ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, the debate over customer satisfaction and service quality have remained among tourism and hospitality research topics Therefore, the current study discusses service. Over the last two decades, the debate over customer satisfaction and service quality have remained among tourism and hospitality research topics. Therefore, the current study discusses service leadership styles from relevant service quality theory and evaluates crossculture management applications. Some recommendations for human resource and marketing policies to improve the quality of hospitality services are also proposed in the last section. ABSTRACTOver the last two decades, the debate over customer satisfaction and service quality have remained among tourism and hospitality research topics. Therefore, the current study discusses service leadership styles from relevant service quality theory and evaluates crossculture management applications. Some recommendations for human resource and marketing policies to improve the quality of hospitality services are also proposed in the last section. TABLE OF CONTENTSABSTRACTiTABLE OF CONTENTSii1. INTRODUCTION12. Relevant theories relevant to service quality in the contemporary hospitality industry23. Service leadership23.1. Democracy leadership23.2 Transformational leadership23.3 Servant leadership34. Organisational culture35. Crossculture Management36. Recommendation57. Conclusion68. References7 1. INTRODUCTIONCustomer service and satisfaction have emerged as critical topics in tourism and hospitality research, attracting considerable attention from academics and researchers. There have been numerous publications since the initial models of service quality were published in the mid1980s. In the long run, service quality is critical to a companys profitability because it leads to repeat business and customer loyalty (Rhoades, 2006). The approaches to investigating leadership principles and service management, on the other hand, did not dominate research on service quality and customer satisfaction in the tourism and hospitality industries. As a result, these elements continue to provide a significant competitive advantage to tourism and hospitality businesses. This study will look at leadership trends, identify flaws, and make recommendations. The following section contains reviews of the literature on organisational culture and the application of crossculture management in the hospitality industry. The study also investigates critical issues affecting hospitality operations and solutions to these issues before concluding this paper. 2. Relevant theories to service quality in the contemporary hospitality industryIn 1988, Zeithaml defined service quality as a customer assessment based on the overall excellence of services. Although researchers generally agree on the importance of service quality in customer satisfaction and firm performance, no model for measuring service quality has been developed. Service quality has multiple dimensions that vary depending on the service industry (Brady Cronin, 2001). Nonetheless, service quality measurement allows managers to identify customer service problems to improve efficiency and quality to satisfy customers and fulfil their desires.Since the early 1980s, when Gronroos introduced the Nordic model, the first model for measuring service quality, service quality has been extensively researched. He believes that technical qualities, as an outcome of service performance, should be distinguished from functional attributes, which are a subjective perception of the service provided. SERVQUAL, the most wellknown and widely used model in service quality, was introduced in 1985 by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry. They first proposed ten dimensions for their model, but in 1988, they reduced the dimensions to five. This model measured the differences between customer expectations and perceptions of the service along five suggested dimensions.
ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, the debate over customer satisfaction and service quality have remained among tourism and hospitality research topics Therefore, the current study discusses service leadership styles from relevant service quality theory and evaluates cross-culture management applications Some recommendations for human resource and marketing policies to improve the quality of hospitality services are also proposed in the last section TABLE OF CONTENT i ABSTRACT i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii INTRODUCTION Relevant theories relevant to service quality in the contemporary hospitality industry Service leadership 3.1 Democracy leadership 3.2 Transformational leadership 3.3 Servant leadership Organisational culture Cross-culture Management Recommendation Conclusion References ii INTRODUCTION Customer service and satisfaction have emerged as critical topics in tourism and hospitality research, attracting considerable attention from academics and researchers There have been numerous publications since the initial models of service quality were published in the mid-1980s In the long run, service quality is critical to a company's profitability because it leads to repeat business and customer loyalty (Rhoades, 2006) The approaches to investigating leadership principles and service management, on the other hand, did not dominate research on service quality and customer satisfaction in the tourism and hospitality industries As a result, these elements continue to provide a significant competitive advantage to tourism and hospitality businesses This study will look at leadership trends, identify flaws, and make recommendations The following section contains reviews of the literature on organisational culture and the application of cross-culture management in the hospitality industry The study also investigates critical issues affecting hospitality operations and solutions to these issues before concluding this paper Relevant theories to service quality in the contemporary