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Reaching the mission through employee engagement and service orientation in a zoological setting: an evaluation study

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Reaching the mission through employee engagement and service orientation in a zoological setting: an evaluation study

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Content Running head: REACHING THE MISSION 1

Reaching the Mission through Employee Engagement and Service Orientation in a Zoological Setting
An Evaluation Study

by

Stephanie Williams

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2018

Copyright 2018 Stephanie Williams
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DEDICATION
Words cannot express the gratitude I feel in honoring my family with this educational
achievement. I dedicate this accomplishment to all of you. To my parents, who instilled in me
value of lifelong learning and the drive to never give up and achieve excellence in everything I
do.
To Andy, the most supportive and understanding husband. You took on two and half
years of softball, soccer, tennis, piano lessons, school performances and everything else in
between. Thank you for being my editor and sounding board. I am forever grateful for your
love and encouragement to see this to the end.
To my three children Hannah, Wyatt, and Sammy, who complete our Williams Five. We
shared this journey together as we supported one another in our academic endeavors. Thank you
for understanding all the times I had to choose between my coursework and having fun with you.
I hope my accomplishment empowers you to reach for the stars and gives you the strength to
never give up on your dreams.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am to truly fortunate to have a wonderful network of people, who have supported me
throughout my education and career. My thanks to you all:
To Molly and Eliane, the West York Ct Crew, and my softball family who understood
my absence at times and who checked in regularly, your support and encouragement helped
make this possible.
To the log cabin crew and the leadership team, you motivate me to continue to grow and
make a difference in our organization. To the managers and team supervisors who generously
gave their time and stories for this study – you are a dedicated group of individuals.
To my dissertation committee, Dr. Artineh Samkian, who guided me through the
dissertation process. You encouraged me to think deeper and question everything. I am
extremely grateful for your support and dedication in helping me complete this journey. To Dr.
Helena Seli and Dr. Melora Sundt – I learned from your questions and feedback. Thank you for
sharing your expertise.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION .................................................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................3
LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................7
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................8
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................10
Introduction to the Problem of Practice ..................................................................................10
Organizational Context and Mission ......................................................................................12
Organizational Goal .................................................................................................................14
Related Literature ....................................................................................................................16
Leadership Practices .........................................................................................................16
Employee Engagement ......................................................................................................17
Quality Service ..................................................................................................................18
Service Quality ..................................................................................................................19
Service Orientation ...........................................................................................................19
Importance of Evaluation ........................................................................................................20
Description of Stakeholders ....................................................................................................21
Stakeholder’s Performance Goal ............................................................................................23
Stakeholder Group for the Study ............................................................................................24
Purpose of the Project and Questions .....................................................................................25
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .........................................................................27
Influences on the Problem of Practice ..................................................................................28
Characteristics of Service .................................................................................................28
Employee Engagement .....................................................................................................29
Gap Analytic Framework ......................................................................................................31
Organizational Influences .................................................................................................32
Knowledge Influences ......................................................................................................43
Motivational Influences ....................................................................................................53
Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................61
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARACH METHODS .........................................................................70
Participating Stakeholders ......................................................................................................71
Survey Sampling Criteria and Rationale ...........................................................................71
Survey Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale .....................................................71
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale .......................................................................73
Interview Sampling Recruitment Strategy and Rationale .................................................73
Data Collection and Instrumentation ......................................................................................75
Measuring Organizational, Knowledge and Motivational Influences ....................................78
Credibility and Trustworthiness ..............................................................................................84
Validity and Reliability ...........................................................................................................86
Ethics .......................................................................................................................................88
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS .........................................................................91
Survey and Interview Participants ..........................................................................................92
Results and Findings for Organizational Influences ...............................................................94
Results and Findings for Knowledge Influences ..................................................................126
Results and Findings for Motivation Influences ...................................................................156
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................166
Implications for Practice .......................................................................................................166
Recommendations for Practice .............................................................................................168
Organization Recommendations .....................................................................................168
Knowledge Recommendations .......................................................................................172
Motivation Recommendations ........................................................................................176
Implementation Plan .......................................................................................................179
Future Research ..............................................................................................................180
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................182
REFERENCES ...........................................................................................................................184
APPENDIX A: Survey Instrument for Managers and Team Supervisors ..................................196
APPENDIX B: Survey Results for Managers and Team Supervisors .........................................204
APPENDIX C: Interview Protocol for Managers and Team Supervisors ..................................231
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APPENDIX D: Organization, Knowledge, and Motivation Influences and Assessments .........235
APPENDIX E: Informed Consent/Information Sheet ................................................................238
APPENDIX F: Recruitment Letter .............................................................................................240

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Organizational Mission, Global Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goals .................24
Table 2. Organizational Influences ..............................................................................................42
Table 3. Knowledge Influences ...................................................................................................53
Table 4. Motivation Influences ....................................................................................................61

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework: The integration of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences ......................................................................................64
Figure 2. Manager and Team Supervisor Tenure ........................................................................92
Figure 3. Interview Participants: Maximum Variation Sample ....................................................93
Figure 4. Communication of Organizational Goal and Importance of Service Quality ..............95
Figure 5. Awareness of Policies and Procedures that Align with the Organizational Goal ......100
Figure 6. The Zoo’s Process for Accountability ........................................................................101
Figure 7. Resources Provided to Managers and Team Supervisors ...........................................105
Figure 8. Goal Setting and Expectations for Performance ........................................................119
Figure 9. Discussions Regarding Employee Engagement .........................................................121
Figure 10. Factors that Influence an Individual’s Level of Employee Engagement .................128
Figure 11. Managers’ and Team Supervisors’ Role in Influencing Employee Engagement ......129
Figure 12. Manager and Team Supervisor Behaviors that Influence Employee Satisfaction ....130
Figure 13. Factors Managers and Team Supervisors Recognize to Affect Service Quality ......141
Figure 14. Components Recognized as Part of a Service Strategy ............................................142
Figure 15. Service Vision and Instruction on Service Standards ...............................................145
Figure 16. Service Strategy Training and Training on Service Skills and Behaviors ...............147
Figure 17. Utility Value of Service Orientation and Employee Engagement ............................157
Figure 18. Managers’ and Team Supervisors’ Self-efficacy .....................................................163

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ABSTRACT
Research suggests that leadership practices, service orientation, and employee
engagement affect service quality, thus swaying visitor satisfaction. This study considered the
importance of the employee-visitor relationship in a zoological setting. The questions that
guided this study centered around managers’ and team supervisors’ perception of the
organizational culture and contextual barriers, in addition to their knowledge, skills, and
motivation for facilitating employees in the delivery of quality service for improved visitor
satisfaction. Clark and Estes' (2008) gap analysis served as the conceptual and methodological
framework for the study. Survey and interview results highlighted thematic gaps including areas
of limited knowledge with service quality and employee engagement; perceived minimal
organizational support for employee development; contrasting reports of organizational
resources and ability to influence employee performance; absence of control over employee
decision-making, and absence of ownership and accountability for service quality. The
implications of these findings point to the risk of ongoing fluctuations in service quality across
departments, where managers and team supervisors remain at odds with their influence due to a
deficiency of critical knowledge, skills, motivation, and organizational resources. The study
concludes with recommendations for context-specific solutions grounded in literature as well as
the strengths and weaknesses of the study, limitations, and recommendations for future study.

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CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
There are 214 accredited zoos and aquariums in the United States, a majority dependent
upon financial support from the public (Association of Zoos & Aquariums, 2017). This study
focused on exploring the use of service-oriented and employee engagement practices for
improving visitor satisfaction. This chapter lays the foundation for examining the knowledge
and motivation of leaders, managers and team supervisors, and organizational practices that are
critical to service orientation and employee engagement, and the influence of these on visitor
satisfaction in a zoological setting. Employee-visitor relationships and employer-employee
relationships affecting service quality were explored. This chapter presents an introduction to
the problem of practice, organizational context and mission, organizational goal, related
literature, the importance of evaluation and a description of stakeholder groups including
performance goals.
Introduction to the Problem of Practice
Zoos and aquariums provide spaces for exploration, learning, and recreation while
engaging guests, staff, volunteers and communities about the plight of animals in nature. They
depend on visitor experiences to ensure guests see live animals and participate in opportunities to
learn about animals and conservation issues (Wagoner & Jensen, 2010). Zoos and aquariums, to
accomplish their conservation mission, are dependent on the skills of their employees as well as
the combined efforts of the organization working towards the same goals. For zoos and
aquariums, a single visit by guests has an impact, but multiple visits are desirable (Fraser et al.,
2010) not only from a revenue standpoint but also for addressing knowledge gaps in visitor
awareness and participation in global conservation issues.
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Service orientation and employee engagement are critical to the successful delivery of
quality service and identifying and tapping into visitor motivations. Employees play a role in
creating a link between visitors’ experience and their subsequent actions in support of the natural
world. As those who provide the service to zoo and aquarium visitors, the staff’s involvement,
satisfaction, and enthusiasm for work define employee engagement (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes
2002). Like other tourism and hospitality settings, zoos and aquariums risk losing visitors
because of poor service. Kusluvan (2003) noted that personalities, behaviors, attitudes, and the
psychological state of the employee influence the delivery of quality service. As such, the
alignment between the delivery of service and employee engagement is affected by the norms,
beliefs, values, and behaviors communicated by the organization.
When employees know what is expected of them, have the tools and support to complete
their job and are given opportunities to make an impact in their organization, customer service
improves (Gallup Organization, 2013). The manager’s role helps to align employee purpose,
identity, and mastery with organizational performance goals. To become engaged and stay
engaged, employees must feel recognized, understood, needed, and appreciated (Gallup
Organization, 2013). According to Berbarry and Malinchak (2011), engaged employees have a
healthy relationship with their immediate supervisors and a positive view of the organization's
senior leadership. By learning what is important to employees, organizational leaders can gather
feedback, analyze results, and communicate how the organization will respond to the identified
needs of the employees. Furthermore, Berbarry and Malinchak (2011) suggested that
supervisors who engage employees support them coming together regularly and informally to
learn from each other as they seek to improve their work. Supervisors significantly influence
what employees think, feel, communicate and do. For this reason, leaders, managers and team
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supervisors, and organizational processes play a fundamental role in adequately providing
employees with knowledge, skills, and abilities, to perform their tasks successfully.
The problem of practice addressed in this study was visitor satisfaction through
employee-visitor interactions. To address this problem of practice, my organization, Zoological
Park, a pseudonym, evaluated service orientation practices and examined the knowledge,
motivational, and organizational factors which shaped managers’ and team supervisors’ effort to
build employee capacity to provide quality service. The findings in this study and proposed
recommendations could help position the organization to achieve its performance goal of
improved visitor satisfaction. Furthermore, the study could assist organizational leaders in
understanding the needs of managers and team supervisors for building employee capacity to
provide high-quality visitor experiences.
Organizational Context and Mission
For this study, Zoological Park referred to an accredited Zoo located in the eastern United
States. Zoological Park is owned, governed and operated by Zoological Society Inc., a nonprofit
501(c)(3) organization led by a CEO and a volunteer Board of 20 Directors. Doing business as
the Zoological Park, operating revenue, with supplemental support from private funds, supports
capital improvements. The mission of Zoological Park is to be a conservation resource
providing opportunities for people to make empathetic connections with animals and take pro-
environmental action on behalf of the natural world (Organization's website, 2017).
Zoological Park was established in the early 1900s when a small collection of animals
was left at the town’s emergency management building. Attracting a lot of attention, residents
would gather downtown to view the animals on the weekends. Dedicated residents raised funds
to move the zoo to a more spacious property in the early 1970s. Zoological Park opened at its
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current location in the mid-1970s (Organization’s website, 2017).
Zoological Park sits on over 100 acres of which one-quarter supports the animals and
buildings; the remainder is endangered wetlands. The zoo cares for more than 300 animals
representing over 100 species native to six continents (Organization’s website, 2017). A range
of professions and disciplines reflects the 100 employees, who at the time of this study were 65%
female, and 35% male, responsible for all animal care, guest experiences, finances, retail
oversight, marketing fundraising activities (including events), membership, volunteers, education
programming, and facilities. The three largest, and most visible, departments include animal
care, education, and guest experiences. A staff of 29 animal specialists attends to the health and
well-being of a diverse collection of animals. A team of 17 educators offers comprehensive,
state standards and STEM education programs are available to K-12 schools, family programs,
and adult programs. Forty-two frontline team members support the Zoo's visitor experiences.
Since the early 1920s, Zoological Park has brought the world of animals to its visitors.
The primary role of employees and volunteers is to empower visitors to respect, value and care
for the world’s natural resources. The Zoo's typical adult guest is female, between the age of 25-
45 with a household income of $50,000 to $75,000 and 2-3 children. The average age of
children visiting the zoo is eight years, with the most common age group between one and three
years of age. The average stay time at the Zoo ranges from one to three or more hours
(Organization’s Strategic Plan, 2013).
Zoological Park recognizes its greatest strength is the knowledge, dedication, and
creativity of its employees at all organizational levels. Employee engagement is the magnitude
to which employees feel valued and involved in their daily work (Gallup Organization, 2013).
Leadership behavior, career development, work environment, meaningful work, relationships in
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the workplace, policies and procedures, and organization values are considered dimensions of
employee engagement; capable of influencing whether employees feel invested in their
company’s mission and its success (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). Through
informal observations and discussions, Zoological Park leadership believed organizational
practices were not effective in supporting employee engagement and educating team members
about the importance of delivering quality service.
Zoological Park's mission is to be a conservation resource providing opportunities for
people to make empathetic connections with animals and take pro-environmental action on
behalf the natural world. The organization's vision is to empower guests to respect and value
Earth’s natural resource, by contributing globally to the conservation of wildlife. With a
strategic focus to treat every guest to a fun, memorable experience that fosters understanding,
caring, and action, the organization’s goal is to ensure that employees across all departments
have the knowledge, skills, and motivation to engage visitors in ways that make their visit
enjoyable and educational, and build a connection to the zoo and the animals. Therefore,
Zoological Park needed to identify the knowledge, motivational, and organizational factors
influencing managers and team supervisors to support staff in delivering high-quality
experiences. The intent of this study was to provide recommendations to address existing gaps
in the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences discovered.
Organizational Goal
Zoological Park strives to improve visitor satisfaction in order to increase visitor
attendance through repeat visits and referrals. Over 80 percent of Zoological Park’s revenue is
generated by visitor attendance and programs (Organization’s Five-Year Business Plan, 2017).
Therefore, increased attendance will in turn lead to increased revenue. Recently, Zoological
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Park sought assistance from a third-party organization to evaluate and measure online visitor
feedback. Review of visitor comments left online helped Zoological Park understand what
visitors expect, what visitors perceive quality service to be, and what is impeding the way the
organization meets visitor expectations. A Net Promoter Score (NPS), which ranges from zero
to 100, is a proxy for customer loyalty and helps organizations like Zoological Park measure
levels of visitor satisfaction based on positive and negative comments. Based on the recent
analysis, Zoological Park’s current NPS is 60 with attendees leaving 72% positive comments
(DANA, 2017). DANA referred to a pseudonym for the third-party organization utilized to
provide visitor satisfaction analytics to Zoological Park.
By December 2020, Zoological Park wishes to improve its NPS from 60 to 90.
Zoological Park aims to achieve the same NPS as those of its competitors. A peer comparison
showed Zoological Park’s competitors have an NPS of 90 with 90% positive comments.
Zoological Park has thus set its sights on these target numbers of 90% positive comments with an
NPS of 90 or greater. The desired result of evaluating service orientation and employee
engagement is improved organizational performance leading to increased visitor satisfaction.
The focus of this study was to examine factors influencing service orientation,
specifically assessing the knowledge, skills, and motivation needed to be actively engaged
employees. Additionally, organizational factors that influence employee knowledge and
motivation were examined. Greater service orientation will support Zoological Park employees
in effectively responding to visitor needs, improving customer service, and supporting the Zoo’s
vision to cultivate connections between people and animals. I established the goal of examining
service orientation after analysis of visitor feedback received from online reviews and comments
of Zoological Park showed visitor satisfaction as an area needing improvement. Setting the goal
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to focus on service orientation ensures Zoological Park will provide a promise to the public
regarding conservation, both local and global, as it builds emotional connections with staff and
visitors. Evaluating the organization’s performance in service orientation enables Zoological
Park’s leadership to design targeted interventions that positively support its managers and team
supervisors, employees, volunteers, and visitors.
Related Literature
The following related literature highlights why focusing attention on quality service and
employee engagement are important to visitor satisfaction. Zoos and Aquariums measure visitor
satisfaction through their products, services, and experiences. A high level of visitor satisfaction
helps maintain operations by sustaining or increasing attendance levels. High visitor satisfaction
may also inspire generations of environmental stewards, thus enabling the Zoo to meet its
mission of conservation. The quality of service provided is influenced by employee-visitor and
employer-employee relationships, thus affecting visitor experiences. Robinson, Perryman, and
Hayday (2004) as cited by Markos & Sridevi (2010), explained that engaged employees are
aware of the business mission and work with fellow employees to improve performance for
organization’s benefit. Therefore, the organization must develop and cultivate employee
engagement and service orientation, thus requiring a two-way relationship between employee
and employer. The following related literature emphasizes the relationship between 1)
leadership practices, 2) employee engagement, and 3) quality service to visitor satisfaction.
Leadership Practices
Elements influencing service orientation and employee engagement are leaders, front-line
supervisors, and organizational culture. Leaders set the overall tone for the organization (Berger,
2014). As such, leaders enable service orientation and employee engagement by creating a clear
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line of sight for employees and empowering managers and team supervisors with information
and decision-making authority. Managers and team supervisors influence whether the
expectations of the employee are clear, and whether he or she feels valued and involved and has
ongoing opportunities to learn and grow (Mishra, Boynton, & Mishra, 2014). The manager’s
position allows him or her to take the lead in establishing a culture that values behaviors that
support those perceptions. Culture, enacted through shared experiences, vocabulary, established
structures, policies, processes, and practices, influences how employees interact (Berger, 2014).
Significant predictors of commitment are clear organizational goals and employee participation
in the organization.
Employee Engagement
Kahn (1990) referred to employee engagement as the varying degrees of experiences and
conditions that shape how individuals express themselves physically, emotionally, and
cognitively during role performance. Khan defined personal commitment as when people
employ and express themselves, whereas disengagement is when individuals withdraw during
task performance. According to Wagner and Harter (2006), employees who are engaged receive
greater customer service satisfaction ratings and generate increased revenue.
Organizations value the importance of work-related attitude and employee engagement
due to the potential influence it has on performance (Bartlett, 2001). Organizations employ 1)
leadership, 2) workplace learning, 3) communication systems, 4) rewards and recognition, and 5)
empowered managers and supervisors as strategies for influencing employee engagement
(Berger 2014; Gallup Organization, 2013; Saks, 2006). Employees are more likely to improve
work performance when they are engaged because they feel informed, involved, empowered, and
valued (Berger, 2014; Gallup Organization, 2013; Kahn, 1990). When employees know more
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about their role and perceive support from their manager, their confidence increases which in
turn builds their self-efficacy and commitment (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). These strategies are
significant concerning the role of delivering quality service in the employee-visitor relationship.
Organizational processes include available resources, leadership styles, rewards and
recognition, and growth and development influence employer and employee relationships.
Vance (2006) referred to the link between employee engagement and business practices in a job
performance model. Business practices affect job performance and commitment because two of
the three factors that influence employee engagement are related to what the organization does.
The first factor is personal attributes of employees, which include knowledge, skills, abilities,
temperament, attitudes and personality. Second, organizational context such as leadership,
physical setting, and social setting play a role. Third, human resources practices that directly
impact the individual, process, and context factors of job performance are a factor. Exploring the
association between employer practices and employee engagement is critical, given
organizations are increasingly investing more resources to improve performance (Aguinis &
Kraiger, 2009). If employees can demonstrate high levels of engagement as the result of
merging what is important to them and what is important to the organization, then elevated levels
of employee engagement may lead to increased visitor satisfaction.
Quality Service
Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, and Schlesinger (1994) referred to the links between
profitability, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, as well as, productivity as the “service
profit chain theory.” The framework concluded that profit and growth are stimulated by
customer loyalty resulting from customer satisfaction. In addition, the value of services provided
to the customer influences satisfaction. Furthermore, the value is created by satisfied, loyal,
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productive employees resulting from quality support services that encourage employees to
deliver quality services to customers (Heskett et al., 1994).
Service quality. Service quality is the comparison of one’s perception of expectations
with the service performance he or she receives (Kusluvan, 2003). The assessment of service
outcomes and quality is often determined by face-to-face interactions between the service
provider and customer. Lytle, Hom, and Mokwa (1998) referred to service as attending to
someone’s needs. As such, service is performed directly via person to person service encounters;
directly to person to property service encounters; indirectly via service devices; or a combination
of these delivery methods. Furthermore, organizations can only provide service if employees are
positioned at points along the delivery chain and can attend to customer needs.
Service orientation. Service orientation at the organizational level describes an
organizational-wide embracement of lasting policies, practices, and procedures that produce
service quality (Lytle, Hom, & Mokwa, 1998). According to Lytle, Hom, and Mokwa (1998),
four elements represent service orientation and ensure quality service: service leadership
practices, human resource management, service encounter practices, and service systems
practices. First, through a service vision, leaders emphasize the importance of service quality.
In addition, leaders set standards through their behaviors and leadership style in which
employees can pattern. Second, human resource management practices influence employee
performance and service quality. Organizations that are service-oriented recognize and reward
employees for service attitudes. Furthermore, service organizations provide training to enhance
employees’ ability to deliver quality service. Third, how organizations interact with their
customers refers to service encounter. Organizations want their employees to take care of
customers by satisfying their needs and making everyone feel special. Finally, service systems
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describe the utilization of internal processes to deliver quality service. Methods such as
service failure prevention, service recovery practices, communication, and technology are
combined to form a service system. An important implication for improved visitor satisfaction is
assessing service orientation and employee engagement influences, attending to gaps discovered,
and providing approaches to improve the capacity of the organization to deliver quality service at
all levels.
Importance of Evaluation
This section establishes the importance of quality service and discusses how service
orientation and employee engagement are intertwined factors affecting the improvement of
visitor satisfaction. The related literature demonstrates the link between employee engagement
service orientation, and quality service performance outcomes. Organizations with engaged
employees have higher levels of productivity, profitability, growth and customer satisfaction
(Makos & Sridevi, 2008). In addition, organizations with disengaged employees obtain less
commitment from their employees resulting in less customer orientation and less productivity.
How visitors (and potential visitors) and staff interact with a zoo or aquarium is dependent on the
reputation of the organization. Ultimately, this image can have significant financial
consequences (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). The organization’s reputation is affected by its
practices, such as internal communication and workplace learning (Clardy, 2005). Furthermore,
the staff, from frontline employees to the CEO, decide the amount of quality service visitors
receive. Therefore, considering the importance of the employee-visitor relationship,
investigating knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences on quality service and
employee engagement is important for organizations like Zoological Park that rely on visitor
loyalty for profit and growth as well as inspiring conservation-minded action.
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Zoological Park’s visitor experiences are mission-critical elements for increasing
revenue to support its conservation and education programs. Driving visitation and fundraising
efforts is done by recognizing that the Zoo is part of the community, not just a location to visit.
The visitor experience starts before guests walk through the front gate. The "pre-visit" includes
social media and online communities and information all leading up to a paid visit. Striving to
be a community resource means making it a priority to support local needs through satellite
programs. Providing residents with personalized access to the zoo through annual memberships
and creating strategic partnerships with for-profits and non-profits are additional avenues utilized
to boost attendance and increase revenue (Organization’s Strategic Plan, 2013).
Ultimately, the zoo strives to provide visitors a distinct pathway of engagement through
social media, in-person visits, event participation, annual membership, donation, and volunteer
opportunities. The greatest asset to facilitate this connection is the staff. Strengthening the
employee-employer relationship is a valuable opportunity for creating expectations on how
quality service plays a role in helping guests become proud supporters, convey their experiences
to others, and motivate more people to visit the zoo. These factors highlight the need to
investigate how the relationship between organizational practices, service orientation, and
employee engagement supports the delivery of quality service and organizational effectiveness.
Description of Stakeholder Groups
Zoological Park defined three stakeholder groups who had a vested interest in the
delivery of high-quality visitor experiences. The three groups were Zoological Park’s leadership
team, managers and team supervisors, and staff. These groups consisted of employees who
develop organizational initiatives, provide support to employees as supervisors, and whom
service orientation and engagement strategies directly affect. Understanding not only who the
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potential stakeholder groups were, but the nature of their interest in service orientation and
employee engagement was necessary to gain participation and support as well as to focus an
evaluation on its influence. With that understanding, Zoological Park was able to request staff
involvement, address their concerns, and demonstrate how the effort will benefit them.
Zoological Park’s leadership team consists of department directors who provide overall
direction for the organization. The team is accountable for 1) setting policies and practices that
communicate change and strategic information, 2) linking outcomes with organizational goals
and results, 3) allocating resources, and 4) supporting workplace learning of employees at all
levels. Therefore, the leadership team is responsible for sharing reliable and open
communications with managers and staff to promote a sense of belonging, commitment, and help
everyone better understand the organization’s goals. As such, the leadership team is a catalyst
for instilling service orientation through service leadership, human resource management, service
encounters, and service system.
Zoological Park managers, team supervisors, and staff are those affected by leadership
decisions regarding organization policies, procedures, equipment, and materials. Zoological
Park managers and team supervisors have direct reports and are responsible for 1) listening and
responding to employee concerns, 2) providing regular and specific performance feedback, 3)
recognizing the contribution of individuals within their teams, 4) engaging their employees in
decision-making processes, 5) helping employees understand how their job aligns with
organizational goals, 6) modeling expected service quality behaviors and attitudes, and 7)
helping employees grow and develop for the future. Managers and team supervisors influence
job performance, satisfaction, trust, retention, conflict resolution, and implementation of strategic
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change. Employees who experience favorable relationships with their supervisors tend to feel
informed, involved, empowered and valued (Berger, 2014).
Excluding the leadership team, managers, and team supervisors, Zoological Park consists
of 61 full-time and part-time employees responsible for performing daily tasks, interacting with
park guests, and the community. A range of professions and disciplines reflect the 61
employees, 65% female, and 35% male, responsible for all animal care, guest experiences,
finances, concessions oversight, marketing fundraising activities (including events), membership,
volunteers, education programming, and facilities. Every Zoological Park employee has an
opportunity to contribute to creating a compelling visitor experience. Zoological Park
employees play a pivotal role in the organization's guest lifecycle; sustained by the tools,
processes, data systems, communications and so forth for each interaction.
Stakeholder’s Performance Goals
Table 1, below, outlines the organizational mission, organizational performance goal, and
stakeholder performance goals. While the joint efforts of all stakeholders contribute to the
achievement of improving visitor experiences by December 2020, it is important to understand
the perception of what supports or impedes the ability of Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors to persist at building employee capacity to deliver quality service. Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors are the pulse of the organization. They are the ones that move
the staff in the direction needed to achieve the organization’s goals. Therefore, the section on
Stakeholder Group of Study outlines why the stakeholders of focus for this study were
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors.

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Table 1
Organizational Mission, Global Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goals
Organizational Mission
A conservation resource providing opportunities for people to make empathetic connections with
animals and take pro-environmental action on behalf of the natural world.
Organizational Performance Goal
By December 2020, Zoological Park will improve its visitor satisfaction score from 60 to 90.
Zoological Park Staff Zoological Park
Managers and Team Supervisors
Zoological Park
Leadership Team
By January 2020, 100% of
Zoological Park staff will
demonstrate they can carry out
components of a service strategy to
deliver quality service.
By June 2019, 100% Zoological
Park managers and team
supervisors will execute a quality
service program with employees.

By January 2019, Zoological
Park’s Leadership Team will
generate a quality service
program.
Stakeholder Group for the Study
The joint efforts of all stakeholders contribute to the achievement of the overall
organizational goal of improving visitor satisfaction by December 2020, when 100% of
Zoological Park employees are engaged and provide high-quality visitor experiences. The
stakeholders of focus for this study were Zoological Park managers and team supervisors. The
stakeholders’ goal is by June 2019, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors will
implement 100% of the elements demonstrated in the research literature that produce an effective
quality service program aimed at engaging employees and building their capacity to provide
high-quality visitor experiences. Leadership practices influence service orientation and
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employee engagement which in turn affect service quality ultimately swaying visitor
satisfaction. Employee perceptions and attitudes about their job, working conditions,
organizational values, beliefs and policies, coworkers, leaders, and performance reflect employee
engagement and service orientation affecting service quality. Therefore, Zoological Park
leadership must have a clear understanding of the assumed knowledge, motivational, and
organizational factors influencing Zoological Park managers and team supervisors to execute a
quality service program with employees aimed to achieve the organization's performance goal.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to examine factors influencing managers and team
supervisors employing service practices with their employees. For Zoological Park to increase
organizational performance, organizational leaders must understand the knowledge,
motivational, and organizational factors influencing managers and team supervisors surrounding
service orientation and employee engagement within Zoological Park. As well, leadership must
know what the organization is doing (or not doing) to facilitate and/or impede the managers’ and
team supervisors’ work. While a complete performance evaluation would focus on all
Zoological Park stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholder of interest in this analysis
was Zoological Park managers and team supervisors.
As such, the questions that guided this study are the following:
1. What do Zoological Park managers and team supervisors perceive are the
organizational culture and contextual barriers regarding employees delivering quality
service for achieving the organization’s goal?
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2. What are Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’ knowledge, skills, and
motivation for facilitating employees in the delivery of quality service for improved
visitor satisfaction?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources?
This study is organized into five chapters. Chapter One introduced the problem of
practice and its importance, provided the organizational context, goals, stakeholders of focus for
the study, and detailed the study’s purpose and research questions. Chapter Two provides
literature with a focus on the link between leadership practices, service orientation, and
employee engagement to service quality and visitor satisfaction. Chapter Two concludes with
the conceptual framework for the study integrating the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences. Chapter Three presents the research design and methods for data
collection and analysis. Chapter Four details the results and findings and closes with a summary.
Chapter Five reviews the organization, stakeholder group of focus, and the study’s purpose and
research questions, followed by detailing recommendations for solutions, and providing
recommendations for future research.

