OMGT MIDTERM INVOLVEMENT

WEEK 7: QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE –  Consumers are often directly involved in the service
delivery. A therapist is a good example of this. The
MONITORING AND COMMUNICATIONS
consumer is the center of the service, and thus each
instance of the service is unique based on the
individual involved.
SERVICE OPERATIONS
MANAGING SERVICE OPERATIONS
 Services operations often encounter different
opportunities and challenges than tangible goods, and  Without a tangible good to ship, handle and produce,
thus require unique operational considerations operational managers are instead focused on the
execution of an activity to fill a consumer need. This
 Service operations are simply the application of
management of an instance is rather different than
operations management to an intangible good (i.e. a
the management of a product.
service). To understand how service operations
function CORE OPERATIONAL DECISIONS
 Service operations are the operational strategies and
tactics which go into delivering an intangible good to Location
prospective consumers.
 How to lay out the facility, what size is appropriate,
 Understanding this field of work requires an
and overall how efficiently a given space can be used
understanding of what a service constitutes. One
relative to the cost are key considerations.
useful perspective in differentiating services from
other goods is the ‘5 I’s of services’ perspective. Scheduling
 As services behave somewhat differently than
tangible products, operations managers must take into  Maximizing output through planning properly can
account different considerations when optimizing minimize opportunity costs and maximize revenue,
their operational strategy. and plays an integral role in operational management
 Improving overall quality through measuring of services.
consumer satisfaction, planning facilities for optimal
Quality
use of space, and effective scheduling are a few
examples of considerations service operators  As the ‘5 I’s of Services’ indicate, most services tend
consider. to be completely unique.

5 I’s REVIEW CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

INTANGIBILITY  Every three months or more frequently if time
permits, it is important to review customer
 Services cannot be touched, shipped, handled, or
satisfaction with your service delivery
looked at. They are an occurrence, not a tangible
 This should be done, using verifiable data, rather
good.
than relying on subjective impressions and hearsay
INVENTORY from other staff.

 Services cannot be stored for later use. They occur, Objectives of collecting and reviewing customer feedback
or they do not occur.
 Identify the extent to which customers and others are
INSEPARABILITY satisfied with service delivery
 Identify the areas in which there is satisfaction with
 Services cannot be pulled into different parts or service delivery
separated (as many tangible goods can be—which  Identify the precise areas within areas where there is
makes operations management quite different for dissatisfaction.
products).  Identify the precise nature of any dissatisfaction.
 Identify the staff involved in both superior and
INCONSISTENCY inferior levels of service.
 Identify if there is a certain time of the day/week
 Services tend to be unique. A teacher may teach you when service levels are reduced or at their best
a topic, and another teacher may teach you the same  Discover what can be done to improve a less than
topic in another course. Each teacher will deliver this optimum situation
topic somewhat differently. This is a good example
of service inconsistency.
  Identify what needs to be done to maintain the PART 2: SERVICE DISCOVERY, DELIVERY
present satisfactory level of service delivery. AND RECOVERY
The review should be as wide-ranging as possible, meaning
DEVELOP STANDARDS AND PLANS TO
it should involve:
ADDRESS SERVICE ISSUES
 Regular customers
Management needs to consider:
 New customers
 Customers who are one-off customers  Different ‘areas’ for which standards and plans may
 Corporate customers be created
 Staff  Development process for plans and standards
 Management.  Identifying several approaches towards quality
management for staff and customers.
Types of feedback
The development process:
Positive
 Establish a ‘customer service’ team of interested,
 Customers give compliments about aspects of experienced and dedicated
service.  Look at what other venues are providing in terms of
Neutral service
 Identify the ‘areas’ in the venue about which you
 Customers say they ‘enjoyed’ their experience, not believe there needs to be a customer service standard
provide any further comment. and a plan.
 Determine the standards to apply to the identified
Negative
areas with reference to:
 Customers have a complaint regarding an aspect of  Your image, reputation and advertising
their ‘experience’.  Value-for-money for the customer
 What the opposition is doing
COMPARE INFORMATION TO IDENTIFY  Identified customer expectations.
CHANGES IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
 Incorporate the standards into a formal plan. This
Budgets plan should identify:
 Sales budgets  Dates for implementation
 Dates for review
 Labour budgets
 Resources available to support the introduction of the
 Material budgets
standards
 Inventory budget
 Responsibilities related to the initiative
 Overhead budgets.
 Key Performance Indicators to be used to evaluate
SEEKING AGREEMENT ON ACTION service delivery at the designated review dates.

Courses of action to overcome service problems Possible ‘areas’ for service standards and plans

 Stimulate employees to be creative in developing  Response times

customer care activities.  Service guarantees
 Allow staff room to make mistakes.  Pricing guarantees
 Invest in meetings and regular contacts with  Product quality
customers via newsletters or customer magazines.  Document presentation standards
 Make it easy for customers to complain.  Personal presentation standards
 Complaint management
COMMUNICATING CHANGES IN SERVICE  General customer satisfaction.
Communicating new approaches to service delivery COMMUNICATING STANDARDS AND PLANS
 Once all parties have reached agreement, any new Communicating customer service standards can come in
approaches to customer service decided upon must be many different ways including:
communicated to all those involved within
appropriate timeframes.  Orientation programs  Formal meetings
 Staff briefings at the start and end of shifts
 Training sessions  Observation and mentoring
  Informal communication during a shift  Operation of air conditioning, heating, television,
radio, and plumbing in room
GIVING COLLEAGUES ACCESS TO  Amenities.
STANDARDS AND PLANS
Guest Stays
Common methods of enabling such access include:
 Food service department
 Mention of service standards at job interview  Gift shop
 Documentation of service standards  Lounge
 Induction and orientation  Room service
 Office computer system  Valet service
 Printed copies in staff areas.  Housekeeping services
 Complimentary services and products
MONITOR SERVICE TO ENSURE STANDARDS
 Security
ARE MET
 Front office.
 Simply because standards have been developed,
reduced to writing, explained to staff and ratified by
management, doesn’t mean they will always be
implemented.
 The most common problem is service standards are Check–out
developed and communicated but not monitored.  Check-out time deadlines
 Luggage
 If service delivery standards are not monitored the
 Speed of check-out
result can be service standards quickly drop.
 Accuracy of accounts.
The common monitoring methods are:
MEASURE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE AGAINST
 Workplace observation STANDARDS
 Talking to customers
 Talking to staff Quantitative Methods
 Reading customer complaints and feedback  Objective facts and unambiguous measures of
 Analysing business statistics. performance
Areas to monitor  This evaluation method is statistically-based
 It includes quantifying things such as:
 Which positions should you monitor?  Service availability and standard
 What do you specifically monitor?  Waiting times
 Number of complaints
Reservations  Number of give-aways provided.
 The reservation system, and how easy it is to use, Qualitative Methods
how user friendly it is from the guests’ point of view
 Our telephone manner This is information that commonly answers the ‘Why?’
 Cancellation policy questions:
 Credit card acceptance
 Why do people want this or that?
 Accommodation availability
 Why do they prefer to order at this time and not that?
 Information on hotel shuttle and public
 These questions uncover answers to the reasons
transportation.
behind people’s actions, and help us to understand
Registration people’s expectations and requirements.

