As a consultant hired by the Hotel Escargo management team, you have been asked to collect data on
the three main areas of focus (check-in, check-out, and hotel offerings) and graph the data to identify any
issue occurrences. Use the hotel information provided here (in Learning Materials.) Collect the data,
create graphs and/or tables, and describe any work measurement and time study analysis you would do.
Then, from this analysis, select one main area of focus and create a fishbone diagram that captures all
potential root causes. Provide a brief analysis of descriptive text on the identified items. Also describe
how work sampling and time study assist in analysis. The team wants to see all of your charts, diagrams,
and analysis summary.
The submission must be in APA format, Double Spaced using a 12Pt. Times New Roman. The minimum
length is 5 Body Pages plus the Cover Page, Abstract, and Reference Page (8 total pages.)
Hotel Escargot Preliminary Time Study
Name
Institution
HOTEL ESCARGOT PRELIMINARY TIME STUDY 2
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Hotel Escargot Preliminary Time Study
Introduction
Setting service standards that enhance customer satisfaction plays an imperative role in
enhancing company performance. Accordingly, performing time studies and work measurement
can help organizations to develop standards that ensure that customer service is enhanced. Hotel
Escargot provides various services as part of its operations including check-in, check-out, valet
parking, restaurant services and room service among others. Major disparities however exist in
terms of time taken to provide each service. In order to improve on this, the company must strive
to achieve a considerable level of uniformity; and thus standardize their services. This paper
aims at exploring work measurement and time study analysis for Hotel Escargot; and
consequently develop a fishbone diagram illustrating the root causes in one of the service
identified.
Graphs and Analysis
Based on the data, the following graphs indicate the Hotel’s performance based on
different measures that were considered.
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Check in Times
The check-in time takes between 1-15 minutes. This may be influenced by different
factors including speed of the customer care representative, client queries and time taken to
confirm client details. The need for standardization of this service is apparent since it marks the
beginning of a customer’s experience at the hotel (Lyle, 2012). Accordingly, this is an area in
which work measurement and a time study analysis can be conducted to determine root causes of
service time variation; and thus improve customer experiences.
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Completion Times for Room Service Requests
The graph on completion of room service requests shows major disparity between times
needed to complete the requests. The graph oscillates considerably and it can therefore be
established that there is a significant level of inconsistency in offering this service. While the
service may be completed within two minutes in some instances, there are situations in which it
takes 35 minutes. In this regard, there is need to conduct work measurement and time study
analysis to establish factors that may be affecting the provision of this service.
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Check Out Times
Check out times vary significantly and while it may take as little as one minute to check out,
there are several instances where guest spend 20 minutes at check-out. This is an illustration that
there is need to perform a time study analysis to determine factors that may be affecting service
performance during check-out.
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Restaurant/Bar Waiting Time for Server
The time taken to serve at the bar differs based on the order made and this can explain the
fluctuation of the graph. The restaurant/bar waiting time is a service area that would be
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considered for work measurement and time study analysis. Waiting time at restaurant and bars
influences customer satisfaction to a great extent and it should therefore be as standardized as
possible.
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Maintenance Request Completion Times
This graph indicates that depending on the type of maintenance to be done, it may take
between one minute and 739 minutes. The huge difference can be explained by varying difficulty
in different maintenance tasks, availability of staff and material to complete the services. This
however warrants a work measurement and time study analysis to determine the underlying
causes of the differences in performance.
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Valet Parking Customer Waiting Time
Valet parking at the hotel appears to be the most stable service among those studied in
this report. The service takes between one minute and five minutes most times, with six minutes
having been recorded only once. This shows that the service is to a great extend standardized,
although it could be improved further through work measurement and time study analysis.
Analysis and fish-bone diagram
Maintenance request completion times appear to be the most affected service area and is
therefore the focus of the analysis. The fish-bone diagram of the root causes is illustrated below.
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The above fish-bone diagram represents the various factors contributing to delays in
maintenance request completion (Lyle, 2012). The nature of the task including complexity,
urgency and history of the problem may determine how long the maintenance would cost. The
second factor is people, which portrays that the availability of individuals with the right skill set
to address the maintenance problem is of great significance in determining performance. The
same applies for machines and equipment, which must be available for the maintenance work to
be completed.
The fourth factor based on the above diagram is the process and policy; which to a
significant level influences the speed at which the activity is executed. The method, which entails
the approach towards diagnosis and the maintenance action, determines whether the activity will
be successfully completed. Poor diagnosis for example could mean that the job may have to be
repeated several times, thus influencing the time taken achieve the set objective. Finally, the
environment may influence ability of workers to perform the maintenance works. In the event of
power outage, the work may need to be postponed, thus causing delays.
Work sampling and time study play an important role in analysis. Work sampling helps
in identification of work condition characteristics and task elements involved in performing a
particular activity (Lyle, 2012). This is important in analysis as it assures that there is a clear
understanding of what those involved are expected to achieve and what it takes to perform the
activities. This way, it is easier to identify where possible challenges could lie in the process
(Blay, et al, 2014).
Through work sampling and time study, it is possible to identify the exact amount of time
required to perform specific tasks. This not only helps in establishing worker and machine delays
but also establish the percentage of time in which an individual is not working and develop ways
HOTEL ESCARGOT PRELIMINARY TIME STUDY 11
of promoting efficiency to ensure they are fully utilized. An example would be the amount of
time required between submitting a request for material and the provision of the same by the
procurement department. As the worker waits for the procurement to be made, it means that they
will not be working. To reduce such time wastage, the company may need to revise their
procurement policies to hasten the process (Josephson and Björkman, 2013).
Work sampling also promotes analysis by identifying activities that are performed by
more than one worker, such that it is possible to determine factors that affect performance in
such situations (Malakooti, 2013). It is apparent that where multiple workers are involved, the
various characteristics affecting them could impact the overall outcome of the process.
Conclusion
Work measurement and time study are effective in determining factors
influencing service delivery speed; and thus used in standardizing activities to reduce delays.
This way, it is possible to improve service delivery and hence promote customer satisfaction.
The fish-bone diagram illustrates areas of possible improvement, which the company can
examine to improve efficiency.
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References
Blay, N., Duffield, C. M., Gallagher, R., & Roche, M. (2014). Methodological integrative review
of the work sampling technique used in nursing workload research. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 70(11), 2434-2449.