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CHAPTER TWO:
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Education about and conservation of animals and their habitats are becoming increasingly
important. Over the past decade, accredited zoos have evolved rapidly as 33% of animal life on
earth is considered threatened (IUCN, 2016). Over two centuries ago, London's Regent's Park
opened the first modern zoo. Today the notion of a place where families can visit and observe
animals is being questioned by individuals who don’t agree with animals living in captivity.
These same individuals may not be aware of the purpose zoos serve, to maintain genetically
viable populations of species in danger of going extinct and provide conservation education
regarding existing wildlife and natural habitats. Therefore, it is increasingly difficult for zoos
across the United States and around the world, to balance the demands of education,
conservation, and entertainment. The public's perception of zoos and aquariums appears to be
declining; however, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' market research, the
public trusts their local zoo or aquarium more than they trust the concept of zoos as a whole
(Association of Zoos and Aquariums, 2017).
Given the challenges that zoos face with regards to delivering conservation, education,
and entertainment, employee engagement and service orientation may be factors influencing
visitor satisfaction, thus the organization’s ability to support its conservation and education
programs. The following literature review provides an overview of the concepts of service
quality, service orientation, and employee engagement. The link between leadership practices,
service orientation, and employee engagement to service quality and visitor satisfaction is
explored. Finally, this chapter integrates the Clark and Estes gap analysis approach into a
conceptual framework for this study, which considers the knowledge, motivational, and
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organizational influences contributing to Zoological Park's managers and team supervisors
employing service and employee engagement practices with their employees.
Influences on the Problem of Practice
Characteristics of Service
Service quality affects customer experience and satisfaction. Service quality is produced
during the interaction between the customer and the service provider. Lehtinen and Lehtinen
(1982) suggested customers use three dimensions to determine service performance: physical
quality, corporate quality, and interactive quality. Physical quality refers to the physical aspects
of the service, for example, the tangible elements such as buildings, physical environment, and
appearance of employees. Corporate quality relates to the organization's image where customers
see the organization's resources and the way it operates. The organization's image influences the
perception of quality (Gronroos, 1988). If the organization has a good image, minor mistakes
tend to be forgiven. However, if the image is negative the influence of any error will be larger
than otherwise anticipated. Finally, interactive quality refers to the interaction derived from
contact between employees and visitors as well as between guests and other visitors (Lehtinen &
Lehtinen, 1982). When employees understand how services are evaluated, it is possible to
manage the evaluations and influence them in the desired direction.
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) indicated intangibility, inseparability, and
variability are three aspects of service that affect consumer expectations and employee
performance. Intangible services are valued performance, deeds, and actions rather than objects.
However, inseparability refers to the production and consumption of services. During the
delivery and utilization of most services in the tourism and hospitality industry, there is no
separation time between service providers and consumers (Kusluvan, 2003). Therefore, the
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assessment of service outcomes and quality is determined by face-to-face interactions between
the service provider and customer. This notion indicates that the employee-visitor relationship is
critical to the quality of service performance because quality occurs during service delivery in
the form of the interaction between the visitor and the employee. The time spent with and the
uniqueness of people will affect how employees provide the same level of service. Variability
suggests how performance varies from employee to employee, visitor to visitor, and from day to
day (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1985). As such, consistency is difficult to ensure
because what zoos intend to deliver to their visitors may be entirely different from what the guest
receives or wants. Kusluvan (2003) noted, personalities, behaviors, attitudes, and psychological
state of both the employee and the customer will influence the variability of delivered services.
In addition, alignment between employees providing services per standards of the organization
and expectations of the visitors is affected by the norms, beliefs, values, and behaviors of an
organization. Alignment between culture and purpose ensures everyone in the organization
understands the vision and feels connected to it. Because employee engagement is the
involvement and level of commitment employees have towards their organization and its values,
it influences employee performance (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015).
Employee Engagement
Employee dedication and participation depend on the following critical engagement
drivers: leadership behaviors, meaningful work, relationships in the workplace, career
development, policies and procedures, and organization values (Society for Human Resource
Management, 2015). Kahn (1990) described employee engagement as how employees commit
themselves during the performance of the job. Three psychological conditions needed for
employees to fully engage with their job are meaningfulness, safety, and availability. Employees
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need to feel that their job task has meaning and is worthwhile. Employees need to think their
work environment is trusting and supportive. Employees need to have the psychological,
physical, and emotional means to engage in their job tasks at a given moment.
Gallup organization (2013) described three levels of engagement as engaged, not
engaged, and disengaged. Engaged employees are those who work with passion, feel connected
to their organization, drive innovation, and help move the organization forward. Disengaged
employees are those individuals who come to work and participate at work; however, they only
serve time and do not put passion or energy into their work. A disengaged employee is one who
is unhappy at work and who acts out his or her unhappiness by undermining the work of engaged
co-workers daily.
The role of the workplace environment and an employee's involvement in meaningful
work is related to employee engagement. Job enrichment, work role fit, co-worker relations,
supervisor relations, co-worker norms, self-consciousness, resources and outside availability
correlate to meaningfulness, safety, and availability in determining employee engagement (May,
Gilson, & Harter, 2004). Supportive workplace relationships are drivers for engagement as
demonstrated by co-workers and supportive relationships positively linked to safety. As such,
positive relationships between employees and managers increase the level of engagement.
Employees repay their organization through their degree of commitment. Employees will
choose whether to engage themselves because of the resources supplied to them from their
organization (Saks, 2006). There is a reciprocal relationship between organizational support and
an employee’s willingness to make the most of his or her individual or team performance. Saks
(2006) explained employee engagement involves an emotional and psychological relationship
between employees and their organization that translates into negative or positive behaviors
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which employees display at their workplace. Learning what motivates employees, their
knowledge, and organizational factors that drive their actions, and how this translates into
productivity is the first step in closing gaps in performance and achieving organizational goals.
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analytic Framework
The following section considers the knowledge, motivational, and organizational
influences contributing to Zoological Park's employee service orientation and employee
engagement. Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis, a systematic, analytical approach clarifies the
organizational goal and identifies a gap between stakeholder actual performance level and
preferred performance goal. Upon identifying the gap, the framework examines the
organizational, knowledge and skills, and motivation elements that influence performance (Clark
& Estes, 2008). The organizational influences on stakeholder performance can involve work
processes, resources, and workplace culture (Clark & Estes, 2008). The knowledge and skills
dimension, redefined by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001), is divided into four types: (a) factual;
(b) conceptual; (c) procedural; and (d) metacognitive to determine if stakeholders know how to
achieve the performance goal. Finally, motivational influences include choosing to actively start
something, persisting until finished and investing enough mental effort to meet performance
standards (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). Motivational variables such as self-efficacy,
attributions, values, and goals are possible considerations when evaluating a performance gap.
(Rueda, 2011).
The Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis was used below to examine Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors' organizational, knowledge, and motivation needs to employ
service and employee engagement practices with their employees. First, organizational assumed
influences were discussed. The presumed influences included communication of a service
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philosophy, evaluation of employee engagement, and onboarding practices. Second,
conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge assumed influences concerning employee
engagement and service quality were identified. Finally, self-efficacy and utility value assumed
influences on the attainment of building employee capacity to improve visitor experiences from
the perspective of motivation were considered.
Organizational Influences
Organizational influences are part of the supportive systems required to retain and
leverage the value of knowledge and motivation thus helping employees act together for a
common purpose. Therefore, the organizational influences are discussed first as they create the
environment to enhance organizational performance. According to Schein (2004), three
elements contribute to organizational culture. First, visible artifacts are the observable factors
that include the level of formality with which people interact. Second, espoused beliefs, values,
rules, and behavior norms whereby individuals hold on to certain underlying assumptions to
confirm his or her membership in a group. Third, shared basic assumptions determine a group's
behavior, and newcomers are taught the rules and norms in a socialization process that becomes
a reflection of culture. Organizational leaders influence the culture-formation process by
imposing their own beliefs, values, and assumptions about how things should be done and what
are the priorities.
Organizational leaders transmit culture by what they pay attention to, measure, and
control on a regular basis. Leaders can embed their beliefs, values, and assumptions in six
decisions they make in their ongoing daily life (Schein, 2004). These decisions include what
leaders pay attention to and reward, how leaders deal with critical incidents, the criteria leaders
use for recruitment, selection, promotion, and excommunication, and the ways leaders allocate
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resources. Schein (2004) also stated that in addition to what leaders pay attention to, measure,
and control, they should be consistent in how they communicate priorities, goals, and
assumptions. Furthermore, Schein explained when leaders are inconsistent, employees will
spend time and energy trying to decipher what the leader's behavior reflects. Showing a pattern
of inconsistency provides room for employees to use other signals or their own experience to
decide what is important.
Communication is another crucial organizational influence. Ineffective communication
often leads to low employee trust, engagement, retention, and performance levels. According to
Berger (2014), culture influences communications because employees interact through shared
interpretive frameworks of culture such as organization vocabulary and established structures,
protocols, processes and practices. Berger (2014) suggested three organizational factors impede
employee communication. First, leaders believe the organization is already doing an excellent
job in employee communication using existing approaches and control. Second, supervisors are
not viewed or trained as important participants in the employee communication process. Third,
communication objectives and responsibilities for supervisors are nonexistent or not stated in job
descriptions and performance plans and are not measured or measurable. In addition, Berger
(2014) suggested an individual factor that affects communication is when supervisors feel ill-
equipped to lead and communicate because they lack training, endorsement, support, and content
or strategic information to do so. Therefore, assessing the quality and strength of communication
within the organization, attending to gaps discovered, and promoting ideas and approaches to
improve knowledge and capabilities of employees can improve organizational performance.
Communication in the workplace serves to create and maintain work relationships.
Communication in organizations includes information sharing, decision making, influence, and
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motivation; having direct and indirect effects on organizational performance (Myers &
Sadaghiani, 2010). When management is open in their communication with employees, job
satisfaction is higher. Increased organizational openness can provide additional opportunities for
dialogue and problem-solving between employees and their supervisors (Myers & Sadaghiani,
2010). Furthermore, changing communication policies based on employee expectations can
support employees becoming aware of strategic information making them more informed, more
competent, and thus better stakeholders with the organization. The manager's role helps to align
employee purpose, identity, and mastery of organizational performance goals.
Managers can create a safe environment, encourage employees to collaborate, take risks,
take responsibility and be accountable for programs to help move the organization forward. To
do so, Moran and Brightman (2000) suggested several strategies. Employees at all levels must
understand the mission and share the purpose of the organization. Performance requirements
must be stated and recognized by employees. Employee roles and responsibilities must be
communicated and reflect performance demands. Performance management systems must meet
the needs of personal and organizational development. Finally, the behaviors, values, and
expectations of the workplace must be defined. Assessing employees on their reasons for
showing up to work and doing their best work, their relationship with supervisors and coworkers,
their perception on the allocation of materials and resources, and their beliefs concerning
feedback strengthens employee involvement.
To become engaged and stay engaged, employees must feel recognized, understood,
needed, and appreciated. According to Berbarry and Malinchak (2011), engaged employees
have a healthy relationship with their immediate supervisors and a favorable view of the
organization's senior leadership. To learn what is most important to employees, organizational
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leaders can gather feedback, analyze results, and communicate how the organization will
respond. Furthermore, Berbarry and Malinchak (2011) suggested that supervisors who engage
employees support them coming together regularly, and informally, to learn from each other as
they seek to improve their work. Supervisors significantly influence what employees think, feel,
communicate and do.
Barriers operating in organizations include resources, leadership, and processes and
policies. Work processes specify how employees, equipment, and materials link and interact
over time to produce desired results (Clark & Estes, 2008). Furthermore, missing or faulty
processes and inadequate resources can cause barriers to the achievement of performance goals.
When the organization fails to support work processes, the result can be inefficiency. Employees
with adequate knowledge, skills, and motivation will not succeed in achieving performance goals
when faced with inefficient work processes. Failure in ensuring the structure of the organization
and fundamental work processes are aligned will affect achievement of performance goals.
When organizations identify stakeholder goals, they must also review structure and operations to
ensure they have accountable resources and processes to produce the results.
Organizational culture is a way to express the core values, goals, beliefs, emotions, and
process people develop over time in work environments (Clark & Estes, 2008). Efficient and
effective organizational work processes, or lack thereof, in combination with organizational
culture can affect attempts to improve performance. Therefore, if Zoological Park wants to
generate the momentum needed to deliver unique, high-quality customer experiences; leaders,
managers, and employees need to move in the same direction toward the same goals. As such,
the stakeholder specific organizational influences that follow describe ways in which the
assumed influences could potentially impede the stakeholder group, Zoological Park managers
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and team supervisors, from building service orientation and employee engagement to improve
visitor satisfaction for diverse audiences.
Organization service orientation. The literature suggested that Zoological Park needs
to communicate a service strategy as an organizational philosophy to managers and team
supervisors resulting in employees recognizing the norms, beliefs, values, and behaviors the
organization considers as essential for quality service. Service orientation is referred to as a
corporate philosophy and treated as part of an organization's culture, climate, and service
strategy (Lytle et al., 1998; Lytle and Timmerman, 2006; Schneider & Bowen, 1993). Lytle,
Hom, and Mokwa (1998) indicated in a managerial measure of organizational service orientation
that service leadership, service encounters, service systems, and human resource management are
necessary components for employees working in service organizations to create and deliver high-
quality experiences. As such, for service orientation to exist within Zoological Park the
organization’s climate needs to support service practices and behaviors to meet visitor
expectations. In addition, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need policies,
practices, and procedures that help them hold employees accountable for engage in service-
giving practices that reflect the belief that delivering quality service is a strategic priority.
Lastly, all Zoological Park employees need to understand how the service behaviors they provide
impact guest satisfaction as well as the growth and profit of Zoological Park.
Service leadership. The first element, service leadership, refers to how leaders set service
standards in their behaviors and leadership styles. Service leaders are responsible for
communicating a service vision reinforcing the importance of service quality and satisfaction. In
their study on private service sector organizations, Popli and Rizvi (2015) found leaders with a
higher transformational leadership score can affect employee engagement positively; the higher
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the employee engagement, the greater the service orientation by employees. In addition, their
findings indicate that organizational leaders help employees internalize the organization’s goal,
thereby influencing their attitudes and beliefs. Therefore, Zoological Park leaders who can
communicate a service vision to employees can reinforce the importance of service quality and
customer satisfaction in creating superior value for the organization. Without, employees’
understanding of why service makes a difference, it will be difficult for Zoological Park to build
a service culture which positively influences guest satisfaction.
Service encounters. Service encounters, the second element of service orientation, refers
to employee interactions with customers (Lytle, Hom, and Mokwa, 1998). In a field-test study to
evaluate service orientation, Lytle and Timmerman (2006) concluded that customer treatment
and employee engagement are essential elements of service encounter. Lytle and Timmerman
(2006) emphasized that higher performing units have employees who feel responsible for making
sure the service encounter exceeds customer expectations. In addition, those same employees
also had management authority to do “whatever it takes” to deliver customer satisfaction. For
Zoological Park, how customers are treated describes the way employees pay attention to guest
needs and preferences, provide individualized attention, and respond to make each guest feel
special. Furthermore, Zoological Park employees also need the freedom to act independently to
provide high-quality service. Lytle and Timmerman (2006) also pointed out that organizations
are only as effective as the people that comprise them. Therefore, the nature and quality of
service delivered by Zoological Park employees are enhanced or diminished by their attitudes
and behaviors.
Service systems. In addition to employee attitudes and behaviors, the delivery of service
quality is influenced by service driven practices and procedures that blend into a service system.
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Service systems, the third element of service orientation, requires the following: service failure
prevention and recovery practices, criteria for communication practices, and technology
adaptation (Lytle, Hom, and Mokwa, 1998). According to Alter (2008) services are often co-
produced by the service provider and their customers. Therefore, Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors need to understand that a service system requires attention to both the actions
of employees and its guests. Alter (2008) pointed out that without awareness of operational
details, including how the services system operates and satisfies customer needs, managers
cannot control or improve service quality results. Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to recognize zoo visitors are individuals, groups, or organizations that receive
experiences created by employees. Second, the chain of activities and experiences a visitor
associates with their visit affects his or her satisfaction with the visit. Third, many situations
involve delivery of services based on negotiated commitments (such as Annual Passholder
agreements) under which the service is repeatedly delivered into the future. Forth, there are
activities related to setup, handling of the requests, and follow-up that are important to
Zoological Park’s internal performance and guest satisfaction. Last, services provided by
Zoological Park employees involve in-park and behind-the-scenes activities. By understanding
the service system, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors can make sure employees, as
well as the experiences they are providing, are operating efficiently and effectively.
Human resource practices. The fourth element of service orientation involves human
resource management practices (Lytle, Hom, & Mokwa, 1998). According to Schneider and
Bowen (1993), a service-oriented culture has direct influence on employee behavior/service
delivery and human resources practices are part of developing that culture. Additionally, Ueno
(2014) illustrated how human resource practices are not stand-alone items and support each other
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to improve service quality. Therefore, Zoological Park human resource practices that help the
hiring, training, and rewarding of service behaviors could have a direct and positive influence on
service quality and organizational performance. Furthermore, Schneider and Bowen (1993)
indicated that employees need to feel that their own needs are met within the organization before
they will be enthusiastic about meetings the needs of customers. According to Schneider and
Bowen (1993), employee experiences are made with human resource management dimensions
such as work facilitation, supervision, career facilitation, organizational status, and new
employee socialization. As such, Zoological Park can achieve desired guest experiences by
managing employee experiences such as new employee socialization. Schneider and Bowen
(1993) referred to new employee socialization as the organizational practices regarding
orientation, training, and socialization of newcomers. Therefore, new employee socialization
can help Zoological Park communicate standards of excellence to its employees.
Onboarding. The literature suggested that Zoological Park needs a formal onboard
orientation and training program ensuring new hires recognize their role and how it relates to the
organization's big picture operations. Employee onboarding refers to assimilation or
socialization where new employees are introduced to an organization and its vision, mission, and
values (Fryock, 2009). The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) stated
onboarding practices can influence employee engagement during new employees’ first 30 -90
days (Graybill et al., 2013). Additionally, the overarching goal of onboarding programs is to
align new employees with the organization’s business strategies and communicate how they will
contribute to the overall goals of the organization (Workforce Management, 2009). Furthermore,
onboarding practices convey an organization’s brand and values, explain the culture, align
institutional expectations and performance, and provide tools for staff to engage with customers
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(Graybill, et al., 2013). An absent onboarding program for new hires can hinder Zoological
Park employees from having a strong commitment to the organization’s mission and goals.
As a newcomer enters the workplace, the first barrier he or she encounters is socialization
into the organization (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). According to Graybill, et al., (2013) the
socialization portion of onboarding includes an explanation of position; training and shadowing;
expectations and evaluation criteria; organizational history; culture; language; structure, mission,
vision and values; politics; and people. A newcomer to Zoological Park must learn tasks and
social norms, adapt to and negotiate their role, and gain acceptance by others as a participant in
the workplace. Furthermore, he or she must assess not only their job-related tasks and
responsibilities but also the organization and whether they will enjoy working with co-workers
and supervisors. In addition, the values held by both the newcomer and existing employees
affect assimilation into the organization. Bradt (2010) suggested successful onboarding occurs
when the hiring manager and current employees, in addition to new employees, work in a
combined effort headed towards the same goal. Therefore, to avoid conflict, mistrust, and lower
productivity, Zoological Park employee and supervisor values and role expectations must mesh.
Identifying onboarding practices can assist Zoological Park managers and team supervisors in
providing socialization experiences for new employees to promote staff engagement.
Employee engagement. The literature suggested Zoological Park needs to actively
measure employee engagement resulting in managers and team supervisors being able to know
how to support employees. Adopting an approach to evaluating employee engagement assists
organizational leaders in capturing employee perceptions on their performance, the
organization's ability to achieve goals, employee level of trust in leaders and supervisors, and
employee motivation to innovate. In 2014, the Society for Human Resource Management
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(SHRM) Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey of 600 U.S. employees identified
factors influencing engagement in the workplace (Society for Human Resource Management,
2015). The SHRM employee survey assessed 37 aspects of employee engagement categorized
into the following eight areas: career development, employee relationship with management,
compensation, benefits, work environment, conditions of engagement, engagement opinions, and
engagement behaviors (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). The Society for
Human Resource Management (2015) referred to engagement as the connection and
commitment employees have towards their work and their organization. In addition, employee
engagement is defined by the environment and actual work as well as how employees perceive
their relationship with their work and how they view others around them relating to their work.
Today the job market is transparent with online companies like Glassdoor allowing
employees to rate their employers. Therefore, more companies are investing in analytics tools to
figure out why people leave, placing the topic of engagement and organizational culture on the
minds of business leaders (Bersin, 2015). Bersin (2015) explained that measuring engagement
helps leaders understand five major elements: meaningful work, hands-on management, positive
work environment, growth opportunity, and trust in leadership that fit together in an engagement
system held together through culture. In addition, almost every management practice impacts
employee engagement, obtaining regular and anonymous feedback helps develop a complete
understanding and mindset of employees (Bersin, 2015). Therefore, given ongoing shifts in
employee preferences and workplace demographics, Zoological Park should consider conducting
employee engagement surveys of the staff. For example, to ascertain Zoological Park employee
engagement levels, engagement survey tools would aim to determine whether employees are
satisfied with their relationships with co-workers, are satisfied with their contribution of work to
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the organization’s goals, and are satisfied with the meaningfulness of their job. In addition,
the employee survey would aim to identify related engagement behaviors and opinions such as
are employees confident they can meet their work goals, are employees determined to
accomplish their work goals, and do employees have a clear understanding of the organization’s
vision and mission. If Zoological Park does not have departments and teams committed to its
mission, passionate about their work and willing to work together, the organization cannot
succeed over time.
Table 2 shows five assumed organizational influences relevant to the stakeholder group
of focus. The organizational influences described in Table 2 potentially impeded the stakeholder
group, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors from building employee capacity to
improve visitor satisfaction for diverse audiences.
Table 2
Organizational Influences
Assumed Organizational Influences

Leadership Team needs to clearly communicate the performance goal and align incentives,
policies, and procedures to the goal.

Leadership Team needs to provide managers and team supervisors with resources (time, training,
equipment) to provide the support employees need.
Leadership Team needs to hold managers and team supervisors accountable for performance
towards the goal.
Leadership Team needs to actively measure employee engagement resulting in managers and team
supervisors being able to know how to support employees.

Zoological Park needs a formal onboard orientation and training program that ensures that new
employees fully understand their roles and how they relate to the organization’s big picture
operations.

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Knowledge Influences
Once the organizational influences have been achieved, knowledge will be developed
resulting in employees recognizing the norms, beliefs, values, and behaviors the organization
considers as essential for high-quality service. The following section contains literature relevant
to the assumed knowledge influences pertinent to Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors building service orientation and employee engagement to deliver quality service for
improved visitor experiences.
Knowledge is recognized as a key asset and its creation, dissemination, and application
are a critical source of organizational performance (Iles, Yolles, & Altman, 2001). An
individual’s knowledge determines what actions he or she will take, as well as how his or her
efforts are coordinated and integrated with others. One way to identify the conditions under
which managers and team supervisors perform is to use the knowledge dimension of Bloom’s
Taxonomy (Rueda, 2011). According to Krathwohl (2002), Bloom’s taxonomy framework is
two-dimensional and consists of knowledge and cognitive processes; providing a visual map for
classifying goals, objectives, activities, and assessments. As such, the knowledge dimension
includes four knowledge types: Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, and Metacognition.
Formal or declarative knowledge (knowing that) is distinguished from procedural
knowledge (knowing how) and metacognitive knowledge (knowing about knowing). Krathwohl
(2002), defined declarative knowledge as our understanding of ideas and concepts. Therefore,
declarative knowledge involves remembering a fact or concept and assessed by stating what one
knows. Krathwohl (2002) described factual knowledge as the knowledge of meaning and
definitions. Factual knowledge is the necessary element that one must recognize to be informed
about a discipline. Conceptual knowledge, however, refers to the interrelationships between the
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necessary components within a larger structure enabling them to function together (Anderson
and Krathwohl, 2001). In the context of Zoological Park, to meet the stakeholder goal,
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors required conceptual knowledge of employee
engagement and service quality. Zoological Park managers and team supervisors required
knowledge of the factors influencing employee engagement. In addition, Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors needed knowledge of service delivery systems that influence
service quality.
Procedural knowledge is a skill or action that one can perform (Krathwohl, 2002).
Krathwohl (2002) referenced procedural knowledge as knowledge of how to carry out tasks.
Rueda (2011) referred to procedural knowledge as knowing how to do something; relating to
methods of inquiry and criteria for using skills, techniques, and methods required for
accomplishing tasks. Procedural knowledge directly applies to completing a task. As such,
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to know how to facilitate employees in
delivering quality service. Furthermore, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors, need
to know how to identify the criteria for determining when to use appropriate service standards,
delivery systems, and procedures for service recovery.
Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) referred to metacognition as the knowledge of cognition
and awareness of one's perception. Metacognition provides the understanding of how learners
monitor and regulate their cognitive processes. Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) described
metacognitive knowledge as awareness of and knowledge about one's cognition. They explained
the cognitive process of analyzing as breaking concepts into parts to determine how they relate to
one another. Analyzing involves the mental effort of differentiating, organizing and attributing.
Furthermore, an individual can reflect on a concept through illustration. Cognitive process
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evaluation refers to making judgments based on criteria and standards. Creating, however,
requires people to synthesize parts together in a new way (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). The
use of metacognitive strategies assists individuals in becoming self-regulated (Baker, 2006).
Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to self-evaluate their
effectiveness in using employee engagement strategies and service strategy practices.
To meet the stakeholder goal of building employee capacity to improve visitor
satisfaction, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to understand the concept of
employee engagement and service quality, how to shape service orientation in employees, and
how to self-evaluate their effectiveness in using employee engagement strategies and service
strategy practices. The following stakeholder assumed declarative, procedural, and
metacognition influences are related to Zoological Park managers and team supervisors building
employee capacity to deliver quality service for improved visitor satisfaction.
Knowledge of employee engagement. The literature suggested Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors need to know the concept of employee engagement. Andrew and
Sofian (2012) identified individual factors of employee engagement as employee
communication, employee development, and co-worker support and work outcomes as job
satisfaction, organization commitment, intention to quit, and organizational citizenship behavior.
Managers and team supervisors need to know that engaged employees want to keep their jobs
creative and exciting by developing new knowledge and skills and employing new approaches to
their daily work (Andrew & Sofian, 2012). Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors are more likely to engage employees if they understand the individual factors of
employee engagement that affect work performance.
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The focus of employee engagement is to create alignment between employees and
organizational goals while developing a shared ownership. The extent employees are committed
to their employer, satisfied with their job, and willing to go the extra mile to achieve the
organization's goal refers to employee engagement (Lowe, 2012). Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors' knowledge of employee engagement could help organizational leaders identify
actions that can close any gaps between high and low levels of engaged employees.
Closing the engagement gap is important because employee engagement as a factor for
organizational performance has the potential to affect employee retention, employee
performance, and customer satisfaction. Low levels of employee engagement at Zoological Park
poses a risk to staffing budgets. More-engaged employees tend to stay and contribute to
organization's goals (Lowe, 2012). Lowe (2012), reported 90% of highly engaged employees
have intentions to stay with the organization for the near future, while disengaged employees
will be most likely be job hunting within the next 12 months. In addition, engaged employees
can perform effectively in their role because they have supportive co-workers and adequate
resources (Andrew and Sofian, 2012).
Andrew and Sofian’s (2012) findings supported individual factors such as employee
communication, employee development, and co-worker support predict job and organization
engagement. For example, co-worker support predicted both job and organization engagement
while employee development predicted job engagement. Furthermore, Pendleton and Robinson
(2015) suggested employee training influences involvement within the organization; stating
employee development can strengthen work performances. As a result, improved engagement
can have a direct effect on employee performance, thus influencing the quality of service
provided to zoo visitors.
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Knowledge of employee engagement includes a fundamental relationship between
conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge. When concepts and procedures are not
connected, zoo managers and team supervisors may have a good intuitive feel for employee
engagement but not be adaptable to solve varying problems. For example, Zoological Park
managers may be aware that employee engagement involves creating a respectful and trusting
relationship with their direct reports, communicating the zoo’s values, and setting expectations
for service quality. However, Zoological Park managers may not have the tools to do their job
correctly or know how to convey the organization’s mission and vision. Therefore, managers
and team supervisors may provide some degree of commitment, but not understand why it is
supporting or hindering employees from being engaged.
Knowledge of service quality. The literature suggested Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors need to know the concept of service quality. Service quality is the comparison
of one’s perception of expectations of service with the actual performance of service. Gronroos
(1983) described service as intangible activities rather than things, produced and consumed
simultaneously, and customers participate in the production process. Munthiu, Velicu, Tuta, and
Zara (2014) explained during the consumer-service provider interaction; service providers have
the opportunity to demonstrate the quality of service. Furthermore, from the customer’s
viewpoint, the functional quality (attitude, behavior, appearance, and accessibility of employees)
is as important as the technical quality (employee knowledge, technical solutions, and employee
technical ability).
Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1990) defined ten dimensions representing criteria that
customers utilize regarding service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, competence,
courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication, understanding the consumer. Within a
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zoological setting, visitors will experience a series of moments starting with their arrival at the
zoo and end with a trip to the gift shop and arrival back to their car (Tomas, Crompton & Scott,
2003). Therefore, service quality dimensions together result in the total experience the visitor
takes away. Implementing a service strategy provides an opportunity where the visitor–
organization interaction becomes the basis for a quality program. A service strategy consists of a
service vision, assessment of customer needs, goals for customer service, training on service
skills, accountability for quality service, and rewards and recognition for quality service (Mok,
Sparks, & Kadampully, 2013). Knowledge in this conceptual area means Zoological Park
employees know all of the service strategy elements. For example, Zoological employees would
understand what the organization’s vision and goals are for customer service and understand
their responsibility in achieving that vision. Zoological Park employees would talk to visitors to
find out their perception of the service being provided and work together to determine what
visitor’s needs and expectations are. In addition, Zoological Park employees would understand
what the goals for customer service are, so they can help the organization reach its objective.
Furthermore, through training, Zoological Park employees would know how to respond to visitor
complaints, how to be responsive to visitors, how to meet visitor needs, when to perform service
recovery, and the organizations standards for service. Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors would share visitor satisfaction data with employees and employees would
understand how their service affects the organization’s overall goal and how accountability helps
to achieve the goal. Finally, employees would understand the organization has a system for
acknowledging and rewarding employees for good service. Cetina as cited by Munthiu, Velicu,
Tuta, and Zara (2014) reminds us that service quality cannot be separated from the delivery
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activity. Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors should know how to
identify and adapt strategies to better meet visitor satisfaction.
Knowledge of service orientation practices. The literature suggested that Zoological
Park managers and team supervisors need to know how to integrate service strategy elements
into their supervisory practices. According to Anderson and Krathwohl (2001), procedural
knowledge refers the specific knowledge about how things are done. Therefore, procedural
knowledge of service orientation encompasses building employee capacity with the following
elements: 1) service leadership, 2) service driven practices, 3) service encounters, and 4) human
resource practices. Manager and team supervisor attitudes and behaviors knowingly and
unknowingly shape an organization’s service climate (Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml, 1994;
Bowen and Schneider, 1988; Hart, Heskett, and Sasser, 1990). Organizational leaders set the
standards by their behaviors and management styles (Lytle, Hom, and Mokwa, 1998). Hart,
Heskett and Sasser (1990) suggested that if employees receive excellent service from their
managers, employees are more likely to deliver exceptional service to the organization’s
customers. Furthermore, organizational leaders concerned with quality service are actively
engaged in meeting the needs of employees by modeling service and supporting employees to
achieve service excellence (Berry, Parasuraman, & Zeithaml, 1994). For example, managers
recognize their actions reflect the message that they are trying to convey. Furthermore, rather
than telling employees how to do the things, or providing them with a manual, Zoological Park
managers take time to execute the work themselves in front of employees, or pair them with
experienced employees. As such, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to know
how to model service to all employees thus enabling employees to deliver quality service. In
addition, managers and team supervisors need to know how to consistently communicate a
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service vision for the organization reinforcing the importance of service quality and visitor
satisfaction.
Service driven practices are organized, systematic, and organization-wide systems. Poor
service quality can be the result of a system or design problem, not an employee problem (Berry,
Parasuraman, and Zeithaml, 1994). Service communication standards, service technology
adaptation, and service failure and prevention practices are integrated into a service strategy to
deliver quality service (Lytle and Timmerman, 2006). As such, Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors need to know how service-driven practices and procedures blend to bring about
the delivery of quality service. For example, assessment of re-occurring problems in the
provision of services can help Zoological Park keep the organization's promise and boost visitor
confidence to provide dependable, high-quality service.
The customer determines the evaluation of service quality (Berry, Parasuraman, and
Zeithaml, 1994; Hart, Heskett, and Sasser, 1990; Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, Schlesinger,
1994). Therefore, managers and team supervisors need to know how to consistently engage
employees in the practice of demonstrating the organization's service vision during encounters
with visitors. Creating a high visitor perception of service performance can enhance customer
satisfaction and loyalty resulting in increased visits, profitability, and visitor learning of
conservation behaviors (Lytle, Hom, & Mokwa, 1998). In addition, managers and team
supervisors need to know how to relinquish control over aspects of the service delivery.
Allowing employees, the flexibility to make decisions is positively correlated with customer
perceptions of service quality and satisfaction (Hart, Heskett, and Sasser, 1990).
Human resource practices affect employee attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (Lytle, Hom,
and Mokwa, 1998). Lytle and Timmerman (2006) explained that an organization’s ability to
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provide external service quality is related to problems inside the organization. The problems
are generally related to employee attitudes, personalities, beliefs, and behaviors. In addition, the
hiring, training and rewarding of service behaviors can positively influence service quality and
organizational performance (Lytle and Timmerman, 2006). For Zoological Park to implement
human resource practices, managers and team supervisors need to know about such practices and
how to implement them. For example, quality service training programs are more effective
among employees who have a strong individual service orientation (Schneider and Bowman,
1993). Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors will want to hire employees
that are by nature service oriented. Although too late for employees already employed at
Zoological Park, managers and team supervisors should know how to identify such a nature in
candidates. For example, candidates can be given a customer service reaction test to determine if
they are inclined to pro-actively aid park visitors.
Self-evaluation. The literature suggested Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to know how to self-evaluate their effectiveness in engaging employees and
utilizing service delivery practices. To support employees with knowledge, skills, and
motivation to provide high service quality, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors must
have knowledge of factors influencing employee engagement and service orientation and control
over how they implement service processes and procedures through their communication of a
service strategy. Self-regulatory skills include monitoring progress, goal setting, planning,
attention allocation, and organization (APA, 2015; Rueda, 2001; Dembo & Eaton, 2000).
Metacognition strategies target individuals becoming aware of their prior knowledge, strengths,
challenges, and thoughts before and after performing a task (APA, 2015). Self-reflection enables
people to think and analyze their experience and thought processes (Stajkovic & Luthans, 2002).
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As such, self-reflection involves reflecting back on one’s actions. Therefore, reflecting on
their different personal experiences, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors can
generate specific knowledge about their environment and themselves.
Setting specific goals, using action plans, and engaging in self-assessment can have direct
and indirect effects on how managers influence employee engagement and the overall success of
the organization (Stajkovic & Luthans, 2002). Customer service expectations for diverse
audiences requires Zoological Park managers and team supervisors to support employees, so
they are informed, involved, empowered, and valued and therefore able to respond to different
customer needs. Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors’ metacognitive
knowledge of employee engagement and service quality is relevant to Zoological Park
employees having the capacity to improve visitor satisfaction.
Table 3 shows three assumed knowledge influences in reference to Zoological Park
achieving its organizational global goal and stakeholder goal. Evaluating the declarative,
procedural, and meta-cognitive knowledge influences of Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors will assist the organization in building employee capacity to improve visitor
satisfaction by December 2020.