 Greetings Central to this method are:

 Assistance with luggage
 Questioning skills
 Check-in procedure
 Active listening techniques
 Room accommodation
 Observation skills
 Room status/availability
 Analysing events and observations
 Information on hotel services
 Interpreting customers’ verbal statements and non-
 Cleanliness and interior design of lobby, elevators,
verbal cues.
rooms
ENSURE TEAM PERFORMANCE MEETS  Demonstrations
STANDARDS  Discussions

As managers we need to look to see: When to perform professional development

 How individuals are able to perform in relation to the Normally professional development is performed when:
desired standards
 Customer service deficiencies exist which need to be
 If the team as a whole is operating in a successful
addressed
manner.
 New staff require training
Teams in a hospitality setting often refer to either people:  New techniques to existing products or services are
made
 Within a department  New products or services are introduced
 Working together in the same shift  Retraining is required.
 Working closely with another department.
 Each team will comprise individuals with their own SUPPORTING TEAM MEMBERS
specific characteristics, strengths and weaknesses
A manager or supervisor must provide active support to team
 As a manger it is important to ensure that staff are
members in helping them meet their given outcomes.
able to work together to achieve the collective
objectives of the organization Support that can be given to workplace teams may entail:
 The primary objective being to ensure each customer
has an enjoyable experience  Giving moral and verbal support when times are
 A team is only as strong as its weakest link. tough and the going gets tough
 Providing relevant training and coaching
Characteristics of effective teams  Obtaining more physical resources to enable the job
to be done better or quicker
 Clear goals
 Getting approval for more time (overtime payments,
 Relevant skills
extra hours) for staff.
 Mutual trust
 Advocating to management on behalf of the staff
 Unified commitment
 Supporting staff when an unfounded or unfair
 Good communication
allegation is made about them
 Negotiating skills
 Soliciting and listening to their feedback
 Appropriate leadership
 Thanking them for hard work, effort and when they
 Internal and external support
go the extra yard or two
 Recognition and reward
 Celebrating any successes
Monitoring team performance
COACHING TEAM MEMBERS
Some suitable methods to monitoring team performance
Coaching of staff to help enhance the delivery of quality
include:
customer service is a much under-used tool in the effort to
 Observations provide better levels of service.
 Meetings Workplace coaching is an excellent tool to use because:
 Customer feedback
 Staff feedback  It is extremely cost-efficient
 Financial and operational reports  It relates specifically to individual workplace
 Performance appraisals. requirements
 It targets individual staff need.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Basics of coaching
Types of professional development can include:
When considering using coaching it is best to:
 Qualifications and certified training programs
provided by external educational or professional  Target coaching to actual, identified need for specific
providers individuals
 Internal programs  Obtain agreement form the staff member that
 Meetings coaching is needed and will benefit them
 On the job learning  Prepare for the coaching session
 Buddy system  Explain the coaching to be delivered.
 Research activities  Focus on the person to be coached
  Use the two primary delivery strategies of actually provided. Do some research to deeply
‘explanation’ and ‘demonstration’ understand your customers and what services they
 Follow the rhyme: “I do it normal, I do it slow. You expect along the experience pathway, so you can
do it with me, then off you go.” anticipate their demands before you make a mistake.
 Make sure underpinning skills and knowledge are
3. MAKING AMENDS
covered
 Allow for appropriate practice  Making amends is a means for righting a wrong. It
 Follow up with the staff member as required to see if can be as simple as a sincere apology, sending a
extra coaching or assistance is needed. follow-up letter, or may include a small gift or token
of appreciation. The knee jerk reaction to a service
Ways to deliver coaching
breakdown is more often than not either waiving of a
 Role plays bill or giving something complimentary to the
 Discussion groups customer. Whilst these strategies do work – but only
to an extent. The customer is more often than not,
 Case studies
looking to be treated fairly.
 Mentoring
 Training videos 4. EMPOWERMENT & OWNERSHIP
 A critical friend
 Build mechanisms in place that encourage frontline
PART 3: QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE staff and management to take ownership of the
situation. “I will solve this problem for you”. When
THE 5 STEPS OF A CUSTOMER SERVICE things do go wrong, a customer wants someone who
will take charge of the situation, rather than pass the
Why is customer service?
responsibility around or blame others for the service
 Failures in customer service are inevitable. Whether breakdown. The breakdown in itself could have
you’re just starting out as a business or a well-oiled happened owing to a host of reasons or people for
machine, you’re bound to slip up and disappoint a that matter. However, when it comes to recovering
customer at some point; your reservations desk the situation, the buck stops at the person carrying
forgets to accommodate a special request, your out the recovery, so owning the situation and
airline has to cancel a flight to a popular holiday inspiring trust and confidence in the customer that
destination, or a waiter in your restaurant is having a you will solve the problem for them becomes a
bad day and is impatient with an elderly couple. We critical component.
are a part of an industry which is high touch and 5. RESPOND IN A TIMELY MANNER & FOLLOW-UP
driven by human interaction, 100% error free service
is almost impossible, which is why how an  When it comes to service recovery, timing is key. Be
organization recovers from those service breakdowns prompt and efficient in responding and resolving
is what sets them apart from the rest issues, to make sure that frustrations don’t fester for
too long. The quicker you respond, the more likely
HOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL CUSTOMER you’ll be to resolve the issue before it turns sour, and
SERVICE? turn a disgruntled customer into an loyal brand
ambassador.
1. APOLOGIZE TO THE CUSTOMER.
6. KEEP AN OPEN LINE OF COMMUNICATION
 The first step to service recovery is offering a sincere
and heartfelt apology to the customer. It must not feel  Encourage your customers to provide feedback by
mechanical and you must ensure that the customer sending questionnaires and providing an direct line of
feels like you mean it. communication for where they can share their
 Show that you appreciate and regret what the feedback, experiences and concerns. Research shows
customer has gone through in the situation. Think that for every customer complaint, there are 26 other
about what the customer wants to hear from an unhappy customers who have remained silent. So go
apology and offer it to them. What is driving their in search of those customers who might be too
frustration? How are they feeling at the moment? reserved to share their experiences, as you’ll find it’s
Take a moment to step into their shoes. often the silent ones who can do the most damage.
2. ANTICIPATE & UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS OF PART 4: SERVICE MANAGEMENT
THE CUSTOMER
SERVICE
 Most problems result from a misalignment between
customer expectations and the products or services
  A service is an action of doing something to someone  Production and consumption and from the provider.
which is essentially (purely) intangible.  Services cannot be separated from the services
 “Service is an act or performance offered by one provided (we cannot separate the service from the
party to another that is essentially intangible and does product) in fact the product delivers consumption of a
not result in the ownership of anything.” service. 

