Service Management by Naresh

SERVICE MANAGEMENT HT32402 REPORT (40%) MARKING SHEET Name: Naresh Kumar Matriculation No.: N08012846 Aspect Assessed

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4 different service concepts Schmenner’s Matrix: • Service Factory • Service Shop • Mass Service • Professional Service 5 Service Characteristics with examples

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Service Provider • Introduction to provider • Indicators of service quality • The Service Experience • Evidence of customer satisfaction – evaluation

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References, presentation and structure

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Comments

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General Comments:

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Date:

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SERVICE MANAGEMENT

HT32402 ASSESSMENT ‘A’ TOPIC:-

The coursework will be in the form of a report exploring the service quality experience and will require you to choose a service provider of your choice (i.e.: hotel, restaurant, cinema) and evaluate the service experience that they provide. Your evaluation should include a brief introduction to the service provider and why they were chosen. Research for the service provider may involve the students participating in a mystery shopping exercise to gain the relevant information.

TYPE: - REPORT. WORD COUNT: - 2535. LOCAL TUTOR: - Mr. Ethan Jagmag. MODULE TUTOR: - Mrs. Ros Sutherland. MATRICULATION NUMBER: - N08012846. NAME: - Naresh Kumar.

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INDEX

Introduction

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Service classification

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Characteristics of service

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Mystery shopper experience

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Conclusion

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References

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Introduction: Service plays an important role in every national’s economy and country economy always depends on service infrastructure like transportation, communication, education and government services. In today's economy, you don't have to produce anything to get rich not have to employ anybody. Now day’s money rests on bigger markets and more ways to make money. Having a name, a status, an idea can be sufficient. E. g. entertainment and sports figures make money by bringing people happiness. A service is a financial activity that is basically intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Service can not be owned by anyone, The American economy is quickly becoming service leaning. According to the Monthly Labor Review Online, after Second World War factory jobs declined in figure, while service-based employment increased. And it is increasing with rapid growth. Difference between services and manufacturing processes comprises the nature of outputs and the primary production processes, which are closely related. Service inputs include the facility where the service is provided, any products that are essential in providing the service. Even product-based organizations must give and manage a service package for their clientele. The bunch of services might include pre-sale services such as technical advice and dependable delivery, as well as post-sale services such as prompt repair and training. Not like most products, services are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable.

Service classification Service Factory: There is less intensity of human contact with low labour intensity and low interaction and customization. Example for this kind of service are hotels, there is less of staff than customer like in a restaurant also one waiter takes care of many tables and customer have no customized service because they have to select from a menu and that only will be served, same in room sale variation is not there, guest has to choose from, what hotel have rooms are not customized as per guest choice., same in public transportation also less staff

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takes care of many customers and customer cannot customize the routes of transportation system. Insurance services, museums, airlines also come under the same classification. (Leask, A, 1999) Service Shop: It is classified as high degree of variation and interaction but low labour intensity so there is high customization with less labour intensity examples like maintenance, servicing, where customer interaction is more and serviced as per customer’s choice and also no need of much man power, some other examples like hospitals, repairing of goods etc. (Anon, 2000) Mass Service: It relates to high labour intensity and low variety and interaction, so customization is less but mass worker works in such organization e.g. banks, retailing industries, where enough man power is used but there is less of interaction between customer and bidder. Highly standardise with less of customization, customer have to pick up from what is available for them, same in banks also you have to choose from the selected scheme not what you want but, which one is more nearer to your needs. And same thing applies to schools, collages also which are exampled as less interaction with high labour intensity. (Leask, A, 1999) Professional Service: Service that can hardly be standardised with numerous human contacts, it can be customised and also some time one to one human interaction. Examples which are covered by this kind of services are professional jobs like lawyers, doctors, engineering, consulting etc. if light on to lawyers work, a lawyer interact with the client and do as the client ask for, as per the clients need. And same in the profession of engineer and doctor also. If examples take from the hospitality and tourism a boutique hotel and first class airline service are good example, in a boutique hotel rooms are smaller and can be customised as per guest need, so these are less standardised. And same in first class on airline with high customisation and one to one guest interaction. (Anon, 2000)

