The Museum And Art Gallery Kelvingrove Tourism Essay

The M recitationum And Art G whollyery Kelvingrove Tourism EssayThe received area analyzes the visitant surgerys and put through in a small manner for Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The visitant operations and experience is handled in the current study in four varied perspectives namely trade Perspective, attention Perspective, Operations perspective and smell Perspective. Marketing perspective st frauds with the sexual climax of trade strategies use 4 Ps technique for understanding the prevailing strategies for the disposals. Then, using the menti matchlessd strategies the study shifts to the Kelvingrove museum art and gallery abridgment for trade strategies. Management perspective follows the marketing perspective analysis specific to Kelvingrove with the factors that influence the counsel success or failure. Then, it analyses the come upon functions that are implemented by the counselling of Kelvingrove in the art gallery with respect to the stave and the v isitors experience. Third perspective that deals with the visitors friendships and the operational activities that are performed in ecumenic is operational perspective. The second part of this deals with the analysis of how Kelvingrove manages the operations effectively that made them undefeated. The next part is to concentrate on the flavor perspective which is being carried place in all the giving medications scarce which is the key factor that necessarily to be taken utter care for performing in higher levels of standard. This is analyzed for Kelvingrove using the famous technique of SERVQUAL method. The current study then highlights the recomm terminusations which though minor needs to be followed up by the museum organizations to be in a fracture position. Then, the study ends with the limitations to the current study which can be further studied if those were not restricted.INTRODUCTIONThe Museum and Art Gallery, Kelvingrove is run by the Culture and Leisure functio n Department of Glasgow City Council. The Museum is ho utilize in an impressive Category A listed building which was first opened in 1901 as part of the International Exhibition and is one of Glasgows landmarks. Kelvingrove is the most visited museum come forwardside London, receiving over one million visitors a year in the last five years (Scottish Tourist Board).Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is an fantabulous place to visit with a vast collection of masterpieces of various commonwealth (Top-ten-Glasgow-guide, 2009).Marketing PerspectivePhilip Kotler (200817) defines marketing as satisfying needs and wants through an rally process. Marketing is an integrated process through which companies create value for nodes and build strong client dealingships in order to capture value from customers in return. Marketing is not just some(prenominal)(prenominal) selling. Peter Drucker (200434) explained, The aim of marketing is to top selling superfluous. It is to have a go at i t and understand the customer so well that the harvest or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. In concomitant the marketing centering should be innovative while product development and calculating the added value. This would besides ensure that the short run needs and long run requirements are balanced to meet the customer requirements and yield shekels (Swarbroke, 1999218).In the current study, we focus on marketing visitor attractions. A visitor attraction can be appearlined as somewhere charge leaving home for and this is as relevant to a single museum or cathedral as it is to a t birth or place. In a successful visitor attraction, the product on offer is the experience itself, spending money on that experience mustinessiness be worthwhile. In the experience economy, the visitor attractions must infinitely reinvent itself to afford repeat visits and survive. This economy of experience is or so quality, service and choice it is not nigh sizing. Successful visitor attractions of whatever size sells memories, experiences and expectations to individual customers. Hence it is important to have the right marketing tittup for the product you are trying to sell. The term marketing mix refers to the primary fragments that must be attended to in order to properly market a product or service. Also known as The 4 Ps of Marketing, the marketing mix is a very useful, if a bit general, guideline for understanding the fundamentals of what makes a expert marketing campaign. (Hooley, 2008 45-60).Four Ps StrategiesProduct A visitor attraction will have many different products on offer namely the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, special events and educational picks for schools, colleges and universities. In addition to this, there are products such as the membership schemes, gift shops, cafes and corporate hire facilities.Place Place is the location where the products or the custom ers output is ready for use. on that point are two key factors that a museum or a visitor attraction promotes with regards to its locationExcellent transport links by bus and train. wanton ticket booking facilities functional onsite or online.Price Price impacts strongly on how businesses fare competitively (Diamantopoulos et al., 1995). Hence price is accepted as the key element in the marketing mix. There are different factors that affect pricing decisions for marketers namely organizational and marketing objectives pricing objectives costs remaining marketing mix variables channel member expectations buyers perceptions competition legal and regulatory issues and perceived value. The following three aspects need to cover while determining price standard gateway fee, discounts on admission fee (discount percentage and conditions) and concessions provided mainly in earth sector attractions to disadvantaged people.Promotion This aspect of the marketing mix repre directs the poss ible tools used to communicate with and attract the target