1. What does it mean to be empowered? Give some situations in which you were empowered.

A. How did you handle it? How did you feel?

B. Compare those situations to a few in which you were not empowered. How did you handle those, and how did you feel?

C. If you were a hotel or restaurant manager, can you think of some job functions that you would hesitate to empower your employees to perform?

D. Why is it particularly important to empower the frontline people who interact with hospitality guests? Or is it?

2. Consider a restaurant meal, in which much of the service is provided one-on-one, server to guest. How important is teamwork to the success of the guest experience?

3. The authority-acceptance theory suggests that people must accept authority or it does not really exist. Do you agree or disagree?

A. Give examples of situations you have been in where people did not follow direct orders. Was the refusal because the conditions for authority acceptance detailed in the chapter were not met, or for other reasons?

B. What do managers need to know to ensure that their authority is accepted?

C. How does all that relate to managing the guest experience in hospitality organizations?

D. Does authority-acceptance theory seem to you to have more or less relevance to the hospitality industry as compared to most industries?