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Service Process Selection and Design

Chapter 8

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Some Service Generalizations

1. Everyone is an expert on services.

2. Services are idiosyncratic.

3. Quality of work is not quality of service.

4. Most services contain a mix of tangible and intangible attributes (service package).

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Service Generalizations

5. High-contact services are experienced, whereas goods are consumed.

6. Effective management of services requires an understanding of marketing and personnel, as well as operations.

7. Services often take the form of cycles of encounters involving face-to-face, phone, and/or mail interactions.

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Service Businesses

• Facilities-based services: Where the customer must go to the service facility

• Field-based services: Where the production and consumption of the service takes place in the customer’s environment

A service business is the management of organizations whose primary business requires interaction with the customer to produce the service

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The Customer Centered View

TheCustomer

The ServiceStrategy

ThePeople

TheSystems

A philosophical view that suggests the organization exists to serve the customer, and the systems and the employees exist to facilitate the process of service.

A philosophical view that suggests the organization exists to serve the customer, and the systems and the employees exist to facilitate the process of service.

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Service-System Design Matrix

Exhibit 7.6Exhibit 7.6

Mail contact

Face-to-faceloose specs

Face-to-facetight specs

PhoneContact

Face-to-facetotal

customization

Buffered core (none)

Permeable system (some)

Reactivesystem (much)

High

LowHigh

Low

Degree of customer/server contact

Internet & on-site

technology

SalesOpportunity

ProductionEfficiency

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Characteristics of Workers, Operations, and Innovations Relative to the Degree of Customer/Service Contact

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Service Blueprinting Steps

1. Identify processes

2. Isolate fail points

3. Establish a time frame

4. Analyze profitability

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Example of Service Blueprinting

Brushshoes

Applypolish

Failpoint

BuffCollect

payment

Cleanshoes Materials

(e.g., polish, cloth)

Select andpurchasesupplies

Standardexecution time

2 minutes

Total acceptableexecution time

5 minutes

30secs

30secs

45secs

15secs

Wrongcolor wax

Seen bycustomer 45

secs

Line ofvisibility

Not seen bycustomer butnecessary toperformance

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Service Fail-safingPoka-Yokes (A Proactive Approach)

• Keeping a mistake from becoming a service defect

• How can we fail-safe the three Ts?

Task

TangiblesTreatment

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Have we compromised one of the 3 Ts?

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Service Recovery (Just in case)

• A real-time response to a service failure.

• Blueprinting can guide recovery planning (fail points).

• Recovery planning involves training front-line workers to respond to such situations as overbooking, lost luggage, or a bad meal.

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What is a Good Service Guarantee?

• Unconditional• Meaningful

– The payout covers--fully--customer dissatisfaction

• Easy to understand and communicate– For customers– For employees

• Painless to invoke– Given proactively

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Characteristics of a Well-Designed Service System

1. Each element of the service system is consistent with the operating focus of the firm

2. It is user-friendly

3. It is robust

4. It is structured so that consistent performance by its people and systems is easily maintained

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Characteristics of a Well-Designed Service System (Continued)

5. It provides effective links between the back office and the front office so that nothing falls between the cracks

6. It manages the evidence of service quality in such a way that customers see the value of the service provided

7. It is cost-effective