Service Management at Pet Grooming Salon Service - Case Study Example

Service Blueprinting for Pet Grooming Salon service Student: Subject Code: Student ID Number: Date: Introduction This paper details a service blueprint for a pet grooming salon that offers grooming services such as bathing, haircuts, nail clipping and brushing. Pet owners pay for these services even though it is their pets that enjoy the service. Pet grooming salons ensure that pets are clean and look appealing as per the requirements of their owners. A service blueprint will help a business such as the pet grooming salon understand their service production and delivery process and how it can be improved to be more efficient [Hol06]. The service blueprint will also ensure that such a business understands the relationship and interaction points between the organisation and its customers (Bitner, Ostrom, and Morgan 2008). A service blueprint is an effective tool in understanding the failure points that need to be addressed in order to uphold high-quality standards of service delivery [Sch10]. The services selected for blueprinting in the pet grooming business includes reception, booking and pet checkout. These services are important to such a business since they are the points of interaction between the business and its customers. Key customer actions depicted in the blueprint The first key customer action is the entry into the reception area and inquiry into the availability, cost and duration of the required grooming services for their pet. This action is critical to the success of the service experience as it is the first opportunity that the business has to make a positive impression in the mind of the customer. According to Rao, (2011) consumer buying decision is influenced by several factors including the first impression they make of the reputation and positioning of a product or brand. For the pet grooming business, it is important that the customer is able to have a get all their important inquiries responded to in a professional manner. The second customer action is booking their pet for grooming services. This action is crucial to the success of the service since the customer’s attitude towards the business will be further influenced by the level of professionalism they expect from the employees during the booking process. The final customer action is the picking up of their pet after grooming. This action is important to the success of the service as the customer’s verbal and non-verbal feedback is vital in appraising the service quality and its ability to satisfy the customer base. The business can rely on the feedback to improve its service or sustain aspects of the service that customers find appealing and worth the amount in value that they pay for the service [Hal16]. Key front-stage contact employee actions depicted in the blueprint According to Cardoso, et al. (2015), the front-stage employees’ actions are very critical to the success of a service business since they are the “face” of the business to consumers. Consumers may not interact with the business owner or the back-stage staff but must interact with the front-stage employees. The first key front-stage employee action in this case is welcoming the customer and responding to their enquiries. This is important as it may or may not ensure the customer feels appreciated as a valuable person for the business. it is also an opportunity for the front-stage employee to sell the business’s services and the brand. The employee can also demonstrate how the business values its customers and their pets during the process of checking the pet’s physical status and vaccination. The second action by the front-stage employee is the booking of the pet and payment processing. The employee should exhibit professionalism when handling personal documents and pet booking procedures. This will give further assurance to the customer that their pet will be safe and given the best grooming possible. The final action by the front-stage employees is informing clients when their pet is ready for pickup, the employee should also deliver the pet to their owner either at their premises or at the salon. This process is equally very important to the business as the customer’s final interaction with the business is likely to be influenced by how the employees treat customers after they have paid fully for a service (Hummel and Murphy, 2011). In case the front-stage employee fails to show appreciation through verbal and nonverbal communication, the customer may feel that their sole relevance to the business is being a revenue source. Key elements of physical evidence revealed in the blueprint The physical evidence that a customer comes into contact with during each stage of the service delivery process are critical to the success of the service as they can influence their quality perceptions. As noted by Andreassen, et al. (2016), customers are likely to define or rate the quality of service by describing what they saw, how they felt and what they heard. In the case of the pet grooming services business, the first physical evidence is the reception area appearance and its state. The appearance of the attendants is also part of physical evidence that the customer comes into contact with. Physical evidence like pet-themed wall paintings, comfortable waiting area seats, uniformed staff and readily available information in brochures and wall hangings ensure customers feel comfortable that they are likely to obtain the services they require from the business. The second physical evidence is the state of pet holding area that the booked pets are kept in readiness for grooming. This area should be comfortable, clean and suitable for pets in order to convince customers that the pets are safe and not stressed by the new environment. The final physical evidence in the blueprint is the appearance of the pet after being groomed. The customer is likely to rate the service positively if the final grooming outcome is consistent to what they were promised during their inquiry and booking stages. How the employees handle the pets during delivery is physical evidence that demonstrates how valuable the customer is to the business. Potential fail points in the Grooming Service blueprint Job design and workflow plans work environment and tools Service design Strategic plan execution Management style Customer relations Management system Problem-solving skills Interpersonal and communication skills As evidenced in the fishbone diagram above, the level of service quality is influenced by a number of factors within the organisation. The combination of these factors (Methods, Machine, People