A Personal Service Encounter Between the Consumer and Front- Line Employees - Essay Example

?Running head: Managing Service Encounters Managing Service Encounters Insert Insert Grade Insert March 11, Managing Service Encounters Introduction The area of service quality and management has been of great interest to researchers in the last couple of years. This has been necessitated by the increasing need for the hospitality industries all over the world. Various quality management initiatives have been established both at the micro and macro levels to ensure that the service industries provide the best quality services to enable them have them attract and remain more clients. The industry has also attracted more investors leading to a high competition for the market for the services. The management of an organization is therefore charged with a responsibility of ensuring that they acquire and sustain a competitive advantage over the other competing organizations that provide similar services. To be able to achieve this, the management relies on their employees to provide the customers with the level of satisfaction that can make the customers develop good reputations for the organization (Connoley, n.d, p.5). In this regard, it will be the major role of the front-line officers in a service industry to ensure that there is a kind of rapport created between them and the customers at the first instant in order to retain the customers for a long time. One of the key issues to be addressed in the service industry is how the customers perceive the kind of service that they are given by the particular industry. This is primarily determined by the kind of ‘dyadic’ interaction that occurs between the customers and the service providers (Bitner et al, 1990, p2). The service encounter and subsequent relationship developed between the customers and the front office service providers make the management of the organizations value the employees as one of the most valuable assets in the organization. Customers and the service personnel in service organizations The diverse expectations of the participants in a service industry makes social encounters complicated in a number of ways. Firstly, the employees that are delivering the service need to derive some level of job satisfaction in the way they perform their duties. There is also a need to satisfy the needs of the customers in the industry. This makes these two actors become important participants in the service industry (Solomon et al, 1985, p). The quality of services provided by a given organization may be pointed out by the customers. The complaints that are given by the customers concerning the quality of the services offered by an organization can help the management of the organization establish the cause of a given problem in the delivery process (Tax & Brown, 1998, p.2). There are different views on the quality of the services offered depending on the industry itself. For instance, in hotel industry, what can be considered as quality service is the peaceful stay that has been accorded to a given customer in a given hotel. The quality of a service then follows the perception that the customers have about it. It was observed that in hotel industry, ‘the expectations and the perceptions of the customers are crucial because they are involved in the performance of the service’ (Kusluvan, 2003, p.265). However, there are important factors that impede the inclusion of the customers in the service quality management by the organization. Each of the customers in a given hotel has some unique demands and want to be served in a manner that suits this individual demands (Kusluvan, 2003, p.265). The service providers are then charged with a difficult task of keeping a wide track of the different customer demands. Besides, unlike the production industries where the quality of the products can be measured against the original standards that had been established, the quality a service may not be specifically broken down to the individual tangible components. The perception of the customers may an unexplained move that follows other unspecified phenomena. There is often a difference from what the customers receive and what they expected to get (Zeithami et al 1993, p.6) Techniques of managing service encounters in hotel industry Even though the management in a hotel industry would value the service deliverers as the most reliable assets, it is never an easy task to control how the employees individually interact with the customers (Kusluvan, 2003, p.263). The hotel industry is one service industry that attracts people from different cultures around the world. An international hotel like Hilton will attract professionals and dignitaries from across the globe. The diversity that exists among the customers should be given a consideration in determining the way of developing a good relationship with them (Maxwell et al 2003, p.5). The management can take on some steps to help influence how the employees develop good relations with the customers. Firstly, the organization needs to develop a culture that every member of the organization has to adopt. The organizational culture should include the rules and regulations that govern the customer behavior and emotions and the penalties that are associated with extreme violation of the organizations (Kusluvan, 2003, p.264). The organization’s management needs to instill in the employees the