Quality Service Management (Lessons 1-5) PDF

QUALITY SERVICE MANAGEMENT 4. Heterogeneity- As mentioned, aggregability implies LESSON 1 a difficulty when it is about controlling all phases so that...

QUALITY SERVICE MANAGEMENT 4. Heterogeneity- As mentioned, aggregability implies LESSON 1 a difficulty when it is about controlling all phases so that they are at the same level of excellence. INTRODUCTION TO QUALITY SERVICE IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY LESSON 2 Service Quality Management CROSS-CULTURAL ISSUES IN SERVICE QUALITY Any hotel business, to be successful, needs to ensure Customer Diversity: Providing Great Customer that it is providing quality service to its Experience Across Cultures customers. The world is getting smaller. Nations and communities are becoming more diverse. Due to advances in How to ensure proper service quality communication, the spread of e-commerce and the ease management? of travel, many businesses today can expand to cross cultural and geographic boundaries. Customer satisfaction is what drives hotel managers to ensure that quality services are E-Commerce Businesses may easily receive orders delivered in the best ways possible. And from virtually anywhere. since service quality in the hotel industry is determined by customer feedback, strategies Professionalism customer service means different should be devised to compute the level of these things to different people, but all of them are worthy of services. your time, respect and attention. 1. Measurement helps hotels to identify the standard of Respecting customer diversity is more than simply their delivered service and determine problems related good manners to the quality of the same. We all know the old golden rule: treat others the way you 2.Rating- Thousands of hotels aim at securing the top want to be treated. But simply treating customers with position on hotel ranking indexes. It officially certifies the the same courtesy and dignity is no longer enough in this shrinking world. high level of quality service offered by a reputed hotel. Making cross-cultural customer interactions simple 3.Benchmarking -To enhance customer satisfaction, many hotels adapt to the strategy of benchmarking. Whether your customer interactions carried out by phone, via email, in Live Chat or in person, there are some Importance of service quality management in the common sense principles that could significantly improve hospitality and tourism industry service. Systematic quality management improves the overall 1. Reinforce importance of recognizing customer health of hospitality and tourism industry. diversity - Every business has a culture, and respecting diversity should be one of the primary values guiding 1. Customer Loyalty In any kind of business, a satisfied your team. customer is the one who is happy with the services. 2. Know your customers and seek out culture- 2. Happier Environment- While the physical perception specific knowledge - The nature of your clientele is of a hotel is one of the most important aspects for more likely than ever to consist of people from all determining customer satisfaction, it is not important, corners of the world. however, to invest time and resources in building over- 3. Listen actively and recognize patterns for the-top designs. communicating - Customer service representatives with good listening skills can quickly build rapport, 3. Improved Security- The hotel security level has a effectively address the issue and suggest a timely direct impact on the brand reputation of the business. solution. 4. Brand Value- Every business on earth thrives on 4. Create a welcoming environment by having a brand value. diverse workforce - Hiring bilingual employees who not only speak some other language but also have unique Characteristics of the Hospitality and Tourism insights into different cultures would help create a Industry fantastic customer experience. The first thing to do when designing a business strategy 5. Share your experiences with colleagues to work for any industry is to have deep knowledge of its most out consistent approaches - Cultural diversity is a real important product. gift for customer service reps. Dealing with customers 1. Intangibility-Tourism products are services and, as from other cultures provides a great opportunity to learn such, they are largely intangible though with tangible, from others and grow in our humanity. concrete elements. Divergence and Convergence 2. Limited life-span-Tourism products cannot be stored Divergence and convergence are modes of thinking, so, unless consumed when planned, they are waste. mostly used by design thinkers as a creative process to 3. Aggregability- A tourism product can be formed by define and solve problems in a business/real-world aggregating various products, and this makes its context. commercialization and quality control more difficult. Convergence, on the other hand, is a mode of thinking where you’re using your left brain to analyze things and think them through logically, so to speak. Convergence is about analysis, critique, judgement, and  Develop your own taste in art, whether it be feedback. Ideas that might seem ridiculous at the start films, music, books, or what have you. You (in the divergent phase) become more realistic when you need to explore a variety of media in order to spend a few minutes in each phase, and this works for figure out your own tastes. For instance, you any creative process. have to listen to a lot of different music (diverge) to find the ones you like (converge); Divergence is purely a right-brained activity. ditto with books, films…anything of interest, Convergence is left-brained. When you’re diverging, really. you’re giving yourself the space to create with or without constraints.  See all the food choices at a dinner party before picking and choosing what you want to The tools you can use to facilitate convergent eat. You can’t eat it all, so pick and choose by thinking (logical/analytical tools) may vary widely. exploring your options first, and then decide Examples: on what to eat.  Any tool that you can use to rank or to give a  When you reflect in the evening, ask yourself: rating of some kind can be used to evaluate your what did I do today? What’s the best thing that choices. Using selective criteria with grid is an happened today? You’ll see that unless you example of such a tool. ask the first question (diverge), you’ll have trouble coming up with an answer to the  Your list manager is another example of a second question (converge). convergent tool. You’ve previously captured things that had your attention (diverge) to figure out what they mean to you and what to do with GLOBAL MARKETING STRATEGY - them later (converge). In fact, you’re practicing STANDARDIZATION VS. ADAPTATION both of these process skills with your list manager. Taking your business global and successfully selling  Here’s how you can use these process skills in your products and services in international markets can your knowledge work: pose many challengers. Standardization vs. Adaptation  You can’t “prioritize” (converge) until you know everything you have on your plate (diverge); the The first view is the standardization standpoint (as reverse doesn’t work. proposed by Jain, 1989; Levitt, 1983). According to  Capture things on the go in your list these authors, supporters of standardization believe that manager first (diverge), and decide later what to there is a union of cultures with similar environmental do with it (converge). and customer demand around the globe. They argue that trade barriers are getting lower and that  For weekly planning: at the end of the week, technological advances and firms are displaying a global diverge on a list of things you want to work on by orientation in their strategy. the end of next week, then converge by deciding Standardization and international uniformity has which ones to work on and schedule them in many advantages. For one, people can expect the your calendar. same level of quality of any specific brand anywhere  How do you decide what you’re doing today (if around the world. you don’t already have a running list of things you need to do at some point)? You make a list Standardization, however, poses a number of of everything you have on your mind that you disadvantages. As mentioned previously, different think needs to be done today, then you figure markets mean different preferences. Selling one unified out what you actually want to do from this list, product lacks uniqueness. and skip the rest. Unless you actually know everything you have on your plate, how Consumer nondurables, including food products, are the can you do anything at all? most sensitive to differences in national tastes and habits, making them more likely to need changes for  Run effective meetings: start out by creating an various markets. agenda by involving members to participate to figure out what you want to discuss, then Striking The Right Balance prioritize the list and figure out how you want to set it up (with constraints). Both approaches appear to be rational, logical and coherent, highlighting the advantages and benefits that a  Process email quickly from the inbox (diverge), multinational company could gain by using either then batch-process all emails in relevant folders, approach. such as Action, Hold, etc. (converge).  Use a mind map to explore anything by way of ideation (diverge). This is also a great way to plan your projects. Here are some examples from our daily lives: · Writing Morning Pages is a great example of practicing these process skills. When you write Morning Pages (diverge) to find out what has your attention, you can later decide what to do with it (converge).  Listen to others (diverge) before giving them solicited feedback (converge).  Flip through TV channels to figure out what you want to watch (diverge) before settling on a channel (converge).  LESSON 3 Here are some examples of the ways that IT continues to improve the hospitality and tourism industry. TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT ON SERVICE QUALITY Internet and Marketing The move from personal service to automation and The internet has a powerful impact on hospitality and tourism. A customer‟s first experience with self service your business is a visit to your website. Previously, when facing a service delivery, you were met Computer Systems with service personnel ready to support you all the way through your customer journey. Today, and due to the Computer systems allow communication between larger emerging impact of technology, we see more and more hotel chains with multiple locations to connect easier. examples of self service and automated service solutions. These include online airline check-in, self- Mobile Communication service checkout lanes in retail stores, gas pumps and supermarkets. Mobile tablets and smartphones have replaced large desktop computers, making them virtually extinct. This is The portfolio of accessible services is increasing helpful, because many travelers take some type of mobile device with them on a trip. With the world wide web also came a world without boundaries. Or in other words, technology has now LESSON 4 expanded our potential to reach out to customers around the globe in ways that were not to be dreamed off in the SERVICE QUALITY CONCEPTS AND DIMENSIONS not so distant past. PERTINENT TO TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY The rise in consumer data Salient features of service quality: When talking about self-service delivery, automation and 1. Inseparability of production and an increase in online services, some critics point to the consumption - In service industries, usually the idea that service deliveries increasingly will become less marketer creates or performs the service at the and less personal. But does this mean that we sooner or same time as the full or partial consumption of later will lose the human touch? Not necessarily. It the service takes place. depends on how good we are at balancing the great things technology can provide us with as well as our 2. Intangibility of service - Many services are sense of what defines quality service. essentially intangible. The lack of tangible attributes means that it is difficult for the Can Technology Improve Guest Service Quality in producer to describe the service and for the Hospitality and Tourism? consumer to ascertain its likely virtues. 3. Perishability of services - Services are Technology has arguably been one of the main driving forces in the growth of many economies perishable and cannot be stored in one-time and organizations around the world. The tourism period for consumption at a later date. industry, and hotels in particular, have seen an 4. Heterogeneity of services - Heterogeneity of abundance of benefits which technology can bring to services. It is often difficult to reproduce a internal operations and guest service quality. service consistently and exactly. The Role of Technology in Improving Guest Service Quality Obstacles to Attaining Service Quality The traditional approach to building guest satisfaction Improvements tends to be through the use of physical labor and The obstacles to service quality improvements are to some extent this is still the case. identified and discussed below: Implications of Technology Implementation Lack of visibility. Service quality problems are not always visible to the provider. Although technology provides a number of benefits and hotels and their ability to improve guest quality, there are Difficulties in assigning specific accountability. The also a number of implications which can be considered. consumer's overall perception of service quality is Perhaps the most important point to consider is the fact influenced by experience at different stages of service that technology is continually changing. delivery. Technology Strategies for Small Hotels Time required to improve service quality. Service quality problems often require major effort over a long This topic focuses on the larger (full service) aspect of period of time to resolve. the industry where technology plays an important role and will continue to do so into the future. Delivery uncertainties. Control of service delivery and quality is complicated by the individual and unpredictable INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS IN nature of people. HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM The attainment of "service quality" requires: The intense competition in today's business environment (1) Market and customer focus. means that tourism and hospitality businesses have to work hard to maintain and develop their competitiveness. (2) Empowerment of frontline staff. How Information Technology Has Affected the (3) Well-trained and motivated staff. Tourism and Hospitality Industry (4) A clear "service quality" vision. Information Technology has played an important role in the hospitality and tourism industry over the last decade. Definition of Quality The term "quality" means a different thing to 7. Courtesy different people. This is why defining "quality" is often the first step in most "quality improvement" journeys. 8. Security The five generic categories and their relevance to 9. Communication service organizations. 10. Tangibles (1) Transcendent. Here "quality" is defined as 11. Understanding/ knowing customer innate excellence. The product or service will have unequalled properties. (2) Product led. Here "quality" is defined as the A cursory comparison shows: units of goodness packed into a product or service. (1) the commonality of reliability, responsiveness and access; (3) Process or supply led. In this approach, "quality" is defined as "conformance to (2) the degree of correspondence between the requirements". The definitions of quality determinants of private and public services proposed by Crosby and Taguchi fall within this quality; category. (3) the extent of similarity between service and (4) Customer led. Here the focus is external. product determinants of quality. "Quality" is defined as "satisfying customer's requirements" or "fitness for purpose". The Conceptual Service Quality Models definitions of quality put forward by Deming, A service organization can broadly adopt one of two (5) Value led. "Quality", here, is defined either as basic approaches to service quality management: the "cost to the producer and price to the (1) passive or reactive; or customer" or as "meeting the customer's (2) strategic or proactive. requirements in terms of quality, price, and availability". The focus again is external. consumer culture we love stories of really good or really bad service—and, especially, of heroic service Determinants of Quality recovery. "Quality" is not a singular but a multi-dimensional The first actions toward systemic service change is phenomenon. about giving definition to what needs to be accomplished. The results need to be tangible, measurable, and (1) The technical quality of outcome. That is to specific. As with any process, the more questions asked, say, the actual outcome of the service the more successful the outcome. encounter. 1. Secure an accurate set of data to assess the (2) The functional quality of the service current customer experience. encounter. This element of "quality" is concerned with the interaction between the 2. Clarify the intended role of customer service and satisfaction as a strategic driver for your business in the provider and recipient of a service and is often near and long term. perceived in a subjective manner. (3) The corporate image. This is concerned with 3. Define what customer service means at the consumers' perceptions of the service organization. organization. 