and Materials) determines the nature of service delivery in terms of timeliness, effectiveness, cost and suitability [Rea15]. This means that one problem area could have a significant effect on perceived service quality to customers if proper measures to prevent such an occurrence are not established. The first potential problem area is “People”. The skills, abilities, and knowledge that employees possess are critical to the success of any service business. However, such skills should be employed accordingly as, and when they are required in the organisational context [Var06]. For the case of the pet grooming business, the ability of employees to solve problems, develop and sustain relations with colleagues and customers and communicate effectively are vital in ensuring customers receive the highest standards of quality. The management should as well offer strong leadership through the training and continued supervision of employees to ensure the entire organisation is focused on maintaining high standards of service delivery. The second fail point in the process is the materials. The availability of training manuals, grooming tools and supplies, and a work environment that is conducive to high-quality are important in ensuring the business is able to deliver what it promises to the customers. Any inadequacy in regard to the material factors may result in lower quality of the final service output. It may also result in delays that in turn cause frustration in the consumers. The business may also lack enough experienced employees leading to exhaustion in the available employees and delays in service delivery [Wal06]. The third potential fail point is the methods. Such aspects as job design and workflow planning ensure that everybody has a clearly defined role to play in delivering quality service to the consumer of the service. However, in organisations where the job roles and workflow are not clearly defined, conflict and misunderstandings often cause delay and inefficiency in service delivery. The service should also be designed in a way that compliments the job designs and workflow pattern to the effect that the organisation is able to achieve its strategic vision. If employees do not work in a predictable environment, they are likely to make haphazard decisions that portray lack of professionalism during service delivery [Gre14]. Recommendations To avoid a situation where “people” become potential fail point in the service delivery process, it will be important for the business to appraise the skill and knowledge that its workforce possesses. This will be the starting point of developing a training program that will impart vital interpersonal, communication and problem-solving skills. The management should as well determine the most suitable management model that will enhance service quality through hand-on supervision and leadership in innovation. The management can ensure high standards of service deliver and shorter service lead times by investing in equipment and sufficient inventory required in supporting the service process [Hal16]. The business should as well invest accordingly in recruiting and retaining competent and motivated employees that can be relied upon to deliver a service that is consistent with the quality standards of the business. Adequate employees will also eliminate potential burnout that may affect the productivity of an overworked small workforce [Hal16]. The third potential problem area in the service blue print is in the methods. Conflict and misunderstandings may lower the level of service delivery efficiency particularly when there is no clear elaboration of job roles and expectations. The workflow should also be clearly labelled through graphical aids such as charts in order to understand and tract processes in the organisation. Such proactive planning will effectively eliminate confusion, improve service quality and align operations to the strategic vision of the business [Dor11]. Conclusion The process of developing a service blue print offered an opportunity to understand the interaction between businesses and customers in the service industry. This understanding is important in developing an appreciation for the role customers, employees and support factors play in helping to design service process that lead to quality in delivery. For instance, customer actions should be the starting point of designing a service blueprint since they initiate the service process and end it. However, the actions of the employees and the supporting framework in place are crucial in ensuring the service experience is up to the standards that customers expected. Organizations can use the service blue-printing technique to reengineer a service process that is slow, frustrating to both customers and employees and ineffective in guaranteeing high-quality. Similarly, service blueprints are effective competitive tools that business can use to benchmark their services with competitors and also to innovate around the areas that have room for creativity and improvement. References Hol06: , (Hollins & Shinkins, 2006), Sch10: , (Schmutz, et al., 2010), Hal16: , (Halvorsrud, et al., 2016), Rea15: , (Reason, et al., 2015; Giannopoulou, et al., 2014), Var06: , (Varca, 2006), Wal06: , (Walker, et al., 2006), Gre14: , (Gremyr, et al., 2014), Dor11: , (Dorner, et al., 2011), Appendix: Pet Grooming Services Blueprint Estimated time 0-15 minutes 5 minutes 10 minutes Customer actions Customer enters the grooming salon reception and enquires about the availability, duration and cost of the grooming requirements of their pet Customer book their pet for grooming Customer picks their pet after grooming Physical evidence Reception area interior design features such as waiting seats and painting, pet snacks, service description brochures and attendants. pet holding area Booking card copy for customer Pet’s groomed appearance Pet’s handling practice Front-stage employee actions Welcomes customer and responds to their inquiries Checks pets physical status and vaccinations Books customer’s pet Process payments Issues booking card Call, email or text the owner to pick-up their pet Delivers pet to customer Processes pet checkout Updates booking card Back-stage employee actions Checks grooming waiting list, costs and estimated duration. Takes pet to grooming area Grooms pet as per requirements Prepare pet for pick-up by owner Support processes Registration and reservation systems maintenance Maintain attractive reception area Payment system Provide e.g. tools, shampoos Pay for grooming salon Recruit and retain competent staff Maintain registration system Read More