Chapter 9: Service Processes

Service Guarantees

A promise of service satisfaction backed up by a set of actions that must be taken to fulfill the promise.

Service Guarantees as Design Drivers

1. Any guarantee is better than no guarantee. The most effective guarantees are big deals. They put the company at risk in the eyes of the customer. 2. Involve the customer as well as employees in the design. 3. Avoid complex or legalistic language. Use big pint, not small print. 4. Do not quibble or wriggle when a customer invokes a guarantee. 5. Make it clear that you are happy for customers to invoke the guarantee.

Seven 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. 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.

Applying Behavioral Science to Service Encounters

1. The front end and the back end of the encounter are not created equal. 2. Segment the pleasure; combine the pain. 3. Let the customer control the process. 4. Pay attention to norms and rituals. 5. People are easier to blame than the systems. 6. Let the punishment fit the crime in service recovery.

Service Package

A bundle of goods and services that is provided in some environment.

Which of the following is one of the three contrasting approaches to delivering on-site service?

a. quality approach b. stock market approach C. PRODUCTION-LINE APPROACH d. retail approach e. professional approach

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a well-designed service system?

a. robust b. cost-effective C. PUTS CUSTOMERS IN CHARGE d. user-friendly e. effectively links "front office" with "back office"

Information

Operations data or information that is provided by the customer, to enable efficient and customized services.

Poka-yokes

Procedures that prevent mistakes from becoming defects. They are commonly found in manufacturing but also can be used in service processes.

Implicit Services

Psychological benefits that the customer may sense only vaguely, or the extrinsic features of the service.

T/F: Because little or no inventory is carried in a service operation, it is easy to separate the operations management functions from marketing services.

FALSE: Too much capacity generates excessive costs. Insufficient capacity leads to lost consumers. 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. This is also a good illustration of why it is difficult to separate the operations management functions from marketing services.

T/F: An important aspect of service products is that they cannot be inventoried.

TRUE: In designing service organizations, we must remember one distinctive characteristic of services: we CANNOT inventory services.

T/F: One characteristic of a well-designed service system is that it is cost-effective.

TRUE: The seven characteristics of a well-designed system include: 7 [The system] is cost effective.

Explicit Services

The benefits that are readily observable by the senses and that consist of the essential or intrinsic features of the service.

Service Blueprint

The flowchart of a service process, emphasizing what is visible and what is not visible to the customer.

Facilitating Goods

The material purchased or consumed by the buyer or the items by the customer.

High and Low Degrees of Customer Contact

The physical presence of the customer in the system and the percentage of time the customer must be in the system relative to the total time it takes to perform the service.

Supporting Facility

The physical resource that must be in place before a service can be offered.