cultural values and practices that are appropriate in a multicultural environment like the hotel industry. There is also a need have a careful recruitment and selection of employees to the hotel industry. In the recruitment process, the management should ensure that candidates are selected that have demonstrable skills necessary in hospitality industry. The kind of professional training that one has undergone can help in determining how best a candidate suits a job in the hotel industry. There are particular individual attributes that are also necessary in the individuals and that can be easily identified by experienced recruitment personnel. A thorough scrutiny should enable the recruiting officials to identify if the candidate has a proper attitude towards service provision (Kusluvan, 2003, p.264). Besides, the management of the hotel should make a selection considering the diversity that is required by the work force. Whether a local or international organization, there is need to have diverse work force that corresponds to the expected diversity among the clients. There are those clients that are strictly glued to their cultural beliefs and customs and those that would only feel at home in a hotel with some employees from a similar culture. Thus, in as much as possible, it would be advisable to have a relatively proportional representation of various cultures among the work force. After a selection has been done, there is also a need by the management to train the work force on the operations of the organization (Kusluvan, 2003, p.264). The training will be aimed at introducing the employees to the particular working conditions that are specific to the organization. It should be aimed at improving accountability and responsibility in every employee (Enz, p486). Candidates that were correctly selected often find no difficulties in adopting the required organizational practices. It has been pointed out that the management of a hotel may not have a direct control over the workers’ encounter with the customers and how they perform. The managers can adopt certain indirect controls of such service encounters. Some common techniques of ensuring indirect control over such encounters include blue printing, charting and quality assurance (Kusluvan, 2003, p.265). It is important to have a blueprint of all the processes that are involved in the service delivery and how they are interrelated. This will enable the management to identify the most crucial processes like encounters and make appropriate reinforcements. There is also a need to accept and recognize the failures that are pointed out by the customers. Capitalizing on service recovery practices is a key way of developing good relations with the customers (Bitner et al, 1994, p.2). The management should train the employees to accept the failures that are raised by the customers do the corrections. The kind of emotions expressed by the employees influence this expected relationship (Price et al, 1995, p.4). However, this approach is often not very reliable. Researches have shown that only 5% to 10% percent of customers in the service industry opt to raise a complaint on the poor quality of the services offered to them (Tax & Brown, 1998, p.3). The majority switch to other service providers silently making it hard for the management to identify the cause of the failures in their operations. The next step is to take the appropriate action that serves the interest of the complainant. Bitner et al (1990) conducted a research to investigate the range of factor that led to the satisfaction/dissatisfaction of the consumers by services in a hotel and other industries. The findings of the research showed that 42.9% percent of the unsatisfied customers reported the poor response of the employees to their complaints on service delivery system failures (Bitner et al, 1990, p.6). There were also cases of poor employee responses to the customer needs and requests. It has been observed that the complaints that are voiced by the customers are those that are extreme. The customers would want course of justice and fairness be taken that might help them develop a sense of belonging to the institution. There is need to have a system whereby the customers can be asked to provide their evaluation of the services offered. This approach is used by international hotels like Hilton to obtain the customers’ point of views (Kusluvan, 2003, p.190). It has also been noted that quality management in service industry may not easy due to inability to identify the elements of quality to be controlled. However, the use of the tangible aspects of products like clean kitchen, sufficient and presentable service staff can help in defining the quality of a service in a hotel setting. A customer will have a perception that the services in a hotel are of high quality when the whole hotel environment is kept clean. It will also be termed as a quality service if a customer is served in the shortest time possible. The latter can best be achieved if adequate work force is hired for the service delivery. Scripting is also another technique that is applicable in managing service encounters. This is achieved by the successful training, which an employee undergoes before taking on the job. The employees are trained on some routine practices that are necessary in a hotel industry like greeting customers and making the enquiries on the kind of service to be offered. However, the