hospitality industry In 1988, Zeithaml defined service quality as "a customer assessment based on the overall excellence of services." Although researchers generally agree on the importance of service quality in customer satisfaction and firm performance, no model for measuring service quality has been developed Service quality has multiple dimensions that vary depending on the service industry (Brady & Cronin, 2001) Nonetheless, service quality measurement allows managers to identify customer service problems to improve efficiency and quality to satisfy customers and fulfil their desires Since the early 1980s, when Gronroos introduced the Nordic model, the first model for measuring service quality, service quality has been extensively researched He believes that technical qualities, as an outcome of service performance, should be distinguished from functional attributes, which are a subjective perception of the service provided SERVQUAL, the most well-known and widely used model in service quality, was introduced in 1985 by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry They first proposed ten dimensions for their model, but in 1988, they reduced the dimensions to five This model measured the differences between customer expectations and perceptions of the service along five suggested dimensions The tourism industry is highly fragmented, with numerous sectors and subsectors catering to guests' needs Visitors interact with various providers, and the interaction process and service delivery reflect essential aspects of the tourism consumption experience, such as value, quality, and satisfaction In a nutshell, hospitality service quality is determined by comparing the quality expected to the quality of service received by the client (Laws, 2001) Hotel service quality is defined as the level of customer satisfaction by service consumers From the manufacturer's perspective, service quality is the guarantee of providing the service in accordance with the scenario using the professional skills of the supply staff and management team (Raval, 2012) From the customer's perspective, service quality is the level of customer satisfaction during service consumption, as well as the overall service of the organization that brings a chain of benefits and fully fulfils the expected needs of customers proportionate with the costs that customers pay Service leadership Eisenbeiss (2009) stated three main leadership principles in the light industry: democracy, transformational and servant leadership Each principle has outstanding features, but there are also specific limitations when applied to the hospitality industry 3.1 Democracy leadership While democracy is considered one of the most effective governance trends, this method is not wholly perfect Limitations of the democratic leadership style in the hospitality industry include delayed decision-making, risk of poor quality solutions and dissent Where the team members' roles are not clearly defined will cause delays in making decisions At that time, gratis management can lead to ineffective internal communication, affecting the ability to achieve the desired goals Also, disagreement is inevitable, leading to decreased employee morale and satisfaction 3.2 Transformational leadership Transformational leaders frequently prioritize individual needs, which leads to employee burnout (Niemiec, 2020) Transformational leaders value diversity because more perspectives and experiences lead to more significant innovation Transformational leaders motivate employees to seek opportunities to expand their hospitality expertise to foster diversity Individual needs are frequently the focus of the leader rather than the needs of the group as a whole, implying that one team member receives more attention than others in the field This results in a lack of trust among team members, which eventually affects work productivity However, if a high level of productivity is required for extended periods of time, it can lead to employee exhaustion 3.3 Servant leadership According to Lacroix (2017), servant leaders can over-abdicate power and fade into the woodwork in their attempt to "lead from behind," inadvertently making their impact invisible to the organisation They may seek refuge in the comfort of serving their employees, preferring not to engage higher up the chain and thus failing to establish a strong presence with their leaders All hospitality organisations value servant leaders, but they also expect them to be highly competent leaders in their field, with authority, control and the power to influence in all directions (Cho, 2015) Furthermore, classic servant leaders frequently clash with bosses who not share the same leadership philosophies Priorities, for example, can quickly clash when the servant leader seeks to protect the people first and the leader seeks to protect profit first This disagreement can erode the servant leader's trust in the eyes of their boss, making it harder for them to obtain the resources and support they require to serve their constituents best Organisational culture A manager may face common organisational problems when providing services to foreigners, are poor communication, ambiguity, and inconsistency These are directly related to a hostile and unpleasant workplace These will make foreign workers less loyal, increasing harassment and employee turnover When working in an international environment, businesses of all sizes face the issue of poor communication (Kramer, 2016) They may feel awkward when communicating their company's goals, ideas, and suggestions Uncertainty is another organisational culture issue that managers may face Employees may be unclear about what their manager expects of them and may believe that the company's policies contradict actual practices One of the organisational cultural issues is inconsistency Employees may believe that hotel policies are not applied fairly at times Employees, for example, may expect to be punished if they cannot complete their work, but they also suspect that managers