audiences. These can includeAdvertising passing for adverts in newspapers, magazines and radio, and on poster sitesPrint producing banners, posters, leaflets and other items, and arranging distribution. Leaflets are sent to places such as libraries, tourist information offices, cafes and other places managely to be visited by the campaigns target audience.Direct mail sending leaflets or other photographic print with a letter to named individuals, using in-house data bases or external lists of names which are either researched or bought.Sales promotion and brand partnerships promotions include religious offering prizes or discounts on tickets in collaboration with other parties, from newspapers and magazines to rail net leans and coffee shops. Partnerships could involve window displays in shops, or branded giveaways.New media e-newsletters and website featuresPublic relations (Kevin, 1994 20)In this context, Kelvingr ove has done a fantastic job in being the most popular museum in U.K outside London through its effective marketing plan. For the watchfulness, the key the primary challenge has been to encourage repeat visits and Kelvingrove has successful done so with new advanced features or quality improvements. Kelvingrove successfully underwent a re-development of its displays and visitor facilities. At Kelvingrove there are 200,000 objects with only 20,000 on display at any time within the gallery. After the refurbishment 50% much items are on display to the public. Lot of efforts have gone to ensure that Kelvingrove meets all the requirements pertaining to security, humidity control and lighting to attract study tours to Glasgow. Working on feedback from researchers who determine that a very large number of visitors to the gallery never left the ground floor, marketing experts have ensured that public gets much than back space and have all the information to find way around the gallery . A Formal Educational Space for children and Childrens Discovery Centers and developments like these will be a major boost to schools, colleges and universities in and around Glasgow. The acquisition of knowledge is supported at various levels and the gallery is geared up for those who wish to explore subjects in more detail with support from rung with the availability of quiet self-study areas. At Kelvingrove there is now an Object Cinema and 22 themed galleries focusing on 100 different stories. These wonderful features are supported by an effective promotional campaign through vibrant brochures and hand-outs. Since, its an icon by itself, not much is spent on advertising through media. The museum sponsors for many events including sports and cultural activities. Kelvingrove uses the approach of newspapers and posters which is a modest way for marketing. The museum sponsors many events including sports and cultural activities and hosts various exhibitions. It has similarly main tained its reach to the public through its website which is always providing updated and relevant information to potential visitors. These are the marketing strategies that Kelvingrove marketers follow.Figure Goma Family Festival, 2009(Source Glasgow museums, whats on for families?)Management PerspectiveThe focus has indirect impact on the visitors experience at the attractions. It directly impacts the employee attitudes and job satisfaction. The visitor management is the key aspect for the management to handle in different scenarios namely during the visit and ahead the visit. Museum and art galleries are defined by International Council of Museums as a non-profit institution, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible asset heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, entertainment and study (ICOM Statutes art.3 pa ra.1, 2007) .One of the major causes of dissatisfaction is connected with the process of management. Many of the staff members (employees) feel that their theater directors do not know how to manage because of the conflicting agenda or cause of stress and frustration. Better management skills and culture would be worthful for overcoming these problems. Museums have a potential valuable resource where many managers appear to enjoy the creative aspects of their work. Here development and implementation of the required skills is an important issue. (Swarbroke, 1999 50).MANAGEMENT STYLEManagement in all business areas and human organization activity is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and inborn resources. This is very much the case in places of visitor attractions as well. Good management may not be the invoice of a good museum, butwould most certainly appear to be one of its critical prerequisites (Weil and Cheit, 1994 289). A well-managed museum is one in which Everyone has a clear idea of the purpose of his or her work and its value to the museum Staff works to a plan which has been devised for their area Clear procedures are followed for the activities which they undertake and Each section of the museum is involved in, and is responsible for, the expeditious operation of its area. (Shostack, 1985 25).Museum management can have different emphasis regarding service delivery depending on the prevailing management styles. The two different management styles are the custodial management and the market focused management. A successful museum management may require the right balance of the two sty les. Recognition of the multi-dimensional nature of the museum experience and context of the values of some(prenominal) the roles is vital for the effective management of a museum. (Leask Yeoman, 1999 38-42)At Kelvingrove the management has done an excellent job in utilizing the resources and capabilities at their disposal to make Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Scotlands busiest visitor attraction last year according to VisitScotland. It excels in a number of areas a few of which are discussed belowesthetically displayed exhibitsKelvingrove Museum has always enjoyed a unique position of