of what those involved are expected to achieve and what it takes to perform the activities. This way, it is easier to identify where possible challenges could lie in the process (Blay, et al, 2014).
Through work sampling and time study, it is possible to identify the exact amount of time required to perform specific tasks. This not only helps in establishing worker and machine delays but also establish the percentage of time in which an individual is not working and develop ways of promoting efficiency to ensure they are fully utilized. An example would be the amount of time required between submitting a request for material and the provision of the same by the procurement department. As the worker waits for the procurement to be made, it means that they will not be working. To reduce such time wastage, the company may need to revise their procurement policies to hasten the process (Josephson and Björkman, 2013).
Work sampling also promotes analysis by identifying activities that are performed by more than one worker, such that it is possible to determine factors that affect performance in such situations (Malakooti, 2013). It is apparent that where multiple workers are involved, the various characteristics affecting them could impact the overall outcome of the process.
Conclusion
Work measurement and time study are effective in determining factors influencing service delivery speed; and thus used in standardizing activities to reduce delays. This way, it is possible to improve service delivery and hence promote customer satisfaction. The fish-bone diagram illustrates areas of possible improvement, which the company can examine to improve efficiency.
References
Blay, N., Duffield, C. M., Gallagher, R., & Roche, M. (2014). Methodological integrative review
of the work sampling technique used in nursing workload research. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(11), 2434-2449. doi:10.1111/jan.12466 Retrieved from eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=db6a7dfe-e7de-4d98-883c-72c461cd5182%40sessionmgr4001&vid=1&hid=4102
Josephson, P., & Björkman, L. (2013). Why do work sampling studies in construction? The case
of plumbing work in Scandinavia. Engineering Construction & Architectural Management (09699988), 20(6), 589-603. doi:10.1108/ECAM-12-2011-0108 Retrieved from eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=e3039b50-6c2f-46c5-9a31-813f174dfedf%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=90682135&db=bth
Lyle, B. (2012). Work Sampling for Modern Management. Whitefish, MY: Literary Licensing,
LLC.
Malakooti, B. (2013). Operations and Production Systems with Multiple Objectives Wiley Series
in Systems Engineering and Management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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