Dealbhadh Seirbheis Turasachd

Designing and Managing Service

• The innovation process creates conditions for sectoral economic development and tourism service quality improvement
• Developing local tourism systems is necessary to create new tourist resources and products to stimulate growth and competitiveness
• The chapter will cover the concept of service design, service design principles, innovation, and setting in the tourism and hospitality industry

Learning Objectives

• Understand the concept of service design
• Comprehend the challenges of service innovation and design
• Be familiar with the different service design principles
• Learn the differences among the types of service setting
• Explain the necessity for service process redesign
• Understand how service process redesign can improve service quality and productivity

Concept of Service Design

• Design relates to the physical structure or model of products aiming to provide more value, efficiency, or enhanced performance
• It applies to services, procedures, management styles, and processes to provide value to clients and generate higher income
• Design can be applied in all areas of the organization using symbols in communication or materials and behavior to convey a specific type of service
• Design creates standards, introduces new products, discourages competitors, pleases customers, streamlines procedures, motivates employees, improves efficiency, and establishes competitive advantages
• Design can be a form of service, output/product, part of a process, activity, organizational culture, or a management function
• Design is connected to the organization's reaction to external stimulus like market demands or technological innovations

Service Innovation and Design

• The tourism and hospitality industry faces challenges in delivering, describing, and communicating its intangible product
• The services provided are described through words, which may be inadequate or oversimplified
• Using words alone may result in incomplete information dissemination and opinionated descriptions
• Organizations adopt strategies and philosophies that fit their organization, providing impressive products and services
• Organizations adopt strategic balance in product/service and delivery process, maintaining position and improving efficiency
• Working together as one team encourages employee or department synchronization for the project's objective
• Before service innovation, organizations should focus on their cultural dimension to enhance cohesiveness and trust

Service Design Principles

• Service design has five principles focused on delivering quality customer experience: Holistic, Co-creative, User-centered, Sequencing, and Evidencing
• Holistic design considers the environment's role in service delivery
• Co-creative design involves stakeholders who influence the design
• User-centered design focuses on customer expectations for product/service delivery
• Sequencing involves proper sequencing and timely delivery for customer satisfaction
• Evidencing creates a visual expectation of the service

Types of Service Innovations:

• Service Provision Innovation: New/improved services with major/fundamental innovations, service extensions, and service improvements
• Service Innovation Around Customer: Redefines or alters the customer's role
• Innovation Through Solution: Offers activities translating to solutions rather than traditional products
• Service Innovation Through Interconnectivity: Uses technology to provide comfort and convenience to customers

Blueprinting Services

• Blueprinting illustrates how services are rendered and how a service design is implemented
• It displays interaction between departments/elements and activities as part of an entity
• Steps in blueprinting services:
• Prepare a diagrammatic format
• Recognize decision points and conflict zones
• Set standards for allowable adjustments
• Use photos/videos as evidence
• Analyze the impact of evidence, contact points, and interactions

Selected Methods and Tools for Service Process

• Affinity Diagram: Gathers and organizes information from mixed data sources
• Brainstorming: Generates ideas from a group to solve a design problem
• Character Profiles: Supplement understanding of service users through trends
• Contextual Interview: Conducted in the natural environment where the service occurs
• User Journey Map: A diagram using visuals to show the user's journey through a service
• Cultural Probes (User Diary): Gathers information about daily life and activities
• Documentaries: Provide information at the initial stages using visual representations of human emotions
• Empathy Probes: Understand what users are thinking and feeling
• Ethnographic User Research: Supports understanding of design issues and user motivations
• Experience Prototype: Simulates a service to test new ideas
• Focus Group: Discussions with selected people to gather feedback
• Immersion (Workshop): Researcher involves themselves in the study area to gain experience
• Observation: Identifies problems when users interact with a product evaluate the service
• Personas: Fictional characters representing user types
• Prototyping: Examines behavior and performance before production

Prototyping Methods

• Sketches and Diagrams: Illustrate ideas for discussion and analysis

• Storyboarding: Presents cases or prototype-scenarios using drawings or pictures

• Building blocks Prototype: Uses building blocks to create crude designs or scenarios

• Role-play: Acting out service situations

• Physical Models: Create mock-ups for testing

• User-driven Prototype: The user creates the design to gauge user's thinking

• Scenarios: Creating hypothetical stories

• Service Prototype: Simulation tool to test interactions with the service

• Shadowing: Researcher observes users interacting with a service without interference

• Stakeholder Map: Visual presentation showing level of interest and importance of stakeholders

Service Setting

• Service setting is the physical environment or background where service is rendered
• It gives an idea of tangible and intangible features and appearance
• Tangible physical environment: servicescape
• Intangible physical environment: ideology, values, and beliefs
• The service environment is where the brand image is expressed
• Service setting communicates characteristics of an organization

Types of Service Setting

• Classified based on service participants and level of intricacy
• Self-service: Customers perform most transactions (e.g., online shopping)
• Remote service: No customer involvement (e.g., telecommunications)
• Interpersonal services: Both customers and employees are present (e.g., hotels)
• Classified by service complexity
• Lean: Simple, modest composition
• Elaborate: Complicated with multiple elements and forms

Redesigning Service Processes

• Service processes become outdated due to changes in technology, customer preferences, new offerings, and regulations
• Indications for redesign: heavy communication, customer complaints, exceptions, and proliferation of reviews
• Service process redesign aims to increase productivity and improve quality
• It focuses on reducing service failures, shortening completion time, enhancing productivity, and increasing satisfaction
• Actions for redesigning: review the process, recommend reconstruction, revision, rearrangement, or substitution
• Review existing service design and involve stakeholders in brainstorming
• Remove unnecessary steps by streamlining and integrating steps
• Eliminate bottlenecks that slow down capacity
• Shift to self-service to improve productivity and cost-efficiency