its own in the world of heritage museums and recently with its imaginative and empathetic redesigning it has become more appealing to art lovers. Be it the gallant and fragile Spitfire hanging by a thread to show how desperately perilous those wartime raids must have been, the 40-foot dinosaur of the Rennie Mackintosh rooms or the story of the Scots POWs who painted icons on sacks each of them carry you hooked with odd life-art juxtapositions and the credit goes to none other than the management team who has done a fantastic job in their maintenance. And with the recent reinvention, the museum has become much more organized than before. The doors now open in the basement. Thats the first of the changes. One enters through chicness white vaults glowing with red and blue landing light and ascends by stairways fluttering with fabulous birds. The restaurant is a glass pavilion. The clutter of corridors has been rationalized. Light dances more brightly round the vast halls now that the grime of a century has been scoured away to reveal brilliant blond sandstone. And a third more space has been created in which to display stunningly lit, in jewel-colored rooms nearly twice as many objects. Thus we see that quality has been the foremost focus of the management of Kelvingrove museum and the aim has always been to provide its visitors a life changing experience (Policy Strat egic Planning, Glasgow Museums).Organizational Structure A flat organizational mental synthesis ensures that communication is fast across levels and resolutions of operational and management issues take place at a quicker pace. It is a three tier structure with the deputy sheriff director heading the management. Furthermore the Culture and Sport Glasgow, which is responsible for museums in Glasgow, reports to a Board of 11 Directors, which comprises six elected members, four independent Directors and the tribal chief Executive of Culture and Sport Glasgow.Cross Functional Efficiencies Functional units within the museum instead of working independently interacts and co-ordinates with each other to promote the museum and help the management to achieve their objectives. For instance the marketing department works along with the IT department to reach out to potential and incumbent visitors. Through various online and print publications and also through the website, relevant informati on about the museum and events surrounding it is made available to the general public.Supporting ActivitiesThe management has also taken significant steps in providing various activities to the general public apart from the scenerying of the museum. These range from general facilities like parking, cafe/restaurant, shops, guide assistance dogs to facilities for hosting corporate, and private events. There is also a Centre of New Enlightenment (TCoNE)designed for young people aged from 10 to 14 years. It uses state-of-the-art equipment and dramatic presentations to explore the museum and its collections and help young people discover their potential. It has an Object Cinemalocated on the first floor. It is a multi-media centre using video, sound and lighting to tell the story behind a single object or a group of objects. The content will change on a regular basis.Thus we see that the management has taken utmost care of providing the most pleasant experience to visitors at Kelvingrov e Art gallery and Museum and continuously tries to improve their service.Operations perspectiveIn visitors attractions operations management can be defined as a day to day management of the site. Although it appears to be a simple task of managing the site it involves many midland processes, which will help to manage the attraction more efficiently and effectively (Swarbrooke, 2002). According to Rogers Slinn (1993) cited in (Swarbrooke, 2002), operations management is concerned with the design, operation and control of the arranging that matches the organisations resources to customer service needs. According to Slack, Chambers et al. (1995) cited in Leask Yeoman (1999), resources can be classified into transformed resources which can be transformed or reborn and transforming resources which will act upon the transformed resources. Transformed resources include materials, information and customers where as the transforming resources include facilities and staff. Operations man agement mainly concentrates more on using the available transforming resources like staff and machinery to provide an efficient service for the customers. In visitor attractions effective management of operations will help in smooth and efficient operation of the site. Every one working within the site will be directly or indirectly involved in operation management (Swarbrooke, 2002). Generally operations management deals with real people and real issues within a practical environment. In visitors attractions operations management deals with many tasks like program of the site.Management of visitors and capacity management.Staff training.Monitoring quality issues.The operations within an attraction site vary depending upon the organisation or its customer point of view (Leask Yeoman, 1999). From an organisation perspective operations management generally concentrates on increasing the visitors opportunities in the site, staff and visitors guard duty, low operational costs, looking after visitors with special needs within the available resources, ensuring to maintain high quality standards, compliance with the law and effective problem solving. However customers perspective of the operations might vary in different areas as the customers are not concerned about the operating costs, they generally look for minimized delays and queues and safety of visitors, high quality service and optimized visitor enjoyment regardless of costs, complaints should be dealt in a positive manner without any time delay. Many skills and attributes are required for effective operations management within a site like good knowledge of the site its