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and concepts from environmental psychology, a field that encompasses the study of human beings and their relationships with built (man-made), natural, and social environments.4
TYPES OF SERVICESCAPES

The physical setting may be more or less important in achieving the organization's marketing and other goals depending on certain factors. Table 10-3 is a framework for categorizing service organizations on two dimensions that capture some of the key differences that will impact the management of the servicescape. Organizations that share a cell in the matrix will face similar issues and decisions regarding their physical spaces.
Servicescape Use

First, organizations differ in terms of who the bervicescape will actually have an effect on. That is, who actually comes into the service facility and thus is potentially influ enced by its designcustomers, employees, or both groups? The first column of Table 10-3 suggests three types of service organizations that differ on this dimension. At one extreme is the self-service environment where the customer performs most of the ac tivities and few if any employees are involved. Examples of self-service environments include ATMs, movie theaters, express mail drop-off facilities, self-service entertain ment such as golf and theme parks, and online Internet services. In these primarily self-service environments the organization can plan the servicescape focusing exclu sively on marketing goals such as attracting the right market segment and making the facility pleasing and easy to use. .
TABLE 10-3 TYPOLOGY OF SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS BASED ON VARIATIONS IN FORM AND OF THE USE SERVICESCAPE Complexity of the servicescape Servicescape usage Elaborate Lean ATM Ticketron Post office kiosk Internet services Express mail drop-off

Self-service (customer only) Golf Land Surf 'n Splash

Interpersonal services (both customer and employee)

Hotel Restaurant Health clinic Hospital Bank Airline School

Dry cleaner Hot dog standHair salon !

Remote service (employee Telephone company Insurance company Telephone mail-order desk only) Utility Many professional services Automated voice-messagingbased services

Source: From Mary Jo Brtner, "Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Em Journal of Marketing 56 (April 1992): 57-71. Reprinted with permission of the American Marketing Asso ciation.

ployees."

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At the other extreme of the use dimension is the remote service where there is little or no customer involvement with the servicescape. Telecommunication, utilities, financial consultants, editorial, and mail-order services are examples of services that can be provided without the customer ever seeing the service facility. In fact, the facility may bein a different state or a different country: To illustrate, all of AT&T's customer service calls are handled out of a small number of call centers located throughout the United States. A person calling in from New York in the middle of the night is likely to talk to a service representative in Arizona. In these remote services, decisions about how the facility should be designed can focus on the employees' needs and preferences almost exclusively. The place can be set up to keep employees motivated and to facilitate productivity, teamwork, operational efficiency, or whatever organizational behavior goal is desired without any consideration of customers, since they will never need to see the servicescape. In Table 10-3, interpersonal services are placed between the two extremes and represent situations where both the customer and the employee must be present in the servicescape. Examples abound such as hotels, restaurants, hospitals, educational settings, and banks. In these cases the servicescape must be planned to attract, satisfy, and facilitate the activities of both customers and employees simultaneously. Special attention must also be given to how the servicescape affects the nature and quality of the social interactions between and among customers and employees. A cruise ship provides a good example of a service setting where the servicescape must support customers and the employees who work there and also facilitate interactions between the two groups.
Complexity of the Servicescape

The horizontal dimension of Table 10-3 suggests another factor that will influence servicescape management. Some service environments are very simple, with few elements, few spaces, and few pieces of equipment. Such environments are termed lean. Ticketron outlets and FedEx drop-off kiosks would be considered lean environments, because both provide service from one simple structure. For lean servicescapes, design decisions are relatively straightforward, especially in self-service or remote service situations in which there is no interaction among employees and customers. Other cervicescapes are very complicated, with many elements and many forms. They are termed elaborate environments. An example is a hospital with its many floors, rooms, sophisticated equipment, and complex variability in functions performed within the physical facility. In such an elaborate environment, the full range of marketing and organizational objectives theoretically can be approached through careful management of the servicescape. Por example, a patient's hospital room can be designed to enhance patient comfort and satisfaction while simultaneously facilitating employee productivity. Firms such as hospitals that are positioned in the elaborate interpersonal service cell face the most complex servicescape decisions.
Typology Implications

By locating itself in (lie: appropriate cell of the typology, an organization can start to answer the fo-lowing questions:
1 Who should be consulted in making servicescape and other evidence decisions ? If a company finds itself in the self-service cell, it can focus on the needs and preferences of customers. If in the remote service cell, it can focus on employees. If. however, the organi-

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zation linds itself in oae of the interpersonal service cells, it will know that decisions about the servicescape can potentially affect both customers and employees, as well as their interactions. Thus, both groups' needs and preferences should be considered, suggesting a more difficult decision process. 2 What organizational goals might be targeted through sen'icescape design? For self-service firms, the focus can be on marketing goals such as customer attraction and customer satisfaction. For remote service firms, priority can be given to work-group needs and employee motivation, productivity, and satisfaction in designing the service facility. For interpersonal services, both marketing and organizational goals could potentially be targeted, with the understanding that the solutions for one set of goals may not be compatible with the other set. 3 How complex is the set of decisions regarding the servicescape? Decisions will clearly be rnore complex for elaborate than for lean service environments. The inure elaborate the servicescape in terms of spaces, equipment, and diversity of services delivered, the more complex will be decisions about its design. Added complexity will also require more resources in terms of time, money, and people involvement in design decisions. The most complex servicescape decisions will be in the elaborate, interpersonal services .-ell where multiple needs (employees, customers, and their interactions) will be considered as well.

