Download Empowering Service Personnel

Knowledge and Learning
PG Diploma in Hospitality Management
Customer Service and Quality Systems
– Session 3
1
Objectives
• Understand the role of computer systems in the hospitality
industry
• Describe the main computer system functions in hospitality
• Understand different purposes for which stored data may be
used
• Explain the distinctions between data, information and
knowledge
• Understand the importance of knowledge management
• Explain some techniques of knowledge management
2
Review Questions
• How can you ensure that you present a
professional image at all times?
• What can you do to ensure that you
communicate effectively in face-to-face
situations?
• Give 6 examples of good telephone practice.
• What objectives did you specify for your
Customer Complaint Handling course?
3
Computer Systems
• Thinking of a large hospitality organisation
like a chain of hotels, list the main
computer systems and their purposes
4
Hotel Computer Systems
PMS
SCM –
E-Procurement
Accounts
Security System
HR
F&B - EPOS
Stock Control
Telephone
Beverage Control
Pay per View
CRM – Guest History
Property Reservation System
Switch
GDS
Online Distributors
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Data and Technology
• Taking each of the different parts of the
hotel’s information technology system, list
some examples of types of data that is
captured and stored
• List the advantages of guests using a
swipe card rather than a key
6
Reservation System
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GDS and CRS
• Global Distribution Systems
– Originally developed by airlines
– Made available to travel agents
– Hotels were added at a later date
– 4 major systems
• Central Reservation Systems
– Set up by hotel chains and as a service for
affiliated hotels
– Eg. http://www.hilton.co.uk
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Online Distribution
•
•
•
•
http://www.expedia.com
http://www.travelocity.com
http://uk.hotels.com
http://www.theaa.com
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CRM
• Customer Relationship Management
• Holistic system of customer information,
transaction information, target marketing,
market research and forecasting
• Purpose: to generate long-term customer
loyalty
– Eg. Customer loyalty programmes
10
Data Mining
• Associated with an organisation’s
need to identify trends
• Guest Histories analysed for patterns
– Individual guest preferences
– Guests categorised into groups and
sub-groups
11
Supply Chain Management
• Internet, Intranet and Extranet applications
• Automatically checks authorisation levels and
passes down authorisation chain
• Allows purchaser to check progress
• Typically saves 15-20% on a manual system
• Reduces maverick purchases – typically 15-30%
more expensive
• Usage rates and automatic reordering
• E-marketplaces eg. http://www.e-hospitality.com
• RFID systems for stock taking etc.
12
Enterprise Information Portal
• Search/discovery and navigation to information
from a knowledge map
• Knowledge network, user interface to
communities of interest/expert systems
• Personalisation and presentation of relevant
information to the desktop eg.via intelligent
agents
• Enterprise application integration
• Eg. Hilton has all HR manuals available on its
intranet
13
Enterprise Information Portal
14
Data Hierarchy
15
Databases
16
Database Design
• You are asked to advise on a reservations
system for a small owner run hotel:
• Suggest what database tables will be
required
• Suggest what fields each of these tables
should have
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Data – Information - Knowledge
• Data – discrete facts that can be recorded in a
computer system eg. name or passport number
• Information – data with a context but it is only
information if it is useful to the receiver eg. At the
front desk during check-out, Mr Smith is entitled
to a 5% discount
• Knowledge – experience, values, contextual
information and expert insight that provides a
framework for evaluating and incorporating new
experiences and information
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Data, Information & Knowledge
Increasing Context
Knowledge
Understanding
Patterns
Information
Understanding
Relationships
Data
Increasing Complexity
19
Information and Knowledge
• What kind of information do managers
need to be able to obtain from a PMS –
give as many specific examples as you
can?
• Give examples of knowledge used in a
hospitality organisation. Where is this
knowledge stored?
20
Management Information
•
•
•
•
Hotel - Night Audit
Sales analysis
Trends analysis
Occupancy projections
21
Organisational Knowledge
• Explicit Knowledge
– represented in documents, books, e-mail and
databases
• Tacit Knowledge
– organisational knowledge found in business
processes products and services
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Characteristics of Knowledge
• Subjectivity – depends on point of view
• Transferability – may be transferred from
one context to another
• Embeddedness – not always easily
accessible
• Self-Reinforcement – increases in value
the more it is shared
• Perishability – diminishes in value over
time
• Sponteneity – cannot be generated on
demand
23
Organizational Learning and
Knowledge Management
•
Organizational Learning: creation of new
standard operating procedures and
business processes reflecting experience
– “The Learning Organisation”
•
Knowledge Management: set of
processes developed in an organization
to create, gather, store, disseminate, and
apply knowledge
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The Knowledge Management
Value Chain
25
How Does Knowledge
Management Create Value?
Customer Intimacy
Cultivating relationships to
gain customer knowledge
Delivering what specific
stakeholders want
Operational Excellence
Product/Service Leadership
Delivering solid
products and
services at the best
price and with the
least inconvenience
Delivering the best
products and services --offerings that push
performance boundaries
Employee Capability
Leveraging human
intellectual capital in
service design and
delivery
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Knowledge Management
• List ways that knowledge can be created
or introduced into a hospitality
organisation
• List ways that knowledge can be
disseminated in a hospitality organisation
• List measures that may be taken to retain
knowledge in a hospitality organisation
27