Ch-11

Managing People (Role of

Service Employee)
Provider Gap 3

CUSTOMER

Service Delivery
COMPANY
Service
Performance
Gap
Customer-Driven
Service Designs and
Standards
why service staff is so important to the success of a
service firm
• service level delivered and the way the service is delivered
• can be an important source of differentiation and competitive advantage

• Service staff is the most visible element of the service (represents

the company)

• From customers’ point of view, service staff is very much the

service firm

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why service staff is so important to the success of a
service firm
• Highly motivated service staff plays a key role in
• anticipating customer needs,
• building personalized relationships with customers, and thus
• building customer loyalty.

• Frontline staff is also crucial in low contact services where

technology is largely commoditized.

• The firms’ differentiation will then rest on these few moments of

truth whether it is through the phone, email or face-to-face.

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The importance of service personnel
Help maintain firm’s positioning. They are:
A core part of the product

The service firm

The brand

Affects sales

Is a key driver of customer loyalty

Determine productivity
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• They are the service.
• in many cases, the contact employee is the service
• we often DO NOT DISTINGUISH between the person and the firm
• haircutting, child care, counseling, legal services
• in these cases, the offering is the employee
• They are the organization in the customer’s eyes.
• employees represent the firm to the client
• may be the ONLY contact they have with the firm
• everything they say and do can influence perceptions of the organization
The Services Marketing Triangle
Company
(Management)

Internal Marketing External Marketing

“Enabling the promise” “Making the promise”

Employees Customers
Interactive Marketing
“Delivering the promise”
Effect of Employee Behaviors on Service Quality
Dimensions
• Customers’ perceptions of service quality will be affected by the
customer-oriented behaviors of employees.
• All five dimensions of service quality (given below) can be
influenced directly by service employees.
• Reliability
• Responsiveness
• Assurance
• Empathy
• Tangibles
• Reliability (delivering the service as promised) – is often totally within
the control of frontline employees.
• For automated services (ATM), behind-the-scene employees are critical for
making sure all the systems are working properly.

• Frontline employees directly influence customer perceptions of

responsiveness through their personal willingness to help and their
promptness in serving customers.

• The assurance dimension of service quality is highly dependent on

employees’ ability to communicate their credibility and to inspire the
customers’ trust and confidence in the firm.
Boundary Spanners Interact with Both Internal and
External Constituents
External Environment

Internal Environment
Frontline work is difficult and stressful
• Boundary spanners link inside
of organization to outside
world and often experience
role stress from multiple roles
they have to perform
• 3 main causes of role stress:
o Organization vs. Client: Dilemma
whether to follow company rules
or to satisfy customer demands
o This conflict is especially acute in organizations that are not customer oriented
o Person vs. Role: Conflicts between what jobs require and employee’s own personality and
beliefs
o Client vs. Client: Conflicts between customers that demand service staff intervention

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 Hire for service
competencies and
Compete for service Be the
the best inclination preferred
people employer
Measure and Train for
reward strong Hire the technical and
service right people interactive
performers skills
Human Resource
Develop
Treat Customer- Strategies for Delivering
Retain the people to
employees best Oriented deliver Empower
as people Service service employees Service Quality through
customers Delivery quality People
Include Provide
employees in needed support Promote
the systems teamwork
company’s
vision Develop Measure
service-oriented Provide internal service
internal supportive quality
processes technology
and
equipment
The Service Talent Cycle for Service Firms

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Hiring the right people
• Be the Preferred Employer:
o Create a large pool: “Compete for Talent Market Share”
o What determines a firm’s applicant pool?
o Positive image in the community as place to work
o Quality of its services
o The firm’s perceived status

• Select the right people:

o There is no perfect employee
o Different jobs are best filled by
people with different skills, styles
or personalities
o Hire candidates that fit firm’s core
values and culture
o Focus on recruiting naturally warm personalities for customer-contact jobs

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Hiring the right people
Tools to Identify the Best Candidates (1)
• Employ multiple, structured interviews:
o Use structured interviews built around job requirements
o Use more than one interviewer to reduce
“similar to me” biases
• Observe candidate behavior:
o Hire based on observed behavior, not words
you hear
o Best predictor of future behavior is past
behavior
o Hire those with service excellence awards and
complimentary letters
Hiring the right people
Tools to Identify the Best Candidates (2)
• Conduct personality tests:
o Willingness to treat co-workers and customers with courtesy, consideration and tact
o Perceptiveness regarding
customer needs
o Ability to communicate
accurately and pleasantly
• Give applicants a realistic
preview of the job:
o Chance for candidates to
“try on the job”
o Assess how candidates respond to job realities
o Allow candidates to self select themselves out of the job

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Training service employees actively
• Service employees need to learn:
o Organizational culture, purpose and strategy
o Get emotional commitment to core strategy and core values
o Get managers to teach “why”, “what” and “how” of job
o Interpersonal and technical skills
o Both are necessary but neither alone is enough for performing a job well
o Product/service knowledge
o Staff’s product knowledge is a
key aspect of service quality
o Staff must explain product
features and help consumers
make the right choice

