Managers and Corporate Social Policy - Term Paper Example

? Service Operations & Excellence The research report reflects the issues that arise on failure to cover the service quality gaps. The Edge is a canteen located in University of East London. Due to poor customer service and poor operational management the canteen suffered, both in term of revenue as well as in term of customer loyalty. This research report endeavours to create a service quality analysis of The Edge. Apart from that, service blue print is created pointing out the deficiencies in the system that led to the failure of the canteen. Based on the deficiencies, a new service blue print is created which will help The Edge bring back improvement in customer service operations. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1. Reflection on the feedback 4 2. Identification of service package of The Edge 4 3. Service Blueprint for The Edge 4 3.1 Actions of the customer 4 3.2 Onstage employee actions 5 3.3 Backstage employee actions 5 3.4 Supporting processes 6 3.5 Physical evidences 6 4. Walk Through Audit (WTA) of The Edge 7 5. Discussion of GAP analysis and its application to The Edge 10 6. Five dimensions of quality 12 7. Use of technology at The Edge to improve customer service 13 8. Creation of new service blue print for The Edge 14 Conclusion 15 Reference list 16 1. Reflection on the feedback The feedback delivered clearly mentioned that the Harvard referencing needs to be followed exactly as required. Other than that the skills audit module is also reassessed to incorporate the changes and the points that was not there in the 1st submission. On an overall basis the whole assignment is reassessed entirely in order to cover all the points that were not mentioned in the first submission of the assignment. 2. Identification of service package of The Edge The Edge caters to a wide range of customers. The service package of The Edge is as varied as its customer base. It offers three specific types of services. One is the normal food service, the second one is catering or serving in special events and apart from that it also holds private bookings (Benner and Sandstrom, 2012). The service packages are food and drinks, and holding special events. 3. Service Blueprint for The Edge The failure of The Edge is described across 5 important areas of service blue print 3.1 Actions of the customer The customer actions can be described in two different ways. One is active and the other one is passive. In active action, the customer and the canteen staff work together for creation of the service. In this case the canteen staff did not provide customers with suggestion of what they would like to have as improvements over the current food and meal menu (Chiefele, 2012). Since the canteen did not use the customer feedbacks as potential source of improvements so this led to further deterioration of services. The second type of action is passive action. Here the customer and the canteen staff do not have significant chances of interection (Garrick, 2011). The Edge actually gave more importance to this type of action from the customers. The customers were not provided with any kind of complaint form or customer feedback form. Thus the customers were offered services that lacked variety and innovation. Canteen customers usually look out for two different things when they visit canteens, one is affordability and other one is variety. The prices charged are affordable but lack of variety became one of the prime reasons for dissatisfaction. 3.2 Onstage employee actions The onstage employee actions denote the actions that are performed in the view of the customer. The canteen staff lacked simple courtesy of greeting the customers and seeing to it that the customers are attended as quickly as possible. Thus after entering the canteen the customers had to in fact find themselves a table on their own (Gulbrandsen and Smeby, 2008). This does not go well with all types of customers. Since The Edge is a well-known canteens in University of East London, this kind of service created dissatisfaction among the loyal customers. The employee who took the orders would keep the customer waiting at the table for long periods, which also added to the aggravation. The general behaviour of the employees while attending to the customers showed utter lack of patience, which made it evident that the canteen cared more about the profits than the customers. 3.3 Backstage employee actions The backstage actions of the employees were not appreciating either. The Edge served on both private as well as on special occasions. The pre-booking was completed over the phone. Most of the time the actual delivery of the services differed significantly than the arrangements made over the phone or mentioned while the booking the services (Hakim, 2010). This is an example of mismanagement. The requests could not be processed in time and thus the canteen had to resort to substandard ways to fulfil the requests. 