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Table 3
Knowledge Influences and Knowledge Types
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type (i.e., declarative
(factual or conceptual), procedural, or
metacognitive)
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
need to know the concept of employee
engagement.

Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
need to know the concept of service quality.
Declarative
Conceptual
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
need to know how to integrate service orientation
(service leadership, service driven practices,
service encounters, and human resource practices)
into their supervisory practices.

Procedural
Managers and team supervisors need to know
how to self-evaluate their effectiveness in
supporting service orientation.

Metacognitive
Managers and team supervisors need to know
how their behavior impacts employee satisfaction.
Metacognitive

Motivation Influences
Motivation is an individual’s willingness to exert high levels of effort toward
organizational goals and influenced by the person wanting to satisfy his or her own need
(Robbins, 1993). As such, motivation is a process that induces and sustains goal-directed
performance. This section examines literature related to motivation and the desire to act towards
achieving a goal. Prior knowledge and experiences, perceived social relationships and
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expectations, personal and cultural meaning, personal interest, and sense of identity assemble
a person's motivation (Rueda, 2011). Motivation guides the amount of cognitive effort a person
invests in a task, pushing them to employ their knowledge and skills (Clark & Estes, 2008;
Rueda, 2011).
Performance gaps occur when individuals avoid starting new tasks, resist undertaking
familiar tasks, switch attention from accomplishing important tasks to less valued tasks, or utilize
familiar yet inadequate solutions for solving new problems (Clark & Estes, 2008). To achieve
successful performance outcomes, individuals need the aid of motivation and knowledge.
Without motivation, knowledge alone will not increase advantageous performance. Therefore,
people must believe they can acquire knowledge, that their effort to learn will change their
performance, and that a change in their performance will lead to valued outcomes (Facteau et al.,
1995; Ahearne, Mathieu, & Rapp, 2005; Liao & Chuang 2007).
The following section explores self-efficacy theory and utility value regarding motivation
and performance outcomes as it relates to Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
building employee capacity to improve visitor satisfaction. An important factor of mental effort
invested in a task is a person’s belief about the skills required to accomplish the task (Pajares,
2006). Furthermore, value beliefs are preferences that lead people to adopt a course of action
and persist in the face of adversity and distractions (Eccles, 2006). Both values and self-efficacy
perceptions play different roles in motivating individuals.
Self-efficacy theory. Self-efficacy influences Zoological Park manager and team
supervisor involvement in building service orientation and employee engagement in his or her
team. Self-efficacy refers to the expectation a person has about his or her capability to achieve
certain outcomes (Bandura, 1986). A person's perceptions influence the pursuit of goals, the
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degree of motivation, and task persistence along with selection and use of strategies. Self-
efficacy is a mediator affecting a person’s choice of activities, persistence, and mental effort
(Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, a person's self-efficacy plays a significant role in how he or
she approaches goals, tasks, and challenges. When Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors have a positive sense of their ability and efficacy, they are more likely to choose to
do the task, persist at it, and maintain their efforts.
Degrees of self-efficacy impact a person’s choice, persistence, and mental effort in
positive and negative ways. Low self-efficacy causes individuals to exhibit avoidances for
certain tasks, whereas high self-efficacy leads to participation in certain tasks (Bandura, 1997;
Eccles & Wigfield, 1995; Pintrich, 2003). In addition, low self-efficacy causes individuals to
experience incentives where they apply more mental effort, whereas an individual overly
confident in his or her ability might experience reduced motivation to learn and decrease the
amount of effort they exert (Pintrich, 2003). Furthermore, when expecting to do well, people
tend to try harder, persist and perform better (Pajares, 2006). This notion has implications for
employees as they may gain new knowledge and expertise through development programs. As
such, it is the self-efficacy of managers and team supervisors that can influence employee
learning and change performance. Before managers and team supervisors can help employees
transfer new skills to the job, they must first believe they are capable of successfully utilizing
service orientation elements and employee engagement strategies to support employees in
improving visitor satisfaction. The higher self-efficacy, the more confidence Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors have in their ability to use service orientation and employee
engagement strategies, help employees apply targeted customer service skills, and persist when
performing challenging tasks.
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The literature suggested Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to
believe they are capable of building employee capacity to improve visitor satisfaction. An
individual’s confidence about his or her capabilities to accomplish a task within a given context
refers to self-efficacy. According to Stajkovic and Luthans (2002), before an individual selects
his or her choice and initiates effort, he or she evaluates and integrates information about his or
her perceived capabilities. As such, self-efficacy determines whether work behavior is initiated,
how much effort is expended, and how long that effort is sustained. Based on their meta-analytic
research, Stajkovic and Luthans (2002) found there is a 72% probability that individuals with
high self-efficacy will have better performance than those with low self-efficacy. Therefore,
high self-efficacy is critical to work performance because it activates sufficient effort that if well
executed produces successful outcomes. However, employees with low self-efficacy are more
likely to stop their efforts prematurely and fail on tasks.
Working in the service industry has its set of challenges including meeting different
expectations associated with diverse audiences. An important motivational factor is the sense of
mastery. Employees have higher tendency to turn to competent managers for knowledge of a
task, needed skills, or effective strategies for task performance (Stajkovic & Luthans, 2002). As
such, modeling the delivery of quality service, is especially important for Zoological Park
employees who have little prior experience in customer service. Michel et al. (2013) examined
self-efficacy as it mediates supportive service climate and service performance. The study
revealed that organizational practices such as training, high-performance expectations, feedback,
and necessary resources assist employees in feeling capable to efficiently perform their jobs as
well as believe that their work is important. According to Stajkovic and Luthans (2002),
mastering modeled performance enhanced employees’ beliefs about their capabilities to execute
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the task in the future successfully. As such, training provided by Zoological Park managers
and team supervisors should provide mastery experience which influences subsequent self-
efficacy in employees. However, to use modeling as a training approach to enhance employee
performance, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need high levels of self-efficacy
themselves.
Self-efficacy is important in building employee capacity to improve visitor satisfaction
because managers and team supervisors with higher self-efficacy towards high service quality
will help develop employees with positive attitudes towards it. A study by Michel, Kavangh,
and Tracey (2013) found self-efficacy, as a motivational construct, influences (1) goal level and
commitment, (2) choice of activity, and (3) interpretation of feedback. In addition, self-efficacy
as a predictor of training motivation (Colquitt et al., 2000; Chiaburu & Marinova, 2005;
Chiaburu & Lindsay, 2008) will influence how Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
view their ability to use training to achieve desired employee behaviors. However, for mastery
to occur, Zoological Park employees must believe it is possible to learn, increase performance,
and that such benefits will help them (Grossman & Salas, 2011). The level of self-efficacy
exhibited by Zoological Park managers and team supervisors and the level of self-efficacy they
help develop in employees demonstrates a relationship between self-efficacy and work-related
performance and implications for improving performance.
Utility value. An individual is more likely to engage fully in an activity when he or she
has confidence in their ability to do well and places a high value on doing well. The expectancy-
value theory is used as a conceptual framework on motivation (Wigfield et al., 1998). The
theory links achievement-related choices to two beliefs: the expectation an individual has of
success and the importance or value they attribute to the opportunities available (Eccles and
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Wigfield, 1995; Wigfield et al., 1998; Eccles, 2006; Scaduto, Lindsay & Chiaburu, 2008).
The expectancy component relates to the belief individuals have on how well they will perform
on upcoming tasks as well as their perception of being able to carry out those tasks successfully.
Expectancy is influenced by task-specific beliefs, such as competence beliefs and personal
efficacy expectations (Wigfield et al., 1998). The value element refers attainment value, interest
value, utility value, and cost value. Attainment value relates to the personal importance of doing
well on a task. Interest value describes the enjoyment one gets from performing the work. Utility
value refers to how well the work relates to current and future goals, where the cost value is the
negative aspect associated with engaging in a task (Eccles, 2006). One way to enhance
motivation and achievement is to help individuals find value and meaning in their work
(Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors’ task
values can predict involvement in employee engagement and service orientation.
The majority of the research regarding utility value focused on motivation and
performance in educational settings. Therefore, I have relied on theory given the dearth of
empirical literature in the area of utility value in zoological settings. First, Eccles and Wigfield
(1995) explained that finding value and meaning in activities increases task engagement and the
development of competence and performance expectations. Second, individuals who have high
utility value for a task choose to participate in that task not because he or she adores it or can
excel at it but because they want the benefits that occur when they finish. Therefore, utility
value shifts a person's attention to the advantages of completing a task rather than maintaining
focus on their lack of interest or discomfort concerning how he or she will reach the end of a
task. Furthermore, utility value can be increased by defining some advantages of accomplishing
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a less desired task or goal and the risks of evading it (Wigfield et al., 1998; Eccles, 2006;
Clark and Estes, 2008).
The literature suggested Zoological Park managers and team supervisors who perceive
service orientation and employee engagement as useful are more likely to build employee
capacity to improve visitor satisfaction. How well a task relates to current and future goals is
determined by utility value. Task value beliefs can predict choice behaviors (Eccles et al., 1995;
Wigfield et al., 1998). Hulleman and Harackiewicz (2010) defined utility value as a more
extrinsic type of task value: the task is important, not for intrinsic reasons such as enjoyment, but
for extrinsic reasons such as a tool for accomplishing a goal.
Utility value is of particular importance for both motivation and performance in service
settings. Utility value has been associated with measures of motivation, activity choices, and
interest in specific topics (Hulleman & Harachiewicz, 2010). Furthermore, managers working in
the service industry who are motivated to help employees succeed in improving performance
have three beliefs. First, employee engagement will occur if staff feel recognized for achieving
excellence (Lytle et al., 1998; Schneider & Bowen, 1993; Ueno, 2014; Gallup Organization,
2013; May et al., 2004). Second, employees need to feel competent to communicate issues and
provide input on operations (Ueno, 2014; Lytle & Timmerman, 2006; Gallup Organization,
2015; May et al., 2004). Third, employees need to feel a sense of belonging to the organization
(Schneider & Bowen, 1993; Ueno, 2014; Kahn, 1990; Gallup Organization, 2013; Saks, 2006;
May et al., 2004).
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors can build employee capacity to improve
visitor satisfaction if they believe 1) employees can master the knowledge and skill, 2) learning
links outcomes to improved job performance, and 3) staff value the perceived outcomes. Warr &
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Bunce (1995) demonstrated a correlation between beliefs in the value of employee
development and the motivation to do well; thus, supporting the importance of utility value
perceptions. Furthermore, training may influence employee motivation to learn new skills or
apply new skills, thereby increasing levels of engagement (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). Therefore,
Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’ perceived utility of the benefits of employee
development will enhance their willingness to utilize employee development to build employee
capacity.
Managers and team supervisors’ perception of the perceived utility can be influenced by
the following: the belief that new skills will improve employee performance; the
acknowledgment of improved job performance; and the recognition that the application of new
learning will improve employee performance (Ruona et al., 2002; Warr & Bunce, 1995; Yelon,
Sheppard, Sleight, & Ford, 2004). For transfer to occur, managers and team supervisors need to
support employees in believing that their new knowledge and skills will improve a significant
aspect of their work performance (Baldwin & Ford, 1988).
Motivation by managers and team supervisors influences how employees transfer new
skills, maintain them and use them in other areas of their job. To increase outcome expectancy,
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to see an alignment between building
employee capacity, employee engagement, and organizational performance. Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors should see employee capacity as contributing to the desired
organizational performance. Lastly, managers and team supervisors should see employee
development as a path to the level of employee engagement they want for employees.
Table 4 shows assumed motivational influences in reference to Zoological Park achieving
its organizational global goal and stakeholder goal. Evaluating self-efficacy and utility value as
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assumed motivational influences of Zoological Park managers and team supervisors will assist
the organization in building employee capacity to improve visitor satisfaction while inspiring
conservation action for diverse audiences by December 2020.
Table 4
Assumed Motivational Influences
Assumed Motivation Influences
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to value engaging employees through
service orientation to build employee capacity to provide high-quality visitor experiences.

Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to believe they are capable of
influencing employee engagement.

Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need confidence that engaging in service-
orientated practices will produce positive results towards the performance goal.

Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Managers’ and Team Supervisors’ Knowledge
and Motivation and the Organizational Context
The conceptual framework is the underlying structure of one’s study. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) addressed the purpose of a conceptual framework is to outline the terms, concepts,
models, thoughts, and ideas of the study. Merriam and Tisdell added that the conceptual
framework is derived from the orientation of ideas brought to the study by the researcher.
Maxwell (2013) wrote, the conceptual framework draws attention towards and sheds light on the
relationships framing the research. Maxwell added the key pieces of a conceptual framework are
the connections between the concepts and events representing the proposed relationship.
I have presented each of the potential influences related to the stakeholders’ goal above,
independent of each other. I recognize that they do not operate in isolation from one another.
Figure 1 illustrates the way that I believe the potential influences interact with each other,
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concerning the way they operate for Zoological Park & Gardens managers and team
supervisors. As a reminder, the research question guiding the study are as follows: What do
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors know and motivated to do to engage employees
in achieving the organization's goal? What do Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
perceive are the organizational culture and contextual issues that shape their knowledge and
motivation around providing high-quality service? What are the recommendations for
organizational practice in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and organizational resources?
Leadership is a process that entails influences, occurs within a setting or context and
involves achieving goals that reflect the organizational mission (Northouse, 2016). Zoological
Park managers and team supervisors play a crucial role in helping the organization create an
environment for greater employee engagement and more excellent service orientation.
Zoological Park employees deal with visitors and are the face of the organization; they have the
most impact on how a visitor perceives the organization, the service, and the brand. Therefore, if
the organization wants to meet its objectives of improving visitor satisfaction and providing
high-quality service, there needs to be emphasis placed on the employees and their respective
managers and team supervisors. The key strategy revolves around helping managers and team
supervisors value, believe in, and employ service-oriented engagement practices to their
employees so the organization can provide high-quality service.
For Zoological Park leaders to successfully generate a program that supports employee
engagement and builds service orientation to deliver quality service resulting in improved visitor
satisfaction, the knowledge and motivational influences affecting managers and team supervisors
and organizational influences must work together for goal attainment. The researcher must
explore in his or her way the influences, how they do or do not function together and from this
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rationalize the underlying impact of these influences (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). Referring
to the conceptual framework, in Figure 1, the areas of intersection among the spheres highlighted
key functionalities of the fields and potential areas for investigation. Employee beliefs and
perceptions coupled with Zoological Park managers' and team supervisors' knowledge and
motivation and organizational influences work for or against each other and directly bear weight
on the stakeholder goal and increased organizational performance attainment.

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Figure 1. Conceptual Framework: The integration of knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences.

Manager and
Team Supervisor Goal:

Support Employee Engagement and
Build Employees’ Capacity to
Deliver Quality Service

Organizational Influences

Communication of Service Philosophy
Evaluation of Employee Engagement
Onboarding Program
Accountability for Performance

Manager and Team Supervisor
Motivation Influences

Utility Value of Employee Engagement and Service
Orientation

Self-Efficacy of Employee Engagement and Service
Orientation

Manager and Team Supervisor
Knowledge Influences

Conceptual Knowledge of Employee Engagement and
Service Quality

Procedural Knowledge of
Service Orientation Practices

Reflection of Employee Engagement and Service
Orientation Practices

Organizational Performance Goal:

Improve Visitor Satisfaction

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The stakeholder group of focus was Zoological Park managers and team supervisors.
Therefore, the following was examined: 1) Manager and team supervisor knowledge and
motivational influences and 2) assumed organizational influences. Following examination of the
presumed influences, recommendations were made to Zoological Park leaders so they may
develop and successfully support the implementation of a quality service program for employees
by managers and team supervisors.
In reference to Figure 1, the organizational influences were placed at the center because I
believed they were fundamental in shaping manager and team supervisors’ knowledge and
motivation in building employee capacity to improve visitor satisfaction by December 2020.
First, service orientation is regarded as a corporate philosophy and treated as part of the
organization's culture, climate, and strategy (Schneider & Bowen, 1993; Lytle et al., 1998; Lytle
and Timmerman, 2006). Zoological Park managers and team supervisors must be provided a
service strategy by organizational leaders, especially concerning the organization's service
culture. A lack of service strategy leads to inconsistencies in service norms, beliefs, and
expected behaviors thus hindering the stakeholder’s ability to build employee capacity to provide
high-quality visitor experiences resulting in improved visitor satisfaction. Second, managers and
team supervisors assessing levels of employee engagement within the organization can improve
organizational performance by capturing employee perceptions of their performance as it relates
to engagement, the organization’s ability to achieve goals, employee level of trust in leaders and
supervisors, and employee motivation. Finally, a formal onboarding program helps ensure
managers and team supervisors have the resources needed to achieve the organization’s goals
thus increasing organizational effectiveness. Onboarding programs convey the organization’s
brand and values, explain the culture, align institutional expectations and performance, and
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provide tools for staff to engage with customers (Graybill et al., 2013). Therefore, as part of
this analysis, the area of onboarding employees were explored during the collection of data and
results analysis that follows.
Overlapping upwards from the organizational influences are the knowledge influences, as
seen in Figure 1, which depicts how managers and team supervisors need conceptual knowledge
of employee engagement and service quality. Iles, Yolles, and Altman (2001) suggested the
creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge is critical to organizational performance.
Employee engagement as a factor for organizational performance has the potential to affect
employee retention, employee performance, and customer satisfaction (Lowe, 2012). In
addition, service quality entails having a service strategy consisting of a service vision,
assessment of customer needs, goals for customer service, training on service skills,
accountability for quality service, and rewards and recognition for quality service (Mok, Sparks,
& Kadampully, 2013). Therefore, managers and team supervisors need to know how to integrate
a service strategy into their supervisory practices and recognize when they utilize a method that
does not support service orientation. Organizations concerned with service quality have
managers that are actively engaged in meeting the needs of their employees by modeling service
and supporting employees to achieve service excellence (Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml,
1994). Additionally, it is important for managers and team supervisors to use self-reflection to
gauge their support or hindrance to employee engagement and service orientation. Self-
reflection will require an increased awareness of effective employee engagement strategies,
factors supporting service orientation, and an openness to consistent and ongoing reflection on
their belief in their capability to build employee capacity to provide high-quality visitor
experiences.
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Traversing downwards from the organizational, the motivational influences, as
presented in Figure 1, managers and team supervisors need to see value in employee engagement
and service orientation. Knowledge alone does not change people's behavior; there needs to be a
motivational component (Rueda, 2011). Therefore, Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors who perceive employee engagement as useful are more likely to build employee
capacity to provide high-quality guest experiences for improved visitor satisfaction. Zoological
Park managers and team supervisors should see employee capacity for delivering high-quality
service as contributing to the desired organizational performance. In addition, Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors need to believe they are capable of influencing employee
engagement and service orientation in building employee capacity for improving visitor
satisfaction. Self-efficacy in utilizing strategies to shape service orientation and employee
engagement are critical to support employees in providing high-quality experiences for improved
visitor satisfaction. For example, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors with higher
self-efficacy towards high service quality also seem to have positive attitudes towards service
quality.
The conceptual framework reflected the intersection between the organization influences
and the knowledge and skills and motivational elements of managers and team supervisors. The
relationship influences employees’ capacity to deliver quality service at Zoological Park. The
conceptual framework considered employee beliefs and perceptions of engagement and
converges the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational elements, that influence the
persistence of managers and team supervisors to build employee capacity at Zoological Park.
The conceptual framework linked the overarching theme of the study (employee engagement,
service orientation), the stakeholder goals, and the organizational aims of the study by attempting
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to increase the organization's understanding of service quality and employee engagement as a
prerequisite for high performance.
Conclusion
As a review, leadership practices influence service orientation and employee engagement
which in turn affect service quality resulting in visitor satisfaction. The problem of practice in
this study was service orientation and employee engagement to deliver quality service. The
knowledge, motivation and organization influences are factors that inform the problem of
practice. The goal of Zoological Park managers is to acknowledge and comprehend the
knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational indicators that influence service orientation
and employee engagement within Zoological Park, in turn impacting the organizational goal to
improve visitor satisfaction. Some of the assumed knowledge influences on service orientation
and employee engagement encompass: the conceptual knowledge of managers concerning
employee engagement and how that translates into service quality, procedural knowledge of
managers and how to effectively provide employees with service orientation, and managers'
metacognitive knowledge, regarding the evaluation of strengths and challenges in assessing
employee engagement. Assumed motivation influences on service orientation and employee
engagement include how appropriately managers gauge the utility value of employee
engagement and their self-efficacy beliefs. The assumed organizational influences comprise
manager/employee relationships in shaping a culture that values employees, leadership
communication of performance goals, and provision of support systems aiding employees in
achieving organizational goals.
Chapter Three presents the methodological framework and research methods of the study.
Participating stakeholders, data collection, and instrumentation will be addressed. In addition, I
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presented ways that I increased the credibility and trustworthiness of this study, as well as how
I maintained ethical research practices.

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CHAPTER THREE:
RESEARCH METHODS
This mixed methods study intended to explore factors that influence Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors employing quality service and employee engagement practices.
As part of the evaluation, Clark and Estes' (2008) gap analysis, a systematic, analytical approach
helped to clarify the organizational goal and identify gaps in service orientation and employee
engagement within Zoological Park. Assumed influences were generated based on professional
knowledge and related literature. This study revealed and produced findings that considered the
knowledge, skills, and motivation of managers and team supervisors, and the foundational
organizational performance outcomes of Zoological Park employees, which were communicated
to invested stakeholders after the study. The expected long-term outcomes relevant to the
problem of practice were targeted to address visitor satisfaction and improving organizational
performance. As such, the questions that guided this study are the following:
1. What do Zoological Park managers and team supervisors perceive are the
organizational culture and contextual barriers regarding employees delivering
quality service for achieving the organization’s goal?
2. What are Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’ knowledge, skills, and
motivation for facilitating employees in the delivery of quality service for
improved visitor satisfaction?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of
knowledge, motivation, and organizational resources?

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Participating Stakeholders
While a complete analysis would be with all stakeholders, for practical purposes the
stakeholder focus in this study were the manager and team supervisor populations at Zoological
Park. As explained in the conceptual framework, leadership practices influence employee
engagement and service orientation which in turn affect service quality resulting in visitor
satisfaction. The knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors influencing Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors to employ quality service and employee engagement practices
with their employees to provide high-quality visitor experiences represents the problem of
practice.
Survey Sampling Criterion and Rationale
Criteria 1 and 2 listed below are mutually exclusive, an individual is either a Zoological Park
manager or team supervisor.
Criterion 1. Zoological Park department manager as defined by their job description of
which requires them to maintain staff through selection, orientation, and training of employees;
maintaining a safe and secure work environment and developing employee personal growth
opportunities.
Criterion 2. Zoological Park team supervisors as defined by their job description of
which requires them to support department managers in maintaining staff through selection,
orientation, and training of employees; maintaining a safe and secure work environment and
developing employee personal growth opportunities.
Survey Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
Survey research is a method of data collection that extracts data from a group of people.
According to Johnson and Christensen (2015), surveys in the form of questionnaires are used to
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gather information whereby the goal is to understand characteristics of a population based on
the sample data. Creswell (2014) asserted that survey research provides quantitative descriptions
of opinions, trends and attitudes of a population. Furthermore, Creswell (2014) explained that an
explanatory sequential mixed methods approach involves a two-phase plan in which the
researcher collects quantitative data in the first phase and qualitative data in the second phases.
As such, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors were asked to complete a survey in the
first phase of data collection. The analysis was used to build on to the second, qualitative
interview phase. The qualitative data collection was built directly on the quantitative results.
According to Creswell (2014), the qualitative sample should include individuals that are in the
initial quantitative sample. Therefore, the same Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
were asked to participate in a one-on-one interview so that I could follow up the quantitative
results and explore those results in more depth.
At the time of the study, the manager and team supervisor populations consisted of 18
individuals. Excluding members of the education department who reported directly to me (n=2),
the number of managers and team supervisors eligible to participate in the survey accounted for a
population of 16 individuals. To conduct survey research, I used a census sampling method. A
census provided a better measure of the population within Zoological Park, particularly given the
small population by quantitative research standards. The recruitment strategy entailed
individually emailing department managers and team supervisors from my work account to their
respective Zoological Park email addresses after receiving Institutional Review Board approval
to proceed with the research study. One advantage to using my work email was the recruitment
letter came from a known email address to the prospective participant informing them about the
study. However, using my work email also meant considerable care needed to be taken so the
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person contacted did not feel pressured to participate given my role in the organization. The
recruitment letter included the following: information about how the person was identified, who
is doing the study and why, what is involved if the person participates, an overview of any risks
or potential benefits, and information about how to contact me if interested in participating (See
Appendix F). Sixteen managers and team supervisors agreed to participate in the survey and
received a link to the electronic survey.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The criteria listed below are mutually exclusive, an individual is either a Zoological Park
manager or team supervisor.
Criterion 1. Zoological Park department manager as defined by their job description of
which requires them to maintain staff through selection, orientation, and training of employees;
maintaining a safe and secure work environment and developing employee personal growth
opportunities.
Criterion 2. Zoological Park team supervisors as defined by their job description of
which requires them to support department managers in maintaining staff through selection,
orientation, and training of employees; maintaining a safe and secure work environment and
developing employee personal growth opportunities.
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
Purposeful sampling provides an in-depth understanding of the influences relevant to the
purpose of the research study. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) stated that purposeful sampling
facilitates the investigator’s ability to discover, understand and gain insight from the selected
sample. Therefore, the investigator is to select a sample from whom the most can be learned.
Maxwell (2013) suggested purposeful selection is a strategy whereby the researcher selects
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settings, persons, or activities to provide information that is relevant to the questions and goals
of the study. Maxwell (2013) asserted that one possible goal for purposeful selection is to
achieve representativeness of the individuals selected. Random sampling is likely to achieve this
only with a large sample size. Therefore, I deliberately chose people from each Zoological Park
department excluding the Education Department, whom I supervise, to provide far more
confidence that the conclusions sufficiently represented the average members of the stakeholder
group. Lastly, as the investigator, selection decisions considered the feasibility of access and
data collection, the relationships with study participants, validity concerns, and ethics (Maxwell,
2013).
The manager and team supervisor populations at Zoological Park consisted of 18
individuals. Zoological Park’s Education Manager and Volunteer Manager reported to me as the
researcher and were excluded from the study (n=2). Therefore, I attempted to interview, one-on-
one, a subset of the remaining 16 managers and team supervisors during spring 2018. The ideal
sample for the research study was five interview respondents, with at least one participant from
each of the following areas Animal Operations, Facilities, Retail, Private Events, and Guest
Services. I attempted to recruit all 16 managers and team supervisors until I was able to have a
minimum of one participant from each area. According to Creswell (2014), qualitative sample
sizes should be big enough to acquire feedback for most or all insights. Obtaining most or all the
perceptions leads to the attainment of saturation. Saturation occurs when more participants are
added to the study however the addition does not result in further perspectives or information. In
addition, the qualitative sample size is determined by the time allotted, resources available, and
study objectives (Patton, 1990). The sample size for the interview portion of this study was
nine. The sample size consisted of individuals representing the following areas: Animal
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Operations, Facilities, Private Events, Guest Services, and Retail to obtain a diverse group of
managers and team supervisors. Interviewing individuals from all essential areas of the
organization provided perspectives representing different organizational responsibilities.
The rationale was based on the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational
elements that influence managers and team supervisors building employee capacity to deliver
quality service for improved visitor satisfaction. The recruitment strategy for the qualitative data
collection phase entailed individually emailing department managers and team supervisors who
indicated they would participate in the survey as well as the interview. The recruitment letter
reminded participants of the following: who was doing the study and why, what was involved if
he or she participated, an overview of any risks or potential benefits, and information about how
to contact me if interested in participating (See Appendix F).
Data Collection and Instrumentation
Survey design provides a quantitative description of perspectives of a population by
studying a sample of that population (Creswell, 2014). Qualitative interviews provide in-depth
information about participants’ beliefs, knowledge, reasoning, motivations, and feelings
surrounding a topic (Johnson & Christensen, 2015). Triangulation encompasses multiple data
sources in an evaluation study to produce understanding (Maxwell, 2013). Therefore, I utilized
explanatory sequential mixed methods design to survey and interview Zoological Park managers
and team supervisors on the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences shaping the
use of quality service and employee engagement practices (See Appendix D). As suggested by
Creswell (2014), through triangulation, themes were established based on converging several
sources of data and perspectives from participants adding to the validity of the study.

