Service Encounter: Case Questions
Service Encounter: Case Questions
Role of Technology
Service Organization and Culture
Managing Variability
Managing Difficult Interactions
Case Questions
• A customer just arrived and insisted that he has
made a reservation over the phone last week.
• The receptionist cannot find any reservation record
and has no table available.
• You are the service manager.
What would you do? Any
side effects of your action?
1
Technology in Service Encounter
Technology Technology
D. Technology‐Mediated E. Technology‐Generated
Service Encounter Service Encounter
2
Who Controls Service Encounter?
• Service Organization‐Dominated
McDonald’s
• Service Personnel‐Dominated
Physician and Patient
• Customer‐Dominated
Self‐Service
Service
Organization
Efficiency Efficiency
versus versus
autonomy satisfaction
Contact
Customers
Personnel Perceived
control
3
I. Service Organization
The service encounter occurs within the context of an
organization’s culture as well as its physical surroundings.
Control + Empowerment
Strategy + Culture
• Culture is a pattern of beliefs and
expectations shared by the
organization’s members.
• Culture is the traditions and beliefs of an
organization that distinguish it from others.
• Culture is shared orientations that hold the
unit together and give a distinctive identity.
4
II. Contact Personnel
Selection
1. Abstract Questioning
2. Situational Vignette
3. Role Playing
Training
Unrealistic customer expectations
Unexpected service failure
What was your most rewarding past
experience and why?
What are you looking for in your next job?
What have you done in the past to irritate a
customer?
What flavor of ice cream best describes your
personality?
10
5
Empowerment and Training
Train and trust the inherent power within employees to
evaluate choices and competently execute creative decisions.
1. Invest in people as much as in machines.
2. Use technology to support contact personnel rather than to
monitor or replace them.
3. Consider the recruitment and training of contact personnel as
critical to the firm’s success.
4. Link compensation to performance for employees at all levels.
11
6
III. The Customer
Classification of shopping goods customers
• Economizing customer: want to maximize the value
obtained from the service
• Ethical customer: support socially responsible firms
• Personalizing customer: prefer personal
relationships
• Convenience customer: will pay extra for
convenience
13
Unrealistic customer expectations
1. Unreasonable demands
2. Demands against policies
3. Unacceptable treatment of employees
4. Drunkenness
5. Breaking of societal norms
6. Special‐needs customers
Unexpected service failure
1. Unavailable service
2. Slow performance
3. Unacceptable service
14
7
Managing Customer-Introduced Variability
A trade‐off between cost and service quality (customer satisfaction)
15
16
8
The Customer is Not Always Right
Southwest managers tell employees they are
Southwest's No. 1 customer, that the paying customer is
not always right. Thinking the paying customer is right all
the time, Southwest executives say, only undermines the
trust between management and employees.
"The theory goes that if we treat our employees well,
they'll treat the customer well," a Southwest executive
said. And that translates, most of the time anyway, into
profits.
Washington Post April 08, 2003
17
The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in
partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group
announced the results of their American Customer Satisfaction
Index (ACSI)—an annual customer service study—and Southwest
Airlines had the best score among all airlines for the 16th
consecutive year.
“Southwest appears well prepared for today’s economic
conditions with its no‐frills approach, low fares, and reliable
service,” said Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI. “The airline has
a record of being able to deliver the basics well—getting both
passengers and their luggage to the same destination on time.”
18
9
Service Encounter Success Factors
Service Provider
Human Machine
Human Employee selection Intuitive interface
Interpersonal skills Verification
Support technology Security
Customer Engender trust Easy to access
Easy to access Compatibility
Fast response Tracking
Machine Verification Verification
Remote monitoring Security
Failsafe
19
Satisfaction Duality
More Repeat More Familiarity with Customer
Purchases Needs and Ways of Meeting Them
Stronger Tendency to
Complain about Service Greater Opportunity for
Errors Recovery from Errors
Higher Customer Higher Employee
Satisfaction Satisfaction
Lower Costs Higher
Productivity
Better Results Improved Quality
of Service
10
Service Profit Chain
Summary
Service encounter is viewed as a triad.
Select and empower the contact personnel.
Training to anticipate possible situations.
The Customer is Not Always Right.
New area: machines serving human customers
22
11