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Internal marketing and communications
• Especially necessary in large service businesses that operate
in widely dispersed sites
• Employees need to be kept informed about new policies,
changes in service features, and new quality initiatives
• Nurtures team spirit and support common corporate goals
across national frontiers
• Can complement training
o ensures efficient and satisfactory service delivery
o achieves productive and harmonious working relationships
o builds employee trust, respect, and loyalty

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The importance of empowerment
• Empowerment is most appropriate when
o the firm’s business strategy is based on personalized, customized service and competitive
differentiation

o emphasis is on extended relationships rather than short-term transactions

o complex and non-routine technologies are used

o service failures are non-routine and cannot be designed out of the system

o the business environment is unpredictable

o managers are comfortable letting employees work independently for the benefit of firm and
customers

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Integrating teams across departments and functional
areas
• Ways to reduce conflict and break down the barriers between departments
o Transferring individuals internally to other departments and functional areas.
o Establishing cross-departmental and cross-functional project teams.
o Having cross-departmental and cross-functional service delivery teams.
o Appointing individuals whose job is to integrate specific objectives, activities, and processes
between departments.
o Carrying out internal marketing, training, and integration programs.
o Having top management’s commitment to ensure that the overarching objectives of all
departments are integrated.

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Motivating and energize service employees
Use full range of available rewards effectively, including
• Job content:
o People are motivated and satisfied knowing they are doing a good job
• Feedback and recognition:
o People derive a sense of identity and belonging to an organization from feedback and
recognition
• Goal achievement:
o Specific, difficult but attainable and accepted goals are strong motivators

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Roles that customer play
• Roles that service customers play:
• productive resources for the organization,
• contributors to and cocreators of value, and
• competitors.

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Customers May Widen the Service
Performance Gap
Lack of understanding of their roles

Not being willing or able to perform their roles

No rewards for “good performance”

Interference with or from other customers

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Importance of Fellow Customers in Service Delivery

Other customers can Other customers can

detract from satisfaction:
• Disruptive behaviors
• Overly demanding
behaviors
• Excessive crowding
• Incompatible needs
enhance satisfaction:
• Mere presence
• Socialization/friendships
• Roles: assistants,
teachers, supporters,
mentors

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 Productive
Resources

Customer
Roles in
Service
Delivery
Contributors
to Quality,
Competitors
Satisfaction,
and Value
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Customers as Productive Resources
• Customers can be thought of as “partial employees”
• Contributing effort, time, or other resources to the production process

• Customer inputs can affect organization’s productivity

• Key issue:
• Should customers’ roles be expanded? reduced?

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Customers as Contributors to Service Quality
and Satisfaction
• Customers can contribute to:
• Their own satisfaction with the service
• By performing their role effectively
• By working with the service provider

• The quality of the service they receive

• By asking questions
• By taking responsibility for their own satisfaction
• By complaining when there is a service failure

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Customers as Competitors
• Customers may “compete” with the service provider
• “Internal exchange” vs. “external exchange”
• Internal/external decision often based on:
• Expertise capacity
• Resource capacity
• Time capacity
• Economic rewards
• Psychic rewards
• Trust
• Control

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Strategies for
Enhancing
Customer
Participation

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Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation

• Define customers’ roles

• Helping oneself
• Helping others
• Promoting the company

• Recruit, educate, and reward customers

• Recruit the right customers
• Educate and train customers to perform effectively
• Reward customers for their contributions
• Avoid negative outcomes of inappropriate customer participation

• Manage the customer mix

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Characteristic Explanation Examples
Customers are in close physical Customers will more often notice each other Airline Flights
proximity to each other and be influenced by each other’s behaviour Entertainment Events
when they are in close physical proximity Sports Events

Verbal interaction takes place Conversation (or lack thereof) can be a Full-service restaurants
among customers component of both satisfying and dissatisfying Cocktail lounges
encounters with fellow patrons Educational settings

Customers are engaged in When a service facility supports varied activities Universities
numerous and varied activities all going on the same time, the activities Health clubs
themselves may not be compatible Resort hotels

The service environment Many service environments, particularly those Public parks
attracts a heterogenous open to the public, will attract a variety of Public transportation
customer mix customer segments
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Characteristic
The core service is
compatibility
Customers must occasionally
wait for the service
Customers are expected to
share time, space, or service
utensils with each other
Explanation Examples
The core service is to arrange and nurture Big brothers/big sisters
compatible relationships between customers Weight loss group
programs
Mental health support
groups
Waiting in line for the service can be Medical clinics
monotonous or anxiety producing. The boredom Tourist attractions
or stress can be magnified or lessened by other Restaurants
customers, depending on their compatibility
The need to share space, time, and other service Golf courses
factors is common in many services but may Hospitals
become a problem if segments are not Retirement communities
comfortable with sharing each other or if the airplanes
need to share is intensified because of capacity
constraints
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