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Surveys
Irwin and Stafford (2016) indicated surveys allow for broader coverage on a subject
matter as researchers can gather data on a wide range of behaviors, opinions, attitudes, lifestyle,
and preferences. Given that surveys are best suited for capturing opinions and attitudes such as
employee engagement, needs assessment such as employee training, and behaviors such as
providing quality service; a self-administered online survey was used to collect data from
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors. The survey provided managers and team
supervisors a way to provide feedback, in a format that has not been done before. In addition,
the survey allowed for benchmarking the data for future comparison purposes. Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors had access to a desk with a computer; therefore, an online survey
was appropriate for data collection. Zoological Park managers and team supervisors were
informed of the study and asked to participate in the study through a letter they received by email
to their work account. The letter addressed the anonymity and voluntary nature of the survey. In
addition, managers and team supervisors were provided a link to access the online survey
through Qualtrics. No incentives were offered to the respondents.
According to Fink (2013), online surveys are efficient and cost-effective as the researcher
can access a large population and vast amounts of information. Although Zoological Park’s
populations of managers and team supervisors was small, administering the online survey to
participants ensured ease of deployment and completion by respondents, was cost-effective,
allowed for storage of data, provided respondents autonomy. Furthermore, Fink (2013)
explained that online surveys are beneficial for collecting information regarding items that are
difficult, personal, or sensitive. However, the researcher must account for all possible answers
and develop the survey accordingly. Failure to consider all possible responses means the
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researcher will be missing out on data. Providing a space for participants to indicate an
alternative answer helps to combat missing data (Fink, 2013).
A review of the survey before administration helps improve questions, format, and scales.
According to Irwin and Stafford (2016), reviewing a draft survey can improve clarity, relevance,
length, and coverage of survey items. As such, the goal was to reduce participant confusion by
identifying and correcting any problems before administering the survey. Therefore, before
administration of the survey to Zoological Park managers and team supervisors, a pilot survey
review process took place. The review process included several members of Zoological Park’s
leadership team. I chose the leadership team to review the survey because the team has
institutional knowledge regarding the organization. In addition, members of the leadership team
were excluded from the evaluation study. The draft survey review aimed to help clarify item
language, ensure response options were relevant and sufficient, and that the survey was clear and
easy to navigate. Following the draft survey review, comments were incorporated into the final
instrument revision.
The self–administered questionnaire developed for managers and team supervisors was
sent to all 16 potential participants. The survey included 37 items; adapted from existing scales
from past research. Each measure is described in more detail below. Self-identifying
information was not gathered to assure anonymity. The variables of focus for this study included
service orientation, employee engagement, and onboarding because in service related jobs such
Zoological Park, behaviors and organizational practices play a role in influencing visitor
perceptions of service quality. In addition, demographic variables collected were used to
describe the sample population. Demographic items included gender, education, and years of
experience. Demographic items were not forced response items allowing participants to skip
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them should they feel uncomfortable answering the questions. The following section briefly
describes the measurement of each key variable.
Measuring Organizational, Knowledge and Motivational Influences
Organizational influences. Thirteen survey items were developed to gain understanding
of the organizational influences identified in Chapter 2. The survey items represented the
following topics: 1) communication of performance goals, 2) alignment of policies, procedures,
and incentives to performance goals, 3) accountability of managers and supervisors towards
performance goals, 4) provision of resources to support employee needs, 5) onboarding practices
of the organization, and 6) monitoring employee engagement. Seven of the thirteen items were
measured on a Likert–type scale (See Appendix A). The remaining six questions asked
participants to choose all responses that applied to the organization or understanding of the
subject matter. To ensure I considered all possible responses I provided a space for participants
to indicate an alternative answer.
Conceptual knowledge of employee engagement and service quality. Chapter 2
presented conceptual knowledge influences Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need
to know in order to employ service quality and employee engagement practices with their
employees. Based on influences identified, three survey items were developed: 1) factors
associated with increasing or decreasing employee engagement, 2) factors associated with
increasing or decreasing service quality, and 3) components of a service strategy. To measure
participant knowledge, the questions asked participants to choose all responses that apply to the
topic in question (See Appendix A). To ensure I considered all possible responses, I provided a
space for participants to indicate an alternative answer.
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Procedural knowledge of service orientation practices. Chapter 2 presented
procedural knowledge influences Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to know
in order to employ service quality and employee engagement practices with their employees.
Four elements represented service orientation and ensure service quality: service leadership
practices, human resource management, service encounter practices, and service system
practices. Based on influences identified, nine survey items were developed. To measure
participant knowledge, two questions asked participants to choose all responses that apply to the
topic in question. The remaining seven items were measured on a Likert–type scale (See
Appendix A).
Service leadership practices. Through a service vision, leaders emphasize the
importance of service quality. In addition, leaders set standards through their behaviors and
leadership style in which employees can pattern. Service leadership practices was represented in
one subscale items (See Appendix A).
Human resource management. Human resource management practices influence
employee performance and service quality. Organizations that are service-oriented recognize
and reward employees for service attitudes. Furthermore, service organizations provide training
to enhance employees’ ability to deliver quality service. Human resource management was
represented in three subscale items (See Appendix A).
Service encounter practices. How organizations interact with their customers relates to
service encounter. Organizations want their employees to take care of customers by satisfying
their needs and making everyone feel special. Service encounter practices were represented in
three subscale items (See Appendix A).
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Service systems practices. Service systems describe the utilization of internal
processes to deliver quality service. Methods such as service failure prevention, service recovery
practices, communication, and technology are combined to form a service system. Service
systems practices were represented in two subscale items (See Appendix A).
Metacognitive knowledge of employee satisfaction. Chapter 2 presented metacognitive
knowledge influences Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need to know in order to
employ quality service and employee engagement practices with their employees. Based on
influences identified, three survey items were developed: 1) engage in discussions about progress
towards performance goals, 2) behaviors influencing employee engagement, 3) behaviors
influencing employee satisfaction. To measure participant knowledge, two items asked
participants to choose all responses that apply to the topic in question and the remaining item
was measured on a Likert–type scale (See Appendix A).
Motivational influences. Four survey items were developed to gain understanding of
Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’ motivation for employing quality service and
employee engagement practices with their employees. Utility value and self-efficacy were
identified as the motivational influences. Therefore, the survey items developed represented the
following: 1) value of service-oriented practices as way to improve visitor satisfaction, 2) ability
to influence employee engagement, 3) confidence in utilizing service-oriented practices with
employees will produce positive results in visitor satisfaction, and 4) value of employee
development as an opportunity to influence employee engagement.
The survey completed by Zoological Park managers and team supervisors consisted of 37
items representing the following subscales: three demographic items and 34 items relating to
organizational influences, conceptual knowledge of employee engagement and service quality,
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procedural knowledge of service orientation practices, and motivational influences. The
quantitative data gathered from Zoological Park managers and team supervisors assisted in
guiding the qualitative interviews of managers and team supervisors.
Interviews
Face-to-face interviews were utilized to investigate improving organizational
performance through service orientation and employee engagement. Interviews offer a glimpse
into how individuals interpret the world around them (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Patton, 2002).
As such, conducting qualitative interviews provided an in-depth understanding of Zoological
Park managers’ and team supervisors’ thoughts, feelings, and intentions regarding service
orientation and employee engagement. In addition, documented terminology, individual
perceptions, and experiences obtained during interviewing offered insight into how managers
and team supervisors view their accountability in building employee capacity to provide high-
quality visitor experiences.
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors were asked to participate in a one-hour,
open-ended question format, audio-recorded interview. The one-session, one-hour audio-
recorded interviews provided a comprehensive understanding of manager and team supervisor
experience in employee engagement and service orientation from a qualitative methodological
approach. My goal was to interview a minimum of five Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors. The subset consisted of individuals representing the following departments: Animal
Operations, Facilities, Private Events, Guest Services, and Retail to obtain a diverse group of
managers and team supervisors. There were 20 interview questions in the Interview Protocol
(see Appendix B). Questions elicited responses regarding experiences and behavior, opinions,
and values, feelings, knowledge, sensory, and background/demographics as encouraged by
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Patton (2002). Other related questions arose as I probed for further information based on the
20 questions in the protocol. The interviews were conducted onsite at Zoological Park in a
secure and confidential location.
Open-ended questions offer participants the opportunity to respond in their words and
express personal perspectives. A semi-structured open-ended interview consists of a set of
questions worded and arranged with the intention of taking participants through the same
sequence, asking essentially the same worded questions (Patton, 2002). The interviews were
formal with the use of an interview guide. However, the interview was also informal in my
approach to the conversation as the dialogue was adaptive based on the interviewee’s responses
to questions or responses to follow-up probes. This method was the best way to inform the
relationship between the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences that
shaped Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’ view of employee engagement and
service orientation.
Connected to the study's conceptual framework, I asked Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors interview questions that pertained to the knowledge and skills, motivation, and
organizational elements influencing employee engagement and service orientation. The purpose
of the study was to examine the problem of practice at Zoological Park by identifying the
knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational elements interfering with Zoological Park
managers’ and team supervisors’ effort to build employee capacity to deliver quality service for
improved visitor satisfaction. Nine interviews were conducted over a one-month period.
Interviews ranged from 45 minutes to 90 minutes in length providing just over eight hours of
data that informed the study.

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Documents and Artifacts
Documents are ready-made sources of data easily accessible to the researcher (Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016). I utilized a range of written and visual materials relevant to the study on
service orientation and employee engagement. For evaluating service orientation, it was crucial
to examine documents provided to new employees during their first 90 days. Therefore, I
gathered Zoological Park’s employee handbook and workplace safety manual. Furthermore, I
explored printed material detailing the organization’s mission and service vision and promotional
material depicting expected employee-visitor interactions and service quality. Access to
documents can be a limiting factor for the researcher (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Zoological
Park documents are accessible, as they are housed on the zoo’s internal network, and as Director
of Education, I have permission to view them. Even though I am the Director of Education, I
sought permission to include this material in the study from our CEO and Board of Directors.
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) point out that as the researcher, I must keep an open mind when it
comes to discovering useful documents that are accessible to me. As such, it was helpful to
examine social media feeds as well as emails submitted to the zoo's incoming information
account. By utilizing documents explicitly created for Zoological Park, I was able to determine
authenticity and accuracy. In addition, my tenure with the organization lends to an
understanding of document origins, reasons for creation, the author, and the context in which it
was written. Utilizing the employee handbook allowed for extraction of the organization’s
service philosophy as outlined for new employees. Social media feeds and feedback emails
submitted by visitors allowed for examining policies and producers as related to visitor
expectations.

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Credibility and Trustworthiness
Maintaining the credibility and trustworthiness of the study centers on recognizing that
the credibility of the data ties directly to the trustworthiness of the researcher collecting and
analyzing the data, and their demonstrated competence (Patton as cited in Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Furthermore, Merriam and Tisdell (2016) pointed out that credibility and trustworthiness,
involves ethically conducted studies. According to Patton (2002), the researcher is responsible
for demonstrating that his or her methods involve rigor and skill. Therefore, I had strategies to
boost credibility and trustworthiness throughout the different stages of the research process.
Attention to study design, methods, and procedures for data collection and analysis,
triangulation, member checking, descriptive data, and audit trails helped identify evidence that
could challenge my conclusions or discover if threats are plausible in my research (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016; Maxwell, 2013).
Triangulation involves using multiple data collection methods to confirm emerging
findings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). By incorporating three methods of data collections such as
interviews, surveys, and document analysis, I reduced the risk of chance association and
systematic biases due to a specific method (Maxwell, 2013). Furthermore, triangulation allowed
for a better assessment of the generality of the explanations that developed during the study.
As a researcher, I can misinterpret the meaning of what participants say and do during
interviews, as well as, the perspective they have on their environment. Utilizing member checks
as a system for soliciting feedback about my data and conclusions from participants helped
identify biases (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Therefore, as Maxwell (2013) suggested, I took
tentative interpretations and findings back to participants from whom they were derived and ask
if they were plausible. After transcribing the interviews, I presented transcripts to six out of nine
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participants as a method for verifying word accuracy.
My position as Director of Education provides a voice for our employees. As such, I
needed to be reflective about my actions as the Director of Education in the capacity of a
researcher. I acknowledge that critical self-reflection is required regarding my assumptions,
biases, and relationships to the study because they will affect the investigation (Maxwell, 2013).
Therefore, I worked to increase and maintain credibility and trustworthiness of the research by
understanding how I influence what participants say, and how this can affect the validity of the
inferences I draw from interviews and observations. By maintaining an audit trail as Merriam
and Tisdell (2016) suggested, I described the detailed account of the methods, procedures, and
decision points for carrying out the study. Furthermore, I constructed detailed memos
documenting preparation of data collection, the data collection process, and post-collection
reflections.
Utilizing rich, thick descriptions according to Maxwell (2013) also supported me in
providing enough data to examine and present the study such that readers will be able to
determine the extent to which their situations match the research context. Collecting rich data
required that I ensure transcripts from interviews were in verbatim. Maxwell (2013) shared a
validity matrix which assisted in using possible strategies for dealing with credibility and
trustworthiness. What do I need to know? Why do I need to know this? What kind of data will
answer the questions? What is my analysis plan? Uncovering the answers to these questions
helped me take the final steps in facilitating my pursuit to avoid, or at the very least minimize,
researcher bias and reactivity.

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Validity and Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency of quantitative measurement. According to Salkind
(2017), reliability is the degree to which questions in a survey provide the same information each
time they are used under the same conditions. How survey questions are worded, and structured
can elicit different responses, thus making reliability particularly crucial in employee
engagement studies. Salkind (2017) referred to internal consistency as the degree to which
different questions or statements measure the same dimension, construct, or area of interest.
Reliability requires the use of standardized collection instruments and survey procedures
designed to enhance consistency. Planning of survey instrument and procedures is necessary to
ensure the information collected relates to the research questions and is obtained from
individuals best suited to provide the information (Irwin and Stafford, 2016).
Validity refers to the accuracy of the measurement. Salkind (2017) stated that validity is
affected by survey design because it depends on the survey items measuring what they are
supposed to measure. There are several types of validity. According to Salkind (2017), content
validity is related to how the researcher generates questions that reflect all the possible topics and
ideas and that critical areas are not excluded. To ensure the survey was valid, and measures what
it was designed to measure, I asked individuals excluded from the study to act as a test
respondent. In addition, I was able to sit with the participants as they completed the pre-test and
personally interview participants as they completed the pre-test. By asking participants to
explain reactions to the structure, wording, and order of questions, I was able to determine if they
were understandable. Internal participants assisted with identifying terms or words that were
unfamiliar, clarity of the questions, flow of the survey, ability to access the survey online, and
the time required to complete the survey.
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I provided test respondents a copy of the final survey and had them complete the
survey. The test respondents had an opportunity to ask questions while completing the survey.
Any question the test respondent asked about was considered a defective item. All defective
items were modified, and I was able to begin the process again with more test respondents until
there were no further questions. In any set of data collected there will be some amount of error.
Minimizing the error provided a more accurate reflection of the information.
Error in survey data results in poor reliability and validity. Errors such as missing
information or inaccuracy arise during data collection, processing, and reporting. To be reliable
and valid, survey information needs to be free from significant errors (Salkind, 2017). Errors are
introduced in sampling. According to Salkind (2017), summary data is an approximation of
what would be found when examining the entire population. Furthermore, the sampling error is
the discrepancy between sample and population values. Depending on the sample size and
procedures this error can be large or small. Bias can also create a risk of significant error. One
source of potential bias occurs when information is not obtained from some portion of the
population being sampled. To reduce this source of bias, I tried to encourage a high response
rate from Zoological Park employees and chose to use census sampling.
Successful survey data collection is not only a set of well-designed questions designed
and administered to a sample population. Surveys should yield critical information and provide
reliable, reproducible, valid information concerning the topic of focus. Looking at reliability and
validity of the survey instrument ensured I more accurately measure employee engagement and
organizational service orientation, producing more useful data from which to conclude
Zoological Park's performance. The survey was developed using concepts drawn from the
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literature. As such, face validity was utilized as a means of checking for accurate
representation of those concepts.
Ethics
As the principal investigator of this mixed methods research and employee of Zoological
Park, it was important I made ethical decisions and was mindful of the researcher-participant
relationship (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). I have been a member of Zoological Park for 19 years
and currently oversee the Education Department. Therefore, my experiences, beliefs, feelings,
and point of reference related to organizational and leadership practices could place participants
in a position of discomfort (Maxwell, 2013). I acknowledge that I have established prior
relationships with study participants. Given my position, I needed to be aware that some
respondents may interpret what they believe I want to hear and therefore might alter their
answers. Hence, I had to assure participants that their responses would remain confidential and
that I am not acting in my role as a supervisor but as a learner working to improve organizational
performance.
Ensuring no harm would come to participants, ethical considerations were attached to my
interactions with study participants and with the data. To deal ethically requires no deceit or
pressure (Rubin and Rubin, 2012). Participation in this mixed methods study was voluntary, and
I informed participants that they could terminate their involvement at any time. I conveyed to
participants that they would not face any consequences if they decided to stop participation in the
study. Furthermore, to deal ethically required I treat participants with respect from their first
interaction to their last, and that all promises made are held (Rubin and Rubin, 2012). As such,
Organizational and Institutional Review Boards (IRB) ensure that the rights and welfare of
participants are protected through informed consent, ensuring participation is voluntary, and
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confidentiality of the data. To ensure the safety of the participants, I submitted my study to
the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (IRB) and followed their rules
and guidelines regarding the protection of participants' rights and welfare in this study.
Informed consent is essential to confirm participants are aware their involvement is
voluntary, understand all critical information about the study and the nature of their participation
in it to make informed decisions including any foreseeable risks (See Appendix E). Informed
consent also ensures that they understand they are free to withdraw from the research at any
point without penalty (Glesne, 2011). Due to the nature of the research encompassing leadership
practices, confidentiality is of importance. I managed information to protect employee privacy.
To do so involved the process of how identifiable information was maintained and who had
access to the information. As the primary researcher, I collected data without any personal
identifiers or collect data anonymously. To reduce potential breaches of confidentiality, I
extracted identifiers as soon as possible in the research process. A pseudonym has been given to
the organization to ensure privacy. In addition, I removed any information that could allow
study participants to be identified, either through identification or attributes that could be used to
identify them in combination with other information in the data.
The open-ended qualitative interviews were audio recorded with permission from study
participants. I maintained the audio recordings in a locked container outside of Zoological Park.
Interview transcripts were stored on a flash drive, which was stored in the same locked container
as the audio recordings. An anonymous survey link was sent to prospective participants’ email
addresses requesting them to fill out a self-administered survey. Survey data was stored on a
separate computer outside of the organization.
As part of the measures to minimize risk, I managed, monitored, and safeguarded the
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audio recordings and survey data. All personal information, research data, and related records
were stored on a flash drive to prevent access by unauthorized personnel. Participants had the
right to review and redact the audio recordings or transcripts. The audio recordings, interview
transcription documents, and surveys will be erased/deleted or shredded immediately after the
close of the study. Furthermore, flash drives will be destroyed immediately after the conclusion
of the study.
As to not compel participants, I reminded respondents that I would not provide any
incentives. The lack of incentives is a way for me to minimize the possibility that participants
could feel coerced into participating in the study (Glesne, 2011). In its place, I personally
thanked all respondents for their participation at the end of the study. A personal thank you was
a way for me to show my appreciation to study participants for their time spent sharing their
experiences with me as the principal investigator.
My potential interest in the outcome of the research study was to identify the knowledge
and skills, motivation, and organizational elements influencing service orientation and employee
engagement for improved visitor satisfaction. As a member of the organization, I did not
directly benefit from the results. I explained to study participants that I was functioning in the
role of researcher as opposed to the Director of Education, and any decisions that I make and
pursue would be to answer the study’s research questions and to ultimately help the organization
move forward together in a positive direction. The findings/results will be made available to
leadership within the organization and might prove useful in assisting Zoological Park in
developing and implementing a visitor engagement program for improved visitor satisfaction.

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CHAPTER FOUR:
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
This chapter presents the study’s results and key findings within the framework of the
study’s purpose and research questions. As a reminder from Chapter 1, the purpose of the study
was to examine Zoological Park’s managers’ and team supervisors’ knowledge, skills, and
motivation, as well as the organizational influences related to achieving the organization’s goal
of improving visitor satisfaction. The research questions that guided this study were the
following:
1. What do Zoological Park managers and team supervisors perceive are the
organizational culture and contextual barriers related to delivering quality service for
achieving the organizational goal?
2. What are Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’ knowledge, skills, and
motivation related to supporting employees in delivering quality service for improved
visitor satisfaction?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources?
Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through surveys and interviews to answer
the research questions. This chapter begins with a description of participants in the surveys and
interviews. Next, study results and a synthesis of findings are presented to answer the research
questions about the influences related to managers’ and team supervisors’ role in supporting
employees to deliver quality service. The chapter will close with summary and implications.
Chapter Five will address the recommendations for the gap in Zoological Park managers’ and
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team supervisors’ knowledge, skills, motivation, and the organizational influences identified
in this chapter.
Survey and Interview Participants
Participants from the organization of study were engaged through surveys and interviews.
Sixteen Zoological Park managers and team supervisors participated in the survey portion of the
study, representing 100% of the eligible participant population at the time of the study. As
shown in Figure 2, 53.33% of participants have been a manager or team supervisor for less than
two years, while 46.67% were in their second or more years as a manager or team supervisor for
Zoological Park.

Figure 2. Manager and team supervisor tenure.

For interviews, nine out of the sixteen managers and team supervisors (56.25% of the
population at the time of the study) participated in a single individual interview. Figure 3 shows
the sample of manager and team supervisors interviewed.

26.67%
26.67%
26.67%
6.67%
13.33%
MANAGER AND TEAM SUPERVISOR TENURE

NUMBER OF YEARS
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Figure 3. Interview participants: Maximum variation sample.

The percentage for Animal Operations is larger than the other areas because Zoological Park has
a larger Animal Operations Department with more managers and team supervisors. Further
identifying information about participants are not disclosed here to protect the identities of this
small population.
Results and Findings for Research Question 1:
Organizational Influences
In this section, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data is presented to answer the first
research question: What do Zoological Park managers and team supervisors perceive are the
organizational culture and contextual barriers related to achieving the visitor satisfaction
improvement goal? Results and key findings from surveys, interviews, and organizational
documents, as informed by assumed influences on service quality and employee engagement
from literature discussed and presented in Chapter Two, were used to determine managers and
Facilities
22%
Guest Services
11%
Retail
11%
Animal Operations
45%
Events
11%
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team supervisors’ perceptions on the organizational barriers to support the delivery of quality
service. Survey and interview protocols are available in Appendices A and C, with survey
results presented in full in Appendix B.
Organizational Results and Key Findings
As a reminder, from Chapter Two, this study addressed three organizational influences:
communication of service philosophy, factors influencing employee engagement, and
onboarding practices. In the conceptual framework, the organizational influences were placed at
the center indicating the importance of organizational resources and barriers to knowledge and
motivation as well as managers and team supervisors. Results and key findings will be presented
for each of the organizational areas, followed by a synthesis of results and findings for
organizational influences.
Finding 1: Leadership was inconsistent in their approach to declare the value of
service philosophy.
Communication, as explained in Chapter Two, serves as a foundation for managers to
perform their jobs and responsibilities (Berger, 2014). Zoological Park leaders are responsible
for communicating a service vision reinforcing the importance of service quality and satisfaction.
In this study, communication dealt with if and how Zoological Park’s leadership team express
the organization’s service philosophy and performance goal for improved visitor satisfaction.
Communication was addressed in four survey items and two interview items. The first survey
item regarding communication measured manager and team supervisor agreement with a
statement regarding Zoological Park's leadership team communicating the goal of improving
visitor satisfaction. The second survey item asked managers and team supervisors whether they
believed there is a strong visitor focus in the organization. The third item asked if they thought
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the zoo noticeably celebrates excellent service. Figure 4 shows a split in responses, with 60%
agreeing or strongly agreeing, 27% disagreeing or strongly disagreeing, and 13% neither
agreeing or disagreeing regarding communication of the goal for improved visitor satisfaction.
Roughly half of the managers and team supervisors neither disagreed or agreed regarding the
presence of a visitor focus; while only 13% agreed with the zoo noticeably celebrating excellent
service.

Figure 4. Communication of organizational goal and importance of service quality.

In a fourth survey item, managers and team supervisors were asked to identify how often they
believe leadership communicates the importance of service quality to employees. Out of
fourteen responses, 71% indicated sometimes, while 21% replied most of the time and only 8%
stated always.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to explain what they believe the
service philosophy of the zoo to be. Four out of nine interviewees indicated they do not know if
7%
0%
7%
27%
20%
53%
53%
13%
13%
33%
47%
13%
13%
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Disagree or Agree Agree Strongly Agree
There is communication
of visitor improvement
goal
There is a strong visitor
focus in the organization
The zoo noticeably
celebrates excellent
service
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
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there is an actual service philosophy. As one manager explained, "A service philosophy has
not been communicated to me, but I believe the zoo has a service philosophy which I would
assume to be in line with other facilities I have worked at.” This individual shared the following:
I do not know that I have ever heard of it, or that is has been communicated to me.
As far as what our vision is and philosophy, mission statement, I do not know that
we have that. I would presume that we do, and this is probably my fault that it is
in the employee handbook. I am not up to speed as to what is in our handbook,
policies, and procedures. So, it may be in there, and it may be my fault for not
seeing it.
Another manager referred to the employee handbook indicating that the philosophy was vague,
using the phrase “be a zoo ambassador at all times” which he assumed to mean “be polite and
courteous.” Review of the organization’s employee handbook revealed one paragraph dedicated
to communicating a service philosophy.
Our donors, members, the public, and especially the animals are our customers.
We are committed to serving all our customers to the best of our ability in every
way possible; this includes attention to detail, friendliness, dedication to providing
an environment which not only reflects our values, mission, and goals but which
also seeks to instill those values in the visiting community. When meeting the
public, smile, answer their questions, offer to take group pictures, give directions,
and provide them with whatever assistance will make their visit memorable. Our
continued success depends on our satisfied customers.
A service philosophy is a mindset that should live throughout every department. As
represented by these responses, Zoological Park is not aligned with a vision. Several
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comments further demonstrated the inability of all Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors to identify with the same service philosophy. For example, one manager said,
“it appears that each department is different in their approach to customer service.”
Another manager responded, "I think in practice, the service philosophy is very different
from director to director." While yet another manger’s response was, “in our case
everyone’s department is different.” One team supervisor shared, “I feel like we do have a
service philosophy in my department, however with other departments I can for sure see
what their goal is and what they have set out for service for their people.” As represented
by these multiple managers and team supervisors, what seems to be missing at Zoological
Park is one coherent service philosophy for the entire organization.
Managers and team supervisors could not recall a formal method to help employees
understand the organization’s vision and goals for customer service. Interviewees were asked to
describe an approach they utilize to help employees understand the organization’s goal for
customer service. Roughly half of those interviewed indicated that concerning what they talk
about with their team, communication around the organization’s vision and goals for customer
service was limited. One supervisor admitted, "it is something we do not focus on admittedly, it
is mostly animal stuff.” A manager recalled, “other than in the initial training where the focus is
on general friendliness, politeness; there are not extensive additional conversations about visitor
interactions.” Another manager shared, "as I said I had not been communicated with as to what
the zoo wants, I really cannot explain to my staff and volunteers what to say and do." The
manager further explained:
In every other facility that I have worked at you had an onboarding day with other
people coming in around the same time. It usually happened within a couple of
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months of you starting, and you went to this meeting where they gave you this
packet and it was like here is our philosophy and here is our mission statement
and they made a big ta-doo about it. Everyone got the same message.
While other organizations ensure every department, and consequently every employee
understands he or she has an impact on its visitors; Zoological Park, however, has not
taken similar steps to ensure, this employee is aware of the organization’s culture,
mission, vision, and values.
A majority of the managers and team supervisors referenced the all-staff meetings
held monthly for all employees would be an excellent place to start emphasizing the zoo's
service philosophy and the goal to improve to visitor satisfaction, however to their
recollection this has never occurred. Several managers acknowledged attending multiple
all-staff meetings where everyone was there, and each department talked about something
different, but customer service was never brought up. The monthly all-staff meetings
provide an example of how Zoological Park does not communicate the service
philosophy in such a way that it can be embraced by every member of the organization,
from the CEO to recently hired employees.
Not all managers and team supervisors reported limited conversations with their team
regarding customer service. For one manager, the service philosophy is communicated daily;
explaining they do not know about the entire zoo, “but I know about my area.” This manager
described how her employees are reminded that “we are here to serve the customers and the
people who come through here and each other.” In addition, one supervisor described how
"when we are on stage, or we are in public we are constantly trying to put forth the best front that
is going to help our visitors be engaged, and we try to go the extra mile." Both interviewees
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could not recall if this was something they were told to do but explained it is as what they
believed was the correct behavior to demonstrate. As such, while participants’ responses were
atypical in that they did believe a service philosophy was enacted, they, too, could not point to a
specific organizational activity or message that prompted their enactment of a philosophy.
Based on these insights, the organization did not ensure that all employees understand the
organization’s service philosophy. In addition, managers and team supervisors were not
equipped to cultivate a service culture through shared behaviors, values, and beliefs regarding
service.
Finding 2: Policies and procedures did not support building a customer-centric
culture. Work processes specify how employees, equipment, and materials link and interact
over time to produce the desired results (Clark & Estes, 2008). As a reminder from Chapter
Two, it was theorized that a lack of a service strategy that aligns policies, procedures, and
incentives leads to inconsistencies in service norms and expected behaviors. Policies,
procedures, and incentives were explored in this study with three survey items and two interview
items.
When it comes to awareness of the zoo's policies and procedures regarding the
organization's goal for improved visitor satisfaction, there was a split in responses. As Figure 5
portrays, 40% of managers and team supervisors indicated yes when asked if they were aware of
policies and procedures that align with the organization’s goal of improved visitor satisfaction,
while 40% indicated they were not sure, and 20% indicated no.

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Figure 5. Managers’ and team supervisors’ awareness of policies and procedures that align with
the organizational goal.

Organizational policies and procedures are developed to transmit the business strategy and
philosophy to its employees. As represented by the survey responses, managers and team
supervisors were not equally aware of the policies and procedures that define and specify what is
expected from employees and how Zoological Park intends to meet its stakeholders' needs.
In a subsequent question, managers and team supervisors were asked to identify the
purpose of the zoo’s policies and procedures. While only three respondents indicated they were
not aware of the zoo's policies and procedures, only three indicated the policies and procedures
are developed to assist in assessing performance and establishing accountability. The inability
for Zoological Park managers and team supervisors to acknowledge that the policies and
procedures outline the process for evaluating performance and accountability was further
40% 40%
20%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Yes Not Sure No
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
AWARENESS OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
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demonstrated by a survey item that asked respondents to identify the organization’s process
for accountability. As Figure 6 highlights, five out of 16 managers and team supervisors
indicated Zoological Park did not have a method for accountability. Six respondents indicated
treating employees fairly and held to the same standards when asked about the zoo’s process for
accountability. While five respondents reported tying actions to rewards and consequences and
communicating expectations and responsibilities in advance; only one respondent identified
tracking performance on a regular basis throughout the year as a process for accountability.

PROCESS OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Figure 6. The zoo’s process for accountability.

As represented by survey responses, the organization had not ensured managers and team
supervisors were fully aware of the variety of procedures designed to help employees improve
performance while maintaining accountability.
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
5
1
5
6
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Communicating
Expectations and
Responsiblities in
Advance
Tracking
performance on a
regular basis
throughout the year
Tying actions to
rewards and
consequences
Treating all
employees fairly and
held to the same
standards
There is no process
for accountability
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
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In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to describe systems, if any,
for holding employees accountable for customer service. As one supervisor stated:
There is not a great way, because nothing is documented. When I have had issues
when I have had a keeper who was failing at her job, it was just a system of
sending emails, so there was written documentation to the bosses. You hoped they
were going to handle it, which eventually they did.
Employees can experience difficulty in meeting the expectations of their position. It
appears that Zoological Park did not have a process for managers and team supervisors to
communicate, document, and plan for employees to make and sustain improvements. As
a result, managers and team supervisor were uncertain as to whether steps will be taken to
address failures to meet performance standards.
When asked if they have been encouraged to do any performance reviews or
check-ins with her team, a supervisor responded, “we do not have a whole lot in that
direction.” The supervisor went on to elaborate, “we used to do reviews and personal
development plans; however, those are not encouraged anymore and haven’t been for
several years.” Upon document analysis, a change in leadership at the CEO level caused
a shift in the performance feedback process whereby a performance review was no longer
tied to an annual increase. As a result, managers and team supervisors were no longer
guided by their department director to engage in written performance plans with
employees. Another manager shared “I will attend one of their chats or just be in the
area and look for enthusiasm, what information my team is providing, what kind of
questions are they asking, and what kind of feedback guests are providing.” She
described how employee performance reviews were not utilized, but she would like to,
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“so that people could have an idea about where they stand with the organization more
formally.” She too believed performance reviews are helpful to set goals for employees
and assess progress but feels discouraged to do them by her director. As a reminder from
Chapter Two, it was theorized that when standards by which performance is to be
measured are not expressed, managers cannot hold employees accountable. Zoological
Park had not communicated performance feedback, whether formal or informal, to be a
priority. As such, Zoological Park managers and team supervisors were not providing
clear objectives and having fact-based performance discussions with their team members.
Two managers indicated they use customer feedback for holding employees
accountable, clarifying that summative program evaluations assist them in addressing
corrections in behaviors or applauding employees for a job well done. Although one
manager believed “when there is accountability, you can make improvements because
there are expectations,” this individual felt that across the board accountability was not
talked about or seen. The following response demonstrated Zoological Park lacked the
infrastructure for managers and team supervisors to make employees’ objectives clear,
discuss performance, and provide accountability.
I have not sat down with my team to talk about performance or goals. That has
not been encouraged for me. If it had been communicated for me to do, I would
be happy to do. It is just hasn't been relayed to me. I would like to be able to have
a sit-down; mainly because I have never had one. I never had this is the goal for
everything. I do not even know everything my job entails; I learn as I go. It would
be nice to have a sit-down now and then to assess where everything is.
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Responses suggested leadership did not provide managers and team supervisors with clear
objectives and result-based standards. In addition, there was a lack of formal policies and
procedures, as well as, an absence of encouragement to examine performance by leadership.
As such, Zoological Park leadership did not model behavior that sends a message to managers
and team supervisors that accountability and performance were a priority.
Finding 3: Incentives were not utilized throughout the organization. Incentives help
reinforce the actions and contributions of employees needed to support the organization succeed
(Clark & Estes, 2008). As mentioned in Chapter Two, incentives can help employees have more
self-confidence and esteem, be more persistent at work tasks, and strive for increased levels of
accomplishment (Stolovitch, Clark, & Condly, 2002). However, ineffective incentives or lack of
incentives also influence the quality and quantity of job performance. Incentives were addressed
in four survey items and one interview item.
When asked to consider if incentives align with the organization’s goal, 33% of managers
and team supervisors agreed that they did, while 27% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 40%
neither agreed or disagreed. For the second item, as seen in Appendix B, five choices and an
optional “other” category were provided, from which managers and team supervisors were
directed to choose incentives for improving job performance. Managers and team supervisors
selected recognition (63%), additional responsibilities (56%), promotion (31%), and pay raise
(31%). However, when managers and team supervisors were asked to identify the types of
resources provided to support their team in achieving performance goals, zero respondents
selected incentives as a resource (see Figure 7).