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT VARIABILITY

 Is a total system approach to managing the entire  Service quality depends on who provides and under
flow of information, materials, and services from raw what condition.
-materials suppliers through factories warehouses to  Services of highly variable. It is almost impossible to
the end customer. have the same service from the same seller the
 A supply chain is the system of organizations, second time.
people, activities, information and resources involved
PERISHABILITY
in moving a product or service from supplier to
customer.  Cannot be stored, for resale or later use.
 Supply chain activities transform raw materials and
components into a finished product that is delivered CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION
to the end customer.
 Service product is not a one side activity customer
are core product of services. The product quality of
services greatly depends upon the ability, skills and
performance of the employees as well as the activity
and performance of the customer.

NO OWNERSHIP

 Here we cannot transfer ownership from one person

to other person that particular service belongs to
particular person because its purely intangible.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES
INTANGIBILITY

 Cannot be seen, tasted, felt or smelled before

purchasing.
  It cannot be taste, feel & smell before they are
bought unlike physical product. The intangibility
creates a feeling of uncertainty about the outcome of
service.

INSEPARABILITY
 SKILL LEVEL OF SERVICE PROVIDER:

 Teacher
 Doctor
 Engineer
 Accountant

CLASSIFICATION OF SERVICE LOBOUR INTENSIVENESS

 It is required to design & apply marketing techniques  Mechanic

to completely satisfy the customer & increase profit  Electrician
& identify new emerging services  Labour
 Classification can be done on the following basis  Plumber
 Classification by industry  Artisan
 Classification by target effect
 Skill level of service provider (professional/Non
professional)
 Labour intensiveness(people-based/ equipment-
based)
 Degree of customer involment DEGREE OF CUSTOMER CONTACT
CLASSIFICATION BY INDUSTRY  High degree (every day)-TV channels, Mobile etc.
 Entertainment industry  Moderate Degree (regular)- teacher, barber, washer
man etc…
 Education
 Low Degree (occasional)-priest, doctor etc.
 Telecommunication
 Transportation SERVICE ENCOUNTER
 Public utilities
 Government services  A service encounter is a period of time during which
 Health customer interact directly with a service. It is also
 Hospitality industry called as "Moment of Truth“
 Business services  Service encounters are transactional interactions in
which one person (e.g., a vendor, office clerk, travel
CLASSIFICATION BY TARGET EFFECT agent) provides a service or good (e.g., a product, an
appointment, airline tickets) to another person.
Based on degree of customer involment
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
PEOPLE PROCESSING:
 The blueprint is an operational tool that describes the
 Service aimed at physical care
nature and the characteristics of the service
 Ex:-health care, clinics, restaurants, hospital, hair interaction in enough detail to verify, implement and
stylist, fitness centers. maintain it.
MENTAL STIMULUS PROCESSING:

 Services aimed at mind of customer

 Ex:-education, information, entertainment,
consulting, and psychotherapy.

POSSESION PROCESSING:

 Service aimed at physical possession & tangible

assets
 Ex:- repair & maintance, Laundry, repair Services,
House cleaning services.

INFORMATION PROCESSING:

 Service for tangible assets Ex:- banking legal

consultation, brokerage , financial service.
 “Viewing employees as internal customer, viewing jobs as
internal products and then endeavoring to offer products that
satisfy the needs and wants of these internal customers while
addressing the objectives of the organization.”-L.L Berry
(1981)

WEEK 8: FEEDBACK AND SERVICE

IMPROVEMENTS
WAYS TO USE THE SERVICE MARETING IMPORTANCE OF GUEST FEEDBACK IN THE TTH
TRIANGLE INDUSTRY
OVERALL STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT:  The best way of taking customer feedback is by
 How is the service organization doing on all three asking your customers. And, this can easily be
sides of the triangle? achieved through surveys. With an effective survey,
organisations can obtain insights into the following.
 Where are the weaknesses?
1. Service
 What are the strength?
2. Quality
SPECIFIC SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION 3. Improvements
4. Immediate Damage Control
 What is being promoted and by whom?  A happy and satisfied customer is bound to come
 How will it be delivered and by whom? back and stay loyal to the brand.
 Are the supporting systems in place to deliver the
promised service? COLLECTING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

