Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

Quality can be viewed from two points of view:

From the point of view of the service provider to set up
standards or specifications in the manufacturing process as well
as the output which is totally objective & technical in nature.
From the point of view of the customer service quality occurs
only when the service firm provides services to the specifications
that satisfies their needs. The idea of quality here is subjective &
will be strongly linked to the needs & expectations of the
customer.
The following are some of the more popular definitions of service
quality:
Fitness for purpose
The totality of features of service that meets the needs
The difference between customer expectation & performance
Slide
2010 by RAHUL SHARMA
delivery

Tangible
It includes the appearance of physical facilities, equipment &
appearance of contact personnel. Tangibles are used when
assessing the physical qualities before the service is
experienced
Responsiveness
It is the willingness & ability on the part of the service provider
to respond to the needs of the customer & serve him properly.
Responsiveness is an important dimension for those customers
who require some service over & above what is usually provided.
Empathy
This includes providing, caring individualized attention to
customers. It is described as the human touch.
Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

Assurance
Represents the employee knowledge & courtesy and their ability
to inspire trust and confidence. A favourable assessment of
assurance will indicate that the customer is satisfied as the staff
understood his needs and met them.
Reliability
It is the ability of the service firm to perform the service
accurately and dependably. To the customer it will ensure
whether the promise made by the service firm has been met.
Reliable service performance is a customer expectation of the
service. In fact, most customers regard reliability as the most
important of the 5 dimensions of the service performance.

Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

Personal needs
The requirements that are essential for physical & psychological
well being of the customer. This depends on individual factors and
may differ from one customer to another.
External Communication of the Service Provider
Advertising, publicity and other methods of communication from
the service provider to attract customers.
Word of Mouth
These personal & non personal statements made by others apart
from the service provider influence the expected service as they
convey to the customer what the service will be like.
Past Experience
The customers previous exposure to the service will also influence
the expectations of future services from the service firm.
Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

Gap 1 Gap between customer expectation and

management perception.
Gap 2 Gap between management perception and
service quality specification
Gap 3 The gap between service quality
specification and service delivery.
Gap 4 Gap between service delivery and external
communication.
Gap 5 Gap between expected quality and
perceived quality
Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

Service quality enables service firm to:

Differentiate themselves them from the competitors
Improve their image in the eyes of the customer
Minimize price sensitivity
Improve profitability
Increase customer satisfaction
Enhance its reputation for being a caring, customer oriented
company
Ensure service are delivered right the first time
Improve the staff morale
Increase productivity
Reduce cost as additional costs for providing remedies for failure
can be avoided
Encourage employee participation
Foster internal customer/supplier relationship
Bring about continuous improvement to the operations of the firm.
Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

It involves three steps:

Setting The Right Standard
Through market research & feedback
Benchmarking
Implementing The Quality services
Entire organisation should be customer focused
Total commitment to quality by management
Good internal communication system
Set methods for evaluating performance of the staff
Develop adequate feedback system from both external & internal
customers
Monitoring Service Quality
Statistical tools
Quality function deployment
Internal performance analysis
Customer satisfaction analysis
Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

People Oriented
The emotions, moods and willingness to deliver the service on part
of the employee and to receive the service on the part of the
customer may be the major barrier
Lack of Support
The frontline staff who interact with the customer must be
motivated and supported adequately by the backstage and
supervisory personnel.
Lack of Communication
Unless there is a two way communication the service provider will
not be in a position to understand the needs of the customer and
find out if his need are satisfied
Lack of Quality Behaviour
More often quality is treated as a programme within a limited
Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA
framework of time, rather than as a continuous and committed

The various issues considered by the management in improving

the quality of the service are given below:
Quality is what customer perceive
Quality can not be separated from production and delivery
process
Everyone contributes to customer perceived quality
External marketing to be integrated in quality management
Managing evidence
Developing internal marketing
Task standardization

Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA

Slide 2010 by RAHUL SHARMA