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Figure 7. Resources provided to managers and team supervisors.

As for using incentives and rewards to promote improved service quality, 54% of managers and
team supervisors stated they strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement my department
uses incentives and rewards to support improved service quality, and 47% neither agreed or
disagreed. Everyone in Zoological Park must be on the same page regarding recognition and
rewards. As responses show, managers and team supervisors agreed incentives were not a
resource provided to them to support employee performance. For the organization to be fully
committed to using recognition as a strategic tool for achieving goals and engagement, the
organization needs to ensure managers and employees have the means and ideas for employing
recognition (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015).
0
7
3
6
3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Incentives Time Training Equipment None of above
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
TYPES OF RESOURCES
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In interviews, managers and team supervisors agreed that acknowledgment and
recognition of employees are essential. One manager described how he demonstrated his
gratitude. “I gather everyone around to thank them at the end of the work week.” “You know we
got this and that done, it was a busy week; thanks, and I appreciate everything.” The response
demonstrated how one manager utilized his form of extrinsic reward by socially providing praise
and recognition at the end of each work week.
Although managers and team supervisors agreed that acknowledgment and recognition
are important, they also agreed that the organization did not have a system for acknowledging
and recognizing employees. As one manager described:
We do not have a method for identifying and rewarding employees for
exceptional service. I cannot say whether that is across the board for other
departments or not. However, I feel like any acknowledgment for going above
and beyond would be appreciated by staff and managers alike. I feel like you
know if someone does do a great job and that is acknowledged that might inspire
more people to be more engaged and inspired.
Responses showed managers and team supervisors understood that effective employee
reward and acknowledgment systems could motivate employees, increase performance,
and align performance with the organization's goals. However, Zoological Park had not
communicated a strategy for acknowledging and rewarding employees to managers and
team supervisors.
Managers and team supervisors agreed that employees' work needs to be designed
in a way that provides adequate rewards and recognition to influence how they perceive
the benefits for carrying out their roles. As one manager indicated, a process for
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providing incentives to her team has not been communicated down to her. "I do not even
know how to send it up the ladder,” referring to wanting to reward an employee doing a
great job. “I try to make her feel that she is amazing, that she is great, and doing a great
job but there has never been anything more than that.” A third manager also indicated he
utilizes verbal appreciation and feedback because "I do not have tools to do it any other
way." He expressed "we are a non-profit, with limited resources, everyone cannot get a
raise, it is not feasible." He continued, “But what is feasible is providing a lemonade
party in the summer, employee certificates, and taking time to recognize employees.”
Participants communicated providing recognition and expressing gratitude at the
departmental or more personal interactional level, but that a process at the organizational
level would be appreciated.
Managers and team supervisors did not have confidence in the organization’s
usage of an incentive program. The following statements demonstrate supervisors' lack
of confidence regarding the incentive program. "We used to give out raises and reviews,
but that has not happened in a long time." “Occasionally people are told they are doing a
good job, but outside of that we do not have a whole lot." Furthermore, managers and
team supervisors wanted to help align employee purpose and identity to the
organizational goal. However, as one manager shared, “you know, I feel stuck as a
manager like I see the potential of these employees, but I have no way of incentivizing
them whether it is more hours, a higher rate of pay, or additional funds for a particular
project they may be passionate about.” The manager further expressed that if she had
access and the ability to allocate resources to incentivize her team, then she would be a
better manager.
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While managers and team supervisors demonstrated an understanding that
acknowledging and rewarding employees helps build motivation and engagement as supported
by the literature, their responses indicated they did not recognize or did not have confidence in
the incentive process. Their statements revealed a need for an organizational extensive reward
and recognition system that celebrates targeted behaviors and aligns rewards with goals.
Furthermore, a lack of policies and procedures is having a direct influence on how managers and
team supervisors can train and reward for service behaviors. Based on these insights, the
organization did not ensure managers and team supervisors understood the mechanisms that set
the standards to hold employees accountable for change. In addition, managers and team
supervisors were not equipped to use a rewards system as a resource to help keep employees
focused on achieving the organizational goal.
Finding 4: The onboarding program did not describe the service culture or
teach the same fundamental principles to the entire organization.
Onboarding, as explained in Chapter Two, is the process of integrating new hires
into the organization, providing them with tools, resources, and knowledge to become
successful and productive in their role (Booz, Allen, & Hamilton, 2008). Zoological Park
leaders are responsible for ensuring employees connect with and effectively contribute to
the mission of the organization. As such, it is essential for new employees to understand
what the purpose is and how to communicate it. Onboarding was addressed in two
survey items and one interview item. For the first survey item regarding onboarding, six
choices and an optional “other” category were provided, from which managers and team
supervisors were directed to choose the organization’s onboarding practices. The second
survey item asked managers and team supervisors whether new employees are instructed
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on the service standards that have been established. In interviews, managers and team
supervisors were free to openly responded to questions, as seen in Appendix C regarding
the organization’s onboarding practices.
Managers and team supervisors agreed Zoological Park did not have a consistent
approach to onboarding. Of the managers and team supervisors surveyed, almost half
(n=7) indicated they were not familiar with the organization’s onboarding practices. In
interviews, very different approaches to onboarding were described. For example, a
supervisor stated, “It could take anywhere up to a year to see every different work-related
task because there isn’t anything in place.” She further explained how she made her
department a checklist of what needs to be covered with new employees because they did
not have one. “It has got everyone's signature on it and has every single thing that they
would need to know and that all has to be filled out before their 90 days.” Employees
working in Zoological Park are responsible for the care of the animals and the safety of
our visitors. As part of her department’s onboarding process, the supervisor required a
signature from senior staff members evaluating whether new employees have
demonstrated all facets of their job in addition to understanding all aspects of crisis
management and safety for working in the department. The checklist is then submitted to
the department manager and director and placed in the employee’s file. “But before that,
there wasn't a whole lot, we kind of just all learned it by the seat of our pants.” Another
supervisor’s comments also demonstrated an inconsistent process. She said,
My department does not have an official training program. It is learning from
watching the person next to you and then doing. Whoever is there, has to help the
new person. I think that is something that should be addressed.
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This supervisor’s comment that “whoever is there, has to help the new person” speaks to
while it is essential to get the new hire productive quickly, Zoological Park is not taking
the additional steps needed to make sure the new hire is paired with the best person to
provide the on-the-job training in a manageable flow.
A manager spoke about her recent onboarding experience: “You know I signed
papers, so I do not know if we have something more than that.” She went on to share
about an experience onboarding a new employee recalling, “we do have checklists.”
“And as far as how they can do their job day to day, we depend on their coworkers very
heavily.” This manager’s comment that “we depend on their coworkers very heavily”
speaks to the informal means through which employees learn how to work in the
organization. This comment points to a lack of formal structure. For one manager, the
onboarding process makes sure the new hire "is aware of the culture," "what is to be
expected," and "what senior staff they can look to as a role model." In this comment too,
the manager was vague in how precisely these expectations were communicated, thus
raising the question of whether there were specific onboarding practices.
Although each manager and team supervisor highlighted a different process, they
all agreed that onboarding is critical for the facility citing "policies," "safety," and
"protocols" as information new employees need to take in within their first 90 days. For
example, a supervisor said,
I think it is critical to have all of that, including a service statement and our
mission statement and all of those things so that right from the beginning you
know what is expected. I do not think that stuff is actually in ours we should
probably add it. I think it would also help with some of the cohesion. You would
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not feel like someone who knew nothing; you would come in understanding what
is going on with all those practices.
For this supervisor, formalizing critical organizational expectations and philosophies was
important, particularly to ensure “cohesion.” Participants’ responses thus revealed that
while managers and supervisors valued the onboarding process, they have incorporated
different approaches leading to inconsistencies across the organization.
Where such practices existed, Zoological Park’s onboarding-related activities
lacked a focus on the mission, vision, and culture of the organization. Less than a
quarter, 17%, agreed that the onboarding practices conveyed the zoo’s brand, values, and
culture. While the most consistent onboarding activity utilized was the processing of new
employee paperwork and explaining employee benefits, few departments included
activities that directly linked to the mission, vision, and culture of the zoo. For example,
a manager made the following statement when asked about his recent onboarding
experience:
I recently started at the zoo. I think that as far as telling what my job was it was
fine. I was walked around and told about the projects that were just completed or
that we are in the process of or things that were getting ready to start. I was
introduced to our team, walk through the property, and introduced to everyone
else. The onboarding as far as our environment, our vision, mission statement,
none of that happened. I think that is important.
For this manager, hearing about the organizational philosophies was important; and while
his direct supervisor made sure he was clear on items related to day-to-day operations, his
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supervisor never introduced him to Zoological Park’s mission, vision, values, and service
philosophy.
Other managers and team supervisors who recently went through their onboarding
said the process was flawed citing a lack of orientation, facility tour, and thorough
training. For example, one manager commented, "every other facility that I have worked
at had an onboarding day…they would give you this packet, and it was like here is our
philosophy and here is our mission statement.” She further explained that it would have
been nice to have received a tour because “I just found the cougar yesterday and I have
been here over eight months.” When referring to her training, she shared “for me it
would have been nice just to have a basic idea of my job, I did not even get that.” This
manager’s response revealed a negative experience as she felt inadequately prepared after
going through the onboarding process. Therefore, addressing the need for managers and
team supervisors to learn the specifics of their roles and responsibilities, including how to
properly complete tasks, whom to go to with questions, get approval for their work, and
how to make suggestions will help ensure the process of onboard new employees is a
positive experience.
Addressing the interaction between this conversation about onboarding practices
and the previous discussion about accountability for performance, Zoological Park’s
onboarding process failed to integrate the activities of stakeholders or hold them
accountable for success or failure. Of those surveyed, only 13% indicated the onboarding
practices aligned employee expectations to performance goals. For example, one
manager shared her experience: “No one explained how the books work, and no one
explained how ordering supplies worked.” “They were just like you do all that; okay,
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that is great, but how?” New hires are expected to help an organization accomplish its
goals. The degree to which they can do this is supported or hindered by whether
employees are thoroughly introduced to their department with a focus on connecting their
day-to-day tasks to the organization’s goals. As performance is a long-term outcome of
onboarding, Zoological Park cannot improve performance without clarifying delivery
expectations and objectives. Another manager had a similar experience:
I did not have anyone show me what to do. I brain picked everything I possibly
could so that I could understand what the roles were, how things were running,
and what was expected. I came in pretty blind.
Despite the lack of consistent onboarding practices that would set the employees up for
success, managers and team supervisors suggested that they were still expected to
perform, to figure things out and “do all that.”
In the survey, none of the respondents selected providing the tools needed for
employees to contribute to performance goals. In interviews, too, the managers and
supervisors provided examples of how they, also, lacked the tools when they first started.
For example, a manager shared his experience, saying “It took me four days to get my
email, a week to get access to the network.” A supervisor referenced what happened
when she recently had a new employee start in her department:
The new employee did not get a computer login for a long time. However, she
was expected to answer emails and didn't have a way to do it. I feel like if there
was a true onboarding process that would be all part of it.
As she said, this new employee was still “expected to answer emails” but didn’t have the
tools to do so. This statement makes the connection between the provision of resources
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as simple as a computer and employees’ capacity to fulfill their performance goals. This
slow to start approach was perceived as sending the wrong message. One manager shared
the following regarding uniforms:
We do not provide a uniform until the 90 days are up. Moreover, then it is just
ordered at that point. What is the message? What are we telling our employees?
To me that sends a message that we do not think our people are going to make it
three months, so we are not going to bother outfitting you. So that astounds me.
This manager’s comment that “people are(n’t) going to make it three months” relates to
the connection between giving employees the tools to feel part of the team and ready to
carry out their role to meet performance goals.
Based on these insights, a lack of strategic focus, planning, and leadership
involvement during the orientation process was perceived to send an unclear message
about the organization’s investment in new employees. In addition, the lack of
standardization in the onboarding process influenced managers’ and team supervisors’
abilities to connect employees to their role and encourage desired behaviors. Lastly,
participants explained that a service culture was not described during the orientation
period; thus, new hires were not able to understand, first, how to meet their performance
goals and second, how they could contribute to making it stronger. As the literature
suggested, effective onboarding programs are important for enhancing employee
satisfaction and performance. Addressing Zoological Park’s informal onboarding process
will position managers and team supervisors to help employees adjust and become more
productive in achieving the organization’s goal.
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Finding 5: Zoological Park did not make employee engagement central to its
business strategy. Employee engagement refers to the magnitude to which employees
feel valued and involved in their daily work (Gallup Organization, 2013). As presented
in Chapter Two, employee engagement is linked with organizational performance
outcomes (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). In addition, organizations with engaged employees
tend to have higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Leadership
behavior, career development, work environment, meaningful work, relationships in the
workplace, policies and procedures, and organization values are considered dimensions
of employee engagement; capable of influencing whether employees feel invested in their
company’s mission and its success (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015;
Saks, 2006). Employee engagement was addressed in five survey items and four
interview items.
One condition for employee engagement is the extent to which individuals
experience meaningfulness at work (Kahn, 1990). As the literature suggested,
meaningful work is an essential factor in employee engagement (May et al., 2004).
Fairlie (2012) described meaningful work characteristics as self-actualizing work, social
impact, one’s purpose, goals, and values, feelings of personal accomplishment, and
perceived ability to achieve one’s highest career goals within one’s organization. Five
managers and team supervisors expressed a relationship between meaningful work and
the zoological field. As one manager described:
Nobody goes into animal care that doesn't care about what he or she are doing.
This is the industry people go because this is what they believe in. These are
people, for the most part, have college degrees that are working for very low
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money because they believe in why they are here. They believe in the message of
teaching conservation and respect and changing attitudes and giving the
connection with wildlife that people do not get anywhere else. They are
passionate about what they do; they should be excited about what they do.
This response is an example of how managers and team supervisors believed employees
would stay engaged with the organization because of the social impact their work
contributes both locally and globally. As such, the organization can develop programs to
deepen further the cause and effect relationship that exists between their job and overall
mission of Zoological Park. In addition, managers and team supervisors recalled they
often witness varying levels of employee engagement by the same individuals explaining
“they will be engaged with their animals but disengaged from the team.” The comment
addresses a need for managers and team supervisors also to understand that personal
passion in one's career is one characteristic of meaningful work. Learning to evaluate
engagement by using the characteristics of meaningful work as a “lens” will help
managers and team supervisors understand how decisions and behavior may be
influencing employee engagement and performance.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to consider how they
get employees involved in their work. Managers and team supervisors agreed with
getting employees involved in their work influences engagement. As one supervisor
described:
I hear things from other employees who have supervisors that don't spread the
wealth. They do not talk about future things that are going to happen. They end
up treating the people they work with as only employees who are supposed to do
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A to B. Why would you be engaged if you are never getting any ownership of the
department.
The supervisor's comment addresses supervisor support as a factor that can impede
employees from getting involved with their work. However, managers and team
supervisors also admitted that “time is a factor” referencing limited staffing in their
department as a primary factor. One manager commented, “if we had more for allocation
of staffing I would have more time to motivate my team.” This manager’s comment
speaks to the challenges Zoological Park faces as a whole; whereby limited staffing has
forced managers and team supervisors to choose to complete day-to-day responsibilities
over putting effort towards employee development. So, if managers and team supervisors
do not have time, helping employees be involved in their work falls off the to-do list.
In addition to time, changes in leadership were referenced as an impeding factor in
helping to get employees involved in their work. As one manager described:
My team and I have been through many changes in leadership that the department
is absolutely not a focus. Of course, it is a zoo, and so a primary focus is going to
be on the animals, but I feel like it is not evenly distributed enough, and my staff
does see that. It is difficult for them to work hard, myself included, and not see
any focus.
She pointed out that in her four years as manager, she has had nine direct supervisors
above her; each one having different expectations for how the department was to operate
in supporting the organization’s goals and mission. As seen by her comment, changes in
leadership can disrupt a department’s focus, making it challenging for employees to
become and remain involved in their work.
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Organizations often structure their policies to minimize risk and optimize
efficiency. When employees do not feel trusted, employee engagement often will be the
one to suffer. As such, trust is an essential factor for employees to be engaged; when a
trusting relationship is not provided, employees can find themselves to be disengaged
(Shuck et al., 2011). A manager alluded to losing employees because they do not feel
trusted because of the organization’s purchasing policy:
I should not have to baby them and tell them you cannot buy this one you have to
get the one on the list. I am entrusting that, that is why they are here because they
have that knowledge. We hire people because they have that skill set, they are
knowledgeable, they have experience, but then we do not trust them to utilize
that knowledge and skill set. I think it plays a role in people not sticking around.
Restricted resources and information can limit employee initiatives. As such, Zoological
Park managers and team supervisors need to be able to adequately scope projects and
grant resource authority. A manager described how everyone on her team "gets their
input." She admits "sometimes you are not crazy about it, but you let them do it because
it makes them feel good." In this case, she is leaving employees’ feeling trusted by
promoting innovation. In addition, she is showing an individual tolerance for mistakes
and can treat any errors as opportunities to facilitate learning.
When organizations make specific employee goal setting a company-wide
initiative, it demonstrates that leadership values employee contribution towards achieving
the organizational goal. Figure 8 presents the result that nine out of 15 managers and
team supervisors believed helping team members set work priorities and performance
goals can influence employee satisfaction. In addition, 13 out of 15 believed setting
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expectations for performance influences employee engagement positively. However,
when asked about methods they utilize to motivate their team to perform to the best of
their ability, only six respondents indicated they use goal-setting and planning as well as
connecting individual goals to the broader organizational goal.

Figure 8. Goal setting and expectations for performance.

As illustrated in Figure 8, despite recognizing individual goal setting is important, more than half
of managers and team supervisors surveyed did not discuss employee needs or relate them back
to the organization’s goal. As such, managers and team supervisors are not directly involving
employees in their goal setting and therefore, are not able to fully motivate employees.
In interviews, one manager admitted one-on-ones are useful for monitoring employee
engagement, "but it has been six months and I have not done it yet, just sit down and have a
chat…what are your goals and what do you want out of me?” So, while this manager believed it
6 6
13
9
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Goal Setting and Planning Connecting individual
goals to the large
organizational goal
Setting expectations for
performance
Helping team members
set work priorities and
performance goal
NUMBER OF MANAGERS AND TEAM SUPERVISORS
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was useful to check in with employees to measure their engagement, it wasn’t a part of her
regular practice. In contrast, other managers and team supervisors expressed how they are
learning what employees want and what they would like to see for themselves to excel. As one
manager stated, “I am paying attention to their needs to make them happy, and then they will be
more effective.” A similar experience was described by a supervisor who wanted her team to
say, "I want to try and do this are you okay with that?” Given the different ways that managers
approach these engagement strategies and the inconsistency with which they use these strategies,
it's clear that it is not an organizational expectation for managers and supervisors. For some
managers and team supervisors, leadership’s behavior does not invite communication regarding
goals between them and their staff. For example, as one manager described:
There was never an explanation from my supervisor to me. Therefore, I cannot extend to
my team about what the ultimate goal is for anything that we are doing. So, it is
challenging for me to interpret from leadership with little to no communication about
what they want from us to achieve so how am I expected to communicate it to my staff.
If leadership does not express goals to me, I cannot express them to my staff.
Given that this manager’s direct supervisor had not taken the time to discuss her individual goals
and relate them back to the organization’s goal, she did not believe she could “express them” to
her staff. Understanding the bigger picture will assist managers and team supervisors in
discussing employee needs and setting individual goals that directly influences their personal
growth and the organization.
The survey also asked managers and team supervisors to consider if their director has had
conversations with them regarding employee engagement. As Figure 9 reveals, 47% said
sometimes, whereas 27% indicated never, 13% responded most of the time, and 13% reported
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always. Furthermore, when asked if managers and team supervisors were encouraged to
engage in discussions with their team about progress towards performance goals, the response
was also split. As highlighted in Figure 9, 36% said sometimes, 29% indicated most of the time,
21% agreed always, and 14% reported never.

Figure 9. Discussions regarding employee engagement.

Given the mixed responses, there was an inconsistency with which leadership encouraged
managers and team supervisors to engage in discussions regarding employee engagement and
performance, and it was not seen as an organizational expectation for managers and team
supervisors.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to consider how the zoo can
support their ability to actively engage employees. Several managers and team supervisors made
similar comments referencing that leadership needs to be more proactive in sharing where the
13%
21%
13%
29%
47%
36%
27%
14%
Always Most of the time Sometimes Never
My director has
conservations with me
regarding employee
engagement
I am encouraged to
engage in discussions
with my team about
progress towards
performance goals
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
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organization is headed as well as informing them of its status in an effort “to get the staff
actively involved and proud.” As one manager explained:
Having a starting point and seeing progress take place and knowing what you can do to
change it. We should be open, no secrets. This is our goal, and this is how we are doing
mid-year. We are $200,000 behind our goal, and this what we need to do; or, wow we
did better than expected this time of year because we invested in more advertising, had
more shares on Facebook, and we were on tv and radio. Projections like that. I think the
more all employees know, the more they are invested. It shouldn’t be something that is
hidden. Get it out there so everyone gets an interest and can be involved and proud.
The quote above explains how a transparent work environment encourages employees to feel “in
the loop” and become more actively involved by embracing their role within the broader context
of the organization. If Zoological Park does not ensure information is shared with their
managers, then employees will not get the message, or they may perceive something entirely
different regarding what is happening in the organization.
Managers and team supervisors agreed that employee development and growth
opportunities could have a positive impact on employee engagement. As indicated in Chapter
Two, learning experiences provide employees with comprehensive skills and reassurance that the
organization recognizes their value (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015).
Furthermore, when presented with new knowledge and abilities, employees are better prepared to
contribute to achieving their organization’s goal. Personal skills training was addressed in three
survey items and one interview item.
Managers and team supervisors also agreed that providing job training to enhance
employee learning could serve as a retention strategy. As one supervisor commented, "it would
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be great for the institution to invest in all the animal care staff.” “I think it would be great to
help keep some zookeepers around longer.” Another manager responded, “people who
continuously learn, want to show what they have learned; therefore, they can become more
engaged with other employees and our customers.” He went on to explain that when employees
learn new things in the industry and bring it back to the zoo, “they get people excited about what
can be done for the organization.” In addition, this manager suggests that learning should be
“carried over to everyone in all departments, because the more things we let our people get
invested in, the more resources provided for people to be invested, the more they will remain
engaged in their job.”
In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to describe what training they
provided their employees to be involved in their work. A majority agreed investing in
professional development opportunities for employees is valuable for the organization.
However, only two individuals were able to provide examples of how the organization invested
in employees through professional development. For example, one supervisor described a
program in which animal care employees could raise funds while the organization matches funds
to send them to learning opportunities. In addition, brown bag lunches with guest speakers were
also described as onsite learning opportunities for employees. These two examples showed
Zoological Park did provide programs that contributed to professional development, and
managers and team supervisors did see the value of them, as described by one supervisor:
You do not have to go far to learn something. I think all those things go towards
engaging employees. If the institution can have more things like that, then it just opens it
all up for all the employees.
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In contrast, most managers and team supervisors believed they didn’t have the
opportunities to provide professional development. “We do not have any money; we
cannot do that." For example, one manager commented, “I would love to have
professional development for my team, but the price did not allow for it this year.”
Another managed responded, “something that I would like to be able to do is send my
staff to opportunities for professional development programs, whether it is a seminar or
class; but I feel like it is outside my ability to decide.” While the first two participants
pointed to the budget as an impeding factor, this manager, by saying “outside my ability
to decide,” alluded to her power to decide about how the limited budget should be spent.
Several managers and team supervisors stated they were interested in finding a solution
to providing professional development for their employees. One manager suggested
having leadership or other managers to provide training, “that would be a good way, a
cheap way, to do training.” This quote shows that this manager was aware of the
connection between training and engagement, as also corroborated by the literature.
Employee training influences involvement within the organization; thus, a key element in
job and organizational engagement (Andrew & Sofian, 2012; Pendleton & Robinson,
2015). However, she also admitted that she did not know how to begin such a program.
“But I don’t know how to start an official program.” While managers and team
supervisors saw training and development as a critical factor in enhancing employee
engagement, it was also seen as a crucial dilemma due to limited resources. Training and
development fulfill the needs of self-actualization of employees; therefore, employees
tend to exert more effort towards job performance. Addressing how managers and team
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supervisors are involved in training and development will position them to have the tools
to encourage involvement and growth.
Synthesis of Organizational Results and Key Findings
The participant responses to the survey and interview questions about organizational
influences were grouped under three themes: communication of service philosophy, factors
influencing employee engagement, policies and procedures, and onboarding practices. Because
managers and team supervisors need to understand and communicate what is expected from
above and the needs from below, they are the ones most affected by the organizational
influences. Overall, managers and team supervisors cited a lack of communication regarding the
service philosophy, policies and procedures for goal-setting, performance monitoring, and
acknowledging and rewarding employees. Though managers and team supervisors indicated, in
surveys, that a visitor improvement goal has been communicated to them, an exact service
philosophy could not be described during open-ended interviews. In the absence of clear
policies and procedures, managers and team supervisors reported they were not encouraged to
offer performance feedback or have a system for acknowledging and rewarding employees. For
instance, managers and team supervisors expressed they did not track performance on a regular
basis throughout the year and were not provided incentives to support achieving performance
goals. Though managers and team supervisors reported a recognition that setting goals and
expectations influences employee engagement and satisfaction, they expressed that work
priorities, goal-setting, and expectations were not discussed with them. In some cases, such as
onboarding practices, survey results and open-ended interviews indicated the organization did
not provide managers and team supervisors the tools needed to support employees contributing
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to performance goals. Manager and team supervisor responses demonstrated an overall
pattern of a lack of information sharing that was coherent across the organization.
Results and Findings for Research Question 2:
Knowledge and Motivation Influences
In this section, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data is presented to answer the
second research question: What are Zoological Park managers’ and team supervisors’
knowledge, skills, and motivation related to facilitating employees in delivering quality service
for improved visitor satisfaction? Results and key findings from surveys, interviews, and
organizational documents, as informed by assumed influences on service quality and employee
engagement from literature discussed and presented in Chapter Two, were used to determine
managers and team supervisors’ knowledge, skills, and motivation to support the delivery of
quality service. Survey and interview protocols are available in Appendices A and C, with
survey results presented in full in Appendix B.
Knowledge Results and Key Findings
As a reminder from Chapter Two, this study addressed three types of knowledge and
skills: declarative (conceptual), procedural, and metacognitive, and procedural. In the
conceptual framework, the knowledge influences intersect with the organizational influences,
indicating the importance of organizational resources and barriers on knowledge as well as
managers and team supervisors. Results and key findings will be presented for each of the three
knowledge areas, followed by a synthesis of results and findings for knowledge influences.

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Declarative knowledge: Managers’ and team supervisors’ knowledge of
employee engagement and service quality is dependent on their experiences and what has
been shared by leadership. In this study, declarative knowledge, or what is known, such as
ideas and concepts (Krathwohl, 2002), referred to managers’ and team supervisors’ conceptual
understanding of employee engagement and service quality. Survey and interview items
addressed two areas of declarative knowledge: the concept of employee engagement and service
quality.
Employee engagement: Managers and team supervisors knew the concept of employee
engagement. Zoological Park managers and team supervisors knew the drivers of employee
engagement, as previously stated in the above organizational influences section. The literature
on employee engagement focuses on the workplace attributes such as pay and benefits,
development opportunities, sense of connection, and common purpose which will result in
employee engagement (Andrew & Sofian, 2012; Markos & Sridevi, 2010; Sofian, 2012;). When
presented with seven choices and an optional “other” category, managers and team supervisors
were directed to choose the factors that influence an individual’s level of employee engagement.
As Figure 10 presents, managers and team supervisors selected relationships with fellow
employees (87%), his/her commitment towards the organization (80%), relationships with
management (80%), his/her work environment (73%), opportunities for career development
(67%), and rewards and incentives (53%). However, one respondent did select none of the
above.

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Figure 10. Factors that influence an individual’s level of employee engagement.

As responses indicated, managers and team supervisors understood the primary drivers of
engagement are centered around trust, growth, and recognition. However, there was an
observable difference in responses regarding rewards and incentives; this is perhaps due to the
organizational influences discussed in the above section.
The literature discussed the role managers play in influencing employee engagement by
aligning employee efforts with strategy, promoting and encouraging teamwork and collaboration,
helping employees grow and develop, providing support and recognition (Berger 2014; Gallup
Organization, 2013; Saks, 2006; Wellins, Bernthal, & Phelps, 2005). Zoological Park managers
and team supervisors were asked to consider their role in influencing employee engagement.
When presented with six choices and an optional “other” category, managers and team
supervisors selected creating a respectful and trusting workplace (93%), setting expectations for
87%
80% 80%
73%
67%
53%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Relationships
with fellow
employees
His/her
commitment
towards the
organization
Relationships
with
mangement
His/her work
enviornment
Opportunities
for career
development
Rewards and
incentives
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
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performance (87%), providing the tools for employees to do their job (87%), conveying the
zoo’s mission and vision (73%), and communicating the zoo’s values (67%). One respondent
did select none of the above (See Figure 11).

Figure 11. Managers’ and team supervisors’ role in influencing employee engagement.

Manager and team supervisor responses showed understanding of their role in providing
employees a comfortable workplace, tools needed to perform their job, and performance
management as a source for employees understanding their goals and what is expected of them.
Fewer respondents selected conveying the zoo’s mission and vision and the zoo’s values; which
may be attributed to managers and team supervisors being conflicted in their duties and feeling
disconnected from the bigger picture because of the organizational influences.
The literature defined job satisfaction as to how content employees are with their job
(Parvin & Kabir, 2011). As discussed in the literature, there are a variety of factors that
93%
87% 87%
73%
67%
7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Creating a
respectful and
trusting
workplace
Setting
expectations for
performance
Providing the
tools for
employees to do
their job
Conveying the
zoo's mission
and vision
Communicating
the zoo's values
None of the
above
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS
ROLES IN INFLUENCING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
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influence an employee's level of job satisfaction. These factors include working conditions,
pay and benefits, relationships with supervisors, opportunity to use skills and abilities, and
treatment of employees at all levels (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). As
Figure 12 presents, managers and team supervisors were asked to consider behaviors that
influence employee satisfaction. Managers and team supervisors indicated: daily communication
with team members (100%), clear communication with team members regarding expectations
and responsibilities (93%), helping team members feel safe to experiment, challenge, and share
information (87%), and focusing on team members’ strengths or positive characteristics to build
their skills and knowledge (87%). However, just over half (60%) of respondents selected
helping team members set work priorities and performance goals.

Figure 12. Manager and team supervisor behaviors that influence employee satisfaction.

