Chapter 14: Service Excellence: Leading the Way to Wow!
TRUE/FALSE
1. Benchmark organizations discover which of their competencies guests consider to be core, then focus
on bringing all other competencies up to that standard.
2. Key drivers can be divided into two categories: basic things that the guests expect and the
characteristics and qualities that make the experience memorable.
3. The organization can’t know what factors are the key drivers of guest satisfaction until they study all
the drivers.
4. A wow can be built into any part of the guest experience.
5. The outstanding hospitality managers get data, then combine it with hunches and their own personal
preferences to arrive at a decision.
6. The outstanding organizations are experienced enough to anticipate all the many different things
guests will do, ask for, and expect from them.
7. Everything the organizational leadership says and does is always consistent with the organization’s
subcultures.
8. Organizational culture is crucial in filling in the gaps between what the organization can anticipate and
what employees have to do to deal with a wide variety of guests.
9. The more tangible the service product, the stronger the cultural values, beliefs, and norms must be to
ensure that the guest service employee provides the expected quality and value of guest experience.
10. Selection of the right person for a hospitality job starts by clearly defining what the job requires.
11. Because they are often lonely, bored, and looking for contact with others, older retired people often
make excellent hospitality employees.
12. The achievement of appropriate service standards is its own reward.
13. One employee at one moment of truth cannot possibly destroy a guest’s perception of an entire
hospitality organization.
14. Managers should reinforce the positive and coach away the negative.
15. Organizations can benefit from thinking of their customers as employees.
16. The most highly developed technical applications of guestology can be found in the
service-environment area.
17. The most highly developed technical applications of guestology can be found in the systems area.
18. “The wait” is difficult to model and study with computerized simulation techniques because of
differing guest opinions about an appropriate wait length.
19. You can figure out what factors in the service product, the environment, and the delivery system are
the key drivers to guest satisfaction and intent to return by putting yourself in the guests’ shoes and
determining what you think is most important.
20. Regardless of the size of the innovation, the skill of the leader to implement change successfully will
make the difference between success and failure.
21. It all begins—and ends—with the guest.
22. Leadership makes the difference between success and failure in today’s hospitality organizations.
23. Because of the generally declining standards, in the future, guests are expected to have fewer
expectations and be less knowledgeable customers.
24. Measurement is critical for ensuring that all the factors associated with the service experience are
correctly focused on achieving the best for the guest.
25. Because the hospitality industry is so focuused on how the server provides the service product to the
guest, leaders in the industry have surprisingly little responsibility and few challenges.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
26. The text talks about key drivers of two kinds:
a.
big one and little ones.
b.
guest-focused and employee-focused.
c.
service setting and delivery system.
d.
the basics and the wows.
27. Which of the following are among the key drivers?
a.
the characteristics of a memorable guest experience
b.
the basic guest expectations that the hospitality organization must meet
c.
food, shelter, and water
d.
fun, fair, and interesting
28. Successfully determining and providing for the key drivers comes about through
a.
pure luck, for the most part.
b.
extensive research on customer complaints.
c.
extensive planning based on guest feedback.
d.
organizational information systems.
29. Which of the following must be based on the organization’s best estimates of what kind of experience
the guest wants, needs, and expects from the organization?
a.
capacity and location decisions
b.
the design of personnel policies
c.
the selection of production equipment
d.
all of the above
30. Which of the following responsibilities do organizations frequently neglect to train employees for?
a.
delivering the service product
b.
managing the quality of the encounters or interactions between the co-producing guest and
the organization
c.
identifying and fixing the inevitable problems
d.
both b and c.
31. Servers are responsible for
a.
delivering or creating the service product properly.
b.
managing the quality of guest-organization interactions or encounters.
c.
identifying and fixing problems.
d.
all of the above.
32. A particular challenge of the hospitality industry is
a.
teaching people how to perform repetitive jobs with consistent quality and enthusiasm.
b.
developing an appropriate career development program for vice presidents.
c.
supplying a benefits package that suits both managers and frontline employees.
d.
paying employees promptly, even if revenues are variable.
