Operations & Materials Management

Blue Mountain Resorts: : THE SERVICE QUALITY JOURNEY

SUBMITTED BY:Group 2 Aditi Das Anly Mary Jose Arnav Shishu Arpit Benjwal Ashish Singhal Lopamudra Gautam Lopamudra Kashyap Mansoor Chowdhury Rajesh Bhadarwahi Arunima Rawat

Blue Mountain Resorts: : THE SERVICE QUALITY JOURNEY

1. Evaluate Blue Mountains service quality program. Do you agree with the approach taken by the company concerning service quality? Blue Mountains service quality program: Dave Sinclair, vice-president of human resources at Blue Mountain Resort (BMR), identified three proposals that required careful consideration: customer flow, speed of service and information technology (IT). After BMR started the service quality journey, the company itself started to change. First, the program began with the senior management and then the entire company had a new focus, vision, values and method. That created a new expectation to the internal customers, the employees, and some lacks were satisfied with the interaction between Gordon Canning, President and Chief Executive Officer of BMR and employees at the lunch activity. Another activity that improved marketing to employees was the offering of seminars and training that developed employees' skills and knowledge. Also, hiring the right personnel with the right capabilities and competence help enhance company's potential and empowering frontline staff to make important decisions regarding the customer's need. The whole feeling of being part of the company and being heard guided the employees to produce empathy, reliability, assurance and responsiveness to the external customer and eliminated gaps and lack that BMR had at the beginning. The approach taken by the firm concerning to service quality had caused the right effect. It improved the human resource management, employees marketing, maximize tangible evidence like physical environment, encouraged the communication between guests and employees, vertical and horizontal communication, service performance, information technology in the case of the call center and others. That decision set the parameters to start the service quality revolution in the firm. In our opinion, BMR initiated all the process at the right time and with the right people. As company they implemented the new focus and values with wisdom and took all the details in consideration. First, spreading their goals to employees and giving them an opportunity to be proactive. And then, let their guests know the firm is improving in certain areas mentioned before.

2. As Dave Sinclair, what is your evaluation of the three SWOP proposals? What action would you take and why? As Dave Sinclair, our evaluation of the three SWOP proposals The SWOP program described areas with issues to be resolved that have been identified as an opportunity to improve service quality in the company. This first proposal program can be applied as immediate action because most of the recommendation does not need a big investment like better forecasting, improved communication between departments, train staff and so on. The ones that need more investment like provide fast and accurate information to staff, adopt self-service information and schedule staff member are going to contribute to solve some issues with the information system. Moreover, the 200 employees hired for the round year can be the platform to help the other additional hired employees in the other seasons. This would help the 20% beginner skiers that go every year with the self-service information. In short-term BMR will produce a change in the firm's course. Also, if these are achieved, it might solve other aspect, such as, customer flow. The information system are processes for creating, storing, exchanging, using and managing information and the firm needs to integrate their system to just one. It is important to consider this recommendation for a long term application. As it said, hire a graduate level co-op student that organized the database. It would cost from $600 to $800 weekly, so the firm can approve this proposal as a short term solution. This may improve the call center activities reducing the miss call amount less than 1000 calls, front desk and service personnel and others. At the moment that Intrawest invest on the firm, it should develop and improve an information system that allows integrate the new condo-hotels and villages with the old area. From the time they start the construction to the time they finished it should allow BMR organized and integrate the new system to the firm's course. Even though, this would be a huge investment, the company needs this system due to the investment that is doing Intrawest. Without it, the issues would get worst and every mistake will cost money and time.

In conclusion, the managers of the firm should develop programs to improve their speed of customer service and then start working with the information system, because it needs to be done before the other infrastructure starts working, if it does not happen like that for any reason, the customer flow will still be an issue and also the speed of service.