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Service Encounter: Case Questions

The document discusses factors that influence successful service encounters. It examines the role of technology, service organizations and culture, managing variability, and difficult customer interactions. It provides examples of how service encounters have evolved from human-focused to increasingly technology-assisted or -facilitated. Key success factors include selecting and properly training empathetic employees, designing intuitive technology interfaces, and managing unrealistic customer expectations.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
153 views11 pages

Service Encounter: Case Questions

The document discusses factors that influence successful service encounters. It examines the role of technology, service organizations and culture, managing variability, and difficult customer interactions. It provides examples of how service encounters have evolved from human-focused to increasingly technology-assisted or -facilitated. Key success factors include selecting and properly training empathetic employees, designing intuitive technology interfaces, and managing unrealistic customer expectations.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Shin‐Ming Guo

Service Encounter NKFUST

 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?

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Technology in Service Encounter

Technology Technology Technology

Customer Server Customer Server Customer Server

A. Technology‐Free B. Technology‐Assisted C. Technology‐Facilitated


Service Encounter Service Encounter Service Encounter

Technology Technology

Customer Server Customer Server

D. Technology‐Mediated E. Technology‐Generated
Service Encounter Service Encounter

Evolution of Service Encounter

Service  Human  Machine  Internet 


Industry Contact Assisted  Facilitated
Banking Teller ATM Online banking
Grocery Checkout clerk Self‐checkout station Online order/ pickup

Airlines Ticket agent Check‐in kiosk Print boarding pass 


Restaurants Wait person Vending machine Online order/ delivery 
Movie theater Ticket sale Kiosk ticketing Pay‐for‐view
Book store Information  Stock‐availability  Online shopping
clerk terminal
Education Teacher Computer tutorial Distance learning
Gambling Poker dealer Computer poker Online poker
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Who Controls Service Encounter?

• Service Organization‐Dominated
McDonald’s

• Service Personnel‐Dominated
Physician and Patient

• Customer‐Dominated
Self‐Service

The Service Encounter Triad

Service
Organization

Efficiency Efficiency
versus  versus
autonomy satisfaction

Contact
Customers
Personnel Perceived
control

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I. Service Organization

The service encounter occurs within the context of an 
organization’s culture as well as its physical surroundings.

Employee Selection  Training

Control + Empowerment

Strategy + Culture

Definitions of Corporate 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.

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II. Contact Personnel

 Selection
1. Abstract Questioning
2. Situational Vignette
3. Role Playing

 Training
Unrealistic customer expectations
Unexpected service failure

Example: Amy’s Ice Cream

 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?

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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.
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Unethical Behaviors of Employees

Misrepresenting the  Customer Manipulation General Honesty and 


Nature of the Service Integrity
• Promising a  • Giving away a  • Treating customers 
nonsmoking room when  guaranteed reservation unfairly or rudely
none is available
• Performing  • Being unresponsive to 
• Using bait‐and‐switch  unnecessary services customer requests
tactics
• Padding a bill with  • Failing to follow stated 
• Creating a false need for 
service hidden charges company policies 
• Misrepresenting the  • Hiding damage to  • Stealing customer 
credentials of the  customer possessions credit card 
service provider • Making it difficult to  information
• Exaggerating the  invoke a service  • Sharing customer 
benefits of a specific  guarantee information with third 
service offering parties
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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

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Expectations and Attitudes

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
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Managing Customer-Introduced Variability

A trade‐off between cost and service quality (customer satisfaction)

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Managing Customer-Introduced Variability

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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  

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Southwest Tops All Airlines in Customer Service

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.”

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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

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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

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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

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