Empowerment through involvement: a case study of TGI Fridays restaurants
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Pages | 791-815 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480010297211 |
| Author | Conrad Lashley |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Empowerment
through
involvement
791
Personnel Review,
Vol. 29 No. 6, 2000, pp. 791-815.
#MCB University Press, 0048-3486
Received April 1998
Revised May 1999
Accepted May 1999
Empowerment through
involvement: a case study of
TGI Fridays restaurants
Conrad Lashley
Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
Keywords Empowerment, Service quality, Hospitality, Human resource management
Abstract Suggestions for improvements in service quality in hospitality operations frequently
advocate the use of empowerment as a strategy for the management of employees. Analysis of
employer initiatives that claim to empower employees needs to distinguish those initiatives labelled
empowerment and those which are empowering. At root, empowerment should develop a sense of
personal efficacy in employees. TGI Fridays is an organization that makes a service offer to
customers that can be described as ``mass customisation''. The successful service encounter
requires employees to provide customers with both advice and counselling in the way they
construct their meal experience, and a personalised service performance. To make this happen,
employees are managed through a cluster of approaches which are defined as ``empowerment
through involvement''. That is, they include some development of personal efficacy and
engagement in service performance, but which involves limited decision making apart from that
required of their role in service performance.
Introduction
Literature on the empowerment of employees shows the term covers a variety
of arrangements and levels of involvement (Bowen and Lawler, 1992;
Lockwood, 1996). Although some writers regard empowerment as a universally
defined term (Barry, 1993), there is clearly a diversity of forms which
empowerment can take and each represents different managerial intentions
(Lashley, 1997). Some forms of empowerment aim to involve employees in
aspects of service operations without necessarily sharing decision making
power with them. In situations where employees are delivering a ``mass
customised service'', employees may need to exercise consultancy skills in their
interpretation of customer service needs. They offer customers advice and
guidance about the extensive menu and help customers make choices from the
food and drink menus. Service employees also exercise some creativity in their
performance of service delivery.
This paper reports on one business in the hospitality industry which aims to
create the necessary sense of ownership and empowerment needed to
encourage employees to act as consultants, and give the performance required
by different customers. TGI Fridays is an organization which in many ways is
typical of Schmenner's (1995) ``service shop''. Service standards and production
processes are highly standardised, yet elements of the service require some
form of customisation to specific customer needs. Strategies for the
management of employees involve a package of recruitment and selection,
induction, training, reward, and appraisal procedures. These are designed to
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Personnel
Review
29,6
792
deliver an offer to customers that is both ``McDonaldized'' (Ritzer, 1993) and
which allows customer choice within a limited framework.
At TGI Fridays service employee performance requires more than merely
``carrying plates''. Employee ``empowerment'' meaning a willingness to ``accept
responsibility for the service encounter'' is key to the managerial aspirations for
the approach. Employees need to be able to interpret, and then deliver, the
customer service required. This study is one of a series that have focused on the
different approaches taken by hospitality retailers to the empowerment of their
service employees. Variations in the form of empowerment in different service
organizations are best understood as an issue of ``fit'' between the management
of employees and wider business strategy rather than one in which
empowerment represents ``best'' practice in generating employee commitment
to organizational objectives.
Understanding empowerment in service organizations
Claims that services are distinctive when compared to manufacturing usually
make play of four features of services: intangibility; heterogeneity;
perishability; and inseparability (Cowell, 1984). Whilst these features do
present all service organizations with some specific difficulties, not all service
firms are in the same position regarding these dimensions. Different service
organizations provide different bundles of service features and these impact on
the nature of the operational management, marketing offer to customers and
the way that front line employees are managed. There is consequently a best
``fit'' with the forms of empowerment introduced. In other words, the form that
the management of employees takes must be consistent with the wider
business strategy.
Whilst the cluster of service features impacts on the nature of the services
offered, two dimensions have particular relevance to variations in the service
offer and the organization of service operations. The intangible aspects to
service and the heterogeneity of services pose difficulties for both customers
and organizations supplying services to them. The intangible nature of service
delivery makes it difficult for customers to judge the nature of the service
provided prior to delivery of the service. Many customers seek the security of
prescribed branded services. The branded organization meets customer's
security needs by making the service offer explicit and by delivering a
standardised service consistent with customer expectations. At the same time
many customers are looking for some confirmation of their individuality. To
varying degrees many service customers object to mass produced services.
Customer service wants, therefore, represent a tension between fear of the
unpredictable and the anonymity of the standardised. The consequence of
these tensions and dilemmas is that the key strategic drivers for many service
organizations are the tangibility/intangibility and the degree of heterogeneity,
or standardisation/customisation, on the other. The interplay of these two sets
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