100%
93%
87% 87%
60%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Daily
communication
with team members
Communication
regarding
expectations and
responsibilities
Helping employees
feel safe to
experiment,
challenge, and
share information
Focusing on
strengths or
positive
characteristics to
build skills and
knowledge
Helping team
members set work
priorities and
performance goals
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
BEHAVIORS THAT INFLUENCE EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION
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Consistent with the literature, responses by managers and team supervisors indicated
knowledge of the relationship between their behaviors and employee satisfaction. However,
respondents were less inclined to select helping team members set work priorities and
performance goals. A low response rate for this specific statement may\ also be attributed to the
organizational influences; whereby setting performance goals have not been communicated as a
priority.
Interview responses were consistent with literature that acknowledged employee
engagement as the outcome of a two-way relationship between employer and employee (Aquinis
& Kraiger, 2009; Gallup Organization, 2013; Markos & Sridevi, 2010; Vance, 2006). Managers
and team supervisors were asked to describe what employee engagement looks like to them,
responses varied. One manager described employee engagement as a “marriage.”
There should be trust on both sides. I should trust as an employer that my employees are
going to do everything they can to do their job right, to do it proficiently, to do it
efficiently, and to have my best interest on their mind. As an employee, I should trust my
employer has that trust in me to do my job and get me the tools and means to do my job
efficiently and productively. It must be mutual in that respective. If it is not, then the
team suffers. Both sides suffer.
The manager’s comments “there should be trust on both sides” coincides with the literature in
that employee engagement is a partnership between managers and employees which requires a
commitment from both parties and lives through their daily interactions in the workplace.
Two managers referred to employee engagement as taking care of employees. In a follow-up
question, the managers were asked to describe what was meant by “taking care of.” One
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manager commented, "it has to be resources, pay, having the right tools to do their job.” The
other described it as “gearing policies to make the best employee experiences.”
The remaining six managers and supervisors described employee engagement as
employee comments, behavior, and body language. As one supervisor noted:
I would say actions speak louder than words. If they are working well, have an excellent
temperament, and they seem happy to be here that is an excellent indicator. However, I
would also say things like showing initiative, getting into projects, things like that. That
shows they are trying to stick around. Getting their hands dirty in as many things
possible.
This supervisor’s comment is consistent with the literature that suggested employee engagement
stems across three dimensions: emotional, cognitive, and physical engagement. As such,
employees will be highly involved emotionally with their work, concentrate hard on their work,
and be willing to "go the extra mile" for the organization.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to consider when they know
that an employee is engaged? For most, it was when they showed “ownership.” As one manager
commented, "You told me I have to do A to B, but I did A to B, and I also did all of these other
things that I wanted to." This comment speaks to the manager’s understanding of physical
engagement as shown by “but I did …and I also did.” For others, it was how employees
interacted with zoo guests. As one supervisor replied:
I think it is when they are interacting with guests, fully knowing the answers to their
questions. Being excited about sharing facts about the animals. Being excited to share
and openly talk with them. Going out of their way to make sure they have a good time.
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Simple things like seeing someone struggling to take a selfie and asking to take their
picture for them. Seeing that they enjoy being here and not just clocking in and out.
This response is an example of emotional engagement; highlighting the supervisor’s
understanding that employees will not only perform a particular task, but they will also show
they feel engaged through visual performance.
As discussed in Chapter Two, the literature suggested employees who are not engaged to
spend time on tasks that are not necessary in lieu of doing things that matter, do not show full
commitment, and have more doubts about the organization regarding performance (Gallup
Organization, 2013; Markos & Sridevi, 2010, Society for Human Resource Management, 2015).
When managers and team supervisors were asked to consider the signs that employees are not
engaged, a majority indicated they could tell because of work performance. One manager
commented, “a disengaged employee appears sullen, less prone to interact with guests or other
staff members.” A fellow manager recalled how she has “to beg and plead for them to do a
task.” While another supervisor replied, “I have to constantly check up on things, have they
done this or that.” These comments reflect the literature in that a disengaged employee will find
it challenging to focus on the task at hand, will overlook priorities, have poor quality work, and
will exhibit social withdrawal.
In addition to work performance, managers and team supervisors also indicated
negativity as a sign that employees were struggling to stay engaged in the workplace. As one
supervisor described:
We have this one employee; I do not think this person is disengaged in their job as much
as they are from the institution. Often the first thing that comes out of this person’s
mouth tends to be cynical about the institution, or at least negative in general. I think we
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have a couple of pockets of disengaged people who create those tornados pulling
everything away from work being done, unfortunately.
While employee grumbling regarding stress and responsibilities is frequent in the workplace, this
supervisor's comments referred to excessive negativity. “The first thing that comes out of this
person’s mouth tends to be cynical” is an example of an employee exhibiting a defeatist attitude
at work and an indicator of employee disengagement.
The literature suggested individual differences and situational factors influence a person’s
view on the importance of their work and their willingness to exert effort and remain part of the
organization (Andrew & Sofian, 2012; Markos & Sridevi, 2010). Managers’ and team
supervisors’ responses during interviews demonstrated their awareness regarding factors that
influence disengagement, and they echoed the literature with regards to the differences. As one
supervisor explained:
It could be any number of things. It depends situationally, I think. It could be anything
from frustration at home to frustration with internal workings.
The availability of employees to place themselves entirely into their role is dependent on
various demands at work and the nonwork aspects of their lives (Berger, 2014; Gallup
Organization, 2013; Kahn, 1990). As one supervisor described, emotions and outside issues can
preoccupy an employee’s performance. For example, “right now, I have this employee who is
pretty spent because we had one animal in our department die, a weekend later we lost another
animal, and then she lost her dog at home…so, for her, her compassion is almost too much,
everything is pulled internally.” The supervisor added, “to people on the outside; this employee
would look very disengaged at the moment.” Her comments address how managers and team
supervisors should keep in mind that employee behavior may not due to job dissatisfaction.
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Factors in an employee’s personal life could affect their performance. As such, this
supervisor showed an interest in trying to understand what was wrong, so she could help improve
the employee’s performance.
In addition, two supervisors indicated “feeling valued” as a factor influencing
disengagement. As one manager responded, “I think the number one cause is just not feeling
valued, not feeling like they are being treated fairly or heard.” Another manager spoke to how
“feeling valued” is connected to her employees’ pay. “A pretty big factor in their engagement is
knowing that they are making considerably less per hour/per year than other employees.” Lastly,
group and intergroup dynamics were described as a disengagement factor. As one supervisor
described:
The people I do see that are not as entirely as engaged are so because they are frustrated
with team dynamics. I tend to be a captive audience. People know that I will always be
there; so, they come and rant. I hear a lot of it; suddenly it clicks why they are not
engaged, and it is usually some team dynamic.
Her comments highlight intergroup dynamics; whereby team members were influenced by the
interactions they have with one another within their team environment. These interactions can
potentially impact an individual's thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, and attitude towards their job and
the organization.
Managers and team supervisors demonstrated an understanding of how an engaged and
disengaged workforce impacts their role. The literature suggested levels of employee
engagement affect employee attitudes, productivity, collaboration, input, and customer service
(Bartlett, 2001). Two managers indicated having an engaged workforce helps with meeting the
needs of the zoo’s customers. For one manager, the dedicated staff is more inclined to meet
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client expectations. “This is especially important when the customer is paying hundreds of
dollars for their event.” Another manager commented, "engaged staff is better at talking with the
public, helping guests enjoy their visit, and that reflects on the zoo.” The manager's comment
"engaged staff is better" reflects how engaged employees are more likely to be dedicated to
providing the best possible service. A few managers and team supervisors did indicate that an
engaged workforce helps their job be manageable. As one supervisor explained:
It means I can trust them and trust that everything that is happening on days when I am
not here is happening the way it is supposed to. Also, that animal welfare is first and
foremost in their minds. It makes it much easier; it also means it is not all falling on me.
As a supervisor, there is not a whole lot of time to take on the extra; I am glad as a
supervisor that I have staff ready to take on a whole lot more.
When employees are engaged, they put forth the effort to get the job done without being asked to
do so, as indicated by the comment “It means I can trust them and trust everything is happening.”
In addition, engaged employees use discretionary effort to go above and beyond their normal job
requirements, as indicated by the comment “I have staff ready to take on a whole lot more.” The
comment “animal welfare is first and foremost in their minds” speaks to how engaged employees
are invested emotionally, and they genuinely care about the organization. One manager relayed
how an engaged workforce helps with the communication process. When it comes to passing
along information, this manager described herself as either in the middle or at the end of the line.
When everyone is engaged, she noted communication among all members is a much smoother
process. “I know what exactly we need, and I can help the animals, which helps the guests have
a good experience.” This supervisor’s comment addresses engagement among all stakeholders
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involved in a discussion; aiding the communication process whereby all members are fully
involved in the decision-making process.
In contrast, managers and team supervisors recognized that a disengaged workforce is
more time-consuming. For example, “when you have a disengaged employee it is almost like
you are doing double duties just to get them to be engaged to the point where they are
performing their central functions." As another supervisor indicated, communication becomes
harder. “With a disengaged team, it becomes a game of ping-pong," referring to how
information tends to go back and forth because individuals are not collaborating to address the
problem.
Interestingly, only one supervisor spoke to how a disengaged employee affects her
decision-making process. The following describes how this supervisor altered the workload of a
disengaged employee.
I have tried not to put her in front of too many people at one time. I have decided to let
her do what she wants to do during this time. Allowing her to have ownership of what
she is doing, and not trying to be like you must do something even though you do not
want to. I do not want her to have to make those kinds of decisions at this moment
because I do not know what choice her brain might choose. It might be the negative
instead of the positive when she is under this kind of stress. Currently, she is training one
of our birds, and that brings her joy. So, it is lifting her spirits, and I am making sure she
is getting those positive experiences out of it.
A piece to the engagement puzzle that is often forgotten is the employee’s work life balance. As
a manager or team supervisor, it is fair to assume that employees at times will be disengaged due
to their lives outside of work. This supervisor’s comment “when she is under this kind of stress”
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speaks to the fact that she recognized her employee was disengaged for a reason. As such,
the supervisor made alternative decisions regarding the employee’s workload, “I have decided to
let her do what she wants to during this time.” The literature suggests when employees receive a
good work-life balance, they are much more productive. The supervisor’s comment, “currently,
she is training one of our birds, and that brings her joy…it is lifting her spirits” is an example.
As presented in Chapter Two, monitoring employee engagement should involve
information from surveys, comments, exit interviews, and ongoing performance discussions
(Bersin, 2017; Gallup Organization, 2013; Society for Human Resource Management, 2015).
When asked to consider how managers and team supervisors monitored employee engagement,
responses varied. Managers and team supervisors utilized observations for monitoring employee
engagement. For most, their process was described as informal. Only one manager indicated
extending beyond observations to asking questions. “I look at body language and pay attention
to their actions, and then I ask questions to try and pull things out to get feedback." Having
scheduled, meetings, where you can have an informal chat with each member of your team, is a
way to get a real sense of what's going on with them. The advantage of this method of collecting
feedback is that it’s in person, and because it’s a private, safe conversation, you can get much more
detail about each issue that’s brought up.
Only one manager noted having performance discussions but also indicated "I have not
done them yet." None of the participants stated they reviewed exit interviews as an approach to
monitoring employee engagement.
When asked to consider another method for monitoring employee engagement, all
interviewees suggested, unprompted, that they would like to utilize a concrete form of feedback
such as a survey. As one manager commented:
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Aside from observation, I think anonymous self-reports are good. You need
employee feedback because how else are you going to figure out if they are engaged, they
need to tell you verbally or through a survey or you are going to have to look at body
language and work performance by watching how they interact with customers and other
employees. However, if we are looking for a concrete way to monitor it, then we need to
ask them in a way that is not threatening.
When an organization thinks about the amount of time their employees spend at work, it is only
reasonable to expect the experience to be pleasant. As such, employees should not have to spend
their work life stressed, unhappy, overworked, or under-appreciated. The manager’s comment “a
concrete way to monitor” supports the literature that if organizations want to improve
engagement they first need to measure it.
In summary, managers' and team supervisors' responses corresponded with the literature
regarding their knowledge of employee engagement, such as why employee engagement is
essential and how factors including, but not limited to, personal growth, feedback, recognition,
and interactions with peers influences employee engagement. While manager and team
supervisors varied in reasons why employees were disengaged, there was clear evidence they
understood employee engagement exists as a spectrum, not as a binary, on-or-off switch. In
addition, managers and team supervisors demonstrated awareness of how organizational
processes, such as opportunities for personal growth, clear expectations and purpose, standards
for providing continuous feedback, and an organizational-wide program for delivering
recognition, result in whether employees are fully engaged, neutral or disengaged. However,
managers and team supervisors also showed they need assistance in providing the support
necessary to bring employees to a level of active engagement, such as on-going education that
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gives them coaching skills. Furthermore, the responses also demonstrated managers and
team supervisors need a broader set of tools to assist them in reaching out to employees on a
regular basis, such as methods to measure engagement on a regular basis.
Service quality: Managers and team supervisors were able to recognize factors that
influence service quality and the elements of a service strategy. Managers and team
supervisors were asked in two ways about service quality on both the survey and in the
interview. First, managers and team supervisors were asked to think about what affects service
quality, secondly to consider why service quality is critical for a zoo. On the survey, as seen in
Appendix A, seven choices and an optional “other” category were provided, from which
managers and team supervisors were directed to choose the factors that affect service quality.
For interviews, managers and team supervisors were free to generate their responses regarding
the importance of service quality.
Manager and team supervisor responses aligned with literature presented in Chapter Two.
Customers evaluate service quality based on physical appearances, reliability, responsiveness,
knowledge, and courtesy, and individualized attention (Gronroos, 1983; Munthiu, Velicu, Tuta,
and Zara, 2014; Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry, 1990) Managers and team supervisors were
asked to identify factors they recognize as to affect service quality. As Figure 13 presents,
managers and team supervisors indicated employee knowledge (100%), employee attitude
(93%), the zoo’s appearance (93%), employee behavior (87%), the zoo’s credibility to visitors
(87%), accessibility of employees to visitors (80%), customer perception of service provided
(80%). In addition, one respondent noted, “perception of good animal care and exhibits.”
Managers and team supervisors recognized factors that represent three elements of service:
people, place, and process. Managers and team supervisors selected employee knowledge,
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behavior, and attitude; showing they recognized the people element; whereby employees are
expected to be experts of the service they are delivering, and both employee attitude and
behavior affect interactions between visitors and employees. In addition, managers and team
supervisor selected zoo’s appearance, a place element, indicating they recognized how physical
aspects such as the facilities and employee uniforms affects service quality. While a lower
percentage of managers and team supervisors identified accessibility and perception of service;
they did select factors the contribute to the process element.

Figure 13. Factors managers and team supervisors recognize as to affect service quality.

A service strategy consists of a vision for customer service, assessing customer needs,
organizational goals for service, service training, accountability, and rewarding for excellent
service (Mok, Sparks, & Kadampully, 2013). Managers and team supervisors were provided
with six choices and an optional “other” category from which they were asked to indicate
100%
93% 93%
87% 87%
80% 80%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Employee
Knowledge
Employee
Attitude
Zoo's
Appearance
Employee
Behavior
Zoo's
Credibility to
Visitors
Accessibility
of Employees
to Visitors
Customer
Perception of
Service
Provided
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
FACTORS THAT AFFECT SERVICE QUALITY
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components of a service strategy. As Figure 14 presents, manager and team supervisor
responses demonstrated awareness of a service strategy and aligned with literature as presented
in Chapter Two. Managers and team supervisors selected training on service skills (93%),
assessment of customer needs (93%), accountability for quality service (93%), rewards and
recognition for quality service (86%), a service vision (86%), and goals for customer service
(79%).

Figure 14. Components managers and team supervisors recognize as part of a service strategy.

A service system should focus on what creates value for the organization and how to engage
employees in delivering the best customer experience. Managers and team supervisors
recognized that a service vision is an influential component as it sets the overriding principles
that direct and maintains the delivery of services. However, a lower response rate by managers
and team supervisors may be attributed to the service philosophy organizational influence
93% 93% 93%
86% 86%
79%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Training on
Service Skills
Assessment of
Customer Needs
Accountability
for Quality
Service
Rewards and
Recognition for
Quality Service
A Service Vision Goals for
Customer
Service
COMPONENTS OF A SERVICE STRATEGY
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
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discussed in the above section. The organization cannot meet the needs of its visitors
without understanding what the visitor wants. Managers and team supervisors recognized
assessment of customer needs indicating they are aware that finding out visitor perceptions of
service, needs, and expectations are essential. Employees need to understand how they can help
the organization reach their objectives. A low response rate for customer service goals may be
attributed to the goal setting and planning organizational influence discussed in the above
section. Training explains how the organization would like employees to deliver service and
how to respond to service failures. A majority of managers and team supervisors recognized
training in service skills as a service strategy component. Employees should understand how
their service affects the organization and how the organization holds them accountable for
achieving service-related goals. Managers and team supervisors recognized accountability for
quality service as part of a service strategy. The organization should have a system for
acknowledging and rewarding employees for excellent service. Managers and team supervisors
were less inclined to select rewards and recognition for quality service which may be attributed
to the organization's lack of a rewards and recognition program.
Procedural knowledge: Managers and team supervisors struggled with integrating
service strategy components into their supervisory role.
The literature discussed in Chapter Two described managers as a critical resource in
supporting employees to deliver quality service. Manager support included communicating a
service vision, modeling service behaviors, assessing service, training for service behaviors, and
empowering employee decision making (Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml, 1994; Bowen and
Schneider, 1988; Hart, Heskett, and Sasser, 1990). In this study, manager and team supervisor
procedural knowledge referred to knowing how to integrate service strategy components into
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their supervisory practices. Procedural knowledge was addressed in interview items asking
managers and team supervisors how they apply elements of a service strategy.
Managers and team supervisors were asked to consider how they help employees
understand the organization’s vision for customer service. Most managers and team supervisors
indicated they did not utilize a specific approach to support employees’ understanding. As one
supervisor responded, “honestly it is not done much…it could probably be more, but it is
something I do not focus on admittedly." Upon reflection, one manager indicated "we have not
done anything formal…it's not been a focus…I cannot come up with an example off the top of
my head.” Another manager replied, "I cannot tell them what the zoo wants…I have not been
communicated with as to what the zoo wants." The comments “something I do not focus on”
and “it’s not been a focus” highlight how communicating a service vision was not seen as an
organizational priority. “I cannot tell them…I have not been communicated with” speaks to how
the organization had not shared a vision, thus leaving managers and team supervisors untrained
and unprepared to communicate the vision to their employees. As Figure 15 shows, 86% of
managers and team supervisors indicated a service vision is part of a service strategy. However,
only 21% of managers and team supervisors agreed that new employees are instructed on any
service standards.
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Figure 15. Service vision as part of the service strategy and instruction on the service standards.

As a follow-up question, managers and team supervisors were asked to consider
alternative approaches he or she would like to utilize for helping employees understand the
organization’s vision for customer service. Posting consistent messages in employee common
spaces, using the monthly all-staff meetings, and generating a newsletter, were common
responses among interviewees. As one supervisor suggested, "I know a lot of other
organizations do newsletters and for us, the only time the entire zoo comes together is for the all-
staff meetings.” This supervisor’s comment suggests the organization should utilize more than
just the monthly all-staff meetings to communicate with employees. While managers and team
supervisors were able to generate the alternative approaches mentioned above, zero managers
and team supervisors responded during interviews they utilized their department meetings as an
approach to discuss customer service. Zoological Park departments have regularly scheduled
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Managers and team
supervisors agree
that a service vision
is an element of a
service strategy
Managers and team
supervisors agree
new employees are
instructed on the
service standards
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
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146
weekly or bi-weekly meetings, as the literature suggests these meetings would be a venue to
take comments from employees and discuss how the team is working to improve service delivery
or reduce service failures.
A majority of managers and team supervisors did not see themselves as role models of
service. Managers and team supervisors were asked to describe their approach to modeling
service for employees. One supervisor commented, “we do not focus on it…I give notes here
and there… unless I see something wrong, many times I will not say anything." Other
interviewees stated they modeled behaviors only during an employee’s initial training. As one
manager described:
I will try it out with them the first time, where they are strictly watching seeing how it
goes. Then we talk about it, and they ask questions. The next time I will take the lead,
but I give them a couple of things to say or do if they want to. Then the third time I will
provide them with more of a leadership role if they are comfortable we go on from there.
Her comments highlight what the literature suggested is the first step in motivating employees to
provide quality service; which is to demonstrate the behaviors and attitudes you want them to
use. Of the two managers who referred to modeling behaviors as an ongoing process, only one
indicated they provided feedback to employees. “They here and see what I do…I take note of
what they can improve upon and make them aware of it.” This comment provides an example of
how, as a manager, she is a tool for communicating the values and expectations of service to her
employees. By consciously exhibiting specific service behaviors in hopes of individuals
imitating her, she can strengthen those behaviors in her employees. Inappropriate or undesirable
behaviors can also serve as models; thus, it is crucial for managers and team supervisors to view
themselves as a service model whenever around employees.
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Quality service training is a process that teaches employees the skills, competencies,
and tools needed to serve an organization’s customers. Zoological Park lacked a service training
program that teaches these principles to the entire organization. As Figure 16 shows, 93% of
managers and team supervisors designated training on service skills as a service strategy
component. However, 79% of managers and team supervisors indicated employees never
received personal skills training to help enhance their ability to deliver high-quality service when
interacting with visitors. Furthermore, 79% of managers and team supervisors stated their
department never utilized training sessions to help improve employee attitudes towards visitors.
Lastly, 66% of managers and team supervisors disagreed and strongly disagreed that examples of
good and bad service experiences were demonstrated for employees.

Figure 16. Training as part of the service strategy and training on service skills and behaviors.
7%
79%
79%
13%
93%
21%
14%
53%
7%
27%
7%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
A service strategy consists of training in service skills
How often do employees receive personal skills
training to help enhance their ability to deliver high-
quality service?
My department utilizes training sessions to practice
ways to identify and imporve employee attitudes
towards visitors
Examples of good and bad service are demonstrated
for employees
Agree

Neither Agree or
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Always

Sometimes

Never

PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
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Conducting service training aligns everyone with how to best represent the
organization. Based on manager and team supervisor responses, service training appears to be an
afterthought for Zoological Park. As discussed with the organizational influences, it was not
expressed as a priority for managers and team supervisors to ensure employees knew how to
represent the organization and guarantee their work met quality standards.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors agreed with training in customer service is
essential. As one manager commented, “I think it would be helpful for everyone to get up to
speed…from a customer service perspective.” The following statement demonstrated that
managers and team supervisors recognized that employees did not enter the organization at the
same level regarding knowledge of customer service. “I think with some people, it is their first
job in a setting where you have all different realms of visitors coming through… they only know
what they know.” However, managers and team supervisors described an organizational practice
of expecting employees to perform their role regardless of training. As one manager recalled:
New employees receive zero training, and there is an expectation that they already know
how to provide excellent customer service without training. We recently hired a new
employee. She toured the zoo with the department Director on her first day and the next
day she was performing her role by herself. There was no way there was time for an
orientation process, an actual training standard.
His comment “there is an expectation that they already know how” is an example of how
managers and team supervisors do not display providing service training as part of their role.
“There was no way there was time for an orientation process,” also speaks to how managers and
team supervisors were not expected to fully establish expectations, get new hires acquainted with
tools they need, and go over their role in delivering the service being provided. Furthermore,
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interviewees indicated they did not have available resources or as one manager suggested a
training module. “It would be helpful to have a modern tutorial…how to handle large amounts
of customers and issues…I have realized they have not had this experience.” Within the last
year, Zoological Park acquired an online training platform with access to hundreds of training
courses from animal care to customer service. This manager’s comment has brought awareness
to the fact that she and the other managers and team supervisors were not aware of how to fully
utilize the training platform based on their department’s needs.
A majority of managers and team supervisors agreed the organization did not capture the
voice of the visitors. When asked if the assessment of customer service is a component of a
service strategy, 81% of managers and team supervisors agreed. However, when asked if the
organization continually measures service quality, 87% said they neither agreed nor disagreed.
The high response indicates managers and team supervisors were not aware of whether the
organization continuously measures service quality. Furthermore, managers and team
supervisors were asked if they are involved in measuring service quality. Only 29% indicated
yes, while 29% stated maybe, and 43% responded no. Based on these responses, just a few
managers and team supervisors were involved in measuring service quality which indicates it
was not an organizational-wide expectation for them to be involved.
Managers and team supervisors were also provided with six choices and an optional
"other" category from which they were asked to choose elements they utilized to assess service
quality. Only one respondent selected none of the above. The remaining managers and team
supervisors reported team members to go out of their way to prevent visitor problems (83%),
team members go the ‘extra mile' for visitors (83%), team members go out of their way to reduce
inconveniences for visitors (83%), team members are acting independently to provide excellent
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service (75%), team members are actively listening to visitors (58%), and team members
make essential visitor decisions without seeking approval (42%). To assess service quality by
examining whether team members go out of their way, go the ‘extra mile,' and go out of their
way to reduce inconveniences requires managers and team supervisors to observe employees.
As such, one would expect the percentages to be lower as 29% of managers and team supervisors
reported being involved in assessing service quality. In addition, managers and team supervisors
acknowledged that the service philosophy and process for evaluating service quality had not
been communicated to them. Given the organizational influences and the absent expectation for
managers and team supervisors to coach employees in service quality, the lower percentages for
the three remaining responses are consistent with the results/findings presented in previous
sections.
Managers and team supervisors agree Zoological Park leaders did not share current
measures of visitor satisfaction widely throughout the organization. In interviews, managers and
team supervisors were asked to consider how Zoological Park measures visitor satisfaction and
shares that information with employees. Just over half (55%) of the interviewees responded they
were not aware of how visitor satisfaction was measured. As one manager recalled, “I am not
aware of how the zoo measures visitor satisfaction…I could make a couple of assumptions, but
they would just be guesses.” In addition, 67% of interviewees indicated the information was not
communicated to them as demonstrated by the following statement: “I am not aware of how we
measure visitor satisfaction; I know it is not communicated to me.” “Online” was a common
response by interviewees who stated they were aware of how the zoo measures visitor
satisfaction. For example, “I know we get feedback online from Facebook, Trip Advisor, our
website…those sorts of things." The method of examining social media to ascertain visitor
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satisfaction has been gaining momentum. The comment "I know we get feedback online"
highlights managers' and team supervisors' understanding that visitors use social media as a
method to provide their unfiltered opinions regarding their experience. Two interviewees
indicated that they could go online and look at reviews. As one supervisor described:
I know that Facebook is one of the biggest measures of guests, what they think they are
getting, how they feel. I haven’t heard very much. We can easily go on and look at our
reviews if we wanted to. I know at one point we were told to look at the reviews.
The real-time visitor feedback serves to offer a viewpoint that allows managers and team
supervisors to become aware of experiences that can put off potential visitors or inspire people to
visit. However, if managers and team supervisors are not actively reviewing sites or if
Zoological Park is not sharing online feedback with them, then they cannot help employees
create experiences that will improve visitor satisfaction. Only one manager indicated she
collected visitor feedback and planned on reviewing the comments with employees. Regarding
whether the zoo used additional sources to gather visitor satisfaction, a majority of interviewees
were unaware the organization collected data from open response surveys conducted in the park
and with emails. As one manager commented, “I feel like we don’t reach out to guests to learn,
at least from what I know, to learn their satisfaction.” As a member of the leadership team, I am
aware that Zoological Park does collect visitor feedback by in-park surveys and online surveys
distributed to the zoo’s membership households. The manager’s comment “at least from what I
know” demonstrates information is not being disseminated and thus influences managers’ and
team supervisors’ ability to improve visitor satisfaction. The following response further
demonstrates managers and team supervisors wanted to know how the zoo was performing
concerning visitor satisfaction:
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I don't know what the zoo uses regarding its resources to measure how we are
performing and how people on the outside feel about the way we treat visitors. Someone
could send out a regular email, here are our service ratings and here is where we were,
here is where we are, here is what we need to know so we can improve for this month.
However, we have to measure, and I don't know if we do measure.
Visitor feedback helps Zoological Park gather external information about its services. Therefore,
to improve, the data must be analyzed and passed down to the rest of the organization. The
comment above demonstrated a breakdown in the visitor feedback loop and the sharing of this
data.
Based on these insights, managers' and team supervisors' responses corresponded with
the literature regarding factors that influence service quality. While manager and team
supervisor responses varied, there was clear evidence they understood why service quality is
essential to the organization. Although managers and team supervisors were aware of the
components of a service strategy, their responses demonstrated they did not implement these
strategies in their supervisory practices.
Metacognitive knowledge: Managers and team supervisors were not engaged in the
process of evaluating their effectiveness in supporting service orientation and employee
engagement. Self-regulatory skills include monitoring progress, goal setting, planning, attention
allocation, and organization (APA, 2015; Rueda, 2001; Dembo & Eaton, 2000). Setting specific
goals, using action plans, and engaging in self-assessment can have direct and indirect effects on
how managers influence employee engagement and the overall success of the organization
(Stajkovic & Luthans, 2002).
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In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to consider how they set
goals and allocated time to monitor progress towards improving service. There was variance
among managers and team supervisors interviewed, where a majority of managers and team
supervisors did not plan, monitor, or assess their performance. For example, one manager said,
"At this time, I don't have any goals…that might be something down the line to expand upon."
If managers and team supervisors do not have goals, they cannot plan out what to accomplish
and then organize their time and resources effectively. Furthermore, if goals are not set, then
they may not adjust their strategy for achieving the goal, assess whether the adjustment led to
better performance, and decide whether to adopt the strategy going forward.
One manager indicated she monitors her performance. As her comments described:
I am just trying day by day and inch by inch. You have to make time. It seems like there
is never enough time in the day when you get busy. But, you just take some of the
smallest opportunities and utilize it in a positive way. You just keep applying that
practice until it becomes second nature behavior which is great. And it is not that they
are bad behaviors it’s just changing behaviors to adjust being a better customer service-
oriented person for our visitors.
In contrast, another manager described how he didn’t monitor his performance because he did
not see his team as influencing service:
I am not sure I have an answer for you. We are so very much not a front-line employee.
Even when we are in the park, like we are now, we are behind-scenes-working on a
project. We are not the ones that should be in the guests' eye other than passing through.
This manager’s comment “we are not the ones” demonstrates he had given thought to how he
saw his department with regards towards service. Because he did not recognize his team as
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being “front-line employees” he is not likely to identify strategies that will help him improve
service. Furthermore, if he did not identify strategies to help improve service, he won’t be
adjusting tasks or creating a check-in system that ensures he is working towards improving
service.
Cooperative problem-solving strategies assist individuals in learning from each other.
Among interviewees, none indicated they had conversations with fellow managers and team
supervisors regarding possible approaches for improving service. However, one supervisor
responded that she would like to "use meetings [as] a tool for learning experiences," expressing
that conversations with fellow team supervisors would be a beneficial way of interacting with
peers who are more knowledgeable and obtaining feedback. As such, metacognitive strategies
would benefit managers and team supervisors in becoming more aware of how they view quality
service and to evaluate and adapt their skills to become more effective at improving service.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to reflect on their ability to
engage employees. Only one manager described how she was working on that at the time of the
study:
I am not sure quite how to handle it yet. I do this quite often; I like to research things
online, situations. If it is something that is a little testy, not sure, sometimes when you
research a little bit online you see examples of different ways of handling you could do.
It kind of brings to life, because not every day do you handle this type of thing. I am
always in a learning mode. I have a few things I want to address that are not serious but
could be costly, and I don't want to get myself to the point where they run with
frustration, so I am looking for something, a resolution.
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This manager’s comments speak to the importance of encouraging self-regulated learning,
such that managers and team supervisors have the skills to be able to overcome complex and
unexpected problems.
For those managers and team supervisors who did not plan, monitor, or assess their
performance, they may be missing out on benefits cited in Chapter Two. This literature details
how metacognition provides managers time to analyze the tasks at hand to utilize appropriate
strategies to get their job done. Metacognition also aids awareness of the service process and
outcomes, where managers and team supervisors develop an understanding of their critical role
as the bridge between the organization’s service culture and strategy. Given the inconsistencies
in interview responses, managers and team supervisors appeared to lack strategies that will help
them understand what they already know about improving service and employee engagement,
choosing tasks to employ to enhance service and employee engagement and evaluating whether a
strategy was successful in a given circumstance.
Synthesis of Knowledge Results and Key Findings
Managers and team supervisors understood the importance of a reliable service culture to
achieve the organization's goals. However, service training programs were not provided to
employees to teach the same standards to the entire organization. Furthermore, managers and
team supervisors did not use the same language to talk about service. As a result, they did not
have knowledge to bring about consistency in employee behaviors because they were not able to
communicate clear instructions to their employees. Therefore, managers and team supervisors
could not support employees understanding the service philosophy. In addition, managers and
team supervisors did not communicate to employees regularly regarding service issues and
achievements because feedback from customers was not shared widely throughout the
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organization. Managers and team supervisors may have realized there is a gap between what
they know or their abilities, but they did not seek to find out how to adjust or adapt their
knowledge or skills to meet the differing demands. Managers and team supervisors did not see
themselves as role models in service; they were limited in their ability to support a service
culture. Additionally, not understanding their position as having an influence resulted in limited
self-reflection in gauging their support or hindrance to employee engagement and service
orientation.
Motivation Results and Key Findings
The third area of results and findings pertains to motivation. As detailed in Chapter Two,
this study explored two types of motivation: utility value, which is part of Expectancy-Value
Theory and self-efficacy, which is the expectation one has about his or her capability to achieve
specific outcomes. In the conceptual framework, motivation influences were represented as were
the knowledge influences as being connected to the organizational influences. As explained with
knowledge, the conceptual framework highlights how managers' and team supervisors'
motivation was theorized to be influenced by organizational resources and barriers, all of which
combine to limit goal attainment. Results and key findings will be presented for both motivation
areas followed by a synthesis of results and findings for motivational influences.
Expectancy-value theory – utility value: Managers and team supervisors generally
saw the importance of employee engagement and service quality. Overall, managers and
team supervisors expressed that they valued activities that supported building employee
engagement and service orientation. As a reminder from Chapter Two, utility value is the part of
Expectancy-Value Theory that involves the value a person assigns to a task as it relates to current
and future goals (Eccles, 2006). The theory links achievement-related choices to two beliefs:
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the expectation an individual has of success and the importance or value they attribute to the
opportunities available (Eccles and Wigfield, 1995; Wigfield et al., 1998; Eccles, 2006; Scaduto,
Lindsay & Chiaburu, 2008). Utility value, in this study, refers to managers’ and team
supervisors’ belief that service strategy and employee engagement are useful to build employee
capacity for improved visitor satisfaction. Two items on the survey asked managers and team
supervisors about the value they place on service orientation and employee development. As
Figure 17 depicts, 87% of managers and team supervisors agreed they valued service orientation
practices as a way to improve visitor satisfaction. In addition, 100% of managers and team
supervisors agreed they appreciated employee development as a way to influence employee
engagement.

