Importance of the Quality of Service - Dissertation Example

? Saudi Airlines and it’s Service Quality Introduction In the present corporate world, CRM has a very prominent and significant role to play. The CRM refers to a program or strategy which deals with customer issue and information as better as possible. CRM is a very useful program in dealing with customer service and sales aspect of large organization or huge corporate. The big corporate like Saudi airlines is one such organization which make use of CRM to analyze its customer service and its sales operation to assess its performance standards. Recently Saudi airlines have been criticized to be losing its customers due to their inferior customer service quality and poor price strategy. Customer is the heart and soul of any business organization, and if they are not pleased with the service or end product, then the business is doomed to failure. Any business needs to be revolving around the key concepts of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. If customers are satisfied about a product or service, they keep coming back for more and also can attracts more customers from the potential market. Big airline companies like Saudi airlines, need to keep monitoring their quality of service in order to be top in the airline industry. They should make best use of the CRM programs to enhance their customer relation as well as profitability. According to (Avidian Technologies,2004) “Good CRM allows all of the information obtained to be shared among both the sales force and the entire company. The right CRM software should combine all the elements of Customer Relationship Management, Sales Force Automation (SFA), and Contact Management”. Research Context I)Aim and Objective of the study The aim of this research is to assess the importance of the quality of service in improving customer service and loyalty in an airline service company. This research makes an attempt to create an understanding that, the quality of the service offered is the only way through which an airline company or any service based organization can reach success. The research also aims at creating an awareness that, if the quality offered is inferior, then the customer can leave the organization no matter what is the case. The objective of the research is to: 1) Prepare a dissertation outline, including a chapter heading and title page. 2) To identify the research questions needed to be put forward in order to establish the research study. 3) Prepare a research design and data collection method. Specifically the questions which will be put forward in the research proposal will be as follows. 1. To what extend is the customers of Saudi Airlines satisfied with the customer service delivered by them? 2. Are the customers of the Saudi Airlines at the risk of leaving the airline? II) Relationship of service quality with customer satisfaction and loyalty Customer satisfaction is a very important criterion in any airline service, as this is the factor which helps in building the loyalty and the goodwill for the company. An unsatisfied customer is the root cause for the degradation of any service based industry. A good customer service is not just about profitability, but it is about how much value a business gives to its customer needs and requirements. Customer service definitely has to have access to the customer marketing database. Saudi Airlines being a top listed airline did not give much attention on the needs of the customer but took them for granted. It is seen that many complaints occur from customer as to flight delays, low service from cabin crew, inferior seating arrangements and poor welcoming services A customer is paying for a quality travel and if the airline is not considering on the quality of service, then they will lose the current customers as well as the potential future ones too. They have to know what each customer has bought in the past, and what they would expect in future. They have to have a record of past complaints and compliments. Customer is the soul of a business firm, and if they are treated well, then the customer loyalty is a definite thing to come around. According to (Singh, 2006) “There is also a positive connection between customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. Therefore, customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention are all very important for an organization to be successful”. Excellent customer satisfaction is the only way to assure quality customer loyalty. The customer service staff is the motive is to reach to the heart of the passenger s and if they provide care and attention then they keep coming back for more. The customer service and customer loyalty are two important factors which are co – related and also have its separate identity in itself. Only if the customer service is good, can the customer loyalty follow .An airline need to upgrade its service and quality to face the extra demands and volume of passengers in order to comply with customer service expectation from the passengers. A proper planning and monitoring of the activities of the travel agents and cabin crew is the main path through which an airline can satisfy their customers. Good customer service is the life blood of any airline, and if the customer does not get what they want, then the credibility and profitability of the airline service comes to an end. A good customer service is a phenomenon which brings back the customer to your business and keeps the loyalty of them intact. In his book (Lawfer, 2004,pg.11) writes that “A customer has no interest whatsoever in loyalty. They only buy products and services that satisfy their own needs”. So it is very important airlines like Saudi Airlines give much importance to customer needs and wants and make programs to satisfy them, if they seriously want to stay in the business. The only reason a customer choose an airline is because they like the services offered by the particular airline than others. To keep the loyalty of a passenger is only possible if an airline understand the relationship they have with customers in giving the services which appeal to them. III)The Customer Satisfaction in Saudi Airlines Saudi Airlines was the top airlines in the Airline industry and due to the heavy competition from other airline service they took a back seat in popularity and profitability. Saudi Airlines is the only airline in the region of Saudi Arabia and its call centre was a major interface between the airline and its customers. A call centre needs to be well triggered to meet the customer needs so that fewer complaints are originated from customer side. An efficient call centre can contribute to the increase in the customer loyalty factor and in more profitability, goodwill and airline reputation growth. Recently, Saudi airline has created problems for the customers, as they experienced late flight arrivals and delayed flight departures. This kind of experience can create major problems in customer service as