EXTERNAL AND INTERACTIVE MARKETING Methods of collecting customer feedback

EXTERNAL MARKETING: “Setting the Promise:  Direct communication from customer to staff
 Observations
 Marketing to END-USERS  Customer comment cards
 Involves pricing strategy, promotional activities, and  Online feedback
all communication with customers.  Meetings.
 Performed to capture the attention of the market, and
interest in the service. DOCUMENTING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
INTERACTIVE MARKETING: “Moment of Truth, Once customer feedback is collected, it must:
Service Encounter”
 Be documented accurately
 This refers to the decisive moment of interaction  Identify further opportunities for workplace
between the front-office employees and customers. improvement
 This step is utmost importance, because if the  Used as the framework for customer service
employee falters at this level, all prior efforts made improvement strategies.
towards establishing a relationship with the customer,
would be wasted. COMPARE INFORMATION TO IDENTIFY
CHANGES IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
INTERNAL MARKETING: “Enabling the Promise”
 Once information has been collected, it should be
 Marketing to EMPLOYEES. compared against benchmarks to determine if the
 Involves training, motivational, and teamwork changes are positive or negative
programs, and all communication with employees.  So what is current information compared against?
 Performed to enable employees to perform the
service effectively, and keep up the promise made to Budgets
the customer.
 Sales budgets
 Labour budgets
  Material budgets  Description of ideal service standard.
 Inventory budget
Reporting Findings
 Overhead budgets.
 Capital Expenditure budgets  Once you have prepared your report it is important
 Budgeted Financial Performance Statement that it is given to the right people for feedback,
 Cash budgets agreement and implementation or action.
 Budgeted Statement of Financial Position
The groups and individuals to whom such a report may be
Operational Reports forwarded could include:

 Sales reports  Management

 Occupancy reports  The Board
 Financial reports  Certain subcommittees
 Complimentary reports.  The establishment’s focus group
Trainers in the business
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’S)  The external organisation that conducts your training
 These are detailed instruction of how tasks should be  Organisation
performed and the standard which must be achieved.  All staff members
 Specific staff members who are identified in
Job Descriptions feedback
 Head office
 These are a detailed explanation of what each staff
member should be doing in the workplace. It PREPARE CONCLUSIONS AND
identifies responsibilities and tasks for completion. RECOMMENDATIONS
IDENTIFY AND REPORT CHANGES IN Providing Feedback
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Tips on giving effective feedback which can be useful when
Common Service Problems making conclusions and giving recommendations include:
 Inadequate products or services  Be positive and constructive
 Difficulties in contacting service staff  Respect the feelings of the speaker/person you are
 Lack of information about the products and services providing advice to
offered by the establishment  Act on the fact that immediate feedback is more
 Unclear or incomplete price information effective than delayed feedback
 Unclear or incomplete deals  Restrict your feedback to only those things that can
 Handling of complaints. be changed.

EVALUATE AND REPORT ON CUSTOMER COMMUNICATING CONCLUSIONS AND

SERVICE RECOMMENDATIONS
 Once customer feedback has been collected and  At the conclusion of any review it is often necessary
compared against organisational benchmarks and to communicate the results to designated groups and
standards, a report detailing reasons for changes in individuals, within appropriate timeframes.
customer service must be evaluated and reported.
Usually accepted means of communication are:
This report should contain:
 In person
 Description of actual performance  By phone
 Identify problems  Via email.
 Provide solutions for improvement.

Identifying Changes toward Improved Customer Service

SEEKING AGREEMENT ON ACTION
You should address the following points:
Courses of Action to Overcome Service Problems
 Resources to achieve the change are identified and
costed  Improve products and services
 Potential barriers or problems  Timelines for action  Give benefits to key customers
 Responsibilities for action to nominated individuals
  Systematise customer complaints and learn from  This activity is not a once off event. It must be a
them process that occurs on a regular basis
 Train staff in customer care  There are always additional changes that can be made
 Give staff the authority, discretion and resources to to improve any aspect of customer service
make quick decisions.  All staff regardless of position, must strive to
 Stimulate employees to be creative in developing ensuring the customer service provided is the best it
customer care activities can possibly be
 Allow staff room to make mistakes  That is the true essence of maintaining quality
 Invest in meetings and regular contacts with customer service.
customers via newsletters or customer magazines
 Make it easy for customers to complain. PART 2: EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Reaching Agreement to Changes in Service What’s the difference between user experience, customer
experience and service design?
 As a group, you must put a plan in place, based on
some of the suggestions mentioned above, and reach  TERMS ARE CONFUSING 
a mutual agreement  There is often a debate between practitioners and
 Only with the consensus of all parties involved, can a studios on how to define different parts of experience
sense of ownership take place and people will be design
more acceptable of the changes and the plan to  User Experience (UX), Customer Experience (CX)
implement them. and Service Design?
COMMUNICATING CHANGES IN SERVICE  Clients and design students repeatedly find this
confusing.
Communicating New Approaches to Service Delivery
USER EXPERIENCE
 Once all parties have reached agreement, any new
approaches to customer service decided upon must be  User Experience (UX) primarily focuses on the
communicated to all those involved within design and implementation of a single customer
appropriate timeframes. touchpoint. The aim is to make the touchpoint easier
and more enjoyable to use.  
Your approach should follow these guidelines:
WHAT IS A TOUCHPOINT?
 Hold a formal staff meeting to inform staff of the
changes  Today, touchpoints typically mean website, mobile
 Explain why change is necessary app and in-store experiences, but they can also appear
 Give staff a hard copy of the new service approaches in form of paper invoice, kiosk or interactive voice
 Give staff demonstrations of the new service delivery response system experiences.  
protocols
TOUCHPOINT ≠ CHANNEL
 Tell staff about the dates for introducing the new
service  Touchpoints often get conflated with channels
 Reassure staff they are not required to implement the (website, in-store etc.), although touchpoint is only a
changes ‘tomorrow’ single point of interaction.
 Inform staff of the training  In the touchpoint, an organisation seeks to fulfil
 Encourage questions from staff about the changes customer’s needs with products or services.
 Make yourself available outside this meeting for staff
to talk to CHANGING BEHAVIOURS
 Post new checklists relating to the changes in  A well designed touchpoint allow customers to fulfil
appropriate parts of the venue their needs and complete desired tasks with ease and
 Include new policies, procedures in operational joy in a specific time and space.
manuals, induction programs and in-house training  Some experiences can even change behaviours, like
 Schedule staff training an online hotel booking.
 Introduce the changes and monitor their
implementation BROAD SKILL SET
 Provide feedback and additional training
 To create great User Experiences, you or your team
CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF SERVICE need to have different competences.

