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SERVICE QUALITY

WHAT IS SERVICE
QUALITY?
Meeting to the Need of Customer
The inclusion of all specified features and

characteristics as defined for product or


service and its ability to satisfy the given
needs as per the requirement of user while
using it.
The ability to satisfy stated or implied needs
is the key criterion to differentiate good
quality from poor quality.

Service Quality
Quality is conformance to requirements.

(Philips Crosby)

Quality is a degree to which a set of inherent

characteristics fulfills the requirements. [ ISO


9000]

Customer

Customer Expectation Service


Perception
Quality

Customer wants to avail different services

offered to them by service providers.


Delivered service will become as the Quality
Service if it meets the customer expectations.
But customer expectation depends upon the
customer perception, which may differ from
person to person.

Defining Service Quality


Specifications
Company: Standard operating procedures
Customer: Personal expectations
Misalignment of company and customer

specifications can lead to dissatisfaction, even if


the service is delivered as designed

Effective communication is key in eliminating


misalignment

Service Quality
Measuring and improving quality is more

difficult for services than for products

Unsatisfactory service cannot be replaced or

repaired
Intangible and temporary nature

Link Between Service Quality and


Productivity
Quality is defined as the ability of the service
provider to satisfy customer needs . Customer
perception, service quality, and profitability
are interdependent variables.

Improved service performance

Effect of better quality on


profitability gain
Source of
Gain

First step
Improvement

Quality up

Image/perceptio Better price can Profitability


n of company is be charged
Improvement
up.
Economies of
Volume is built
scale accrue
up because of
due to higher
the
volume . Per
service/product unit cost of
preference.
production
decreases.
Inspection &
testing needs
are less
elaborate due
to built-in

Second step
Improvement

Costs of
inspection &
testing
including
employee costs

Final Result

SERVICE QAULITY & CUSTOMER


SATISFACTION
Service Quality and customer satisfaction are

two closely related terms. Service quality can


be assessed in two ways :
1) Is it meeting to standard? &
2) Is it satisfying the customer?.

Customer Retention through Quality


Improvement
Lifetime value of the customer
Reduced Cost
Benefit from wider opportunities to market

more products and services to customers who


are already loyal to you.

Dimensions of Service
Quality
Reliability: Consistency of performance and dependability
Perform promised service dependably and accurately.

Responsiveness: The willingness or readiness of employees to

provide service.

Example: avoid keeping customers waiting for no apparent reason.


Quick recovery, if service failure occurs

Assurance: The knowledge, competence and courtesy of service

employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence

Ability to convey trust and confidence.

Give a feeling that customers best interest is in your heart

Example: being polite and showing respect for customer.

Dimensions of Service
Quality
Empathy: The caring and individual attention

provided to customers

Ability to be approachable, caring, understanding and relating

with customer needs.


Example: being a good listener

Tangibles: Physical evidence of the service


Physical facilities and facilitating goods.
Example: cleanliness.

Measurement of Service Quality


An organization producing goods or generating services
requires to measure the quality of product/services
offered to the ultimate customers/users . Following
questions:Do we find any gap between the services-promised and
services-offered?
Do we assess the quality of service-offered?
Do we find our employees showing decent behaviour?
Do we find our services of world class?
Do we make a time-to-time rating of our services?
Do we find our frontline staff showing empathy?
Do we find the redressal measures sufficient?

SERVQUAL Model
Compares customer expectations with

their experience of the service that was


actually delivered
Discrepancies are gaps in service quality

Perceived Service Quality


Word of
mouth

Service Quality
Dimensions
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Tangibles

Personal
needs

Expected
service

Perceived
service

Past
experience

Service Quality Assessment


1. Expectations exceeded
PS>ES (Quality surprise)
2. Expectations met
ES~PS (Satisfactory quality)
3. Expectations not met
PS<ES (Unacceptable quality)

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QUALITY METRICS
Quality Metrics are basically defined for

improving the quality management processes.


Metrics can be defined by collecting the
observed values of Quality of Service
attributes.

Based on the five-point-scale data, metrics

can be constructed like :


(1) Percent of completely satisfied customers
with respect to all parameters of services.
(2) Percent of partially satisfied customers
(3) Percent of neutral customers
(4) Percent of dissatisfied customers
(dissatisfied and completely dissatisfied)
(5) Percent of non-satisfied

Moments of Truth
Each customer contact is called a moment of

truth.
You have the ability to either satisfy or

dissatisfy them when you contact them.


A service recovery is satisfying a previously

dissatisfied customer and making them a loyal


customer.