3.4 Supporting processes The employees or the service providers who interact directly with the customers depended upon the efficiency of the internal employees. The internal employees served the front line employees with the necessary means to execute the services effectively and prudently. On many occasions the internal employees of The Edge who mainly consisted of suppliers of raw materials for preparing food, or the people who handled the operations like cooking, loading and preparing the dishes lacked utter competency (Harvey and Wilkinson, 2007). Due to lack of competency The Edge lost its sheen in operational excellence. 3.5 Physical evidences In terms of physical evidence The Edge was quite appealing. The brightly lit rooms and swanky table indicated that 5 or 6 members who came in to eat did not face trouble, trying to settle down in such large tables. The area is designed in such a way that after the waiters or the employees received the prepared dishes, they could move swiftly from the serving area to where the customers are seated. The following flow chart diagram gives an illustrative explanation of the weak points in the service Fig 1: Service blue print flow chart Source: (Lindheim and Swartout, 2003) 4. Walk Through Audit (WTA) of The Edge The above table gives an indication of the walk through audit performed across 19 different factors. The 19 different factors are measured once against the customer average and once against the management average. The difference between the customer average ratings and the management average ratings indicate that difference between what the management thinks about the quality of the service and what in reality is actually (Mallon and Webb, 2006). The negative differences indicate that the customer average is more than the management average, which is an indication of excellence in that particular service. The number of negative difference is equal to the number of positive difference which indicates that the management has maintained a well balance across various operations. Table 2: Walk Through Audit   Client average ratings   Management average ratings     The Edge Benchmark canteens The Edge Benchmark canteens Difference between customer average and the management average Administration and Communications 4.47 4.93 4.5 4.25 0.03 Utility Accounting 4.47 4.94 5 4.13 0.53 Office Equipment 4.2 4.94 5 4.25 0.8 New Construction 4.6 4.95 4.5 4.25 -0.1 Vehicle Use and Selection 3.53 4.86 4 4.38 0.47 Thermal Envelope 3.67 5 4 4.88 0.33 Insulation 4.47 4.82 4 4.38 -0.47 Moisture Control 3.33 5 3.5 4.88 0.17 Space Conditioning - HVAC (General) 4.33 5 4.5 4.75 0.17 Water Heating 4.6 5 5 4.63 0.4 Appliances 3.4 4.8 2.5 4.13 -0.9 Washing And Drying 4.67 4.85 5 4.25 0.33 Lighting 4.4 5 4 4.38 -0.4 Cooking And Other Electrical Use 4.13 5 4.5 4.88 0.37 Standby Power 4.73 5 4.5 4.75 -0.23 Boilers and Steam Systems 4.73 5 4 4.63 -0.73 Water Use 4.33 5 4.5 4.13 0.17 Around The Office 4.27 5 4.5 4.25 0.23 Access and safety 4.87 5 4 4.38 -0.87 Renewable Energy 4.6 5 4.5 4.63 -0.1 Source: (Author’s Creation) 5. Discussion of GAP analysis and its application to The Edge The diagram below gives an indication of the various gaps in the service quality. There are in general 5 different types of Gaps, although only those which are applicable are discussed here. There is significant gap between the manager’s perception of customer expectation and actual customer expectations. The management of The Edge aims to provide excellent food topped with impeccable customer service (Miles, 2006). Although for the last 2 years the management is finding it hard to retain old customers and at same time gain new ones due to the failure on the part of the management to meet the customer’s expectations (Meyer, 2011). There are numerous contracts between The Edge and various contractors. These contractors oversee the job of supply of raw materials, preparation of the cooked meals and the as well as serving of the dishes. The contractors are chosen on the basis of the lowest bid. Thus the management did not consider the track record of the service quality of the contractors. The rules and regulations of code of conduct are set by the management the contractors failed to comply with them in almost 90% of the time. This in turn led to poor service quality. There is also lack of effective communication between the customer and the employees. This also resulted in poor customer satisfaction. There are numerous examples where the customer received wrong delivery of order, or the customer was billed wrongly or the order got