Developing Talents

Scenario: Imagine you are the training director of a hotel chain, Noe Suites. Each Noe Suites has 100 to 150 rooms, a small indoor pool, and a restaurant. Hotels are strategically located near the exit ramps of major highways in college towns such as East Lansing, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio. 

You receive the following email message from the vice president of operations.

Email

To: ____(Insert Your Name), Training Director

From: David Turner, Vice President of Operations, Noe Suites

As you are probably aware, one of the most important aspects of quality service is known as “recovery” – that is, the employee’s ability to respond effectively to customer complaints. There are three possible outcomes to a customer complaint:

1. The customer complains and is satisfied by the response
2. The customer complains and is dissatisfied with the response
3. The customer does not complain but remains dissatisfied

Many dissatisfied customers do not complain because they want to avoid confrontation, there is no convenient way to complain, or they do not believe that complaining will do much good.

I have decided that to improve our level of customer service, we need to train our hotel staff in the “recovery” aspect of customer service. Specifically, the training will focus on responding effectively to the customer’s complaints such that the customer is satisfied by the employee’s response.  

One theme that emerged from these last focus groups was that we had some weaknesses in the recovery area. For example, last month in one of the restaurants, a waiter dropped the last available piece of blueberry pie on a customer as he was serving her. The waiter did not know how to correct the problem other than offer an apology.

I have decided to hire two well-known consultants in the service industry to discuss “recovery” – that is, how to effectively respond to customer complaints.  In addition, the consultants will provide an overview of different aspects of quality customer service.

In total, the consultants will deliver 3 training sessions. Each session will last three hours. The training sessions will be offered

• Session 1 – Morning Shift
• Session 2 – Afternoon Shift
• Session 3 – Midnight Shift

Overall, approximately 20-40 employees will attend each of the training sessions.

My expectations are that following this training, the service staff will be able to respond to customers if/when they have a problem with the service(s) provided by our hotel/restaurant.

Because you are an expert on training, I want your feedback on the training session. Specifically, what recommendations do you have for improving the training?

Best,

David Turner

Vice President of Operations, Noe Suites

Instructions

After reading the case, answer the following FIVE questions: (Note: be sure to reference your textbook when completing these questions).

1. Training Modules. Based on what you learned about program design, consider changes you would make to improve the training program. Specifically, consider the design of the program. There are three training sessions, but they are all the same. The only difference is when the training session will be offered: morning, afternoon, and evening.  Each session will last for three hours and approximately 20-40 employees will attend.

Develop a training module that explains what the training participants should do during the three hours.  For example, should they listen to presentations? Do role plays? Read and discuss case studies? Create a table similar to this one: (In attachment)

Notably, the table below is for illustration purposes only. Do not use any content from the table in your assignment. Using content from the table is considered plagiarism and you will receive a zero on the assignment.  You are required to create your own training modules. 

2. Prework. Using your textbook, define prework (Hint: the definition of prework is included in Chapter 5). What is it aiming to achieve? Next, consider this case and describe the prework assignment the training participants will complete. Make sure you state the goal of your prework assignment. 

3. Application Assignments. Using your textbook, define application assignments. (Hint: the definition of application assignments is included in Chapter 5).

4. Learning Objectives. Using your textbook, define learning objectives. (Hint: the definition of learning objectives is included in Chapter 5). Write two learning objectives for the training module you created in Question #1. 

5. Room Arrangement. For the training session you created in Question #1,  what kind of room arrangement would you use for this training? There are four room arrangements discussed in your textbook: fan-type seating, classroom-type seating, conference-type seating, and horseshoe arrangement.   Describe why you selected the room arrangement(s). That is, why do you believe the room arrangement(s) you selected will make the training more valuable?