plans of customers get hampered which lead to chaos. The passenger has often felt that even the atmosphere in the flight to be less welcoming. They experienced that the flight was warm and without air conditioning and it was sticky and giving hot air. If Saudi airline does not give enough importance to such things, they can lose customer as the passenger can choose another airline for better service quality. The customer makes decision based upon the service quality they receive, and if it is lesser than what they expect then loyalty factor can be disrupted .According to (Park ,2004,pg.15)“It is seen that service value, passenger satisfaction, and airline image are each found to have a direct effect on air passengers’ decision- making processes” The Customers have a certain expectation from a specific airline, and if they find that their requirements have not been met, they choose other airline which offers their demands. It is seen that the delayed aircraft crew was less bothered about the comfort of the passengers, and this can be major factor in creating disloyalty among passengers. As per (Skytrax,2010)“Cabin crew couldn’t' be bothered to reassure passengers, shrugging shoulders and showing no signs of care at all to complains. Water and refreshing tissues were eventually distributed, but the ordeal was unbearable. Seats were small, uncomfortable, and ripped at parts”. If a flight does not offer good seating facility and welcoming service to customer, how can the airline expect loyalty from the customers? When a customer pays a certain price for air travel, they expect a degree of service quality from the airline, and if Saudi airlines offer such disgusting service, it is not possible for them to hold top position in the airline industry. It has been experienced by certain customers that, Saudi airlines at times does not print the gate number on the boarding pass and this is highly not appreciated for an airline service. Even they were complaints that Saudi airline staff are not of much help when it comes to guidance in situation where there is confusion and uncertainties. For an airline industry, hospitality and customer service is of prior importance, if an airline takes customer service in an ignorant manner, the survival and expansion of the particular airline becomes far from reality. IV)The Chances of Customer Leaving Saudi Airlines By reviewing the customer service offered by the Saudi Airlines, it can be presumed that many customers would not be interested in using this airline in future .A customer while paying for an airline, expects a quality of service which is worth equivalent to the price they offered. If the airline from the starting point of the journey shows an unprofessional service, then passenger can get dissatisfied and prefer another airline which is more competent and quality oriented. Many customers recently have given a poor comment as to the attitude of the airline staff at the travel counter. This shows that customer may leave the airline for other airline which provides service at the same price and better staff service. There have raised a lot of issue on the delay in flight services of Saudi Airlines, this can definitely make the customer think twice on using the Saudi Airlines again to travel. The passengers of any airline have certain plans and agenda while they travel, and if they encounter delay in flight service, things can get jeopardize at their end. This is a very reasonable factor for customer’s leaving the airline ,and chose any other airline which operate in that sector which have prompt timing of flight departure and arrival. There is very high risk of customers leaving the airline because even the seating facility and food offered by the airline is of low quality .We can see that the nationals of Saudi Arabia may not abandon Saudi Airline airlines, mostly because of affection for their national airline. But definitely other customers would not think twice to move to other airline because of the ignorance and unprofessionally of the airline. V)Stragies used by Saudi Airline to retain customer The Saudi Airline by experiencing the fear of losing more of its customers and market share in the global market; have introduced few strategies to retain its customers. 1) Aim to be customer – oriented airline: The Saudi Airline is attempting to acquire a 4 star rating from the Syntax in order to attract more customers from the international market. According to (Ghafour,2011)“Khaled Al-Molhem, director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, has emphasized his organization's strategic plans to become a customer-oriented airline, by improving its services in all operation areas matching SkyTeam alliance standards”. This will upgrade the standards of the airline in all areas of its operation. 2) Being a member of Sky Team: The Saudi Airline is entering a membership with sky team which will give a global reach to the former. It can bring many opportunities and challenges to Saudi Airline which will increase their proficiency and reputation in the airline industry. This is an important step taken by the Saudi airline in becoming a leading airline in the airline industry. 3) Buying new aircrafts: The Saudi Airlines have signed multi – billion dollar contract to purchase 88 new aircrafts and 42 of them have been already on ground to serve in the country’s domestic and international sector. This action would definitely increase its appeal in the international platform and even would retain its current customer confidence. 4) Better booking system: The airline also has upgraded its reservation and flight booking system by introducing Amadeus in to its functioning. It has developed its website in order to provide better options to customer in selecting their seating arrangement, meals, electronic payment and boarding pass issuance. Over view of Literature The customer service is a very important aspect of any airline service company, and to gain competitive success a right consideration is to be given to the wants and needs of the customer. A satisfied customer will always return to the business, and sometimes also assist in enhancing the marketing objective of the business by word of mouth. Many researches have established that retaining customer is the best way to increase the good will and profitability of an airline company. According to Mount (2000, pg. 514-525) “In minds of customers, unresolved complaints are easily equated with a failure in service recovery. These double failures to reestablish the company’s reliability tend to have a negative impact on the company’s image and customer behaviors”. Further putting more energy in to retaining customer can cost very less than attracting new customers. The effectiveness of service is now becoming a more significant business objective than ever before. It is highly recommended in case of service based industries to concentrate and focus on customer suggestion and complaints to retain the present customer .It is important for the airline