staff and its usage by the visitors, paying attention in detail about the site, planning systems, procedures in advance and flexibility to change them in different circumstances, effective crises management, financial management, being firm but tactical, confidence on own abilities and judgement, seeing things from customers and staff persp ective and looking for constant improvement. Operations management within an attraction site is to enhance the quality of visitors experience. Generally the areas which have a great impact might include the way the queues are managed, handling complaints in an effective and efficient way, solving problems quickly, steps to increase visitors enjoyment and their safety to make them feel positive to visit the site. There are constraints on operations management with in an attraction site which depends onOperation manager attitude, experience, abilities.The attractions organisations structure, culture and beliefs.Availability of resources like skills of the staff and their freedom in order to solve the problems.Availability of financial resources.Legislation, regulations and social acceptability (Swarbrooke, 2002).Financial resources are funded by Glasgow City Council and are ahead of many national names like British Library and Tate Liverpool. The attractions include the opening of the Doctor with exhibition at the end of the month where Kelvingrove will be the centre of scientific universe. Bailie Liz Cameron, chairwoman of Culture and Sport Glasgow manages the museums and galleries said that These (as stated above) figures prove once again that Glasgows collections are of both national and international significance. We will continue to invest in our museums and art galleries, bringing new exhibitions to some of Scotlands most cherished attractions(Cameron, Glasgow News).The operations management should consider handling the operations such as minimize the risks associated with the display of art gallery and museum articles. They (Kelvingrove operations team) focus on the spending of visitors at various occasions. This is handled by museum by placing all the facilities and amenities which all aged people feel to spend money such as cafeteria, restaurant and some books related to history, some articles which can easily attract young generation which are stylish. They (operations team) not only considers these aspects of entertainment of making maximum profits from visitors but also the management should spend appropriately on labour, power sources etc. To handle the cost-in and cost-out schemes equally. They should also need to take care of providing special access to the disabled people or old people who are challenged but would like to visit the museum. All these activities are handled complying the laws and regulations in Scotland. The next aspect is about the Kelvingrove handles several minute things also in a big picture like facility for car parking, toilets and elevators to be provided. And for the safety guidance, there are many fire exit points where the staff is trained to guide the visitors to the fire exit in case of fire. For addressing difficulties the visitors are facing or challenges they face during the visit or suggestions they would like management to keep an eye and improve better All certain feedback can be submitted i n a separate department for efficient handling of all the concerns. So, The operations management is either successful for Kevin grove as it follows and perfectly implements the functions namely problem-solving, resource management, risk management, visitor attractions, customer satisfaction and last but not the least quality.Quality perspectiveGenerally in product related manufacturing industries quality is a product-led concept which concentrates on features and attributes of the product. The extent to which a product or service can satisfy wants and needs of a customer can be seen as a quality. According to Swarbrooke (2002) quality can be defined as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Quality is not only about the outcome of the product or service but also the whole processes that involves getting the outcomes. Quality in visitors attractions is all about offering a good service to the visitors. Quality at visitor attractions can be viewed in two ways as a set of outcomes visitors receive or the processes how the attraction operates. For example set of outcomes might include the physical appearance the price the customer pays, service offered, safety, reliability and the number of complaints about the attractions. The processes include human resource management, hierarchy, culture style of management, and marketing style of the visitor attraction. When designing quality management systems there are three important questions that should be considered for attractions they are (i) rendering of the quality the management will use (ii) performance standards and measurement system to be used (iii) the management systems they need to adopt for achieving quality. So attraction operators should pay attention to both process and outcomes in their quality management systems. The quality management system should include every aspect of management of attraction like tangible elements of the attraction which include buildings and structures, maintenance levels, comfort and security of visitors. Quality management within a visitor attraction can be viewed from both internal and external perspective. For example internal perspective includes the views of attraction managers for whom quality is smooth operation of attraction site and minimum customer complaints, attraction staff who sees quality as their terms and conditions of employment and few complaints to handle. The external perspective includes the views of customers who tend to see the quality in terms of how easy, safe and secure to use the site and the value for their money (Swarbrooke, 2002).Measuring QualityIn order to maintain quality service it is important to measure quality. Among