will not be punished for the same issues They will not accept that some departments benefit more than others within the same organisation Other organisational culture issues include priority differences Employees may believe that a hotel is overly concerned with making money, that they are being denied rights such as breaks and overtime, or that they are being forced to work longer hours Employee performance can suffer from these attitudes, such as widespread anger Another organisational cultural issue is poor leadership Employees may not respect or obey the manager if they believe the manager's leadership is inconsistent, weak, or disreputable This can exacerbate organisational culture issues (Gavaghan, 2000) Cross-culture Management One of the most difficult challenges for employees and managers of hospitality organisations that are increasingly conducting international business is interacting and working effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds Cross-cultural leadership refers to how leaders operate in the new global marketplace A service organisation requires leaders who can quickly adapt to different business environments and easily interact with partners and employees from other cultures A successful manager in their native country may not be as successful on the international stage Cross-cultural leadership is explained from two perspectives (Krause, 2006) From an organizational standpoint, cross-cultural leadership refers to the individual in charge of establishing a business organization Employees in this organization come from various nationalities, cultures, and values backgrounds From this vantage point, cross-cultural leadership can be seen in multinational corporations The second point of view concerns cultural exchange and change; cultural leadership includes adapting to a new wave of globalization Cross-cultural leadership is a distinct phenomenon that evaluates a leader's ability to adapt and lead in culturally diverse environments Because of the dynamic environment, service orientation, and labourintensive nature of the hospitality industry, leadership skills are essential Indeed, in the customer service industry, where leadership style focuses on leaders' behaviour rather than identifying leaders' characteristics, leadership style significantly influences employees' behaviour Language barriers and cultural differences can cause problems when people from different cultural backgrounds fail to comprehend each other As a result, knowing a foreign language and understanding cultural differences between countries is essential Cultural understanding and intercultural communication are now critical in interactions with hotel guests and staff due to the international nature of the hospitality industry There are several explanations why hotel professionals should be aware of and manage these interactions today The significance of effective communication is widely recognized today Its importance in the hospitality industry cannot be overstated, as better communication has been recognized as the key to improved quality, productivity, and profitability "One of the most difficult challenges a manager faces is dealing with people," and communication is often one of the most demanding environments to master Miscommunication can have a significant impact on business effectiveness, including a loss of reputation and credibility, which can lead to financial problems and other issues Hospitality managers spend 80% of their time communicating activities to guests, peers, bosses, and, most frequently, subordinates, according to Singh and Banerjee (2018) Recommendation According to Moreo (2017), the two most important issues affecting hospitality operations are human resources and marketing policy Human creative labour is a decisive factor in cross-culture business performance The hotel needs adequate investment to develop the retraining scale and train a team of intellectuals and high-quality workers In order to improve the existing shortcomings, the hotel needs to develop a specific program and plan Hotels can improve their staff's foreign language skills and increase the bonus fund for employees These solutions encourage employees to find new customers and take advantage of their relationships to introduce the hotel's services Self-sufficient travel has become a popular trend when customers are increasingly active in finding information and booking rooms through online platforms instead of using services at travel agencies (Seeman et al., 2019) So tourist accommodation units, especially hotels, must know how to seize opportunities and promote overall Online Marketing strategies to reach many target customers First, Websites are considered "faces" of the hotel on the Internet, which customers will regularly visit and dig for information before deciding whether to book So investing in professional website design is always the ultimate marketing solution for travel and hotel companies because customers often use travel applications to book air tickets and hotel rooms Second, linking with booking applications allows hotels and travel businesses to display their services with all images and information about prices, facilities and customer reviews Along with that, with the advantage of the number of users and the ability to reach and interact well with customers, optimising social networks is also a highly effective online marketing solution Conclusion It is always critical to understand what type of leadership is best for business success, but it is also necessary to select the management theory that will foster the best relationship with employees This study has raised several theories related to service quality, thereby making objective comments on some hospitality principles and the cross-culture management approach In the end, this study discusses why human resources and marketing policy are critical to a hotel's success and offers some recommendations relevant to the post-Covid economic situation 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