misplaced. Fig 2: Service quality model Source: (Mintzberg and Waters, 2009) 6. Five dimensions of quality The five dimensions of service quality are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy. The application of the 5 dimensions in case of The Edge is described as below. Tangibility denotes the ability of the customer to perceive, feel the services offered. Cleaned tables and dishes are one of the tangible factors, as well as the presentable looks of the employees. The cleanliness and the style with which food is served is another tangible factor. Reliability denotes the trust a customer will have upon the service provider that the foods served are of highest grade and will arrive in time without causing too much delay or waiting (Moessinger, 2007). Responsiveness denotes the promptness or swiftness with which the orders are carried out. The customers expect a quick, timely, orderly and accurate execution of the orders to the point that will meet their expectation or even surpass it. Assurance can be stated as knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. More than 50% of the time the assurance helps in pro active selling. Empathy is the ability of the employees of The Edge to convey the employees that they are given individualized care and attention. This helps to realize that their individual satisfaction matters to The Edge (Morgan and Linda, 2005). 7. Use of technology at The Edge to improve customer service The Edge can also use technology to improve the customer service. For example the customers can use a variety of applications like online booking and telephonic booking. In online booking The Edge can use windows based internet services, mobile based internet services and even tablet or smart phone based services to facilitate the process of booking and order placement. As of now almost 40% of the customers use the telephonic booking system (Meyer, 2011). The telephonic booking involves human beings who facilitate the process. This can be upgraded by removing the human factor and instead incorporating automated telephonic conversion. This minimizes human interference as well as cuts down human resource cost. 8. Creation of new service blue print for The Edge Source: (Hakim, 2010) Conclusion The analysis revealed that there are innumerable service quality gaps which in turn led to the poor customer service. The poor service in turn led to poor customer satisfaction. The Edge was thus not able to retain the old customers. Loss of reputation also led to less addition of new customers. Thus based in the service quality gaps found in the analysis a new service blue print is formed. The new service blue print is created keeping in mind the deficiencies of the previous service blue print of The Edge. The new service blue print is designed in keeping in mind the deficiencies between the service quality specifications and actual service delivery. Reference list Benner, M. and Sandstrom, U., 2012. Institutionalizing the triple helix: research funding and norms in the academic system. Research Policy, 2(9), pp. 291–301. Bonaccorsi, A. and Daraio, C., 2009. Age effects in scientific productivity — the case of the Italian national research council (cnr). Scientometrics, 5(8), pp. 49–90. Chiefele, U., 2012. Interest, learning, and motivation. Educational Psychologist, 26(3), pp. 299-323. Garrick, G., 2011. The evolution of organisational psychology in the 21st century. Journal of Organisational Research, 36(5), pp. 3-8. Gulbrandsen, M. and Smeby, J., 2008. Industry funding and university professor’s research performance. Research Policy, 3(4), pp. 932–950. Hakim, C., 2010. Research design:strategies and choices in the design of social research. Investment Management Journal, 7(1), pp. 61 - 75. Harvey, B., Smith S. and Wilkinson, S., 2007. Managers and corporate social policy. Journal of Strategic Managemnt, 7(2), pp. 159-163. Lindheim, R. and Swartout, W., 2003. Forging a new simulation technology at the ICT. Computer, 34(1), pp. 72-79. Mallon, B. and Webb, B., 2006. Structure, causality, visibility and interaction: Propositions for evaluating engagement in narrative multimedia. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53(2), pp. 269-287. Meyer, J., 2011. Evaluating action research. Age and Ageing, 29(2), pp. 8-10. Miles, M., 2006. Qualitative data as an attractive nuisance: the problem of analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2(4), pp. 590-601. Mintzberg, H. and Waters, J. A., 2009. Of strategies, deliberate & emergent. In Strategic Management Journal, 6(1), pp. 258-272. Moessinger, P., 2007. Piaget on equilibration. Human Development, 21(4), pp. 255-267. Morgan, G. and Linda S., 2005. The case for qualitative research. Academy of Management Review, 4(5), pp. 491-500. Read More