Service quality is directly linked to front line employee morale, knowledge, skills and motivation.

Introduction.
The purpose of this study will look into the relationship between service quality and frontline employee morale, motivation, knowledge and skill in Mauritian resorts hotel. This case study will be made on resorts hotel, as in Mauritius, most of the hotels are classified as resorts. Service quality management is now identified in tourism as the cutting edge practice and one of the factors contributing to this rising prominence is that " ... superior quality is proving to be a winning competitive strategy" (Zeithaml et al., 1990). As Seaton and Bennett (1996) pointed out: "Everyone appreciates good customer service when they see it or experience it. Similarly a poor service is equally instantly recognisable. The quality of service provided in any given situation is thus appraised very quickly indeed. Nowhere is this more pertinent than in tourism by its very nature the tourism product is service driven making the quality of the product intrinsically linked to the level of service provided. " According to Kandampully (1999), "... service quality refers to the customer perceived quality. It is the customer who determines and is the final judge of quality; hence it is the customer's definition (interpretation) of quality which counts." Bitner (1990) is of view that service quality is the customer's overall judgement about a firm's excellence or superiority. Another definition of 'service quality' is that of Horowitz (1990) who claims that service quality is ", ...the minimum level of service that a firm chooses to provide in order to satisfy its target clientele. At the same time it' is the degree of consistency the firm can maintain in providing this predetermined level of service.

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The main characteristics of service quality are closely related to front liners. The attributes of service quality are Assurance, Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, and Empathy.

Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials.

Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence.

Empathy: The caring individualized attention the organisation through it front liners provides its customers.

Empathy, responsiveness, availability, reliability and tangibles cannot be dissociated to front line employees, as the hotel industry is a service and people oriented business, these front liners who are the first and last contact with the customer and also delivering the service. Service quality depends essentially on the aptitude and the attitude of the front liners to attend guest satisfaction and expectation. The service encounter goes to the heart of hospitality and tourism industry. The success of the service encounter depends on the extent to which customer needs are satisfied or exceeded and further, hospitality and tourism organizations depend on satisfied customers for their survival (Pizam and Ellis, 1999). Being internal customers to the organization, frontline employees needs also these attributes in order to achieve organizational objectives to service quality. Albrechts (1990) suggested a quality service triangle which notes the relationships between the organization success and the customer contact staff. This new approach value the front line employees through
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different aspect such as investment in people rather than machine, where machine are the considered as liability and people as an asset to the organization, which will led the employees to deliver high quality service. The achievements of individuals and organizational goals are independent process linked by employee work motivation. Individuals motivates themselves to satisfy their personal goals, therefore they invest and direct their efforts for the achievements of organizational objectives to meet with their personal goals also. It means that organizational goals are directly proportion to the personal goals of individuals. The major issue in all services organizations is the motivation of employees whether they are skilled or unskilled or professionals. Employee motivation is also a major issue for hospitality industry. It is a todays challenge for the management in this competitive world to motivate employees to offer efficient and good services that customers expect so for. The employees motivation, their enthusiastic and energetic behaviour towards task fulfilment play key role in successes of an organization to benefit (Cheng, 1995). According to Petcharak (2002), one of the functions of human resource manager is related to ensure employees workplace motivation. The human resource managers function should be to assist the general manager in keeping the employees satisfied with their jobs. Another goal in organization is the goal for the services manager is to develop motivated employees and encourage their morale regarding their respective works. The employee work morale, such as supervisors, peers, organization, and work environment can be defined in a sense that the employee has the feeling and be conscious about all aspects of the job. The performance is poor if the employee is not satisfied and happy. Workplace dissatisfaction often leads organization and its employees poor performance. In many studies (Mei et al., 1999; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Gounaris et al., 2003) it has been established that service quality depends on more than one variable, and the main variable is where the time which
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the frontline employee meets the demand of a customer. Consistency in service quality reveals to be a main issue in customer satisfaction. Valuing employees enhanced motivation and commitment of front liners, organisations who are committed to satisfy the employees needs would definitely have a competitive edge. By giving simple attention to front liners such as some giveaways, recognition letters for personal or group achievements can help to motivate these employees, thus will be a boost to service quality. This matter that been identified to be an important as mentioned by Chiang and Jang 2008, Wong, Siu and Tsang 1999. In hotel group such as Sun International, many programs are made available to motivate staff, a program was proposed by the management, in first instance for front liners; called FLAG, Feel like a guest had an important impact on the employees moral and motivation, where they were invited to come along as a guest, so that they can indulge in all hotels facilities and also they could noticed all the problems that may arises during their stay, at the end of the program the employees were invited to filled out a questionnaire where they will express their ideas, remarks and comments about the services that they have received. This program had a positive impact on the front liners employees due to its success and it was then extended to all staff. (Sugar Beach, Newsletter Issue 22 October 1999) This example shows that when employees are well treated, in return they feel proud of their respective establishment and also they provided better service to guests. The human element needs to be considered, as the nature of service is tangible and intangible. No two service interactions are identical and this situation gives rise to uncertainty in the service delivery process. As a result it is not wholly possible entirely to prescribe job tasks to ensure quality standards. The service provider and customer are both liable to introduce variation to the service, with the individuality of customer needs or the service provider lacking consistency. The quality of service may vary between different service encounters, and this variability can lead