Figure 17. Expectancy-Value: Utility value of service orientation and employee engagement.
53%
47%
47%
40%
0%
13%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Neither Agree or Disagree Agree Strongly Agree
I value service-
orientated practices
to improve visitor
satisfaction
I value employee
development to
influence employee
engagement
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
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Service orientation is represented by the ability and desire to anticipate, recognize, and meet
the needs of others. Service-oriented employees focus on making themselves available to others
and providing satisfaction. Managers and team supervisors who value service-orientated
practices will encourage employees to think of Zoological Park visitors, focus on improving the
level of service Zoological Park provides. To be engaged, Zoological Park employees need to
want to work productively on behalf of the organization as well as care about it and their work.
Managers and team supervisors who value employee development will make it a priority to
encourage growth opportunities; showing employees that Zoological Park wants to invest in their
future, as well as, motivate them to be better at their jobs.
In interviews, managers and team supervisors reported similar responses to the
motivation for service quality. From one interviewee to the next, managers and team supervisors
cited the value they placed on service quality stemmed from raising awareness and compassion,
attendance supports funding, reputation within the community, and essential for business
survival. As one manager described:
I would say guest interaction from all ends is pretty critical. People want to come here
and have a good experience, be engaged and learn something while they are here. We
need them to spread the word they had a positive experience at our facility within the
community.
As the literature suggested in Chapter Two, utility value is defined as a more extrinsic type of
task value, as a tool for accomplishing a goal. This manager’s comment “we need them to”
expresses her goal for visitors to “spread the word…positive experience…in the community.”
Perceiving utility value of quality service could lead this manager to identify activities that will
help achieve her goal. Identification of such activities could establish interest in future plans.
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Manager and team supervisor responses were consistent with literature suggesting
service quality has an apparent relationship to profitability, customer satisfaction, customer
retention, and positive word-of-mouth (Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sassar, Schlesinger, 2008).
For one manager, the value of service quality was driven by a clear motivation to raise awareness
by sharing knowledge and enthusiasm with others. She said, "I think it plays hand in hand, that is
great service." For others, a motivation for service quality was driven by the organization's
financial needs. As one manager described, "if we do not have the guests we do not have a zoo,
the guests are what comes in our gate and give us money." The comments made by managers
and team supervisors highlighted the importance of making connections between service quality
and improving awareness and finances; which serve to energize their engagement in the
workplace. As such, the connections may help managers and team supervisors perceive
activities related to service quality as relevant to improving performance.
Managers and team supervisors valued influencing engagement through building work
environments that support employee development. However, as responses indicated, managers
and team supervisors perceived organizational support as low, thus affecting the extent to which
they believed the organization placed a value on employee contributions. One manager voiced
frustration concerning the lack of support received to invest in employees. This frustration was a
reality echoed by another manager:
Recently I had an employee who was interested in the education aspect of her position.
She was very interested in wanting to extend her knowledge to the public. She was
interested in doing more presentations, and I thought it would be a nice thing to help her
achieve. Unfortunately, there was no support from leadership to do those extras. It was
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very disappointing to me as her mentor and manager that we lost a qualified and
excited employee that did want to branch out and do more things.
Instead of fostering the manager’s engagement by helping her find personal value in supporting
her employee to “extend her knowledge to the public,” the manager felt “no support from
leadership” and was left disappointed.
As the literature suggested in Chapter Two, value beliefs are preferences that lead people
to adopt a course of action and persist in the face of adversity and distractions (Eccles, 2006).
Although, manager and team supervisors saw employee development as a path to the level of
engagement they wanted for employees; their motivation to engage employees stemmed from
perceived organizational support. Managers and team supervisors did not see an alignment
between building employee engagement and organizational investment in employees. For
example, the manager quoted in the transcript excerpt above saw value in employee
development, however strongly perceived organizational support as absent; a view also shared
by other interviewees. As one supervisor commented, "if the zoo invests in employees, there
will be a return, however, if we are told it is a waste of time, then we are going to stop doing
things because we feel we need to devote our resources to other things." This supervisor's
comment speaks to seeing past the immediate to the long-term benefits of investing in
employees. As such, Zoological Park may support managers' and team supervisors' utility value
of employee development, if they provide managers and team supervisors opportunities to
facilitate development activities instead of making them believe "it is a waste of time."
Self-efficacy theory: Organizational barriers and employee engagement levels
influenced managers’ and team supervisors’ self-efficacy. In Chapter One, the selection of
managers and team supervisors as the stakeholder group for this study was justified due to their
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organizational position as the individuals with the most direct, frequent contact with
employees who provide service and influence visitor satisfaction. As discussed in Chapter Two,
employees who know what is expected of them, understand their purpose, and who are provided
opportunities to grow and succeed are more likely to experience success (Saks, 2006). However,
organization barriers can impede a manager’s ability to create environments in which employees
form strong ties to their work, coworkers, and their manager, express feelings towards the
mission or purpose, and are provided information and feedback (Luthans & Peterson, 2002). As
a result, employees’ engagement and performance outcomes decrease, which can lower the self-
efficacy of the managers. Survey and interview items were utilized to ascertain managers’ and
team supervisors’ perception of their self-efficacy in utilizing strategies to shape service
orientation and employee engagement.
The first survey item regarding self-efficacy asked managers and team supervisors to rate
their agreement with whether they felt capable of influencing employee engagement. Figure 18
below shows, 87% of managers and team supervisors agreed or strongly agreed they are capable
of affecting employee engagement. In interviews, managers and team supervisors were asked to
reflect on their ability to engage employees. While survey responses showed managers and team
supervisors felt capable of influencing employee engagement, interview responses showed
organizational barriers affected their ability to do so. For example, one manager described how
hard it was to engage employees when you did not have all the information:
Here, and not just my staff but everyone is like “we don’t have money.” Everyone has
just resigned to themselves that we don't have money. However, we have to have
something; we are making our paychecks each month. We are paying the power bills; we
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are building new things. Somebody knows what it is and what the situation is. But, I
don't have a clue. We need to do a better job at getting people to believe we have money.
This manger’s comments “somebody knows what it is…but I don’t have a clue” highlight under-
communication as a challenge in the workplace. Under-communication leads to uncertainty and
doubt as described by “everyone has just resigned to themselves.” Furthermore, under-
communication hampers productivity with rumors such as “we don’t have money.” As such,
poor communication makes it challenging for managers and team supervisors to help employees
feel invested and proud of their work. Therefore, managers’ and team supervisors’ self-efficacy
may decrease; thus, they will exert less effort because they are not sure their efforts to improve
employee engagement will be successful.
In contrast, time spent with employees can further assist managers and team supervisors
in believing they are capable of influencing engagement and performance outcomes. As one
supervisor described:
Well our new employee whom I have gotten to go through the onboarding process a little
bit more, she was one of the few I see as willing to do whatever is needed to be done.
She is always bringing up new ideas and new games, and I appreciate that extra thought
beyond what I showed her all day. I am like yes, I feel comfortable leaving things in her
hands.
The literature suggested past performance is a source of self-efficacy. The comment “I am like
yes, I feel comfortable” demonstrates the supervisor felt successful in onboarding her new
employee and helping her feel engaged in her job; as shown by “she was one of the few…willing
to do whatever is needed.” In other words, this supervisor felt good and efficacious about her
ability to engage a new team member. One manager expressed how showing employees change
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does happen, shifted not only employees' engagement but also fueled her effort to change
their morale. She said, "I made it a lot better…by listening to their concerns and acting on them
right away…I showed them, and I meant what I said…you could see it, they are not stuck in that
emotional downside they were in." As employees become more engaged in their work,
managers and team supervisors may acquire confidence and beliefs in their abilities to create and
build engaged teams successfully.
A second self-efficacy item asked managers and team supervisors to rate their agreement
with a statement regarding their confidence to engage in service-orientated practices with
employees for improved visitor satisfaction. Figure 18 shows agreement with the statement “I
am confident that engaging in service-orientated practices with employees will produce positive
results in visitor satisfaction.” In addition, zero percent of managers disagreed with the statement
and only seven percent stated they neither agreed or disagreed.

Figure 18. Managers’ and team supervisors’ self-efficacy.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Strongly Agree Agree Neither Agree or Disagree
I am confident that
engaging in service-
orientated practices
with employees will
produce positive
results in visitor
satisfaction
I am capable of
influencing employee
engagement
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS
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When employees were provided with the ability to make decisions managers' and team
supervisors' self-efficacy to engage in service-orientated practices increased. As described by
the following transcript excerpt:
They need to be independent of their actions. They know I am always a phone call away
or a text if I am not right here. I needed to help them understand they know most of the
answers. Getting them to feel a little more self-esteem built up. They know they can take
charge and do these same things. It is working, and it just takes time.
The manager’s comment “they know they can take charge…it is working” speaks to seeing her
employees succeed in being “independent.” Employees who know what is expected of them,
provided tools, given opportunities to excel at their job, and provided information to improve
their progress are more likely to experience success. As such, her self-efficacy to engage
employees in service-orientated practices was boosted.
Other interviewees expressed difficulty in engaging in service-orientated practices
because some staff was shared across department functions, "you know that little asterisk at the
bottom of the job description…all other duties as assigned." As one supervisor described:
Sometimes I get people who are okay with doing my department's events, and that is
great. I like teaching people and training people, but it is hard when you get someone
who doesn't want to be educated. Not all of the staff want to do my programs, and if they
do not want to do it, then they won't do it well. It is hard. I worry they will not do a good
job, especially if I am not there.
The comment “it is hard when you get someone who doesn’t want to” speaks to how employees
can display incomplete role performance. When the supervisor likes to train, but employees “do
not want to do it” and the result is a fear “they won’t do it well;” the supervisor may develop
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lower confidence and beliefs in his/her ability to coach employees in service-orientated
practices. As such, manager and team supervisor self-efficacy may fluctuate around employees’
effort toward task accomplishment.
Synthesis of Motivation Results and Key Findings
Across survey and interview methods, results for expectancy value and self-efficacy
showed a discrepancy. Managers and team supervisors valued employee engagement and
service orientation, indicating they saw both as worthwhile and influential on visitor satisfaction.
However, managers and team supervisors did not always have an optimistic outlook on their
efforts to engage employees and support service orientation. Managers and team supervisors
viewed their efforts to engage employees as being hindered by under-communication as
discussed as an organizational influence. In some cases, managers and team supervisors saw
employee behaviors as primarily outside of their control; which in turn lowered their self-
efficacy. Managers' and team supervisors' outlook on their ability to engage employees and
support service orientation did shift when they were able to provide employees with decision-
making opportunities and appropriate training to increase their knowledge and skill.

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CHAPTER FIVE:
IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In the previous chapter, the first and second research questions were answered regarding
service orientation and employee engagement and manager and team supervisor influences
related to achieving the visitor satisfaction improvement goal. Results were presented according
to Clark and Estes’ (2008) framework of organizational, knowledge and skills, and motivation
influences. Additionally, key findings were synthesized. This chapter addresses the implications
for practice and answers the final research question:
What are the recommended solutions to close the organizational, knowledge, skills, and
motivation gaps concerning service orientation and employee engagement?
The chapter is organized with an emphasis on the Clark and Estes’ (2008) framework. Context-
specific recommendations for organizational, knowledge and skills, and motivation solutions are
provided. Chapter Five closes with recommendations for future study.
Implications for Practice
The findings of this study point to several suggestions for leaders within the zoo and
aquarium sector. The study revealed the importance of training, developing, and instilling the
organization's vision into its managers for a positive influence on employees. This study
investigated knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences that contribute to
Zoological Park managers and team supervisors supporting employee engagement and service
orientation. The findings presented above provided an understanding of specific organizational-
related strategic policies, practices and procedures that can cause gaps in service orientation and
employee engagement.
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This study has resulted in an increase in the understanding of the importance of a
service framework as a significant factor that drives visitor satisfaction. The findings indicated
that policies and practices help shape and influence employee service attitudes. Zoos and
aquariums can adopt a service framework to develop employee service attitudes and
consequently improve visitor experiences. Leadership should consider these strategic practices
to assist managers and supervisors in developing a workforce that is highly engaged to provide
quality service.
Through a well-defined strategy, organizational leaders guide employee performance.
This study showed that leadership should continuously communicate the importance of service
and share with managers and supervisors the vision and mission, as well as overall objectives
and strategies to achieve the organization’s goals. In addition, leaders should ensure that
managers and supervisors understand the importance of their role including how it fits into the
organizational goal, feasibly through onboarding practices and ongoing development initiatives.
Lastly, the efforts to involve employees in decision making can be perceived quite differently by
managers and supervisors across departments. Leadership should ensure managers and team
supervisors feel they have the ability to involve employees in decision making to encourage
greater employee involvement and participation.
When an organization contributes towards management development, managers feel
comfortable to take ownership of employees’ development and think of themselves as a coach.
This study revealed that without leadership support in such initiatives many managers and
supervisors need additional support or guidance to be actively involved in the employee
development process. In addition, not all managers and supervisors consider it part of their job.
As such, leadership needs to question whether they are setting their managers and team
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supervisors up for failure because they are being asked to do something they either do not
know how to do or believe they should be doing at all. Organizations that are interested in
stimulating employees’ interest and involvement in work-related activities should ensure their
managers and team supervisors have the additional support and guidance to advance employee
needs, successes, and opportunities.
One more implication of this study is the importance of measuring the engagement of its
employees on a regular basis. Measuring commitment serves as a method to gauge how well the
organization is performing; the outcome of which can be used to create change by evaluating
policies, practices, and procedures that are implemented. The findings of this study may
encourage leadership to develop strategic plans that include consideration of the links between a
service framework, employee engagement, and desired outcomes for service performance.
Recommendations for Practice
Organization Recommendations
Organizational culture is a way to express the core values, goals, beliefs, emotions, and
process people develop over time in work environments (Clark & Estes, 2008). Clark and Estes
(2008) also suggested that stakeholder goals are often not achieved due to systems and
procedures that are not aligned with the organization's mission and goals. Thus, policies and
processes in combination with organizational culture must align throughout the organization's
structure to achieve the mission and goals. Based on informal interviews, survey, and supported
by the literature review, the following are recommendations for the organizational influences
indicated in Chapter Two.
Systems and procedures. Policies and procedures serve as reinforcement mechanisms,
lending structure, and predictability thereby reducing ambiguity and anxiety towards tasks that
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employees must perform (Schein, 2017). The findings showed that Zoological Park's
policies and procedures regarding service quality do not align with the performance goal to
improve visitor satisfaction. According to Clark and Estes (2008), effective organizations ensure
that messages, rewards, policies, and procedures that govern the work of the organization are
aligned with or are supportive of organizational goals and values. Furthermore, responses
demonstrated Zoological Park did not have a set of standards and expectations that established a
common language, shared vision, and accountability. As such, managers and team supervisors
cannot be held accountable to ensure all employees are exhibiting the same behaviors and
fulfilling the expectations of visitors and stakeholders. Therefore, Zoological Park's leaders
should identify the quality standards that are the operating priorities and organize them into a
clearly understood hierarchy. The outcome will support managers and team supervisors in
guiding employees to provide consistent visitor experiences.
Organization systems and procedures are visible and recurrent tasks that have to be
performed (Schein, 2017). Service quality standards are parameters employees utilize for
making decisions when delivering service (Kusluvan, 2003). In addition, ranking identified
quality standards in priority order assist employees in using the criteria as a decision-making
tool. The According to Schein (2017), if organizational leaders do not design systems and
procedures as reinforcement mechanisms, they open the door to inconsistencies in the
performance that conflicts with the organization's goals and values. As such, the quality
standards and behavioral guidelines should become repeatable messages communicated through
various forms of media and blended with observable, trainable, and coachable behaviors. The
recommendation is for Zoological Park leaders to identify the quality standards that apply to the
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organization, define each of the standards behaviorally, and rank the quality standards of
most importance, continually communicating these priorities.
Quality service is derived from the intersection of the process, the place in which the
service occurs, and the people delivering the service (Lytle, Hom, & Mokwa, 1998). The
findings demonstrated that Zoological Park does not have a formal onboarding program that
assists employees in understanding the service delivery systems of process, people, and place
and why the intersection is needed to execute and consistently deliver high-quality service.
Organizational performance increases when individual roles and expectations are aligned with
organizational goals and mission (Clark & Estes, 2008). The recommendation is to provide a
formal onboarding program that includes training in the quality standards and delivery systems
of process, place, and people to assist employees in adjusting to policy-related rules, job-related
expectations, organizational norms, and socialization.
Formal onboarding refers to a documented set of coordinated policies and procedures that
assist individuals in adjusting to their new job regarding both tasks and socialization (Bauer,
2010). Organizational leaders can help employees visualize not only the purpose of their work
but also how each person's work influences and relates to the mission of the organization and its
outcomes (Gallup Organization, 2013). Strebel (1996) reasoned that personal commitment to the
organization comes from employees understanding what they are supposed to do for the
organization, what assistance they will receive, and how performance will be
evaluated. Onboarding programs influence self-efficacy, role clarity, social integration, and
knowledge of organizational culture (Bauer, 2010). Furthermore, organizational performance is
driven by leaders communicating the business strategy, values, and vision, as well as a carefully
designed culture that creates an environment in which employees are fully engaged and
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successful in their role (Gallup Organization, 2013). Therefore, to ensure employees can
work together to deliver sustained high-quality service Zoological Park needs to provide a
roadmap that outlines the common purpose, the service framework, responsibilities and support,
training, and feedback process.
Employee engagement refers to the connection and commitment employees have towards
their work and their organization (The Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). The
findings showed that Zoological Park does not actively measure employee engagement resulting
in managers and team supervisors not fully supporting his or her employees. Employee attitudes,
particularly feeling as though they matter and their work makes a difference, are correlated with
organizational outputs (Buckingham & Coffman, 1999; Harter, Schmidt, Killham & Asplund,
2006; Schlossberg, 1989). As such, the recommendation is to create an employee feedback
process to monitor whether managers and team supervisors are supporting an environment that
encourages customer service strategies and fosters a workplace culture that encourages everyone
to reach shared goals.
In the service industry, the organization's value is delivered to its customers by individual
employees (Gallup Organization, 2013). Furthermore, quality service is unlikely produced
without engaged and committed employees. Berbarry and Malinchak (2011) reasoned that a
healthy relationship between an employee and his or her immediate supervisor is a critical factor
in building a stable workplace. According to Bersin (2017), management practices can impact
employee engagement; therefore, obtaining regular feedback helps develop a complete
understanding and mindset of employees. At the time of the study, surveying employees is not
an approach Zoological Park utilized to provide managers and team supervisors honest and
helpful feedback from employees. As such, the recommendation is for Zoological Park to adopt
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a plan to evaluate employee engagement as method for managers and team supervisors to
assess and improve organizational culture, resources, employee confidence in his or her role,
communication, morale, opportunities for growth, and recognition programs.
Knowledge Recommendations
Clark and Estes (2008) indicate stakeholder knowledge is critical to individual and
organizational goal attainment. Zoological Park managers and team supervisors are expected to
remember facts, understand concepts/principles and apply procedures regarding service
orientation and reflect on behaviors influencing employee satisfaction. According to Anderson
and Krathwohl (2001), the knowledge dimension contributes to performance goal achievement
through knowledge of subject-specific elements and their interrelations, knowledge in criteria for
using skills and techniques, and reflective knowledge. The following knowledge
recommendations are based on interviews, a survey, and supported by the literature review.
Conceptual knowledge solutions. Conceptual knowledge refers to the interrelationships
between elements within a larger structure enabling them to function together (Anderson &
Krathwohl, 2001). The findings showed that managers and team supervisors were able to
acknowledge the dimensions of service; however their responses demonstrated they were unclear
as to how the aspects worked together to produce visitor experiences. Although Zoological Park
managers and team supervisors may know service dimensions, they could benefit from
additional information to understand how the aspects work together to influence service quality.
Conceptual knowledge is acquired when individuals can explain concepts, and transfer the
information to new situations (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). As such, conceptual knowledge
gaps will continue until managers and team supervisors understand how the dimensions of
service intersect to deliver high-quality visitor experiences.
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Conceptual knowledge includes an understanding of categories, principles, and
models (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). When Zoological Park managers and team supervisors
can explain the dimensions of service and transfer information to new situations, they have
acquired conceptual knowledge. The findings revealed that managers and team supervisors are
limited in their scope of service awareness, resulting in inconsistent behaviors, decisions, and
silos of understanding within the organization. Iles, Yolles, and Altman (2001) suggested the
creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge is critical to organizational performance.
Therefore, educating managers and team supervisors in the specific construct of service quality
may be a practical solution for closing conceptual knowledge. Clark and Estes (2008) explained
individuals might encounter problems recognizing when it is appropriate to use past experience
for new situations, referring to this as a knowledge transfer problem. As such, Clark & Estes
(2008) suggested providing employees job aids for achieving performance goals because job aids
are formulated to include guidelines allowing employees to do it on their own. Therefore,
leadership can support service performance by providing managers and team supervisors a job
aid summarizing the dimensions of service quality including the actions and decisions that
should be made regarding daily tasks.
Procedural knowledge solutions. According to Anderson & Krathwohl (2001),
procedural knowledge refers to the specific knowledge about how things are done. The findings
revealed that Zoological Park managers and team supervisors need instruction on how to
integrate service orientation into their supervisory practices. Procedural knowledge includes an
understanding of subject-specific skills, subject-specific methods, and subject-specific criteria
and is often a series or sequence of steps to follow (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). The
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recommendation is to provide managers and team supervisors step-by-step instruction
practice skills, and feedback on integrating service orientation into their supervisory practices.
Procedural knowledge helps individuals learn to do a task within an area of content, as in
the case of service orientation (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). To develop mastery, individuals
must acquire skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). Therefore, adequate training must provide specific procedures
showing how to accomplish a performance goal (Clark & Estes, 2008). In addition, the
instructional program must provide sufficient practice and feedback to enhance the long-term
application of skills (APA, 2015; Baldwin & Ford, 1988). The use of procedural knowledge to
improve visitor satisfaction, as a result of training, requires providing managers and team
supervisors precise, accurate, job-related "how to do it" service orientation training and
supporting the transfer of knowledge and skills that he or she acquired during training.
Managers are intimately involved as both the deliverers and drivers of human resource
policies (Kusluvan, 2003). Zoological Park managers and supervisors do not have the coaching
skills required to have useful employee development conversations with their team members.
The use of procedural knowledge to improve employee development, as a result of training,
requires providing managers and team supervisors coaching skills to participate in performance
conversations with their team members. Strengths-based and engagement-focused discussions
help achieve performance development, as well as, encourage manager-employee interactions
(Gallup Organization, 2018). The recommendation is to provide managers and team supervisors
step-by-step instruction practice skills, and feedback on how to complete the following tasks:
establish clear, collaborative, and aligned goals; have frequent and future-oriented dialogues
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regarding performance, and use metrics and evaluations to hold employees accountable and
recognize achievements.
Metacognitive knowledge solutions. Metacognitive knowledge is an awareness of and
understanding of one's thinking (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors need to know how their behavior impacts employee satisfaction. The use of
metacognitive strategies assists individuals in becoming self-regulated (Baker, 2006). Affording
opportunities for Zoological Park managers and team supervisors to collaborate and engage in
discussions regarding self-monitoring and self-assessments of their behaviors will provide the
mechanism needed for increasing motivation and persistence for improving employee
satisfaction.
Monitoring cognition facilitates acquiring more understanding and knowledge (Anderson
& Krathwohl, 2001). The emphasis is on assisting Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors becoming more aware what they know and what they do not know about employee
satisfaction and responsible for planning, monitoring, and assessing his or her behaviors. To
promote metacognition, Mayer (2011) indicated identifying prior knowledge increases an
individual’s ability to transfer or adapt their knowledge to new contexts and tasks. In addition,
Baker (2006) suggested providing opportunities to engage in guided self-monitoring and self-
assessment to promote metacognition and facilitate learning. Therefore, managers and team
supervisors should identify prior knowledge of behaviors influencing employee satisfaction and
engage in guided self-monitoring and self-assessment. As such, managers and team supervisors
who are encouraged to draw on prior knowledge and participate in self-assessments of his or her
behaviors will know their strengths and weaknesses and will more likely monitor their strategies.

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Motivation Recommendations
Motivation guides the amount of cognitive effort a person invests in a task, pushing them
to employ their knowledge and skills (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). Choice, persistence,
and mental effort are three types of motivation challenges employees often encounter in the
workplace (Clark & Estes, 2008). Choice refers to actively starting a work goal. Persistence is
described as continuing to pursue a goal even when faced with distractions, and mental effort is
seeking and applying knowledge to meet performance standards. The assumed influences
suggest self-efficacy and utility value may be lacking for managers and team supervisors in their
utilization of a service philosophy and monitoring employee engagement for improved visitor
satisfaction.
Self-Efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to the expectation a person has about his or her
capability to achieve specific outcomes (Bandura, 1986). The findings indicated that managers
and team supervisors lack confidence in influencing service orientation in employees. Managers
and team supervisors saw employee behaviors as primarily outside of their control; which in turn
lowered their self-efficacy. Learning and motivation are enhanced when individuals have
positive expectancies for success (Pajares, 2006). Managers' and team supervisors' outlook on
their ability to support service orientation shifted when they were able to provide employees with
decision-making opportunities and appropriate training to increase their knowledge and skill.
Managers and team supervisors do not have goals that are tied to employee performance
management, such as raising service orientation. As such, managers and team supervisors
should be provided with concrete and challenging goals that allow him or her to experience
success in influencing service orientation in employees.
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Confidence increases when goals are challenging, concrete, and possible to achieve;
allowing individuals to experience success at a task (Clark & Estes, 2008; Pajares,
2006). According to Bandura (1986), past performance is the most important source of self-
efficacy because previous experience with on the job success builds confidence to complete
similar tasks. Kreitner and Kinicki (2004) explained that goals that are too ambitious result in
performance failure resulting in lower self-efficacy. In addition, when goals are set too low, they
lead to a false sense of self-efficacy resulting in greater frustration and discouragement when
facing more challenging tasks. Zoological Park leadership should break larger service
performance goals into tangible steps. The achievement of mini-goals can provide a sense of
task mastery and competence, increasing self-efficacy (Pajares, 2006). Therefore, the
recommendation is to produce goals that are challenging and attainable leading to higher
performance levels and self-efficacy beliefs (Clark & Estes, 2008; Pajares, 2006; Kreitner &
Kinicki, 2004).
An individual's sense of capability is influenced by perception, motivation, and
performance (Bandura, 1986). The findings showed that managers and team supervisors lack
confidence in monitoring employee engagement. Zoological Park does not regularly measure
engagement and satisfaction. As a result, managers and team supervisors are not provided with
feedback and therefore cannot develop action plans to address improvements. Pajares (2006)
suggested modeling and feedback increase self-efficacy. As such, after Zoological Park
evaluates employee engagement and results are communicated, managers and team supervisors
should be required to submit action plans. In addition, leadership should provide managers and
team supervisors with goal-directed practice coupled with frequent, targeted, and private
feedback on the progress of his or her performance in monitoring improvements.
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Bandura (1986) suggested learning from modeled behavior affects self-efficacy and
motivation. Pajares (2006) further explained that self-efficacy beliefs are also influenced by the
feedback individuals receive. At the time of the study, Zoological Park leadership did not
regularly provide performance feedback to its managers and team supervisors. According to
Schunk (1989), observing competent models perform tasks helps convey information to
observers about the sequence of activities one should use to succeed. In addition, Schunk (1989)
explained that modeled displays also send a message to observers that they can learn or
accomplish tasks if they follow the same sequence of activities. Therefore, the belief that
managers and team supervisors know what to do to when monitoring employee engagement
raises self-efficacy, motivating him or her to perform the task. As such, managers and team
supervisors should receive guided practice when monitoring employee engagement and receive
corrective instruction from the models as necessary. Furthermore, improving coaching strategies
by increasing the quality and quantity of constructive feedback, guidance, support, and education
provided to employees can boost self-efficacy (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2004). Therefore, the
recommendation is to provide feedback that is accurate, timely and specific, so managers and
team supervisors understand the cause-and-effect relationship involved in monitoring employee
engagement to increase high-quality service performance in the future.
Value. Utility value is defined as a more extrinsic type of task value: the task is
important, not for intrinsic reasons such as enjoyment, but for extrinsic reasons such as a tool for
accomplishing a goal (Hulleman and Harackiewicz, 2010; Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). The
findings demonstrated the general value of service strategy tasks by managers and team
supervisors. As such, rationales that include a discussion of the importance and utility value of
the work can help individuals develop positive values (Eccles, 2006; Pintrich, 2003). Therefore,
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managers and team supervisors should be provided opportunities for discussions during
training to include rationales about the importance and value of service orientation to stimulate
interest and engagement in service strategy tasks.
One way to enhance motivation and achievement is to help individuals find value and
meaning in their work (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002). Wigfield and Eccles (2002), reasoned that
task value beliefs predict choice behaviors, such as the intention of managers and team
supervisors to engage in service strategy tasks. Furthermore, Wentzel (2000) suggested that
values such as utility provide reasons as to why individuals might pursue different goals.
Hulleman (2007) explained utility value in a task could lead to processes that are both internally
and externally motivating. For example, involvement focuses on being actively engaged and is
considered an internal process whereas identification focuses on the importance of the activity
for achieving a goal and is thought to be more external. According to Pintrich (2003), providing
tasks, materials, and activities that are relevant and useful and allows for some personal
identification can aid the development of values. In addition, discussions should focus on the
importance and utility of content and activities. Therefore, the recommendation is to provide
service strategy training that includes activities managers and team supervisors find useful,
meaningful, and personally relevant and allows them to identify with the content and future
goals.
Implementation Plan
Simon Sinek (2011), illustrated how the what, how and why describes the reasons for an
organization's existence. As such, Zoological Park first needs to be able to articulate to all
stakeholders what it does, how it does it, and the reason why. As such, the first step in the
implementation plan should include representatives from each stakeholder group described in the
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study drafting consistent messaging centered around why Zoological Park exists and what
purpose does it serve. The messaging should be incorporated into the quality service program
that will serve as a blueprint to teach managers and team supervisors how to train employees to
see themselves as an integral part of Zoological Park's team, improve quality of service, and
better engage employees. To develop the quality service program, the leadership team and the
human resource office needs to narrow the program’s priorities. These priorities should serve as
a framework to help expand the skill set of managers and team supervisors and empower
employees to make decisions while still maintaining a cohesive service strategy. In addition, the
leadership team and human resource office should identify initiatives that can serve as quick
wins that can be reported out to employees that demonstrate the program's progress. The next
step consists of getting all managers and team supervisors to understand the program, the
individual components, and endorse it. This process incorporates sharing the program, how it
was constructed, the various initiatives, and the tools they can use in their departments. The
success of the plan relies on buy-in, as well as, the activities to build manager and team
supervisor capacity, maximize resources, teach all employees how to perform their role and
engage with zoo visitors; leading to increased employee satisfaction, increased visitor
satisfaction, hopefully, increased revenue.
Future Research
Results of the current study revealed that organizational practices and leadership
behavior, either negative or positive, influence managers’ ability to communicate service
expectations to their team and guide employee development. Zoos and Aquariums rely heavily
upon the provision of service to visitors, with many experiences including tangible and
intangible interactions. Employee contact is a critical factor of visitor satisfaction, and when
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visitors are satisfied with human interaction, they are more forgiving of other problems. The
more managers can allocate resources towards employee development, the higher the probability
of success the organization will have in raising customer satisfaction.
Several limitations were encountered in the current study. These included that the study
was limited to one zoo in the Southeast United States. Future research should explore other
small and large organizations within the Zoo and Aquarium Industry. The present study
included 16 managers and team supervisors for the survey and nine individuals for interviews.
Findings of the study were, therefore, indicative rather than conclusive. The study was
conducted during one particular time; as such, a longitudinal study would be useful. In addition,
the participation of employees as a method for examining service orientation and employee
engagement for improved visitor satisfaction would be beneficial.
Zoological Park would benefit from a more in-depth study of conducting research that is
dedicated to identifying the factors that affect employees' behaviors and attitudes in the
workplace. Zoological Park was found to have varying manager and supervisor beliefs regarding
goal setting, accountability, and acknowledgment; as such, the organization could seek to better
understand employees' perceptions of management treatment of employee performance in the
workplace.
Further research attempts should aim at investigating the same research questions
regarding employees' knowledge and motivation for delivering quality service as well as any
organizational barriers that may be influencing their ability to improve visitor satisfaction. This
future research is important to deepen the results of this study and to examine whether
employees' visions are the same, or different. Because little research into how employees
influence visitor satisfaction has been done in a zoological setting, this study has introduced a
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richer understanding of the role managers play in fostering positive employee experiences
and setting service expectations to ensure employees feel fully supported to do their best work.
Conclusion
This study sought to understand service orientation and employee engagement at
Zoological Park concerning its visitor satisfaction improvement goal and to assess the
knowledge, skills, motivation, and organizational influences of those most influential with
employees – managers and team supervisors. Clark and Estes' (2008) gap analysis served as the
conceptual and methodological framework for the study. Survey and interview results of
managers and team supervisors highlighted thematic gaps including: areas of limited knowledge
with service quality and employee engagement; minimally perceived organizational support for
employee development; contrasting reports of organizational resources and ability to influence
employee performance; absence of control over employee decision-making, and absence of
ownership and accountability for service quality. The implications of these findings point to the
risk of ongoing fluctuations in service quality across departments, where managers and team
supervisors remain at odds with their influence due to a deficiency of critical knowledge, skills,
motivation, and organizational resources. This study provided Zoological Park managers and
team supervisors an opportunity to be heard and contribute to organizational change. Zoological
Park’s managers and team supervisors play a primary role in influencing employee performance
and engagement. Recognizing Zoological Park’s managers and team supervisors have the same
fundamental needs as their employees, will bring focus to workplace factors such as
organizational leaders and policies that either support or undercut their efforts. By implementing
the recommended solutions, Zoological Park may begin to address service orientation and
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employee engagement in ways that elevate employee development and the organization and
improve visitor experiences for community residents.

