Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T09:09:27.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Working within the front-of-house/back-of-house boundary: Room attendants in the hotel guest room space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Bronwyn Boon
Bronwyn Boon*
Affiliation:
Department of Management, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Context is an important but largely ignored dimension of quality service encounters. This paper contributes to the hospitality service industries literature by examining how the front-of-house and back-of-house boundary work (Nippert-Eng 1996, 2003) engaged by Room Attendants working within the hotel guest room space impact on the hospitality impression management performed. Qualitative data from fieldwork engaging with hotel employees located within the tourist resort of Queenstown New Zealand are used to explore the multiple fronts on which the front-of-house and back-of-house boundaries are simultaneously negotiated. The results suggest that Room Attendants negotiate the front-of-house and back-of-house boundary through objects – such as the guest room and articles belonging to the guest – and aspects of self– such as impression management, safety, socialising and self-responsibility for room checking. The results support the importance of considering context when seeking to understand the complexities associated with the (re)production of a reliably positive service encounter.

Keywords

hotelsservice encounterdramaturgicalfront-of-houseback-of-houseboundaries
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 160 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, J and Pryke, M (1994) The production of service space, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 12: 453–475.Google Scholar
Bunzel, D, Clegg, S and Teal, G (2002) Disciplining customers at the grand seaside hotel, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 8(2): 1–13.Google Scholar
Chapman, JA and Lovell, G (2006) The competency model of hospitality service: Why it doesn't deliver, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 18(1): 78–88.Google Scholar
Clark, T and Salaman, G (1998) Creating the ‘right’ impression: Towards a dramaturgy of management consultancy, The Service Industries Journal 18(1): 18–38.Google Scholar
Crang, P (1994) It's show time: On the workplace geographies of display in a restaurant in Southeast England, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 12: 675–704.Google Scholar
Dawes, J and Rowley, J (1996) The waiting experience: Towards service quality in the leisure industry, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 8(1): 16–21.Google Scholar
Den Haring, M and Mattsson, J (1999) A linguistic approach to studying quality of face-to-face communication, The Service Industries Journal 19(2): 28–48.Google Scholar
Dillard, C, Browning, LD, Sitkin, SB and Sutcliffe, K (2000) Impression management and the use of procedures at the ritz-carlton: Moral standards and dramaturgical discipline, Communication Studies 51(4): 404–414.Google Scholar
Doorne, S and Ateljevic, I (2005) Tourism performance as metaphor: Enacting backpacker travel in the Fiji islands (Jaworski, A and Pritchard, A (Eds.), Discourse, communication and Tourism, Channel View Publications, Clevedon, UK.Google Scholar
Fleming, P and Spicer, A (2004) ‘you can checkout anytime, but you can never leave’: Spatial boundaries in a high commitment organization, Human Relations 57(1): 75–94.Google Scholar
Forseth, U (2005) Gender matters? Exploring how gender is negotiated in service encounters, Gender, Work and Organization 12(5): 440–459.Google Scholar
Fournier, V (2000) Boundary work and the (un)making of the professions (Malin, N (Ed.), Professionalism, boundaries and the workplace, Routledge, UK.Google Scholar
Goffman, E (1959) The presentation of self in everyday life, Anchor, New York.Google Scholar
Gould-Williams, J (1999) The impact of employee performance cues on guest loyalty, perceived value and service quality, The Service Industries Journal 19(3): 97–118.Google Scholar
Grove, SJ, Fisk, RP and Dorsch, MJ (1998) Assessing the theatrical components of the service encounter: A cluster analysis examination, The Service Industries Journal 18(3): 116–134.Google Scholar
Gutek, BA, Cherry, B, Bhappu, AD, Schneider, S and Woolf, L (2000) Features of service relationships and encounters, Work and Occupations 27(3): 319–351.Google Scholar
Hartline, MD, Wooldridge, BR and Jones, KC (2003) Guest perceptions of hotel quality: Determining which employee groups count most, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administrative Quarterly 02: 43–52.Google Scholar