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to difficulties for companies in defining standards and ensuring consistency of service. It is without doubt that knowledge and skills are considered to be an important feature in delivering service quality. Years back, it was possible to work in a hotel, with no formal training, there was no pre-requisite for hospitality employment, but as more and more competition occurs within the hospitality and tourism sector, it has shift to a new dimension, nowadays this sector is looking for people who have followed training courses and also have at least good secondary school results. In order to grow and maintain a workforce that is customer oriented and focused on delivery quality service an organisation must train, and work these individuals to ensure service performance ( Zeithhaml & Bitner, 2000). In Mauritius, most of the hotels offered multiple on-job training and courses for their front liners; foreign language courses, health and safety courses, communication skills. This empowers the front liners to be more proactive toward their job, therefore enhancing service quality. Another way of promoting skill and knowledge is the knowledge sharing among employees. Most of the hotels have internal trainers among their personnel and also a training department attached to the Human Resource Department to provide training among employees, to provide specific training to new comers and refresher course to existing employees. This exposure creates a prospective working environment for employees who have long service. Frontline employees moral can be affected by various factors; social and family background, supervisor`s attitudes and also working conditions. Generally most of the employees ignore their rights and are mostly exploited to undertake some tasks that are not prescribed in their usual duty, when an employee explained his grievances to their immediate supervisor; the supervisor will tend to be more disinclined towards this employee, consequently affecting his moral. Working conditions in hospitality sector reveals to be long hours with low pay, in many circumstances, front liners are affected in two ways, firstly
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they have to cope with family problems and secondly the long contact hours that prevails in this sector, moreover it seems that most of new comers who could not adapt with this lifestyle leave the hospitality sector, which causes staff turnover. Moreover as most of the hotels have more and more difficulty to recruit qualify staff, some of the front liners need to assume extra job without any proper compensation, but only pledge that he might have a promotion in the near future. This attitude sometimes prevails in some hotels; many front liners perform their job by obligation rather than a pleasurable job. Conclusion What we attempted to examine in this study is the complex relationship between service quality with employee morale, knowledge, skills and motivation in resorts hotels. The success of a service encounter depends, therefore, on the availability of aware, service oriented, competent employees who understand the context in which they work, and are well versed in the specific organizations strategic objectives and culture. This is not just about levels of proficiency but also includes different types of skills that are appropriate for the particular customer segment and characteristics of the business establishment. A waitperson may carry plates with proficiency, but still be unsuited for a five star dining environment. Win-win scenarios must be applied in this sector where human contact cannot be replaced, imitated. There is an urgent need to focus on the human side rather than on sales and revenues. Aspects of profit sharing can be part of this focus, which will make the front liners are more enthusiasts to give beyond guest expectation. The service quality does not only enable a firm to learn from customer complaints, it effectively compels the organization to respond to customer feedback immediately. In realizing the cost involved with each failure, the company has an additional opportunity to learn from the mistake and so eliminate the possibility of further similar mistakes.
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In essence the service quality assists an organization to create a customerdriven standard of service. Service management literature suggests that well managed service guarantee programs substantially affect organizational benefits whose success has been linked to their service quality programs. Service quality is influenced by expectations, that is the standards of service is defined by customers, customers who has already experienced that service uses his former experience to form a judgment. In order to achieve a quality service organization, commitment from employees and support from all levels of management is necessary. Therefore, it is important for managers who provide services to keep track of information about the companys well being as far as meeting its customers needs are concerned.

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