Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Failure
Crisis at Taj
SERVICE FLAWS
Intelligence Failures. Gaps in Coastal Surveillance. Incomplete Execution of Response Protocols. Response Timing Problems. Inadequate Counterterrorism Training and Equipment for the Local Police.
SERVICE FLAWS
Limitations of Municipal Fire and Emergency Services. Flawed Hostage-Rescue Plan. Poor Strategic Communications and Information Management by the Govt.
Service Failure
Service failure: Service performance that fails to meet customer expectations
Types of complainers
Passives Voicers Irates Activists
Kiruba Incident
ClearTrip.com took my money and DID NOT book my ticket to Malaysia. Had a harrowing experience at airport. http://www.kiruba.com/2009/06/cleartripepisode-my-experience.html http://blog.cleartrip.com/2009/06/16/thekiruba-incident/
Staff- Waiters, Executives, Chefs. Providing food and other necessary things to the guests as needed by them. Established a helpline in Wellington Mews in the midst of the crisis. Security staff.
The telephone operators. Karamveer Singh Kang, Taj's general manager. Hotel management. Ratan tata - Chairman of the Tata group.
Service recovery
Immeditely created the Taj Public Welfare Trust. Assisting people affected by the attack. Not laid off a single employee. Promised to rebuild and restore every inch of the hotel to its original glory.
Ratan Tata, surveyed the heritage building. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Planned to reopen the Hotel in phases. Opening the Hotel as soon as possible.
Reopening
Re-opened the doors of its 268-room Tower Wing on Sunday 21 December 2008. Guest services have been upgraded. Use of the Taj Club, with free breakfast and tea, coffee and cocktails. Free use the hotel's personal butler service.
SECURITY
Investment of large sums of money on security systems and procedures. Created a security team headed by a retired Major General from the army. Retained the services of a top international security service company. Around 75 people have been trained overseas. Equipped them to be the first line of defence in the event of an attack.
Trained security people in plain clothes at the lobby and other key points. Security ring outside the hotel. Mock attacks to assess the preparedness of our people, system and procedures.
9%
19%
Complaints Resolved
54%
82%
Percent of customers who will buy again after a major complaint (over $100 in losses)
Source: Adapted from data reported by the Technical Assistance Research Program.
Develop effective system and training in complaints handling Conduct root cause analysis
Do it right the first time. Poka yokes = automatic warnings or controls in place to ensure mistakes are not made. Create a zero defects culture Research = satisfaction surveys, critical incidents studies, & lost customer research. Front line response and employee empowerment (Ritz Carlton and complaint ownership. Allow customers to fix their own problems usually through technology.
3. Act Quickly
Explanations perceived by customers as honest, sincere, and not manipulative are generally the most effective.
Service Guarantees
guarantee = an assurance of the fulfillment of a condition (Websters Dictionary) in a business context, a guarantee is a pledge or assurance that a product offered by a firm will perform as promised and, if not, then some form of reparation will be undertaken by the firm for tangible products, a guarantee is often done in the form of a warranty services are often not guaranteed
cannot return the service service experience is intangible
(so what do you guarantee?)
Meaningful
the firm should guarantee elements of the service that are important to the customer the payout should cover fully the customers dissatisfaction
Service Guarantees
Q: Does everyone need to offer a guarantee? Reasons companies might NOT want to offer a service guarantee:
existing service quality is poor guarantee does not fit the companys image too many uncontrollable external variables fears of cheating or abuse by customers costs of the guarantee outweigh the benefits customers perceive little risk in the service customers perceive little variability in service quality among competitors
Unpleasantness
Fear of being treated rudely Hassle, embarrassment
Managerial implication
Firms can benefit from offering 100 percent money-back guarantees Guarantees should be offered to regular customers as part of membership program Excellent service firms have less to worry about than average providers