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Service Quality Gap Model


Customer
Perceptions
Managing the
Evidence

Customer Satisfaction
GAP 5

Expectations

Customer /
Marketing Research
GAP 1

Communication
GAP 4

Understanding
the Customer

Management
Perceptions
of Customer
Expectations

Service
Delivery
Conformance
GAP 3

Conformance

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Customer

Design GAP 2

Service
Standards

Service Design

Gaps in Service Quality


Gap1: Market research gap(Not knowing what Customers

Expect)
Management may not understand how customers formulate their

expectations from past experience, advertising, communication with


friends

Improve market research


Foster better communication between employees and its frontline employees
Reduce the number of levels of management that distance the customer

Gap 2: Design gap(Inability to set the Right Type of

standards)
Management unable to formulate target level of service to meet

customer expectations and translate them to specifications

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Setting goals and standardizing service delivery tasks can close the gap

Continued.
Gap 3: Conformance gap(Not delivering to service standards)
Actual delivery of service cannot meet the specifications set by
management
Lack of teamwork
Poor employee selection
Inadequate training
Inappropriate job design

Gap 4: Communication gap(Mismatch between promises and

performance)
Discrepancy between service delivery and external

communication
Exaggerated promises in advertising
Lack of information provided to contact personnel to give customers

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Continued..
Gap

5:
Customer
perceptions gap

expectations

and

Customer satisfaction depends on minimizing

the four gaps that are associated with service


delivery
Companies try to measure the gap between
expected service and perceived service through
the use of surveys
SERVQUAL measures the five dimensions
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Conceptual Model of the Consequences of


Service Quality
Service
Quality

Behavioral
Intentions

Superior

Favorable

Remain

Behavior

Inferior

Unfavorable

Focus of present study

Defect

+$
Ongoing
Revenue
Increased
Spending
Price
Premium
Financial
Referred
Consequences
Customers
-$
Decreased
Spending
Lost Customers
Costs to Attract
New Customers

Scope of Service Quality


Content: Are standard procedures being

followed?
Process: Is the sequence of events logical and
well coordinated? (Check lists, drill practices)
Structure: Are physical facilities and
organizational design adequate? (personnel +
equipment)
Doctors practice: X-ray, lab, ratio of nurses to

doctors)

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Scope of Service Quality

Outcome: The end result; quality of

output. Is the customer satisfied?


Number of customer complaints
Satisfaction of employees

Impact: long range effect of service on

customer
Police security
Health life expectancy, infant mortality

rate
Education literacy rate
Commerce number of items sold
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Quality in the Service Package


Budget Hotel example
Supporting facility
Design of the building

Facilitating goods
Room furnishings like: bedside tables, carpet cleaning

Explicit services
Maids are trained to clean and make up rooms

Implicit services
Pleasant appearances of individuals at front office
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Service Process Control


The control of service quality can be viewed as a feedback

control system where output is compared with a standard.


The deviation from the standard is communicated back to
the input, and adjustments are made to the process to keep
the output within the defined range.
Difficult to implement an effective control cycle for service
due to the intangible nature of service, which makes direct
measurement difficult so we proxy or surrogate measures.
Simultaneous nature of production and consumption
prevents any direct intervention in the service process to
observe conformance to requirements.
Consequently, we ask customers to express their impression of service quality

after the consumption by which time we are too late to avoid service failure.
Instead, we try to focus on delivery process by employing SPC
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Service Process Control


Customer
input

Service
process

Resources

Take
corrective
action
Identify reason
for
nonconformance

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Service
concept
Customer
output

Monitor
conformance to
requirements

Establish
measure of
performance

Cost of Quality
Improvement
1.Cost

of Conformance :-Include costs


incurred to adhere or stick to the existing
established standards or norms . This is the
maintenance and improvement of the quality.
Preventive costs:-These include staff training
costs
Cost of control :-Cost incurred in carrying out
surveys
and
to
obtain
feedback
to
continuously maintain the high quality.

Contd
2.Cost of Non-conformance :-The costs are for

replacement , correction, or compensation of


the faulty delivery of goods or services.

Role of Automation in Service


Quality Delivery
Ensures

accuracy of the work.(when the bank


passbook entries are made directly from a computer
through a printer, the role of the person keeping the
ledger is reduced.)
Consistency in automated delivery.(mood, emotions,
variations in behaviour etc)
As automation usually means a limited number of
alternatives available on a menu, the customer is
unable to ask for an impossible service alternative,
thereby avoiding the risk of failure.
Automation can produce data about various customer
transactions.

Service Recovery
Disasters can be turned into loyal customers by proper

and rapid service recovery


Frontline workers, therefore, need to be properly trained

and given the discretion to make things right.


Approaches to service recovery
Case-by-case addresses each customers complaint individually but

could lead to perception of unfairness.


Early intervention attempts to fix problem before the customer is

affected.
Substitute service allows rival firm to provide service but could lead

to loss of customer.

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