CH 7 MGMT 383

Service guarantees can be used at the service design stage to

focus the firm's delivery system on the things it must do well to satisfy the customer.

In the service-system design matrix, a face-to-face total customization service encounter is expected to

have low production efficiency

hile it is essential to achieve a base level of satisfactory performance at the beginning so that the customer remains throughout the service, a company is likely to be better off with a

relatively weak start and a modest upswing on the end than having a great start and a so-so ending.

Services often take the form of

repeated encounters involving face-to-face interactions.

Most services consist of a bundle of goods and services known as the

service package, which is the major output of the development process.

Customers, employees, support systems, and service strategy are parts of the

service triangle.

One characteristic of a well-designed service system is

that it is cost-effective.

In Poka Yokes the three T's are: These can be classified into warning methods, physical or visual contact methods, and by what we call the Three T's —the

the Task to be done (Was the car fixed right?), the Treatment accorded to the customer (Was the service manager courteous?), and the Tangible or environmental features of the service facility (Was the waiting area clean and comfortable?).

The service package, rather than a definable good, constitutes the major output of

the development process.

the standard tool for service process design is

the flowchart. Recently, the service gurus have begun calling the flowchart a service blueprint to emphasize the importance of process design.

A service business is an organization whose primary business requires interaction with customers to produce the service. The customer is (or should be)

the focal point of all decisions and actions of the service organization.

Recent research on service guarantees has provided the following conclusions about them:

1. Any guarantee is better than no guarantee. 2. Involve the customer as well as employees in the design. 3. Avoid complexity or legalistic language. Use big print, not small print. 4. Do not quibble or wriggle when a customer invokes the guarantee. 5. Make it clear that you are happy for customers to invoke the guarantee.

The seven characteristics of a well-designed service system include

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

Which of the following is considered a high-contact service operation?

A. On-line brokerage house B. Internet sales for a department store (C.) Physician practice D. Telephone life insurance sales and service E. Automobile repair

Implicit services:

Psychological benefits that the customer may sense only vaguely. Explicit services: The benefits that are readily observable by the senses and that consist of the essential or intrinsic features of the service.

The elements of a good service guarantee are:

Unconditional (no small print), easy to understand, easy to communicate, and meaningful to the customer.

In designing service organizations we must remember one distinctive characteristic of services:

We cannot inventory services

Every service has a service package, which is defined as

a bundle of goods and services that is provided in some environment

Service systems with a high degree of customer contact are more difficult to control than those with

a low degree of customer contact.

The top of the matrix shows the degree of customer/server contact: the reactive system, which is

both penetrable and reactive to the customer's requirements.

The term "encounter" is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "meeting in conflict or battle" and is used to also designate meetings between

consumers and service systems

Service guarantees can be used at the service design stage to focus the firm's

delivery system on the things it must do well to satisfy the customer.

The service package is a major factor that

distinguishes service design and development from manufacturing design and development?

Among the decisions that service managers must make is

how much they should accommodate the variation introduced by the customer into a process.

It is difficult to separate the operations management functions from

marketing in services.

The top of the matrix shows the degree of customer/server contact: the permeable system, which is

penetrable by the customer via phone or face-to-face contact

Customer contact refers to the

physical presence of the customer in the system, and creation of the service refers to the work process involved in providing the service itself.

The top of the matrix shows the degree of customer/server contact: the buffered core, which is

physically separated from the customer

Poka-Yokes are

procedures that block the inevitable mistake from becoming a service defect. Poka-yokes (roughly translated from the Japanese as "avoid mistakes") are common in factories.

Too much capacity generates excessive costs. Insufficient capacity leads to lost customers. In these situations, of course, we seek

the assistance of marketing. This is one reason we have discount airfares, hotel specials on weekends, and so on

The seven characteristics of a well-designed service system include:

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. 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.