COMPETENCES OF UX
User Research and Analytics: WHAT IS SERVICE DESIGN? LOOKING
THROUGH TWO LENSES
 Understanding users through observations and data.
 Like Customer Experience, Service Design is a
 Information Architecture:
holistic approach to improve existing and to innovate
 Organising information in a product or website in a new service experiences.
usable way.  This multidisciplinary approach combines customer
experience, operational model design and design
Interaction Design: thinking methodologies and tools. It considers the
end to end service journey across all channels and
 Designing interactive behaviours that allow users to
touch points not only from a customer, but also from
complete their goals and tasks.
organisational perspective. 
Content Strategy:
BACKSTAGE PASS
 Planning for the creation, delivery and governance of
usable content.  This perspective enables organisations to enhance
their strategies, business models and operations
Visual Design: breaking through silos. It aims to improve behind-
the-scenes activities and processes that enable
 Designing the interface’s visual qualities in an organisations to deliver great services and
aesthetically pleasing way. experiences.
Front-End Developer: WHO ARE SERVICE DESIGNERS? 
 Responsible for creating a functional implementation
  Service Design connects various fields of research,
of a product's interface.
strategy and design, and sometimes even engineering,
architecture or human resources etc. 

 COMPETENCES OF SERVICE DESIGN 

WHAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE? Ethnography and Research:

 Experience focuses on the design and implementation  Understanding the users and their needs through
of all touchpoints across the entire customer journey observations, contextual inquiries and other research
and channels.  methods.

OMNI-CHANNEL Visual and Information Design:

 As customers don’t see the difference between  Designing the visual elements that support customers
channels and touchpoints, they tend to jump from one emotionally, and makes complex and abstract
touchpoint to another and expect the seamless content accessible in a simpler way.
experience everywhere. Operations Management:
 Thus, it is important to understand how customer
interacts in different touchpoints; what is done in  Improving processes through which an organisation’s
each touchpoint and when. products and services are delivered.
 Omni-channel experiences allow customers to
Strategic Management:
communicate through their preferred medium.
 Omni-Channel has evolved from multi-channel and  Responsible for dealing with the decisions how
means that the customer experience is seamless organisations can improve and differentiate their
through all channels.  service and product offerings, and business models.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY Product and Industrial Design:

 Customer Experience aims to deliver good  Through rapid prototyping designers can create
experiences consistently on every channel that are artefacts and concepts cheaply and quickly which
aligned with the brand perception. Single ‘WOW’ improves later phases of product development.
moments and misleading communication or
advertising can be destructive if they set the bar too + Industry experts:
high for further interactions. 
 As a multidisciplinary approach, service design
benefits from project specific industry experts, who
 bring knowledge and experience from their  One step ahead to assess what your customer’s next
respective industries. demand or query might be is always an added
advantage.
 4 KEY TAKEAWAYS
THE TWO COMMANDMENTS
 1. USER EXPERIENCE
1. Do unto your internal customers as you would have
 Focuses on the design of a single customer them do unto your external customers. In other
touchpoint. words, take care of your employees … be concerned
2. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE for their wellbeing, and invest in them
2. Always treat customers as though they will remain
 Focuses on orchestrating all touchpoints through all customers, “never as though this is the last time
channels. you’ll see them.

3. SERVICE DESIGN CHALLENGES

 Considers all channels and touchpoints, also from 1. Employee recruiting and selection is critical
organisational perspective.
 good recruiting and selection programs are essential
4. HUMAN CENTRED DESIGN to a firm’s ability to provide superior service at the
frontline
 All three parts apply human-centred approach which
focuses on the human experience and the quality of 2. Data mining
product or service encounter as the key value for
success.  detects useful and non-obvious trends in data, will
have a distinct advantage over their competitors
WEEK 9: FRONT-LINE OPERATIONS:
3. Making the job easier for frontline staff
WORKING IN THE LIMELIGHT
 other ways to assist frontline staff
ROLES OF FRONTLINE STAFF
4. Motivating employees
 Deals directly with customers.
 One of the most important representative of the  understanding how role ambiguity, role conflict, and
business. lack of psychological empowerment
 Engages and handles customers is what creates the
5. Staying one step ahead of competitors
first impression about a company and impacts brand
image.  offerings and develop service innovations that will
 Should excel in all the necessary customer service delight customers at the frontline and that
skills in order to offer better experience and create competitors will find hard to beat
positive brand perception.
OPERATIONAL PLANS AND OBJECTIVES
FOUR MOST ESSENTIAL SKILLS EVERY
FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE SHOULD HAVE Types of Objectives

1. Excellent Communication  Targets, goals and objectives

 Reporting deadlines
 Sets the tone of the business.  Meeting budgetary targets
 Team participation
2. Exhibiting Patience
 Team and individual learning goals
 Deal with a number of different kinds of people, you  Professional development
have to be ready to face all kinds of situations.
IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES
3. Showing Empathy
Role of Teams and Individuals
 Build an emotional connection and trust with the
company.  Each team or group will have a purpose for its
existence, with a set of objectives it is trying to
4. Being Proactive achieve
 Naturally each group will have people who have been
chosen for a reason
  Each of these people will have their own strengths CLARIFY WORK ALLOCATION
and weaknesses
Considerations

 The urgency associated with the task  Staff

preferences
 Distribute workloads and opportunities equally
 Considering staffing availability, experience, skills
Organisational Requirements and work habits

 Legal and organisational policy and procedures, COMMUNICATE INFORMATION TO TEAM

including personnel practices and guidelines MEMBERS
 Organisational goals, objectives, plans, systems and
processes Whilst communication and information may primarily come
 Legislation relevant to the operation, incident and/or from managers, it is important to remember that all colleagues
response within a team will communicate and share information on a
 Employer and employee rights and responsibilities daily basis.

TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES  What information do team members need?

 What is the best way to communicate this
Team Responsibilities information?