service company to examine that the quality and delivery of service is not parallel to the traditional and old servicing method. The customer service delivery is a dynamic, complex process which is significantly depended upon perceptions and expectation of the customers. Customer service is not a structured and routine activity like producing goods and delivering it. A customer service is dissimilar from delivery of good in many ways. A service can be seen different from a product in three main ways: First a product is tangible, whereas service is intangible and consists of processes and acts with no tangible outcome. Secondly, Products are manufactures and then consumed, while service is produced and used simultaneously. Thirdly, service definitely requires the participation of customers in it so that service can be offered. Here the third aspect explains the relationship the service delivering staff has with the customer in the whole process of service delivering. The operation of customer service can be implemented in many different ways. Some studies concentrate on evaluations of the customers in the form of customer satisfaction and service quality, while other gives importance on customer behavior like word of the mouth. Thurau and Klee (1997,pg.18) claims that, “In recent times, customer satisfaction has gained new attention within the context of the paradigm shift from transactional marketing to relationship marketing”. If a customer is dissatisfied, it means that the company has lost its loyalty from customer and this will also destroy their good will in the international market. There is debate as to the relationship of customer satisfaction to the customer behavioral intentions and studying the attitude of the customer can give insight into to the ways in which service quality can be enhanced .Consistent with the literature, the study here attempt to establish that the service offered by the service provider can be accepted by the customer only in case the quality is satisfactory to the customer. Research Design In order to conduct an intensive research process for the proposed study, the most suitable approach selected is survey analysis done with the assistance of questionnaire method.It is normal for the researcher in his research process, to think about the method suitable for his study like questionnaire or interview method. Here the customer service quality will be analyzed with the aid of quantitative method And the independent variable used will be food service quality, staff attitude and timing of the flight. And the dependant variable considered will be the likelihood of customer to return, and chances to recommend the airline to others. The survey will be conducted with the help of questionnaire which will have the questions about the pricing of the ticket, customer service quality, seating facility, food quality and traveling frequency. The questionnaire method is a perfect way to assess the objectivity of the study, which is evaluating the service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in Saudi Airlines . The questionnaire method also avoid bias and prejudice from the part of the interviewer and add to the validity of the information collected.. Questionnaire method is the best and commonly used way to collect information about a specific service or product. According to (Agarwal,2009,pg.6)“ When a survey is spread over a vast area and the respondents are educated a mailed questionnaire method is preferred in comparison with interview method”. This method is comparatively less costly and can reach to more people which are extremely beneficial thing to a researcher. Data Collection The data collection will be done with the help of primary sources and hence, questionnaires will be used. The questionnaires will be e- mailed to 100 customers o of Saudi Airlines but people below the age of 21 years were avoided. The respondents will be also requested to leave comments and suggestion about the service offered by the specific airline. All the questionnaires will be collected with the help of e-mail , as and when it will be filled by the respondents, and hence the credibility of the data will be efficient. There will also be an interview conducted with the Saudi airline staff, to understand the customer flow into the airline and how much customers are satisfied with the service of the airline. According to (Phillips,2008,pg.1)“ Datas are collected in different time frames and from different sources and the most common data collection method is the questionnaire” Conclusion It can be understood that Saudi Airlines undoubtedly needs the application of a well diversified CRM in order to improve its customer service quality and profitability quotient. There is a notion that many travelers are not satisfied with the customer service at the travel counter. CRM is a single strongest weapon a management and organization can have to help them have and retain customers. The organization should make sure that the staff at the travel counter is trained well to handle the travelers in a professional manner. If the staff cannot impress the customers at first point of contact, then an airline can never be successful. According to (Anderson,2002,pg.2) “ Implementing CRM is nonnegotiable in today’s business environment .Whether your customer are internal or external, consumers or businesses, whether they connect electronically or face to face, CRM is your ticket to success”. Bibliography Agarwal, B.L. (2009). Basic statistics. New Delhi: New Age International. Avidian Technologies, . (2004). Crm – what is crm?. Retrieved from http://www.avidian.com/c rm/what-is-cr m.aspx Anderson, K. (2002). Customer relationship management . New York: Mc Graw Hills Ghafour, A. "Saudia aims to become customer-oriented airline." Website for News. Arab News, 28/02/2011. Web. 14 May 2011. . Lawfer, M.R. (2004). Why customers come back: how to create lasting customer loyalty . New Jersey: Career Press. Mount, D.J. (2000). The final opportunity: the effectiveness of a customer relations call center in recovering hotel guests . Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 24(4), 514-525. Park, J.W. (2004). The effect of airline service quality on passengers’ behavioural intentions: a korean case study. Journal of Air Transport Management, 10(6), 435-439. Phillips, P.P. (2008). Data collection: planning for and collecting all types of data.San Fransisco: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Singh, H. (2006). The importance of customer satisfaction in relation to. Retrieved from :www.ucti.edu.my/wps/issue1/wp-06-06-paper.pdf>. Skytrax . (2010). Saudi arabian airlines passenger reviews and saudi arabian airlines trip reports. Retrieved from http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/saudia-2.htm Tharau, T.H, Klee, A.The impact of customer satisfaction and relationship quality on customer retention : a critical reassessment and model development. Journal of Psychology and Marketing, 14(8), 737-764. Read More