PEOPLE-THE KEY TO A SERVICE BUSINESS

We are now used to the evolution of HRM (Human Resource Management) as an area which has
received due attention from researchers, academics, and corporate entities. Much of this has happened
in the context of production jobs and companies which had to learn how to handle human beings
involved in laborious, repetitive work as in shop-floors, as brilliantly potrayed by Charlie Chaplin in his
role of an industrial worker. However, in the recent years, the manufacturing sector has seen a decline
in its growth in the major world economics, and services now form the growth area. Ever since service
took off on a growth path, the marketing concepts primarily developed for goods have struggled to keep
pace. One of the major conceptual underpinnings of marketing plans have been the 4P’s of marketing.
These were presumably enough to cater to the manufacturing era, but unable to give due emphasis to
the recent service industry paradigms. Thus, three more P’s have been added to the original four,
people being one among them. This is quite justified too, as most services are dependent on people to
deliver them successfully. This chapter deals with the theoretical and practical issues of people
management for the service industry.

People Dealing with People

What distinguishes the service industries is the direct interaction between service providers and their
customers across many ‘touchpoints’. A shopfloor worker may deal with his collegues and superiors,
but rarely would he come across his customers. In a service industry it would be rare not to deal with
the customers. This creates a lot of scope for work related anxiety, constantly being evaluated by
someone who would complain about you to your superiors, and to whom you are held accountable