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Part 5

DELIVERING AND PERFORMING SERVICE

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Provider Gap 3
CUSTOMER

COMPANY

Service Delivery Service Performance Gap Customer-Driven Service Designs and Standards

Part 5 Opener
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Chapter

Employees Roles in Service Delivery

Service Culture The Critical Importance of Service Employees Boundary-Spanning Roles Strategies for Delivering Service Quality Through People Customer-Oriented Service Delivery

12

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Objectives for Chapter 12: Employees Roles in Service Delivery

Demonstrate the importance of creating a service culture in which providing excellent service to both internal and external customers is a way of life.
Illustrate the critical importance of service employees in creating customer satisfaction and service quality. Identify the challenges inherent in boundary-spanning roles. Provide examples of strategies for creating customer-oriented service delivery through hiring the right people, developing employees to deliver service quality, providing needed support systems, and retaining the best service employees.
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Service Culture
A culture where an appreciation for good service exists, and where giving good service to internal as well as ultimate, external customers, is considered a natural way of life and one of the most important norms by everyone in the organization. - Christian Gronroos (1990)

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The Critical Importance of Service Employees

They are the service.
They are the organization in the customers eyes.

They are the brand.

They are marketers.

Their importance is evident in:

the services marketing mix (people) the service-profit chain the services triangle
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Figure 12.2

The Services Marketing Triangle

Company (Management)

Internal Marketing
Enabling the promise

External Marketing
Making the promise

Employees
Interactive Marketing
Delivering the promise
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Customers
2006 The McGraw-Hill Gronroos, and Philip reserved. Source: Adapted from Mary Jo Bitner, Christian Companies, Inc. All rights Kotler

Services Marketing Triangle Applications Exercise

Focus on a service organization. In the context you are focusing on, who occupies each of the three points of the triangle? How is each type of marketing being carried out currently?
Are the three sides of the triangle well aligned? Are there specific challenges or barriers in any of the three areas?

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Ways to Use the Services Marketing Triangle

Overall Strategic Assessment Specific Service Implementation How is the service What is being promoted and organization doing on all by whom? three sides of the triangle? How will it be delivered and by whom? Where are the weaknesses? What are the strengths? Are the supporting systems in place to deliver the promised service?

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Figure 12.3

The Service Profit Chain

Source: An exhibit from J. L. Heskett, T. O. Jones, W. E. Sasser, Jr., and L. A. Schlesinger, Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1994, p. 166.
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Service Employees
Who are they?
boundary spanners

What are these jobs like?

emotional labor many sources of potential conflict
person/role organization/client interclient

quality/productivity tradeoffs

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Figure 12.4

Boundary Spanners Interact with Both Internal and External Constituents

External Environment

Internal Environment
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Figure 12.5

Boundary-Spanning Workers Juggle Many Issues

Person versus role
Organization versus client Client versus client

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Figure 12.6

Human Resource Strategies for Delivering Service Quality through People

Hire for service competencies and service inclination

Compete for the best people Measure and reward strong service performers

Be the preferred employer Train for technical and interactive skills

Hire the right people Develop people to deliver service quality

Treat employees as customers

Retain the best people

CustomerOriented Service Delivery

Provide needed support systems

Empower employees

Include employees in the companys vision Develop service-oriented internal processes

Promote teamwork

Provide supportive technology and equipment

Measure internal service quality

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Empowerment
Benefits: quicker responses to customer needs during service delivery quicker responses to dissatisfied customers during service recovery employees feel better about their jobs and themselves employees tend to interact with warmth/enthusiasm empowered employees are a great source of ideas great word-of-mouth advertising from customers
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Drawbacks: potentially greater dollar investment in selection and training higher labor costs potentially slower or inconsistent service delivery may violate customers perceptions of fair play employees may give away the store or make bad decisions

2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Figure 12.7

Traditional Organizational Chart

Manager

Supervisor

Supervisor

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Front-line Employee

Customers

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Figure 12.8

Customer-Focused Organizational Chart

Customers
Front-line Employee Front-line Employee Front-line Employee Front-line Employee Front-line Employee Front-line Employee Front-line Employee Front-line Employee

Supervisor

Supervisor

Manager

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