Service Industry Excellence

Leadership Impact on Service Excellence in a Service Industry

Kelly Friedrichs

University of Texas at Arlington

What is the common thread that ties together a coven of witches, a jealous husband, unsupervised hooligan children, and a movie star with a taste for outrageous bets and expensive champagne? All are guests of the Mon Signor Hotel with unusual service requests for Ted the Bellhop to fulfill in the 1995 comedy Four Rooms (Anders et al.). Ted, played affably by Tim Roth, is the newest employee of this classic hotel and provides service with a smile as the first guests appear. However, as the evening progresses and the guest interactions and requests become increasingly eccentric, Ted’s personal commitment to service is shaken, leaving him with only the extrinsic motivator of monetary compensation to keep him going. Noticeably absent for most of the film is any representation of leadership at the hotel. It is not until three fourths of the story has elapsed that we finally meet Ted’s manager, Betty, whom he contacts by phone to announce his intention to call it quits after a particularly traumatic peccadillo with some guests. Betty uses coercive and reward powers to convince the bellhop to fulfill just one more service request for the most important guest at the Mon Signor, a movie star staying in the penthouse whose patronage could draw more famous guests to the hotel. A reluctant Ted agrees to answer the penthouse’s call for service. He concludes his tumultuous evening with a pocketful of tips and the grim satisfaction of having fulfilled every unpleasant request that he was presented with, from marriage counseling at gunpoint to mediating a wager that ends with the loser’s pinkie finger being cut off with a hatchet wielded by Ted’s very own hand.

Why are the misadventures of Ted the Bellhop relevant to this paper? Since the information regarding how leadership can impact, for good or ill, an employee’s commitment...