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Service Characteristics Intangibility of service: Service cannot be defined as physical attributes because it cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, touched or smelled before it is bought, so it is difficult for consumers to tell in advance what they will be getting. (Sheila Webber, 2001) The experience consumers obtain from the service has an impact on how they will perceive it. And perceived service is risky and difficult to evaluate, customer tend to rely more on personal references, reputation, facilities of the service provider as an indication of quality. Service marketers identify the feelings that they want the customer to experience as a result of the service. They stress the positive elements of tangibility in the service, make all communications with the customer very clear and focus constantly on service quality. For example when anybody buys a car, he/she takes it to test drive, if they like it than only pay and buy the car ,never pay for test drive. But if you buy a meal at a restaurant, you do not know what is going to serve. Now buyers only look at tangible evidence like cleanliness, decoration, staff movement, which provide the information of quality of intangible service. (Kotler et al. 1996, 61) Inseparability of service: Services cannot be separated from the service supplier. It is labour intensive. After it is sold, the customer can not be taken away from the producer it is simultaneously produced and consumed. It is being produced at the same time that the customer is receiving. So customer is also part of the product. For example in a restaurant, you order your meal, during the time of waiting and delivery of the meal, the service provided by the service provider is all part of the service production process and is inseparable, the staff in a restaurant are as part of the process as well as the quality of food provided. Perishability of service: a characteristic of services unused capacity cannot be stored or saved for future sale or use, it perishes after a specific time. (Sheila Webber, 2001) For example a 200 room hotel that only sells about 160 rooms for particular night. It can not inventory the remaining 40 rooms and sell them next night; revenue lost from these 40 unsold rooms is gone forever, because of perishable character of service. same in a play ground or airlines, where if a 6

match is held today and few seats are not sold lets take because of less popular team are playing these seats can not be sold in next match. And in airlines also for a destination all seats are not sold, revenue will be gone once journey over, so if these seats were sold even at low price some revenue could have earn. Thus service is perishable; it perishes if it is not used at particular time. Heterogeneity or variability of service: It is very difficult to make each service experience identical, since services are not produced by a single entity and then distributed to consumers, the quality of services may vary depending on who provides the service as well as when, where, and how they are provided. There is a strong possibility that the same question would be answered slightly differently by different people and even by the same person at different times. (Wolak. R, 1998) A guest can receive excellent service one day and not that good another day from the same person, because service person may have some personal problem or not have felt well. If travelling by plane the service quality may differ from the first time you travelled by that airline to the second, because the airhostess is more or less experienced. (Kotler et al. 1996, 61) Simultaneity of service: Services are being produced and consumed at the similar time. You buy not just the service but also a section of how the service is created and delivered. Services companies cannot classify functions like sales, customer service, etc. like you can in manufacturing. Yes, they still possibly need a marketing department, but all workforce who deal with customers need to be well informed.

Mystery Shopper Exercise Cafe Coffee Day is always interesting to work on and the exercise like mystery shopper has lot to do with this fast food chain, it is a pioneer of cafe concept in India as well as in abroad as far coffee concern. CCD as it is abbreviated from café coffee day was the only fast food chain in India. And the first café was opened at Brigade Road in Bangalore in 1996. After Recognizing

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the potential Café Coffee Day embarked on a dynamic journey to become a large organized retail café chain with a distinct brand identity of its own, from a handful of cafés in six cites in the first 5 years, now CCD has become India’s largest retail café’s chain with 683 cafes in near 102 cities around the country. With the great success in India and offering a world-class coffee experience, it has opened Café in Vienna, Austria and has planned to open other Cafes in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Egypt and South East Asia in the coming months. (Cafecoffeeday, 2008 a) Many interesting thing in row, they not only sell coffee or snacks but merchandise like T-shirts, coffee mugs, caps, bags, coffee filters etc.(Cafecoffeeday, 2008 b) The Service Encounter: As you enter in café first thing you will observe seating all kinds of people, married couples, young pairs, children, and of course noisy yet full-of-life college students. By this one thing is clear that it is a meeting point for youngster and college student. Now about the interior is well lit and for seating, they have sofa and chairs to choose from, so this is first impression comes in mind when enter in the café. Customer Service: Serving staff is well groomed with the same dress code staff is quite interactive, they have deep knowledge about their menu and provide very good explanation of brewery and fast food they serve, Strategies used to alleviate the problems associated with service characteristics: The organization uses to alleviate the problems of service characteristic are For intangibility: Customers tend to rely more on personal references, reputation, price and/or facilities of the service provider as an indication of quality. And CCD is quite successful identify the feelings that they want the customer to experience as a result of the service. They stress the positive elements of tangibility in the service, make all communications with the customer very clear and unambiguous, and focus constantly on service quality.