Hernes, T (2004) The spatial construction of organization, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Iacobucci, D and Ostrom, A (1993) Gender differences in the impact of core and relational aspects of services on the evaluation of service encounters, Journal of Consumer Psychology 2(3): 257–286.Google Scholar
Kang, S-s, Okamoto, N and Donovan, HA (2004) Service quality and its effect on customer satisfaction and customer behavioural intentions: Hotel and Ryokan in Japan, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research 9(2): 189–202.Google Scholar
Karatepe, OM and Sokmen, A (2006) The effects of work role and family role variables on psychological and behavioural outcomes of frontline employees, Tourism Management 27: 255–268.Google Scholar
Karatepe, OM, Uludag, O, Menevis, I, Hadzimehmedagic, L and Baddar, L (2006) The effects of selected individual characteristics on frontline employee performance and job satisfaction, Tourism Management 27: 547–560.Google Scholar
Lee, CC and Hu, C (2004) Analyzing hotel customer's e-complaints from an internet complaint forum, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 17(2/3): 167–181.Google Scholar
Lockyer, T (2005) Understanding the dynamics of the hotel accommodation purchase decision, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 17(6): 481–492.Google Scholar
Luchars, JY and Hinkin, TR (1996) The service quality audit, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administrative Quarterly 02: 34–41.Google Scholar
Mahesh, VS (1993) Human resource planning and development: A focus on service excellence (Baum, T (Ed.), Human resource issues in international tourism pp. 22–46, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.Google Scholar
Makins, MME (1991) Collins English dictionary, 3rd edn, HarperCollins, Glasgow.Google Scholar
Mattila, A (2000) When does mood matter? An examination of two types of hospitality service encounters, Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing 7(3): 55–65.Google Scholar
Moshavi, D (2004) He said, she said: Gender bias and customer satisfaction with phone-based service encounters, Journal of Applied Social Psychology 34(1): 162–176.Google Scholar
Namasivayam, K and Hinkin, TR (2003) The customer's role in the service encounter: The effects of control and fairness, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administrative Quarterly 06: 26–36.Google Scholar
Nath, R and Raheja, R (2001) Competencies in hospitality industry, Journal of Services Research 1(1): 25–33.Google Scholar
Nippert-Eng, C (1996) Home and work: Negotiating boundaries through everyday life, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.Google Scholar
Nippert-Eng, C (2003) Drawing the line: Organizations and the boundary work of “home” and “work” in: Paulsen, N and Hernes, T (Eds.), Managing boundaries in organizations: Multiple perspectives, Anthony Rowe, Chippenham.Google Scholar
Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, VA and Berry, LL (1988) SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality, Journal of Retailing 64(1): 12–40.Google Scholar
Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, VA and Berry, LL (1991) Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale, Journal of Retailing 67(4): 420–450.Google Scholar
Paulsen, N and Hernes, T (Eds.). (2003). Managing boundaries in organizations: Multiple perspectives. Anthony Rowe, Chippenham.Google Scholar
Perlow, LA (1998) Boundary control: The social ordering of work and family time in a high tech corporation, Administrative Science Quarterly 43(2): 328–357.Google Scholar
Rawstron, CG (1999) Housekeeping management in the contemporary hotel industry, in: Verginis, CS and Wood, R (eds.), Accommodation management: Perspectives for the international hotel industry, Binghamton NY.Google Scholar
Ryoo, H-K (2005) Achieving friendly interactions: A study of service encounters between Korean shopkeepers and African-American customers, Discourse & Society 16(1): 79–105.Google Scholar
Severt, D, Tesome, D and Murrman, S (2005) Prior experience satisfaction and subsequent fairness perceptions within the service experience, Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing 13(3): 121–137.Google Scholar
Vieira, AL (2005) Delivering quality service: All for one? Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism 6(1/2): 25–42.Google Scholar
Weaver, A (2005) Interactive service work and performative metaphors, Tourist Studies 5(1): 5–27.Google Scholar
Wood, RC (1994) Hotel culture and social control, Annals of Tourism Research 21: 65–80.Google Scholar