the techniques available for service quality measurement SERVQUAL method developed by Parasuraman et al. in 1985 is the most popular. It is a technique that can be used to perform a gap analysis between an organiz ations service quality performance and the customers service quality needs. It is an empirically derived method that can be used by a service organization to improve its service quality. It takes into account the perceptions of the customers of the relative importance of service attributes. This allows an organization to prioritize and use its resources to improve the most critical service attributes. The methodology is found on 5 key dimensionsReliability This is an ability to deliver the service accurately and as promised. According to Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) it is the most important determinant.Responsiveness to provide command prompt service and willingness to help customers.Assurance the trust and confidence customers will have on staff.Empathy it covers care and individualized attention to customers.Tangibles this includes physical facilities, equipment, machinery, personnel and infrastructure (Fitzsimmons, 1994).Quality is subjective and has different meanings to customer s and service providers. From the staffs point of view quality is measured by the number of complaints registered from the customers, the fewer the number the higher is the quality of the service. However for the customer it is the environment and experience of the place with respect to the money spent which defines quality. The aim of the management is always to minimize the gap between these two and hence in order to measure quality Servqual is an effective tool under such conditions. In the following section we will try to use the tool to measure quality of the Kelvingrove Art gallery and Museum using the personal experience of the author.ASSESSMENT OF THE KELVINGROVE MUSEUM FOR QUALITYThe author paid a visit to the museum recently to have a firsthand experience of the museum and its facilities. During the course of the visit he interacted with visitors to get their feedback on their experiences. In most of the cases the feedback varied from good to excellent, a number of them we re thrilled with the experience the museum offered after the restoration. They were happy that the things were better organized, displays were in order, lighting was improved and overall the museum had improved aesthetically. On the five dimensions of Servqual, museum performed as followsReliability After the restoration work, out of 20000 objects that were made for display, there were 50% of the objects being displayed with a number of nearly 8000 objects as promised. More back space has been provided to the public.Responsiveness Staffs have been highly customer focussed and responsiveness level to customer discomfort has been very high. This is seen in the visitors rating who have rated Kelvingrove art gallery and museum as the best and rated 5 out of 5(Info and Reviews, Kelvingrove).Assurance The organisation is particular with the awareness of the social inclusion. I observed during the visit to Kelvingrove that there are many educational activities like training, volunteers, pr oviding knowledge to the children about the history. Moreover all the staffs are knowledgeable about the exhibits and were courteous in explaining them to the visitors. These are as discussed above suit the role of assurance in the SERVQUAL approach for the museums.Empathy Staffs are presentable and courteous and are always at the disposal of the customers.Tangibles All the facilities and art works are neatly maintainedFrom the above analysis, it is intelligible that Kelvingrove ranks high up in the list of places of attraction in Scotland. It is a cultural heritage and pride of Scotland.RecommendationsIn spite of the fact the management of Kelvingrove is continuously trying to improve the service to the visitors there are still some areas where considerable improvement can be done. These are as follows1. Continuous training needs to be provided to staffs about the artefacts and exhibits at the museum so that they can provide the correct information when asked for by the visitors. A couple of times the author face up this issue during the visit2. A few artefacts in the Italian Art Gallery do not have any description about them. Visitors may feel a sense of incompleteness when they dont get a descriptive narration of art works.3. The day of visit of the author collided with a national holiday which drew a large number of visitors to the museum. However, to manage this large crowd customer assistance staffs were not sufficient. Management should look into this matter and probably exact this gap through part time staffs if not by full time to handle large crowds4. Management should look into rationalizing the food price at the restaurant which appeared to be too costly.5. Management should take adequate precaution and strictness when allowing children inside the museum as they were touching art work and might trauma them.6. Some of the artworks and other objects were hung in a manner which was crowded and distracting, for instance, the Vuillard. Moreover eve ry painting in the Impressionist room had a horrid discombobulate chart attachment projecting from the wall.7. Titians Christ and The Adulteress and the Bellini Madonna could not be contemplated in silence because of the nearby narration concerning Botticellis AnnunciationThese recommendations should be intercommunicate as soon as possible to wipe off any kind of blemishes on the otherwise extraordinary place of attraction in the snapper of Glasgow.LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY1. The annual reports for the museum are very limited that are published in the website which are not sufficient to analyze the position of the museum in the current market.2. Few of the managers were providing only certain amount of information and are not ready to give detailed information.