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For perishablity: Service cannot be stored for later use, but in fast food outlet like CCD guest do not pay for service, but pay for products. For variability: To maintain the standard for the thing like cool drink service is not provided, here chance of variability is less if guest serves himself/herself. DETERMINANTS OF SERVICE QUALITY: Access: It is located near Goa Medical College Kenkre Centre at national highway no. 17, Bambolim. Which is easily accessible not only students but for the tourist also. Attentiveness and helpfulness: staff of café is very attentive, always wait for the sign of guest, interact very efficiently with no hurry, which make customer very comfortable, staff always seek for customer to ask help. Staff is very polite and relaxed. Availability: mostly in fast food outlet customer does service for there own and which decrease the chance of variability. But in CCD staff and customer interaction is not one to one, than also they provide good service and goods are always available with enormous diversity. Cleanliness and Tidiness: The whole café looks very neat and tidy, staff was well groomed properly dressed and overall decoration looks clean and properly arranged. They take special care of hygiene and use gloves for carrying the food item. Comfort: the entire area is very comfortable, very good facilities are provided which makes customer seat more time than they think of, usually in a fast food outlet people come just to have some snacks and go, but with the services and facilities provided here makes customer seat. Communication: staff was very knowledgeable and with no communication gap staff members could communicate very well with the customers, they could happen only with good knowledge of there respective department. And they were very kind in fluent in there tonne.

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The service experience: The interior decor of café is very pleasing, interiors are very bright and with properly lighted, special care were taken for hygiene and cleanliness, very comfortable sitting arrangement. The food presentation was very good. The set up of food item was arranged nicely. Food was looking fresh with proper heating system. The staff in the café was very well groomed and always looks fresh and energetic. The staff anticipation on guest demand was very good. The coffee drinks were served in disposable glass with the logo of CCD on it and wrapped with tissue paper to prevent heat. With the punch line” a lot can happen over a coffee” it is really proved by the organization with the variety they serve of coffee. Indicators of service quality: mostly fast food outlet doesn’t provide such good service, the way CCD treats there customer, with full of comfort and food is very hygienic, great variety and presentation of food, will attract you any time you feel free and do not have anything to do, it is a great place to experience. the indicator of service quality is who ever comes once in the outlet, they definitely will experience the service again and again. Evidence of customer satisfaction: Most of the customers come in the café are young generation, college going students. This is evidence of customer satisfaction the target of young generation organization had chosen they are got success in that and also meeting with the need of targeted customer. The customer in the café always enjoying their time.

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Conclusion: Service is essential in economy of any country. And bigger percentage of employment comes under service sector. And it can be classified as according to how much standardization and level of customization other components which include classification are labour intensity. And it can be characterized in many ways, with intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and Perishablity. Other characteristics, which may be used to classify services, include the time and place of service delivery, the level of customisation versus standardization the role of technology in service delivery durability and the complexity of the assets needed. The intangible nature of services makes it difficult for customers to evaluate the service prior to purchase and therefore service purchase may be considered risky. For services which are highly inseparable, the customer’s physical presence is required for the service to be performed and the consumption of the service process is a critical component of the service experience To certain extent managing services are more complicated then managing products, products can be standardized, to standardize a service is far more difficult as there are more input factors i.e. people, physical evidence, process to manage then with a product. The mystery shopper exercise was accommodating to make you understand the service sector and the way characteristic are implemented. And café coffee day is leading fast food chain of India, so there is lot to learn from the organization.

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Reference: Book: Kotler, P. Bowen, J. Makens, J. (1996 p 58- 62) Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism (3rd ed) India, Pearson Education, Inc. Website: Anon (2000). Systematic Development of New Services in the Publishing Field. Retrieved October 13th 2008 from http://elpub.scix.net/data/works/att/0013.content.07233.pdf Cafecoffeeday, (2008). About us. Retrieved on October 21st 2008 from http://www.cafecoffeeday.com/aboutus.htm Cafecoffeeday, (2008). Merchandise. Retrieved on October 21st 2008 from http://www.cafecoffeeday.com/merchandise.htm Leask, A. Yeoman, I. (1999). Heritage Visitor Attractions. Retrieved October 15th 2008 from http://books.google.com/books?id=CgX51i_6zMcC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=sc hmenner+1995&source=web&ots=N1ImnHZD_O&sig=nO2Gb_HU1pyZXEjyVb2 TrP3i54U&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result# Russell Wolak, Stavros Kalafatis and Patricia Harris, (1998). Four Characteristics of Services. Retrieved October 18th 2008 from http://members.byronsharp.com/empgens/emp1.pdf Sheila Webber, (2001). Service marketing. Retrieved on October 18th 2008 from http://dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/marketing/default.htm

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Procedure if Plagiarism Identified If a case of plagiarism is suspected (SDR 14.2): The member of staff marking the work will seek a second opinion from another member of the teaching team and, if suspicion is upheld, report the matter to the School Academic Conduct Officer (ACO). If the case is considered minor, a range of sanctions may be applied, including reduction of the assessment mark. If the case is major, the matter will be referred to a School Disciplinary Committee, who will consider application of a broader range of more rigorous sanctions which range from a nil mark for plagiarised assessment and hence failure in module to rustication. I declare that I have read, and understand the above, and that the attached piece of work for HT32402 Service Management is my own work and is free from plagiarism as defined above.

Signature ___________________________________ Date __________ Matriculation No.

N 08015093_______________________________

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