establishment of such routines may have some difficulties to the uniqueness that is often seen in every encounter. There is a need to identify and incorporate the principles that are appropriate and can be implemented (Carbone & Haeckel, n.d, p.5). Another approach for managing service encounters is to give the employees the authority to deal with the situations as they arise (Tax & Brown, 1998, p.8). However, this has a problem in that if a thorough training was not carried out, then the employees might not sufficiently provide the service required. The employees should be able to understand and contain the emotional displays by the customers (Wong 2004, p.7). The technological based encounters The traditional service encounters where the consumers directly interact with the service providers are currently eroding and a more technology-based approach is used in various service industries. Another strategy that can be used to minimize service encounters is the use of automated machines for service delivery. This is enhanced with a practice of self-service in many industries like hotels. The provision of self-accessed hotel facilities is a proper way of managing service encounters in a hotel environment (Beatson et al, 2007, p.1). The use of the technological approach is efficient in the service delivery due to the current technological advances witnessed across all sectors of the economy. However, it may not be possible for the management a service organization to understand the consumer perceptions developed from the new system of service encounter (Bitner et al, 2000, p.2). The adoption of the technology also reduces the personal contacts between the organization and the consumers. There is little possibility developing service recovery strategies (Beatson et al, 2007, p.3).This has a negative impact on the ability to attract and retain customers for a long period. In order to ensure that the self-service approach succeeds, the management in a hotel industry need to ensure the associated attributes is attained. Firstly, the delivery system should be reliable (Beatson et al, 2007, p.7). A system that fails in the delivery process often shifts the interest of the customers elsewhere. Thus, there should be mechanism that constantly monitors the effectiveness of the technology that is adopted. Secondly, it should be efficient and easy to operate by a wide range of customers. Careless application modern technology in an industry like hotel that draws all types of customers may lead to an organization losing good relations with the customers. A customer who has been unable to access some hotel facility due to ignorance will shy away never to return to the hotel in the future. The customers should also be able to enjoy the technology-based services. The use of internet in defining the operational procedures and designs that are adopted in a hotel industry can also provide some help (Hogg et al, 2003, p.12). The management can include the available services in the internet so that a visiting customer has some prior knowledge of the procedures in the hotel. This will promote positive relationships. Physical evidence It is still worth acknowledging that pure use of technology is not appropriate especially in the hospitality industries (Williams, 2002, p.29). A good approach is to incorporate the two modes of service delivery in the process. Physical service delivery should be applied to ensure that the associated attributes like trust are developed. The technology-based approach should also be used to increase the efficiency and speed of service delivery. The customers are known to be attracted to a flexible system of service delivery (Bitner et al, 2000, p.5). They prefer a situation where the design can be customized to suit their individual diverse needs. Conclusion The physical service still proves to be applicable even with the current technological growth that is experienced. The kind of physical contact that is developed during a personal service encounter between the consumer and front-line employees is essential in developing a good relationship and maintain the customers for long. The use of modern technology also requires physical encounters in some cases. Some customers may not be conversant with the operations of the adopted technology. Assistance from a front-line employee will help retain the customer. Reference List Beatson, A. et al. 2007. Self-Service Technology and the Service Encounter The Service Industries Journal, Vol.27, No.1, January 2007, pp.75–89 Bitner, M. et al. 1990. The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents Journal of Marketing, January 1990. Bitner, M. et al. 1994. Critical service encounters: the employee’s viewpoint. Journal of Marketing, Vol.58, p.95-106. (Online). Available from: http://faculty.bus.olemiss.edu/cnoble/650readings/Bitner,%20Booms,%20Mohr%20JM1994%20Critical%20service%20encounters%20The%20employee%27s%20viewpoint.pdf [Accessed March 11, 2011]. Bitner, M. et al. 2000. Technology infusion in Service Encounters. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28, No.1 pp138-149. Carbone, L. and Haeckel, S., N.d. Engineering Customer Experiences. Marketing Management, Vol.3, No. 3. Connoley, E., N.d. The Importance of Service Encounter Social Exchange Elements for Creating Positive Word of Mouth within the Australian Public Hotel Industry. 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