Each work team, whether as a whole or as individual ASSIGNING TASKS

members, have responsibilities that must be adhered to.
On a day-by-day basis, you may be required to allocate tasks
 What are these responsibilities? to staff as a result of matters brought to your attention by:
 Obeying lawful orders
 Confidentiality and privacy requirements  Internal communications
 Safety and care with respect to occupational health  Workplace observations
and safety requirements COMMUNICATING INSTRUCTIONS
 Terms and conditions of own employment
 Responsibility of providing a safe environment Primary Requirements

IDENTIFY INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES The communication of instructions regarding task assignments

must address the following three elements:
Identifying Individual Responsibilities within a Group
 They must be clear, specific and unambiguous
 Organisational hierarchies  They must be directed to nominated individuals
 Contract  They must be explained
 Job Description
 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Supplementary Requirements
 Policies  A statement of what the desired result
 Procedures  A nominated deadline and timeline for completion
 Daily Task Sheets  Accountability
 Direct requests  Checklists
 Observation

Consulting With Relevant Others

There may be a need to consult with ‘relevant others’ when

determining what needs to be done, either for:

 A team as a whole COMMUNICATE INFORMATION TO TEAM

 Individual team members MEMBERS
Types of Information to Be Communicated

There are endless amounts of information that will be

communicated between team members and to team members
by management.
  Clarifying the organisation's preferred task Organisational Sources
completion methods
 Problems with higher decisions and policies
 Potential hazards or changing Occupational Health
and Safety (OHS) requirements  Person placed in the wrong position
 Discussing concerns  Insufficient organisational action over a grievance
 Organisational over-permissiveness
COMMUNICATION AVENUES  Impact of supervisors
 Leadership style
Conduct Staff Debriefing Sessions
 Bad communication or instruction
 General discussion  Inappropriate managerial standards or criteria
 Thank staff for their hard work  Discrimination
 Acknowledge areas that went well  Lack of managing diversity
 Acknowledge good performance by staff  Harassment and bullying
 Acknowledge areas that did not go well  Problems with team cohesion and acceptance
 Problems from the work context
Holding regular team meetings  Geographic location
 Get people together  Bad physical work environment
 Get alignment towards a specific range of topics  Unsafe conditions and work processes
 Provide information  Problems with the way the job is performed
 Brainstorm ideas External Sources
 Exchange ideas and thoughts
These are problems an employee can have that stem from
Discussions society and its values.
 Most communication of information is often done These include situations where:
through informal discussions between management
and staff members or between team members  Society’s values clash with the job
themselves  Clashes with moral or religious issues
 Working on certain days
SOURCES OF POOR PERFORMANCE  Assisting guests with certain unsavoury requests
Before counselling an employee on poor performance or  Changing economic conditions
inappropriate job behaviours it is worth considering the likely
causes of work problems.

Poor performance normally results from:

 Employee qualities
 Organisational qualities CONSIDERATIONS
 External sources
Before counselling an employee for poor performance or
conducting the performance appraisal, management need to
consider:

 What are the symptoms and what are the likely

causes
Employee Qualities  If the causes are because of something that is internal
to the organisation
These sources stem from the employee themselves and can
 Identify whether you are dealing with a work
include:
performance problem or a work behaviour problem
 Problems of capacity, where the employee does not
STEPS IN HANDLING PERFORMANCE
have the required aptitude or orientation for the tasks
RELATED PROBLEMS
 Family related problems
 Psychological problems, such as drug abuse Review facts surrounding performance concerns before
gambling, irrational fears, depression, aggressive addressing staff performance
behaviour stemming from self image problems
 Physical problems, such as lack of energy, restricted  Obtain original, first-hand evidence
movement, pain or illness  Gather supplementary information
  Take immediate action if required?  Focus on team, rather than individual and personal
goals
Steps
 Do what's right, regardless of personal risk
 Arrange to discuss situation with employee in private
WEEK 10: OPERATIONAL RISKS
 Notifying employees about performance discussion
sessions 1.1 ESTABLISHING THE CONTEXT FOR
 Obtain employee commitment to improvement OPERATIONAL RISK
 Outline consequences of non-compliance
 Take disciplinary action if required Risk Management can be simplified into these 4 questions:
 Record and document actions 1. What untoward things could happen?
COMMUNICATE REQUIREMENTS OF WORK 2. What would be the impact?
3. What can we do about it?
ACTIVITIES
4. How do we tell everyone involved?
Need for Communication
The four levels of risk:
 When working in the hospitality industry, there is a
 Strategic level
need for supervisors and managers to communicate
 Organisational level
with both staff and fellow colleagues on a constant
basis.  Operational level
 Task level
COMMUNICATING WITH COLLEAGUES
The external context of risk: PESTL
 Clarity of purpose, including vision, mission, goals
 Political
 Operational performance
 Economic
 Upcoming events
 Social
 Products and services information
 Technological
 Promotional activities
 Legal
 Specific customers

A number of factors can impact on the operational

environment and may have risks:
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
 Weather
To help ensure your communication is polite, professional and  Customer numbers
friendly, the following tips will assist:  Time of day
 Seasonality
 Follow all establishment policies
 Type of activity or tour
 Use a person’s name where it is known
 Experience and age of customers
 Be honest
 Ability and physical condition of customers
 Use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ a lot
 Equipment being used and location
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION What are some events that could lead to risk?:
 Don’t interrupt  Personal health and injury
 Speak at an appropriate pace and volume  Product malfunction or failure, including systems and
 Make sure your non-verbal language matches the equipment
verbal communication  Damage to property and equipment, including
BUILDING TRUST customer property
 Industrial dispute
Ways to create and build trust  Professional incompetence
 Natural disasters
 Establish and maintain integrity
 Security failure
 Communicate vision, values, mission and goals
 Financial loss
 Consider all employees as equal partners in the
 Political events
organisation
 Terrorism
1.2 IDENTIFY OPERATIONAL RISK  Death or permanent disability
 Very serious injury or long term illness requiring
Four root causes of risk: specialist treatment or hospitalisation
People  Medical attention and several days of work
 Minor injury requiring first aid but no time off work
 How do the actions of people working in the  Insignificant so no treatment required
business/organisation contribute to creating potential
risks?

Process

 What processes are currently being employed and

what kinds of risks might be present in these
processes?