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APPENDIX A
Survey Instrument for Managers and Team Supervisors
Thank you for participating in the survey. No names or emails will be collected, and responses
will be anonymous. There are several sections, and despite the similarity of some statements, it is
critical that you respond to each statement. Please provide answers as accurately and honestly as
you can.

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
1. Leadership has clearly
communicated the
organization’s goal of
improving visitor satisfaction
to me.
1 2 3 4 5

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
2. The organization has
policies/procedures that align
with the performance goal to
improve visitor satisfaction.
1 2 3 4 5

3. The organization’s policies and procedures are developed to: (Choose all that apply)

o Be consistent with the values of the organization
o Ensure the organization is operating in an efficient manner
o Ensure consistency in decision-making and operational procedures
o Provide employees with resources, information, and training to carry out their work safely
and effectively
o Clarify functions and responsibilities
o Assist in assessing performance and establishing accountability
o I am not aware of the organization’s policies and procedures

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Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
4. The organization has
incentives that align with the
performance goal of
improving customer
satisfaction.
1 2 3 4 5

5. Incentives for improving job performance include: (Choose all that apply)

a. Recognition
b. Additional responsibilities
c. Promotion
d. Pay raise
e. None
f. Other: _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
6. I am provided with sufficient
resources to do my job
effectively.
1 2 3 4 5

7. The resources I am provided to support employees in achieving performance goals include
(Choose all that apply).

a. Time
b. Training
c. Equipment
d. Incentives
e. None
f. Other: _______________________________________________________________________________________________

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8. I am encouraged to engage in discussions with my team about progress towards performance
goals.

a. Never
b. Seldom
c. Sometimes
d. Always

9. In the last year I have used the following methods to motivate my team to perform to the best of
their abilities. (Choose all that apply)

a. Goal-setting and planning
b. Connecting individual goals to the larger organizational goals
c. Providing input and feedback
d. Encourage discussions in problem-solving
e. Acknowledge employee values and contributions
f. I have not used any methods
g. Other: ____________________________________________________________________________________

10. The organization’s process for accountability includes: (Choose all the apply)

o Communicating expectations and responsibilities in advance
o Tracking performance on a regular basis throughout the year
o Tying actions to rewards and consequences
o Treating all employees fairly and held to the same standards
o There is no process for accountability
o Other: ______________________________________________________________

11. The organization’s onboarding practices help: (Choose all that apply)

a. Convey the organization’s brand
b. Convey the organization’s values
c. Convey the organization’s culture
d. Align employee expectations to performance goals
e. Provide the tools needed for employees to contribute to performance goals.
f. I am not familiar with the organization’s onboarding practic
g. Other: ___________________________________________________________________________

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12. An individual’s level of employee engagement is influenced by: (Choose all that apply)

a. His/Her commitment towards the organization
b. Opportunities for career development
c. Relationships with management
d. Relationships with fellow employees
e. Rewards and incentives
f. His/Her work environment
g. None of the above
h. Other: ______________________________________________________________________

13. Your role in influencing employee engagement involves: (Choose all that apply)

a. Creating a respectful and trusting workplace
b. Communicating the organization’s values
c. Setting expectations for service performance
d. Providing the tools for employees to do their job
e. Conveying the organization’s mission and vision
f. None of the above
g. Other: _______________________________________________________________________

14. My director has conversations with me regarding employee engagement:
a. Never
b. Seldom
c. Sometimes
d. Always

15. The following behaviors influence employee satisfaction. (Choose all that apply)

o Daily communication with my team members
o Helping my employees feel safe to experiment, challenge, and share information
o Clear communication with my employees regarding expectations and responsibilities
o Helping my employees set work priorities and performance goals
o Focus on my employees’ strengths or positive characteristics to build their skills and
knowledge
o None of the above
o Other: ______________________________________________________________________________

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Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
16. There is a strong visitor focus
in the organization.
1 2 3 4 5

17. Service quality is affected by: (Choose all that apply)

a. Employee attitude
b. Employee behavior
c. The organization’s appearance
d. Accessibility of employees to visitors
e. Employee knowledge
f. The organization’s credibility to visitors
g. Customer perception of service provided
h. Other: ________________________________________________________________________

18. A service strategy consists of: (Choose all that apply)

a. A service vision
b. Assessment of customer needs
c. Goals for customer service
d. Training on service skills
e. Accountability for quality service
f. Rewards and recognition for quality service
g. Other: ____________________________________________________________________

19. Leadership communicates the importance of service quality to employees.

a. Never
b. Seldom
c. Sometimes
d. Always

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
20. Service quality is
continually measured by
the organization.

1 2 3 4 5

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21. When I am measuring service quality, I make sure the following elements are addressed: (Choose all
that apply)

o Employees are actively listening to visitors
o Employees are going out of their way to prevent visitor problems
o Employees go the ‘extra mile’ for visitors
o Employees go out of their way to reduce inconveniences for visitors
o Employees make essential visitor decisions without seeking approval
o Employees are acting independently to provide excellent service
o I don’t measure service quality
o Other: ___________________________________________________________________

Never Seldom Somewhat Always
22. How often are employees
provided resources to enhance
their ability to provide excellent
service?

1 2 3 4

Never Seldom Somewhat Always
23. How often are employees
provided opportunities to give
input into creating quality
service?

1 2 3 4

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
24. My department uses
incentives and rewards to
promote improved service
quality.

1 2 3 4 5
25. Zoological Park noticeably
celebrates excellent
service.

1 2 3 4 5

Never Seldom Sometimes Always
26. How often do employees
receive personal skills
training to help enhances
their ability to deliver
high-quality service when
interacting with visitors?

1 2 3 4
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Never Seldom Sometimes Always
27. During training sessions, we
practice ways to identify and
improve attitudes toward
visitors.

1 2 3 4

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
28. Examples of good and bad
service experiences are
demonstrated for
employees.

1 2 3 4 5
29. New employees are
instructed on the service
standards that have been
established by the
organization.

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Agree
30. I value service-orientated
practices as a way to
improve visitor
satisfaction.
1 2 3 4 5
31. I am capable of influencing
employee engagement.
1 2 3 4 5
32. I am confident that
engaging in service-
orientated practices with
employees will produce
positive results in visitor
satisfaction.
1 2 3 4 5
33. I value employee
development as a way to
influence employee
engagement.
1 2 3 4 5

Demographics

1. What is your gender?
o Male
o Female
o Other (please state):

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2. What is your highest level of education?
o High School Diploma
o Vocational Education
o Associate Degree
o Bachelor’s Degree
o Higher than Bachelor’s Degree

3. How long have you worked at Zoological Park?
o Less than six months
o six months - 1 year
o 2-3 years
o 4-5 years
o More than five years

Additional comments?

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APPENDIX B
Survey Results for Managers and Team Supervisors
Q1 - The zoo's policies and procedures are developed to (Choose all that
apply)

# The zoo's policies and procedures are developed to (Choose all that apply) Percentage
1 Be consistent with the values of the organization 69%
2 Ensure the zoo is operating in an efficient manner 38%
3 Ensure consistency in decision-making and operational procedures 46%
4
Provide employees with resources, information, and training to carry out their work
safely and effectively
62%
5 Clarify functions and responsibilities 38%
6 Assist in assessing performance and establishing accountability 23%
7 I am not aware of our policies and procedures 23%
Total 13
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Q2 - Leadership has clearly communicated the zoo’s goal of improving
visitor satisfaction to me.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
Leadership has clearly
communicated the zoo’s goal of
improving visitor satisfaction to
me.
1 5 3 1 1 15

Q3 - I am aware of policies/procedures that align with the organization's goal
to improve visitor satisfaction.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I am aware of policies/procedures that
align with the organization's goal to
improve visitor satisfaction.
1 3 2 1 1 15

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Q4 - Incentives for improving job performance include: (Choose all that
apply)

Other: - Text
Depends of current status of the Zoo.
to feel valued
NO incentives exist for job performance at the Central Florida Zoo.

#
Incentives for improving job performance include: (Choose all that apply) - Selected
Choice
Percentage
1 Recognition 67%
2 Additional responsibilities 60%
3 Promotion 33%
4 Pay raise 33%
5 None of the above 7%
6 Other: 20%
Total 15
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Q5 - The zoo has incentives that align with the organization's goal to improve
visitor satisfaction.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
The zoo has incentives that align
with the organization's goal to
improve visitor satisfaction.
2 5 3 1 1 15

Q6 - I am provided with sufficient resources to do my job effectively.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I am provided with sufficient
resources to do my job
effectively.
2 5 3 1 1 15

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Q7 - The resources provided to support my team in achieving performance
goals include (Choose all that apply).

Other:
we don't have performance goals as far as I am aware
NO resources are provided to support my team in achieving performance goals due to no performance
goals are encouraged at the Central Florida Zoo.

#
The resources provided to support my team in achieving performance goals include
(Choose all that apply). - Selected Choice
Percentage
1 Time 50%
2 Training 21%
3 Equipment 43%
4 Incentives 0%
5 None of the above 21%
6 Other: 14%
Total 14

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Q8 - I am encouraged to engage in discussions with my team about
progress towards performance goals.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I am encouraged to engage in
discussions with my team about
progress towards performance
goals.
1 4 3 1 1 14

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Q9 - In the last year, I have used the following methods to motivate my
team to perform to the best of their abilities. (Choose all that apply)

#
In the last year, I have used the following methods to motivate my team to perform to
the best of their abilities. (Choose all that apply) - Selected Choice
Percentage
1 Goal-setting and planning 40%
2 Connecting individual goals to the larger organizational goals 40%
3 Providing input and feedback 73%
4 Encourage discussions in problem-solving 87%
5 Acknowledge team member's values and contributions 73%
6 None of the above 7%
7 Other: 7%
Total 15

Other:
I supervise a smaller section of the zoo. The individuals I supervise are happy with my motivational
techniques, however the zoo provides NO motivational tactics.

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Q10 - The zoo's process for accountability includes: (Choose all the apply)

# The zoo's process for accountability includes: (Choose all the apply) - Selected Choice Percentage
1 Communicating expectations and responsibilities in advance 36%
2 Tracking performance on a regular basis throughout the year 7%
3 Tying actions to rewards and consequences 36%
4 Treating all employees fairly and held to the same standards 43%
5 There is no process for accountability 36%
6 Other: 7%
Total 14

Other:
Other than the CFZ's Employee Handbook, I am aware of no process for accountability.

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Q11 - The organization’s onboarding practices help: (Choose all that
apply)

#
The organization’s onboarding practices help: (Choose all that apply) - Selected
Choice
Percentage
1 Convey the zoo's brand 29%
2 Convey the zoo's values 29%
3 Convey the zoo's culture 29%
4 Align employee expectations to performance goals 21%
5 Provide the tools needed for employees to contribute to performance goals 0%
6 I am not familiar with the organization's onboarding practices 50%
7 Other: 7%
Total 14

Other:
onboarding practices vary between departments
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Q12 - An individual’s level of employee engagement is influenced by
(Choose all that apply)

#
An individual’s level of employee engagement is influenced by (Choose all that
apply) - Selected Choice
Percentage
1 His/her commitment towards the organization 80%
2 Opportunities for career development 67%
3 Relationships with management 80%
4 Relationships with fellow employees 87%
5 Rewards and incentives 53%
6 His/her work environment 73%
7 None of the above 7%
8 Other: 0%
Total 15
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Q13 - Your role in influencing employee engagement involves: (Choose all
that apply)

#
Your role in influencing employee engagement involves: (Choose all that apply) -
Selected Choice
Percentage
1 Creating a respectful and trusting workplace 93%
2 Communicating the zoo's values 67%
3 Setting expectations for performance 87%
4 Providing the tools for employees to do their job 87%
5 Conveying the zoo's mission and vision 73%
6 None of the above 7%
7 Other: 0%
Total 15
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Q14 - My director has conversations with me regarding employee
engagement:

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
My director has conversations
with me regarding employee
engagement:
1 4 2 1 1 15

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Q15 - The following behaviors influence employee satisfaction. (Choose all
that apply)

#
The following behaviors influence employee satisfaction. (Choose all that apply) -
Selected Choice
Percentage
1 Daily communication with team members 100%
2 Helping team members feel safe to experiment, challenge, and share information 87%
3 Clear communication with team members regarding expectations and responsibilities 93%
4 Helping team members set work priorities and performance goals 60%
5
Focus on team members' strengths or positive characteristics to build their skills and
knowledge
87%
6 None of the above 0%
7 Other: 0%
Total 15

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Q16 - There is a strong visitor focus in the organization.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
There is a strong visitor focus
in the organization.
3 5 4 1 1 15

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Q17 - Service quality is affected by (Choose all that apply)

# Service quality is affected by (Choose all that apply) - Selected Choice Percentage
1 Employee attitude 93%
2 Employee behavior 87%
3 The zoo's appearance 93%
4 Accessibility of employees to visitors 80%
5 Employee knowledge 100%
6 The zoo's credibility to visitors 87%
7 Customer perception of service provided 80%
8 Other: 7%
Total 15

Other:
perception of good animal care and exhibits
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Q18 - A service strategy consists of: (Choose all that apply)

# A service strategy consists of: (Choose all that apply) - Selected Choice Percentage
4 Training on service skills 93%
6 Rewards and recognition for quality service 86%
7 Other: 0%
3 Goals for customer service 79%
2 Assessment of customer needs 93%
1 A service vision 86%
5 Accountability for quality service 93%
Total 14

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Q19 - Leadership communicates the importance of service quality to
employees.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
Leadership communicates the
importance of service quality to
employees.
2 4 2 1 0 14

Q20 - Service quality is continually measured by the organization.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
Service quality is continually
measured by the organization.
2 5 3 1 0 15

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Q21 - I am involved in measuring service quality at the zoo.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I am involved in measuring
service quality at the zoo.
1 3 2 1 1 14

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Q22 - When I am measuring service quality, I make sure the following
elements are addressed: (Choose all that apply)

#
When I am measuring service quality, I make sure the following elements are
addressed: (Choose all that apply) - Selected Choice
Percentage
1 Team members are actively listening to visitors 58%
2 Team members are going out of their way to prevent visitor problems 83%
3 Team members go the 'extra mile' for visitors 83%
4 Team members go out of their way to reduce inconveniences for visitors 83%
5 Team members make essential visitor decisions without seeking approval 42%
6 Team members are acting independently to provide excellent service 75%
7 None of the above 8%
8 Other: 0%
Total 12
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Q23 - How often are employees provided resources to enhance their ability
to provide excellent service?

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
How often are employees
provided resources to enhance
their ability to provide excellent
service?
2 4 2 1 0 15

Q24 - How often are employees provided opportunities to give input into
creating quality service?

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
How often are employees
provided opportunities to give
input into creating quality
service?
2 4 2 1 0 15
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Q25 - My department uses incentives and rewards to promote improved
service quality.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
My department uses incentives
and rewards to promote
improved service quality.
1 3 2 1 1 15

Q26 - The zoo noticeably celebrates excellent service.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
The zoo noticeably celebrates
excellent service.
1 4 3 1 1 15

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Q27 - How often do employees receive personal skills training to help
enhances their ability to deliver high-quality service when interacting with
visitors?

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
How often do employees receive
personal skills training to help
enhances their ability to deliver
high-quality service when
interacting with visitors?
1 2 1 0 0 14

Q28 - My department utilizes training sessions to practice ways to identify
and improve employee attitudes toward visitors.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
My department utilizes training
sessions to practice ways to
identify and improve employee
attitudes toward visitors.
1 4 1 1 1 14
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226
Q29 - Examples of good and bad service experiences are demonstrated for
employees.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
Examples of good and bad
service experiences are
demonstrated for employees.
1 4 2 1 1 15

Q30 - New employees are instructed on the service standards that have been
established by the zoo.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
New employees are instructed
on the service standards that
have been established by the
zoo.
1 4 3 1 1 14
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227
Q31 - I value service-orientated practices as a way to improve visitor
satisfaction.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I value service-orientated
practices as a way to improve
visitor satisfaction.
1 3 2 1 0 15

Q32 - I am capable of influencing employee engagement.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I am capable of influencing
employee engagement.
1 3 2 1 0 15

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228
Q33 - I am confident that engaging in service-orientated practices with
employees will produce positive results in visitor satisfaction.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I am confident that engaging in
service-orientated practices with
employees will produce positive
results in visitor satisfaction.
1 3 2 1 0 15

Q34 - I value employee development as a way to influence employee
engagement.

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
I value employee development
as a way to influence employee
engagement.
1 2 1 0 0 15

REACHING THE MISSION

229
Q35 - What is your gender

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean Std Deviation Variance Count
1 What is your gender 1 2 2 0 0 15

Q36 - What is your highest level of education?

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
What is your highest level of
education?
3 6 5 1 1 15

REACHING THE MISSION

230
Q37 - How long have you worked for the zoo?

# Field Minimum Maximum Mean
Std
Deviation
Variance Count
1
How long have you worked for
the zoo?
1 5 3 1 2 15

REACHING THE MISSION

231
APPENDIX C
Interview Protocol for Managers and Team Supervisors
INSTRUCTIONS
This interview involves a conversation about your experiences as a manager or team supervisor.
The purpose is to get your perspective on employee engagement, service quality, and service
orientation. I would like to remind you that your participation is voluntary, and you can choose
not to answer any question, or you can choose not to be a part of the study at any time.
TAPE RECORDER INSTRUCTIONS
If it is okay with you, I would like to tape-record our conversation. The purpose of this is so that
I can get all the details but at the same time be able to carry on an attentive conversation with
you. I assure you that all your comments will remain confidential. I would like to remind you
that I will be the only person to have access to the recording. In addition, all notes, audio tapes,
and transcripts will be maintained in a secure location. Would it be alright with you for me to
record?
STUDY EXPLANATION/CONSENT FORM INSTRUCTIONS
Before we get started, please read this study explanation (read and sign this consent form). (Hand
participant consent form/study explanation.) (After participant returns study explanation/consent
form, turn the tape recorder on.) Do you have any questions before we begin?
1. Explain what you believe the service philosophy of the zoo to be, if any.
a. If a service philosophy is described - Explain how you communicate that service
philosophy to employees.
b. If a service philosophy is not described – What is your opinion about having a
service philosophy?
i. What should be the service philosophy of the zoo, if there is one?
ii. How would you communicate it to employees?
2. Some would say it is not critical for a zoo to focus on service quality, what would you say to
them?
3. Describe an approach you have utilized to help employees understand the organization’s
REACHING THE MISSION

232
vision and goals for customer service?
a. What are some approaches you would like to utilize that you have not used to help
employees understand the organization’s vision and goals for customer service, if
any?
4. Given your role as a manager/team supervisor, describe how you set your own goals for
improving visitor experiences?
a. How do you allocate time to monitor progress towards improving service in your
department?
b. How do you allocate time to plan for improving service in your department?
5. Describe, if any, your approach to modeling service for employees to achieve service
excellence.
6. Describe, if any, your approach to supporting employees to achieve service excellence.
7. Tell me your thoughts regarding how the zoo measures visitor satisfaction, if at all, and
shares that information with employees?
8. Describe, if any, the systems for acknowledging and rewarding employees for good service.
a. Describe, if any, the systems for holding employees accountable for customer service.
Onboarding. Onboarding is considered to be the first opportunity to promote service orientation
in employees. I would like to take some time and discuss the zoo’s onboarding and human
resource practices.
9. Tell me how, if at all, onboarding practices help ensure new employees understand their role
within Zoological Park.
10. How do you feel about onboarding a new employee?
11. When was the last time you onboarded a new employee?
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233
a. Walk me through that experience. In step by step, what did you do?
b. What, if anything, demonstrated that the new employee fully understood their role
within the zoo.
Employee engagement. Employee engagement has been shown to influence customer service
and thus customer satisfaction. As a manager/team supervisor, your thoughts on employee
engagement are important.
12. What does employee engagement look like to you?
a. When do you know that an employee is engaged?
b. What are the signs that an employee is not engaged?
c. Describe how having an engaged workforce impacts your role as a manager or team
supervisor if at all.
13. If you believe that there are employees who are disengaged, what do you think is causing the
disengagement?
a. Can you describe a specific example of when you noticed an employee disengaged in
their job?
b. What factors influenced this employee’s disengagement? How do you know?
c. How does a disengaged workforce influence your role as a manager or team
supervisor?

14. Please reflect on your ability to engage employees?
a. Tell me about a time when you thought to yourself “I know how to engage
employees.”
b. Tell me about a time when you thought to yourself “I need to do a better job engaging
employees.”
REACHING THE MISSION

234
c. What would you change about your ability to engage employees?
15. Tell me what steps you take to make sure your employees are engaged.
16. Describe what tools you provide your employees to be involved in their work?
a. Provide a specific example or time when you provided this/these tool(s) In step by
step, what did you do?
17. Describe what training you provide your employees to be involved in their work?
a. Provide a specific example or time when you provided this/these training(s). Tell
me about this/these training(s).
18. Describe a specific example of how you monitor employee engagement.
a. Is there another method you would use to monitor employee engagement that you are
not currently utilizing? What is preventing you from utilizing that method?
b. If you don’t monitor employee engagement - is there a reason(s) why you have not
considered to do so.
19. What can the zoo do to support your ability to actively engage employees?
a. What kinds of trainings would you benefit from with respect to engaging employees?

20. Is there anything else you would like to add to our discussion?
(Turn tape recorder off) Once again I would like to thank you for meeting with me today.

REACHING THE MISSION

235
APPENDIX D
Organization, Knowledge, and Motivation Influences and Assessments
Assumed Organizational Influences

Assumed Organizational Assessments
Leadership Team needs to clearly
communicate the performance goal and align
incentives, policies, and procedures to the
goal.

Survey and interview questions that reflect
managers’ and supervisors’ perception
regarding whether leadership has
communicated performance goals and aligned
policies, procedures, and incentives to
performance goals.

Leadership Team needs to provide managers
and team supervisors with resources (time,
training, equipment) to provide the support
employees need.
Survey and interview questions that reflect
managers’ and supervisors’ perception
regarding whether they have been provided
resources to support employee needs.
Leadership Team needs to hold managers and
team supervisors accountable for performance
towards the goal.
Survey and interview questions that reflect
whether leadership holds managers and team
supervisors accountable towards performance
goals.
Leadership Team needs to actively measure
employee engagement resulting in managers
and team supervisors being able to know how
to support employees.

Survey and interview questions that reflect
whether leadership communicates evaluating
employee needs, and opportunities for
development and growth as a priority to
managers and team supervisors.
Zoological Park needs a formal onboard
orientation and training program that ensures
that new employees fully understand their
roles and how they relate to the organization’s
big picture operations.
Survey and interview questions that reflect
whether managers and team supervisors
engage in onboarding practices that help new
employees understand the organization’s
mission, service philosophy, and provide the
equipment, support, and knowledge to
perform their roles.

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236
Assumed Knowledge Influence Assumed Knowledge Assessment
Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to know the concept of
employee engagement.

Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to know the concept of
service quality.
Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors to provide
examples of factors associated with increasing
or decreasing employee engagement.

Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors to provide
examples of factors associated with increasing
or decreasing service quality and components
of a service strategy.
Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to know how to integrate
service orientation (service leadership, service
driven practices, service encounters, and
human resource practices) into their
supervisory practices.

Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors to describe
how they employ components of service
orientation into their daily tasks to ensure
service quality.
Managers and team supervisors need to know
how to self-evaluate their effectiveness in
supporting service orientation.

Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors to reflect on
how they engage in discussions about
progress towards performance goals.
Managers and team supervisors need to know
how their behavior impacts employee
satisfaction.
Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors to reflect on
behaviors influencing employee engagement
and behaviors influencing employee
satisfaction.

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237
Assumed Motivation Influences Assumed Motivation Assessments
Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to value engaging employees
through service orientation to build employee
capacity to provide high-quality visitor
experiences.

Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors whether they
value service-oriented practices as way to
improve visitor satisfaction.

Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors whether they
value employee development as an
opportunity to influence employee
engagement.

Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need to believe they are capable
of influencing employee engagement.

Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors whether they
believe they have the ability to influence
employee engagement.

Zoological Park managers and team
supervisors need confidence that engaging in
service-orientated practices will produce
positive results towards the performance goal.
Survey and interview questions that ask
managers and team supervisors whether they
believe they have confidence in utilizing
service-oriented practices with employees to
produce positive results in visitor satisfaction

REACHING THE MISSION

238
APPENDIX E
Informed Consent/Information Sheet
University of Southern California
Information Sheet for Research

Reaching the Mission through Service Orientation and Employee Engagement in a
Zoological Setting

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Stephanie Williams at the
University of Southern California because you are either a manager or team supervisor at the
Zoo. Your participation is voluntary. You should read the information below, and ask questions
about anything you do not understand, before deciding whether to participate. Please take as
much time as you need to read the consent form. You may also decide to discuss participation
with your family or friends. You will be given a copy of this form.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to examine the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational
elements influencing service orientation and employee engagement within the Zoo.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
This research study will only include people who voluntarily choose to participate. If you
volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to complete an online survey and
participate in a one-hour interview. The self–administered questionnaire will be sent to your
work email account. The survey will include 37 items and should take you less than 10 minutes
to complete. After completing the online survey, you will be asked to participate in a one-hour
audio-recorded interview with the principal investigator, Stephanie Williams. The interview will
take place in a private conference room/office at the Zoo. You will be asked open-ended
questions pertaining to what knowledge, motivation, and organizational elements contribute to
service orientation and employee engagement within the organization. You do not have to
answer any questions you do not want to; if you do not want to be audio-recorded, handwritten
notes will be taken. You can still participate in the survey phase of the study if you do not wish
to be interviewed.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
Your participation is voluntary, and the alternative is not to participate. No compensation for
participation will be given to participants.

CONFIDENTIALITY
Study data will be kept confidential to the best of the ability of the principal investigator. The
data will be stored on a flash drive by the principal investigator. The principal investigator will
manage, monitor, and safeguard the data and audio-recordings. You have the right to review/edit
the audio-recordings or transcripts.

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239
At the completion of the study, direct identifiers will be destroyed. The results of this
research will be shared with the participating organization however, results from this study will
only be reported as a group such that no individual respondents can be identified.
No identifiable information will be included. The principal investigator and the University of
Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection Program (HSPP) may access the data. The
HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research
subjects.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact: Principal
Investigator, Stephanie Williams via email at williasr@usc.edu or by phone at (321) 277- 6989.

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the research in
general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone independent of the
research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board (UPIRB), 3720 South Flower
Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or upirb@usc.edu.

REACHING THE MISSION

240

APPENDIX F

Recruitment Letter

Dear Manager or Team Supervisor,

As an Organizational Change and Leadership doctoral student in the Rossier School of
Education at the University of Southern California, I invite you to participate in gathering data
regarding service orientation and employee engagement in a zoological setting.

The purpose of the study is to examine the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational
elements influencing service orientation and employee engagement within the Zoo.

You are eligible to participate in the study as a department manager or team supervisor of the
Zoo. The information gathered will be used to make improvements to employee-employer and
employee-visitor relationships for improved visitor experiences. Your participation consists of
an online survey and one-hour audio-recorded interview. The online survey will be emailed to
your work email. The survey will consist of 37 questions and take less than 10 minutes to
complete. The interview will take place in a private conference room/office at the Zoo. You do
not have to answer all of the questions. You do not have to answer any questions you do not
want to answer; if you do not want to be audio-taped, handwritten notes will be taken. You can
still participate in the study if you do not wish to be audio-recorded.

Your participation is voluntary, and the alternative is not to participate. Please review the
attached information sheet to learn more about the study and to decide if you would like to
participate.

Thank you for your consideration.

If you would like to participate, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Williams

Abstract (if available)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Williams, Stephanie Renee (author)

Core Title Reaching the mission through employee engagement and service orientation in a zoological setting: an evaluation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 11/07/2018

Defense Date 10/18/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag employee engagement,leadership,OAI-PMH Harvest,service orientation,service quality,zoological

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Samkian, Artineh (committee chair), Seli, Helena (committee member), Sundt, Melora (committee member)

Creator Email steph8williams@gmail.com,williasr@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-103884

Unique identifier UC11675936

Identifier etd-WilliamsSt-6934.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-103884 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-WilliamsSt-6934.pdf

Dmrecord 103884

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Williams, Stephanie Renee

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA