Topic:
Improving Service
Quality and
Productivity
Integrating service quality
and productivity strategies
What is service quality?
The Gaps Model
Measuring and improving
service quality
1. Integrating Service Quality and
Productivity Strategies
Quality and productivity : twin paths
Quality focus and productivity focus
Importance of improving productivity:
o Keeps costs down to improve profits and/or
reduce prices
o Enables firms to spend more on improving
customer service
o Secures firms future through increased
spending on R&D
o May impact service experiencemarketers
must work to minimize negative effects,
promote positive effects
2. What Is Service Quality?
*Comparison of expectation with
performance
*Different things to people according to
context
* The Transcendent view of quality
Experienced gained from repeated exposure
The Manufacture based approach
Supply based and related to engineering and
manufacturing
User based definitions
quality with maximum satisfaction, depends on
needs and wants of the customer
Value based definitions
in terms of value and price
Tangibles:
Tangibles: Appearance
Appearance of
of physical
physical elements
elements
Reliability:
Reliability: Dependable
Dependable and
and accurate
accurate performance
performance
Responsiveness:
Responsiveness: Promptness;
Promptness; helpfulness
helpfulness
Assurance:
Assurance: Competence,
Competence, courtesy,
courtesy, credibility,
credibility, security
security
Empathy:
Empathy: Easy
Easy access,
access, good
good communication,
communication,
understanding
understanding of
of customer
customer
3. The Gaps Model
word of mouth
personal needs
past experience
Knowledge gap: Learn what customers expect
o Understand customer expectations
o Improve communication between frontline staff and
management
o Turn information and insights into action
Policy gap: Specify SQ standards that reflect
expectations
o Set, communicate, and reinforce customer-oriented
service standards for all work units
o Measure performance and provide regular feedback
o Reward managers and employees
Delivery gap: Ensure service performance meets
standards
Clarify employee roles
o Train employees in priority setting and time management
o Eliminate role conflict among employees
o Develop good reward system
o
communications gap: Ensure that communications
promises are realistic
Seek comments from frontline employees and operations personnel
about proposed advertising campaigns
o Get sales staff to involve operations staff in meetings with customers
o Ensure that communications sets realistic customer expectations
o
Perceptions gap: Educate customers to see reality of
service quality delivered
Keep customers informed during service delivery and debrief after
delivery
o Provide physical evidence
o
Service gap: Close gaps 1 to 6 to meet customer
expectations consistently
4. Measuring and Improving
Service Quality
Customer feedback collection tools
Total market surveys, annual surveys,
transactional surveys
Service feedback cards
Mystery shopping
Analysis of unsolicited feedback
Control charts to monitor a single variable
Offer a simple method of displaying performance over time against
specific quality standards
o Are only good if data on which they are based is accurate
o Enable easy identification of trends
o
Service quality indexes*
o
Embrace key activities that have an impact on customers
Fishbone diagram
o
Pareto Chart
o
Cause-and-effect diagram to identify potential causes of problems
Separating the trivial from the important. Often, a majority of
problems is caused by a minority of causes (i.e. the 80/20 rule)
Blueprinting
o
Visualization of service delivery, identifying points where failures are
most likely to occur
Facilities,
Equipment
Arrive late
Oversized bags
Customers
Customers
Frontstage
Front-Stage
Personnel
Personnel
Procedures
Procedures
Aircraft late to Gate agents cannot Delayed check-in
procedure
process
gate
Mechanical fast enough
Acceptance of late
Failures
passengers
Late/unavailable
airline crew
Late pushback
Delayed
Departures
Late food
service
Other Causes
Weather
Air traffic
Late baggage
Late fuel
Materials,
Materials,
Supplies
Supplies
Backstage
Personnel
Late cabin
cleaners
Poor announcement of
departures
Weight and balance
sheet late
Information
Case: Analysis of Causes of
Flight Departure Delays
15.3%
23.1%
15.4%
All stations, excluding
Chicago-Midway Hub
11.7%
23.1%
23.1%
Newark
15%
Late passengers
Waiting for pushback
Waiting for
fuelling
19%
33.3%
9.5%
8.7%
11.3%
4.9
%
33.3%
53.3%
Washington Natl.
Late weight and balance sheet
Late cabin cleaning/supplies
Other