33. The benchmark hospitality organizations believe that
a.
guests should be encouraged to enhance organizational value.
b.
all employees have value even if their job tasks don’t add value.
c.
all jobs and people have value.
d.
society has an ongoing value for the organization.
34. According to the book, leaders have which of the following important roles to play?
a.
Leaders find ways to provide jobs that are fun, fair, interesting, and important.
b.
Leaders establish a culture of guest-service excellence and reinforce it.
c.
Leaders give value to employees by showing them that they are valued.
d.
All of the above.
35. Leaders establish a culture of guest-service excellence and reinforce it most effectively by
a.
word, deed, and celebration.
b.
providing regular pay adjustments.
c.
doing role plays of stories, heroes, and legends for employees.
d.
showing employees that the CEO job is fun, fair, and interesting too.
36. Service failures happen
a.
in the best-managed organizations.
b.
in the worst-managed organizations.
c.
if managers put untrained people in guest-contact positions.
d.
all of the above.
38. Having a strong service-oriented culture is critical because it
a.
guides and directs employees to deliver proper customer service even when confronted
with new or novel situations.
b.
reduces turnover of customer-contact staff.
c.
saves costs because guests essentially train the employees.
d.
all of the above.
39. Leaders spend much of their time and effort on which of the three Ss?
a.
satisfaction, setting, and servicescape.
b.
service, service, and service.
c.
service, style, and substance.
d.
strategy, staffing, and systems.
40. Transformational leadership is defined as
a.
a leadership approach that causes major changes to both individuals and the systems
within which they operate
b.
the type of leadership needed when an organization is in bankruptcy
c.
the process through which leaders are trained with new skills
d.
the way in which leaders learn from experience.
41. Capacity and location decisions, the design of personnel policies, and selection of production
equipment—all must be based on the organization’s best estimate of
a.
budgetary constraints.
b.
employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction, and managerial competencies.
c.
task analysis, organizational analysis, and industry analysis.
d.
what kind of experience the guests want, need, and expect from the organization as well as
their capabilities.
42. The outstanding service organizations are constantly seeking new ways to wow their guests because
a.
an organization’s culture is constantly changing.
b.
business cycles always lead to times of low profits.
c.
today’s wow is tomorrow’s standard expectation for the guest.
d.
people make the difference.
a.
Unfulfilled Guests.
b.
Delighted Guests.
c.
Confused Guests.
d.
Complaining Guests.
43. One way an organization can differentiate itself from its competitors, and something that is very hard
for competitors to imitate, is
a.
the physical product delivered in a service experience.
b.
the physical environment of a service product
c.
the quality of the customer contact personnel who provide the service.
d.
the technology used to deliver a service product.
44. Those who deliver the service product have three responsibilities in the guest experience: They deliver
the service product, they manage the quality of the encounters, and they
a.
account for inventory flows.
b.
develop a personal long-term relationship with the customer.
c.
identify and fix inevitable problems.
d.
prevent people from stealing from the company.
45. After good staffing and training,
a.
employees and customers can co-create the service experience.
b.
management can sit back and watch a perfectly implemented service delivery system.
c.
management must set performance standards and reward employees who meet them.
d.
the employee is ready to serve the guest perfectly
46. Building a relationship with each guest is an example of
a.
guestology.
b.
a market niche of one.
c.
a market niche of differentiation
d.
a guest-focused service delivery system.
47. A successful hospitality innovation should be
a.
familiar to the guest in some way
b.
profitable.
c.
based on guest needs, wants, and expectations.
d.
all of the above.
48. According to research by Disney reported in the text, there is a direct link between
a.
leadership and efficient service delivery systems.
b.
leadership and service settings/environments that are themed well.
c.
leadership behaviors and cast member experiences.
d.
cast member friendliness and cast member satisfaction.
49. According to the figure in the text, if a leader has all the leadership keys right except a measurement
system, he/she will have
a.
wow service & delighted guests.
b.
unfocused service & confused guests.
c.
unreliable service & unsatisfied guests
d.
inconsistent service & unfulfilled guests.
50. Which of the following phase is most important for successful hospitality managers to use?
a.
There’s no fool like an old fool.
b.
A stitch in time saves nine
c.
All’s fair in love and war.
d.
What gets measured gets managed.