ROLES OF THE SERVICESCAPE

Within the cells of the typology, the servicescape can play many roles simultaneously. An examination of the variety of roles and how they interact makes clear how strategically important it is to provide appropriate physical evidence of the service.
Package

Similar to a tangible product's package, the servicescape and other elements of physical evidence essentially "wrap" the service and convey an external image of what is "inside" to consumers. Product packages are designed to portray a particular image as well as to evoke a particular sensory or emotional reaction. The physical setting of a service does the same thing through the interaction of many complex stimuli. The servicescape is the outward appearance of the organization and thus can be critical in forming initial impressions or setting up customer expectationsit is a visual metaphor for the intangible service/This packaging role is particularly important in creating expectations for new customers and for newly established service organizations that are trying to build a particular image. The physical surroundings offer an organization the opportunity to convey an image in a way not unlike the way an individual chooses to "dress for success." The packaging role extends to the appearance of contact personnel through their uniforms or dress and other elements of their outward appearance.5 Interestingly, the same care and resource expenditures given to package design in product marketing are hot generally provided for services, even though the service package serves a variety of important roles.
Facilitator

The servicescape can also serve as a facilitator in aiding the performances of persons in the environment. How the setting is designed can enhance or inhibit the efficient flow of activities in the service setting, making it easier or harder for customers and employees to accomplish their goals. A welUdesigned, functional facility can make

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258 PART THREE: ALIGNING STRATEGY, SERVICE DESIGN, AND STANDARDS

Sleeping in Business Class. A brief history.

FIGURE 10-2

The servicescape can facilitate service delivery.

Source: Northwest Airlines, reprintedwith permission.
I

more praraLal space... wiih nearly 50^ race? Kyrxtn and recline. More spttx than vi-njlly any other worldwTce tirhre ?T reservaticos call you, kc*l travel tea. KLM ti l-SOO-3-747-"<T if Norc-"v=st at I-8OC-447^4747.

New KLM Northwest World Business Class.

So good you can sleep through c.

the service a pleasure to experience from the customer's point of view and a pleasure to perform from the employee's. On the other hand, poor and inefficient design may frustiate both customers and employees. For example, an international air traveler who finds himself in a poorly designed airport with few signs, poor ventilation, and few places to sit or eat will find the experience quite dissatisfying, and employees who work there will probably be unmotivated as well. The same international traveler will appreciate seats on the airplane that are conducive to work and sleep, as illustrated in the KLM/Northwest World Business Class ad shown in Figure 10-2. In this case the seating itself, part of the physical surroundings of the service, has been improved over the years to better facilitate travelers' needs to sleep. The ad copy focuses on other improved elements of the physical surroundings: personal video system. 50 percent more leg room, and more space overall. All of these factors emphasize the facilitator role of the servicescape.

The design of the servicescape aids in the socialization of both employees and customers in the sense that it helps to convey expected roles, behaviors, and relationships. For example, a new employee in a professional services firm would come to underSocializer

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stand her position in the hierarchy partially through noting her office assignment, the quality of her office furnishings, and her location relative to others in the organization. The design of the facility can also suggest to customers what their role is relative to employees, what parts of the servicescape they are welcome in and which are for employees only, how they should be have while in the environment, and what types of interactions are encouraged. For example, consider a Club Med vacation environment that is set up to facilitate customer-customer interactions as well as to facilitate guest interactions with Club Med staff. The organization also recognizes the need for privacy, providing areas that encourage solitary activities.
Differentiator

The design of the physical facility can differentiate a firm from its competitors and sig nal the market segment the service is intended for. Given its power as a differentiator, changes in the physical environment can be used to reposition a firm and/or to attract new market segments. In shopping malls the signage, colors used in decor and dis plays, and type of music wafting from a store signal the intended market segment. In another context, the servicescape of a store-front legal services clinic located in a strip development differentiates it from corporate law firms located in downtown high rises. The design of a physical setting can also differentiate one area of a service organiza tion from another. This is commonly the case in the hotel industry where one large ho tel may have several levels of dining possibilities, each signaled by differences in de sign. Price differentiation is also often partially achieved through variations in physical setting. Bigger rooms with more physical amenities cost more, just as larger seats with more leg room (generally in first class) are more expensive on an airplane. A development in movie theaters is the addition of luxury screening rooms with club chairs and waiters.6 Taking advantage of this alternative, customers who are willing to pay a higher price to see the same film can experience the sen-ice in an entirely dif ferent environment.
FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING SERVICESCAPE EFFECTS ON BEHAVIOR

While it is useful from a strategic point of view to think about the multiple roles of the servicescape and how they interact, making actual decisions about servicescape design requires an understanding of why the effects occur and how to manage them. The next sections of the chapter present a framework or model of environment and behavior re lationships in service settings.
The Underlying Framework

The framework for understanding servicescape effects on behavior follows from basic "stimulus-organism-response" theory. In the framework the multidimensional environment is the stimulus, consumers and employees are the organisms that respond to the stimuli, and behaviors directed at the environment are the responses. The assumptions are that dimensions of the servicescape will impact customers and employees and they will behave in certain ways depending on their internal reactions to the servicescape. Let's focus on a particular example. Assume there-is a cookie can that is parked outside the student union on campus. The cart is colorful and playful in design, and an aroma of.baking cookies wafts from it. The design and the aroma are two elements of