Technology

 The use of technology will represent many

advantages for the organisation but it may also come
with the potential for significant risk 

Environment

 The operating environment of the organisation needs

to be carefully scrutinised to identify potential risk
Risk Exposure:

 Legal
 Material
Identifying risk:  Financial

 Where is the risk within the organisation? Risk Control Options:

 When is the risk most likely to be present? Avoidance
 How is the risk manifested?
 Why is the risk present?  don’t involve the business in certain high risk areas
 What effects does the risk have?
Reduction
Identifying techniques:
 use the risk control hierarchy to reduce likelihood of
 Analysing incidents risk
 Looking at historical data Retention
 Using SWOT analyses
 Audits and inspections  accept the risk and be prepared to absorb its costs if
 Surveys and questionnaires realised
 Reviewing legislation
Sharing
 Running risk identification workshops
 Collecting best practice statistics  use insurance or third parties to spread the costs of
risk control
1.3 ASSESS OPERATIONAL RISK
1.4 IDENTIFY OPERATIONAL RISK CONTROL
Once risk has been identified, its nature needs to be
PROCEDURES
assessed. What is the likelihood of risk?
The Hierarchy of Risk Control:
 Almost certain – denotes 80% probability
 Likely – denotes >50% probability  Elimination
 Possible - denotes a >20% probability  Substitution
 Unlikely - denotes a >10% probability  Isolation
 Rare - denotes a 1% probability  Changes to procedures
 Administrative controls
What are the consequences of risk?
 Personal protective equipment
 Rate the cost of implementation. 3.1 INFORM STAFF OF OPERATIONAL RISK
MANAGEMENT AND CONTINGENCY PLANS
Seeking input from stakeholders on risk:
Staff have valuable knowledge to contribute to the Risk
 One on one consultation
and Contingency planning process like:
 Team meetings
 Online forums 1. Knowledge of issues with workplace issues
2. Awareness of faults with work processes
2.2 DEVELOP WRITTEN OPERATIONAL RISK 3. Workplace design/layout issues
MANAGEMENT PLANS 4. Experience with the type, seriousness and frequency
of workplace events
10-step process to developing a Risk Management Plan.

 Make a commitment, as an organisation, to risk  How do staff access their organisation’s Risk
management Management and Contingency Plans?
 Identify all possible threats and risks  Does a business make it easy for staff to understand
 Assess the level of each risk what is required of them in the Risk Management and
 Decide to accept, treat or transfer each risk Contingency Process?
 Determine treatment options for all unacceptable Procedures for staff to notify of risk:
risks
 Formalise your Risk Management Plan  Verbal reports to supervisors
 Implement your treatment options  Completion of a report form
 Communicate information to everyone affected  Raising the issue at staff meetings
 Review your Risk Management Plan after 6 months
 Identify any new risks and update your plan 3.2 CONDUCT STAFF TRAINING IN RISK
MANAGEMENT
Operational Risk Management Plans need to include:
Ways to train staff in risk:
 Description of the risks to be managed
 Allocation of resources and responsibilities  Emergency drills
 Action to take should risk be realised  Case studies
 Preventative action to be taken  Role plays
 Simulations of risk events
 Steps to eliminate unacceptable operational risks 
Risks that cannot be eliminated  Workplace application

2.3 DEVELOP WRITTEN OPERATIONAL 3.3 PREPARE RESOURCES TO INFORM

CONTINGENCY PLANS CUSTOMERS OF OPERATIONAL RISK
MANAGEMENT PLANS AND OPERATIONAL
What is a Contingency Plan? CONTINGENCY PLANS
 A plan which provides detail and directions in the Emergency Management Plans:
event that a major risk is realised and begins to
impact on normal operations  Provides information on how to deal with significant
 What situations might occur that require a disruptions to operations
contingency?  Addresses the means by which service levels will be
maintained or the speed with which they will be
Developing a plan reinstated
 Get a representative group together Keeping customers informed:
 Consider processes for which contingencies need to
be made  Emergency management plans
 Determine events which could impact on them  Inductions and in house training
 Develop steps to deal with these impacts  Prepared statements for use if risk event occurs
 Flyers and bulletins to distribute to customers
Testing the Contingency Plan
4.1 PLAN FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF
 How do we know our plan will work? WRITTEN RISK MANAGEMENT PLANS
 How should we prepare for an actual test?
 What are the risks in doing this? Conducting staff meetings to introduce Risk Management
Plans:
  Distribute and agenda
 Make objectives clear
5.2 MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION OF
 Only invite people who need to be there
 Stick to the agenda
EXISTING PLANS AND STRATEGIES
 Summarise outcome via minutes How can we ensure that the risk plan is being implemented
properly?

 Observe current practices

Resources to support staff during the introduction of
plans:  Identify and reward compliance
 Modify behaviour if non-compliant
 External consultants  Support efforts of staff via financial support, time
 Physical assets i.e. Tablets, iPads release and ongoing training
 Appropriate training
 A Management Information System (MIS) 5.3 ENSURE NEAR MISS EVENTS ARE
IDENTIFIED, RECORDED AND ANALYSED
4.2 IMPLEMENT RISK MANAGEMENT PLANS
What to do after a near miss?
AS WRITTEN
 Understand the circumstances that lead to the near
Ensuring plans are adhered to:
miss via investigation
 Formally introduce the plan  Analyse the event to see what the root causes were
 Monitor uptake and level of commitment  Take remedial action and seek to amend the risk plan
 Intervene where need to ensure plan is being if necessary
implemented
5.4 EVALUATE IMPLEMENTATION OF
5.1 IDENTIFY NEW OPERATIONAL RISKS AND EXISTING PLANS AND STRATEGIES
CHANGES IN IDENTIFIED OPERATIONAL RISK
How well is the current plan?
Encouraging participation of staff to identifying new risks:
 Identifying potential risk events
 Empower staff by involving them in the process  Prioritising and treating risk events
 Keep them informed of developments  Utilising risk management tools and methods
 Utilise their suggestions  Involving staff in its implementation

Getting feedback from customers to assist with identifying Making changes to the strategy
risk changes
 What are its advantages and disadvantages in its
 Direct approach to canvass their opinion current form?
 Put yourself in their shoes  Based on this what changes should be implemented?
 Questionnaires and surveys  How will changes in the risk environment influence
 Make sure feedback is formally recorded this?

Changes to risk can also be detected through inspections 5.5 REVISE EXISTING PLANS AND
of: STRATEGIES
 Processes – Has the way work is done changed? Changes to the plan will require:
 Equipment – What is new and being used
differently?  The involvement of stakeholders
 Facilities – Have they been altered?  Rewriting the plan based on criteria covered in 5.4
 Business environment – What is different in the  Communicating changes to staff
wider environment now?  Providing training to support any revisions

Recording and reporting identified risks to management

 What recording and reporting processes do you have

in place?

HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOSPITALITY

  Slips, Trips and Falls  The process by which managers respond to
 Spreading of Germs / Infectious diseases opportunities and threats by analyzing options, and
 Hazardous Chemicals / Respiratory making determinations about specific organizational
 Knives goals and courses of action.
 Long Working Days / Stress DECISION MAKING
 Muscle Injuries
 Harassment and violence Programmed Decision

SUGGESTED PRECAUTIONS WORKERS  Routine, virtually automatic decision making that

follows established rules or guidelines.
Muscle Injuries  Managers have made the same decision many
times before
 To prevent unnecessary muscle tension, workers are
 There are rules or guidelines to follow based on
encouraged to ask for help from co-workers if they
experience with past decisions
need to lift heavy mattress to avoid and injuries while
 Little ambiguity involved
changing linens and making beds or moving heavy
furniture. Staff is encouraged to switch arms to avoid Non-Programmed Decisions
overexertion of muscles and tendons of one arm
 Nonroutine decision making that occurs in response
Take Regular Breaks to unusual, unpredictable opportunities and threats.
 Hotel shifts can be long and exhausting; employees Intuition
are encouraged to stretch and take regular breaks.
 feelings, beliefs, and hunches that come readily to
Preventative Technology mind, require little effort and information gathering
and result in on-thespot decisions
 Hotel housekeeping workers are considered lone
workers, and employers are responsible for the health Reasoned judgment
and safety of workers, including procedures or a
system in place to ensure workers are safe when  decisions that take time and effort to make and result
working alone while cleaning rooms. from careful information gathering, generation of
alternatives, and evaluation of alternatives
WHAT CAN EMPLOYERS DO TO REDUCE
HEALTH AND SAFETY RISKS THE CLASSICAL MODEL

Initial Training During Orientation Classical Model of Decision Making

 A strong initial staff orientation designed to  A prescriptive model of decision making that
familiarise the staff with the operation of your venue assumes the decision maker can identify and evaluate
can help instil proper procedures and measures, is a all possible alternatives and their consequences and
necessary first step in setting the standards for all rationally choose the most appropriate course of
employees action

Identify key hazardous areas/situations

 Prevention will always be better than cure

Continuous training, reminder and seminars

 must remain proactive in conducting training in

occupational health & safety

WEEK 11: DECISION MAKING, LEARNING,

CREATIVITY, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
THE NATURE OF MANAGERIAL DECISION
MAKING
Decision Making
THE ADMINISTRATIVE MODEL
Administrative Model of Decision Making

 An approach to decision making that explains why

decision making is inherently uncertain and risky and
why managers usually make satisfactory rather than
optimum decisions
 Bounded rationality, incomplete information
DECISION MAKING STEPS
Step 1. Recognize Need for a Decision

 Sparked by an event such as environment changes.

 Managers must first realize that a decision must be
made.

Step 2. Generate Alternatives

 Managers must develop feasible alternative courses

of action
 If good alternatives are missed, the resulting
decision is poor
 It is hard to develop creative alternatives, so
CAUSES OF INCOMPLETE INFORMATION managers need to look for new ideas

Risk Step 3. Evaluate Alternatives

 The degree of probability that the possible outcomes  What are the advantages and disadvantages of each
of a particular course of action will occur alternative?
 Managers should specify criteria, then evaluate.
Uncertainty

 the probabilities of alternative outcomes cannot be

determined and future outcomes are unknown

Ambiguous Information

 Information that can be interpreted in multiple and

often conflicting ways.

Time constraints and information costs

 managers have neither the time nor money to search

for all possible alternatives and evaluate potential
consequences

Satisficing

 Searching for and choosing an acceptable, or Step 4. Choose Among Alternatives

satisfactory response to problems and opportunities,  Rank the various alternatives and make a decision
rather than trying to make the best decision  Tendency is for managers to ignore critical
 Managers explore a limited number of options and information, even when available
choose an acceptable decision rather than the
optimum decision Step 5. Implement Chosen Alternative

 Managers must now carry out the alternative

 Often a decision is made and not implemented

Step 6. Learn From Feedback

  Compare what happened to what was expected to  Loss of productivity in brainstorming sessions due to
happen the unstructured nature of brainstorming
 Explore why any expectations for the decision were
Nominal Group Technique
not met
 Derive guidelines that will help in future decision  A decision-making technique in which group
making members write down ideas and solutions, read their
suggestions to the whole group, and discuss and then
GROUP DECISION MAKING
rank the alternatives
 Superior to individual making
Delphi Technique
 Choices less likely to fall victim to bias
 Able to draw on combined skills of group members  A decision-making technique in which group
 Improve ability to generate feasible alternatives members do not meet face-to-face but respond in
 Allows managers to process more information writing to questions posed by the group leader
 Managers affected by decisions agree to cooperate
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CREATIVITY
Groupthink
Entrepreneurs
 A pattern of faulty and biased decision making that
 an individual who notices opportunities and decides
occurs in groups whose members strive for
how to mobilize the resources necessary to produce
agreement among themselves at the expense of
new and improved goods and services
accurately assessing information relevant to a
decision Social Entrepreneurs
Devil’s Advocacy  individuals who pursue initiatives and opportunities
to address social problems and needs in order to
 Critical analysis of a preferred alternative to ascertain
improve society and well-being
its strengths and weaknesses before it is implemented
Intrapreneur
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND
CREATIVITY  a manager, scientist, or researcher who works inside
an organization and notices opportunities to develop
Organizational Learning
new or improved products and better ways to make
 The process through which managers seek to improve them
a employee’s desire and ability to understand and Entrepreneurship
manage the organization and its task environment so
as to raise effectiveness.  Mobilization of resources to take advantage of an
opportunity to provide customers with new and
Creativity
improved goods and services
 A decision maker’s ability to discover original and Product Champion
novel ideas that lead to feasible alternative courses of
action  a manager who takes “ownership” of a project and
provides the leadership and vision that take a product
Innovation
from the idea stage to the final customer
 The implementation of creative ideas in an Skunkworks
organization.
 a group who is deliberately separated from normal
BUILDING GROUP CREATIVITY operations to encourage them to devote all their
Brainstorming attention to developing new products

 Managers meet face-to-face to generate and debate

many alternatives.
 Group members are not allowed to evaluate
alternatives until all alternatives are listed.
 When all are listed, then the pros and cons of each
are discussed and a short list created.

Production blocking