Background
The significance of the hospitality industry in the context of the UAE market cannot possibly be underrated. According to the report recently published by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (2017), despite a recent slight drop in performance rates, the hospitality industry maintains its status of the most influential industries in the UAE. Nevertheless, competition-related threats that lurk in the environment of the global market need to be addressed accordingly so that the UAE could retain its position as a leader in the hotel industry. For this purpose, the introduction of TQM into the context of the UAE business environment, particularly, the processes of service delivery and time management needs to be considered.
Literature Review
The concept of TQM is not new; quite on the contrary, it has been used actively in the global market for quite a while (Rahimi & Guntu, 2016). According to the existing definition, TQM is a framework of strategies that allow for consistent quality improvement and, therefore, create the foundation for a rapid increase in a company’s performance rates (Mak, 2016). In the hotel industry, TQM plays a crucial role since it allows improving the management of key tasks, reduces the number of delays, as well as the time, is taken to perform certain tasks, raise the customer value extensively, and, thus, contribute to a massive increase in the industry performance rates (Benavides-Velascoa, Quintana-Garcia, & Marchante-Lara, 2014).
The UAE hotel industry, in turn, seems to lack the tools that will allow it to improve the quality standards (Mak, 2016). One must admit that the recent introduction of green practices into the context of the UAE hospitality industry realm can be deemed as a very positive change (Al-Aomar & Hussain, 2017). The identified innovation is bound to attract customers and contribute to a rapid rise in their loyalty levels (Mak, 2016). That being said, the speed and quality of service delivery also need to be considered as an essential change that must be promoted in the context of the UAE hospitality industry (Al-Aomar & Hussain, 2017).
The adoption of the TQM framework, in turn, seems to be a legitimate tool for addressing the current issues in the SCM process. Particularly, the problems caused by delays, transportation issues, poor communication, and other factors will be handled with the adoption of the TQM tools (Stefano, Filho, Barichello, & Sohn, 2015). Therefore, the identified approach needs to be considered as an essential step in improving the performance rates of the UAE hotel industry.
Research Problem
Therefore, the significance of TQM in business performance, in general, and in the hotel industry in the UAE, in particular, needs to be explored extensively. As a result, the foundation for enhancing the performance of a range of organizations can be built. Furthermore, the framework for managing product and service quality improvement needs to be introduced into the context of the UAE hotel industry. As a result, the UAE will be able to retain its position as a leader in the target market.
The problem of the study, therefore, lies in the inconsistency of the current quality management framework used in the hotel industry. UAE hospitality organizations need a more coherent approach than the one which they are currently deploying. As a result, a rapid rise in customer retention and loyalty levels will be observed. The introduction of a TQM-based approach toward quality management, particularly, the focus on consistent quality improvement and the following control of the changes, must be viewed as a necessary addition to the present-day set of approaches used by the UAE companies operating in the hospitality market.
Research Question
- What are the characteristics of the quality management frameworks used by the UAE organizations working in the hotel industry?
- What are the key problems experienced by the UAE organizations operating in the specified environment as far as the management of product and service quality is concerned?
- How can the application of the TQM framework help improve the situation by which the UAE hospitality industry can be characterized nowadays?
- What positive and negative implications of applying the TQM framework to the UAE hospitality industry can be expected?
- How can the TQM tools be incorporated into the current set of quality management strategies used by the UAE firms in the hospitality industry?
The questions listed above are the extension of the research problem description. They help narrow down the analysis and focus on the factors that define the implication of quality management strategies in the UAE hotel industry. Thus, the effects of TQM on the identified UAE companies can be explored in depth.
Research Motive
The study is primarily motivated by the necessity to sustain the economic growth of the UAE. The said goal, in turn, can be accomplished by introducing massive improvements to the leading industry in the UAE and, therefore, increasing its market share significantly. Moreover, the focus on quality improvement is bound to affect customer retention rates, which is another essential factor for consistent and steep economic growth.
Therefore, the economic well-being of the UAE can be deemed as the primary research motive. Furthermore, the design of the tools that will allow keeping the industry developing must also be regarded as a priority. Put differently, the need to advance the hotel industry as the most prolific area of the UAE economy is the key research motive.
Scope of the Study
The research will be carried out in the UAE setting so that every single factor affecting quality management processes in the UAE could be taken into account and regarded correspondingly. A case study will be conducted so that a tool for managing quality-related issues, especially as far as the SCM-associated processes are concerned, could be designed. It could be argued that, by reducing the scope to a single organization, one may receive rather specific results that may need to be generalized to apply to any organizational setting. Nevertheless, the identified scope will help shed a lot of light on the problems faced by the UAE hospitality sector nowadays.
The uniqueness of the Research
While similar studies exploring the effects of TQM on the UAE economic environment have already been carried out, very few focus on the impact that the TQM framework may have on the hotel industry in the UAE. The research in question, however, will address specifically the effects that the TQM tool will have on the hotel industry realm. Consequently, the current study can be deemed as unique.
What the Research Will Achieve
It is expected that the study will allow exploring the opportunities that TQM has to offer to the UAE hotel industry. For instance, a comprehensive tool for consistent quality improvement as a corporate philosophy will be built in the course of the research. Thus, the foundation for a massive positive change in the UAE economy will be designed.
References
Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. (2017). Monthly hotel establishment report. Web.
Al-Aomar, R., & Hussain, M. (2017). An assessment of green practices in a hotel supply chain: A study of UAE hotels. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 32(1), 71-81. Web.
Benavides-Velascoa, C. A., Quintana-Garcia, C., & Marchante-Lara, M. (2014). Total quality management, corporate social responsibility, and performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 4(1), 77-87. Web.
Mak, B. (2016). The tourism and hospitality industry quality management system in the Middle East. IT & Knowledge Excellence, 5(1), 1-7.
Rahimi, R., & Gunlu, E. (2016). Implementing customer relationship management (CRM) in hotel industry from organizational culture perspective: Case of a chain hotel in the UK. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(1), 89-112. Web.
Stefano, N. M., Filho, N. C., Barichello, R., & Sohn, A. P. (2015). A fuzzy SERVQUAL based method for evaluated of service quality in the hotel industry. Procedia CIRP, 30, 433-438. Web.