4. Set specific and accurate measures to best capture critical information on customer service, satisfaction, and loyalty. Lehtinen and Lehtinen also contend that "service quality" has three dimensions. These were: 5. Clarify the value proposition for your customers. (1) Physical quality. This includes such items as the 6. Clarify the customer relationship process o from condition of buildings and enabling equipment. end to end. (2) Corporate quality. This refers to the organization's 7. Map the customer experience or transactional image and profile. processes to uncover potential ―positive defining moments‖ from the customer perspective. (3) Interactive quality. This derives from the interaction between service organizations' personnel and 8. Create and launch a comprehensive the customer as well as the interaction between communications plan. customers. 9. Review and align current customer service A modified version of the service quality determinants policies. proposed by Parasuraman et al. is described below. The 10. Determine a set of selection criteria for new proposed modifications and the introduction of a new employees – and for those who represent the determinant are based on our current organization in the market – that reflects the customer research. Moreover, examples from various service service commitment. industries are provided for clarity. 11. Train, train and train …. 1. Reliabilty 12. Periodically measure progress, then communicate and celebrate success. 2. Responsiveness 13. Institute an ongoing, continual improvement 3. Customization approach to customer service. 4. Credibility 5. Competence 6. Access  Physical Evidence. This refers to the way the product, service, and everything about the company appears LESSON 5 from the outside. THE IMPACT OF PEOPLE, PROCESS, AND Product liability insurance is needed in case anyone PHYSICAL EVIDENCE ON SERVICE QUALITY suffers any harm from your product or service. The challenges encountered relative to service quality Visual packaging of a tangible product can make or on tourism and hospitality-like heterogeneity – the break a purchase. Small improvements in the packaging requirements of the customers while delivering service or external appearance of your product or service can lead to completely different reactions from your and perishability and absence of inventory, intangibility customers. of offers and absence of patent protection, etc. necessitate the presence of the marketing mix such as The factors that tangibilize services: PEOPLE, PROCESS and PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. Physical Facility (Essential Peripheral Evidence) People. An extremely important part of any company is The elements of physical evidence are: having the right people to support the company‟s products and/or service. Essential Evidence- Constitutes a dominant part of the service facility. People in Service - In service, the personnel come in contact with the process of production and consumption Peripheral Evidence- They definitely have an impact of services. on the consumer perception about the quality of the service These include business cards, stationery, Types of Service Personnel: brochures, etc. Customer contact as it is the vital part of the quality of service experience. Physical Setting (Appearance of the premises- design Labor Intensive (people based): sales creation, & decor) delivery, personalized services… The physical setting or the service environment within Equipment Based: automatic car wash, automatic which the service takes place. The “service space” vending machines, etc. includes: The classification of personnel from market point of the exterior attributes (the parking area, front view: elevation of the building, landscape) Customer Contact Employees- also called as the interior attributes (the design, ambiance, frontline staff/ boundary spanners. Includes office staff, layout, etc) air hostess, bank clerk, waiters in hotels etc. The varying degrees of personnel in customer contact are: High Contact Personnel (eg: hospitals, restaurants, The important elements of physical settings are as education, institutions) follows: Low contact personnel (eg: retailing, banks, post office) Ambiance Skilled and professional (eg: doctors, lawyers, consultants) Décor and Artifacts Non-professional (eg: telephone operators, retail clerks, Spatial Layout and Functionality courier delivery) Support Personnel/Non-Contact Employee - The employees who contribute to the service delivery but do Social Settings (Appearance of Staff) not come into contact with the customer. eg: chefs in hotels, cockpit crews, administrative staff. It pertains with the appearance and attitude of staffs: their technical skill, interactive skill, personalities Process. Solid procedures and policies that are in place, and attitude towards work, consistency of quality which pertains to the company‟s products and/or service, performance and their appearance. is an extremely valuable element to the marketing strategy. Service Process refers to how a service is provided or Role of physical evidence: delivered to the customer. For this, the service process must be designed. Facilitator: Enhances performance level of personnel in the environment Designing Service Process: Socializer: Helps to convey expected roles, The factors to be considered in the Service design behavior and relationship in the interaction process process are: Differentiator: Can differentiate the service from its competitors The Service Itself Impression: Helps in shaping „first impression‟ Customer Participation Image and Identity: Portrays the corporate Degree of Customer contact image and builds corporate identity Degree of Divergence Location of Service Delivery Complexity of Service