Developing Service Theatre Model or Servuction Model - Assignment Example

?Developing Service Table of Contents Introduction 3 How Would the Features of Services Affect the Design and Delivery of the Service and What Could Managers Do to Limit the Effects of These? 3 Analysis of the Proposed New Service by either the Services Theatre Model or Servuction Model 5 Analysis of the Proposed New Service by the Extended Marketing Mix (7Ps) 7 What Skills And Knowledge Would You Need If You Were To Become The Manager Of A Service Provider? 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The report is based on service marketing for Derby museum. It has been proposed that the museum can provide new services to the visitors in order to make it more attractive and enjoyable. The proposed services can also help to make the visitors to differentiate the organisation from other competitors yielding better customer satisfaction. Focusing on this aspect, the report describes about how the various features of services can have an impact on the design and delivery of the proposed services. Besides, the report also analyses the proposed services on the basis of different service models and extended marketing mix strategies. The objective is thereby to understand that various aspects which needs to be considered in designing and developing the services at Derby Museum. How Would the Features of Services Affect the Design and Delivery of the Service and What Could Managers Do to Limit the Effects of These? The services provided by organisations are diverse in nature. They can determine the performance of organisations. However, designing and delivering of services relies on the features of services provided by an organisation (Pride & Ferrell, 2012). Since services are not physical, they are termed as intangible. Services cannot be touched and hence evaluating the quality of services becomes quite challenging to be measured. The other feature of services is its perishable nature. It denotes that unlike goods, services cannot be warehoused for future purposes. Therefore, this feature of services can also be observed to have a deep impact on the overall performance of organisation. To be precise, as services are not perishable, it is hard for organisations to balance its supply and demand. Variability is the other vital feature of services (Wild, 2007). It is also known by heterogeneity which denotes that services provided by organisations are dependent on great variability being delivered by individual entities. The behaviour of people is quite challenging to control as it has been observed to fluctuate on a regular basis. Aspects such as work pressure, experience, knowledge and skills among other factors can further lead to variability of the services. Inseparability is the fourth feature of services. The creation of services is often observed as related with the consumption, unlike products and goods where production and consumptions occur at separate instances (Wild, 2007). As a result, in order to make intangible services more tangible for the customers, managers need to determine the way for effective service deliveries which can help to create a high degree of confidence among customers about the value of services. The tangibility of services arrives from profound personal interactions, clear communications and physical atmospheres where the business operates. Hence, maintaining a positive customer relationship, setting proper potentials and representing the organisation in acceptable manner by appropriate advent, approach and facilities can enhance the service quality for the proposed services of Derby museum (Fisk et al., 2008). Besides, managers of Derby museum can enhance customer satisfaction facilitating the involvement of consumers in the service delivery procedure. Regular communication with customers and frequent meetings can further help to establish assurance towards providing quality assured and customer convenient services. In order to enhance customer satisfaction towards the offered services, the managers of Derby museum can focus on recognising the degree of personalisation required by the consumers providing greater support to them accordingly. Besides, potential customer satisfaction issues can also be minimised through proper training of employees and proper empowerment so that the museum can attain significant efficiencies to execute more customer oriented decisions. Rewarding the employees for demonstrating positive behaviour towards customers and establishing feedback mechanism for employees can further enhance the aspect of employee satisfaction substantially and therefore result in better client relations. Analysis of the Proposed New Service by either the Services Theatre Model or Servuction Model Service design and delivery is often argued to be the driving force for customer satisfaction. High level of customer satisfaction acts as a necessary component for developing loyal customer base. Due to constant increase in customers’ expectations, simply designing reliable service cannot make the people satisfied. In order to enhance the satisfaction, the services must be designed and delivered in such a way so that it can deliver outstanding personal experience to the visitors. In this context, it can be stated that the new proposed services of Derby museum integrate behavioural elements which would help to create value for the consumers (Stuart & Tax, 2004). The services of an organisation can be analysed by using two models which are servuction model and theatre model. In servuction model services are demarcated as live performance which specifies that services include interaction of people, procedures and physical environment (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). On the other hand, service theatre model is focussed on representation of services as theatre. According to service theatre model, services of organisations involve similar elements which are presented in theatre such as actors, audiences, backgrounds and performances among others. Service theatre model can be used for evaluating the new services of Derby museum. From a critical perspective, it can be observed that in Derby museum, the services include similar components of a theatre. For instance, the actor comprises the personnel of the museum who will perform cooperatively in order to create the services. The service deliverance process followed in Derby museum can also be observed as grounded on a particular background where the activities of employees are to be performed (Schafer & Berg, 2010). The service design and delivery hereby helps to define the service experience for both employees as well as consumers. In this context, performance is considered as the dynamic outcome of communication between the employees, consumers and the environment. However, potential problem of the new service of Derby museum is that the performance of employees is quite likely to depend on intimate interplay between backstage and front floor elements. Without gaining proper support from the staff, the effectiveness and delivery of services might be interrupted, communication and serviceable abilities can be compromised and ultimately overall service performance can be weakened. Apart from that, behaviour of employees can also influence the service performance of employees to a substantial extent (Schafer & Berg, 2010). To be stated in a summary, the new services proposed to be executed by Derby museum will comprise exhibition of several subjects illustrating the genres of art, history and social culture. It will also provides new services to guide people by providing adequate information along with additional facilities for elder people and resolving any queries about the subjects of museum engaged in the service delivery process (Grove & Fisk, 1992). Analysis of the Proposed New Service by the Extended Marketing Mix (7Ps) Product: Product in the context of Derby museum denotes the services which are intangible in nature. Therefore, the services will be designed with providing attention to the customers’ value. Price: Setting the prices of services are quite challenging than setting the prices of products owing to its limited quantifiability. In order to determine the price of the services, supply and demand factors will be considered, i.e. when demand of museum services increase the prices of will be set as high and when demand decreases, the prices will be set as low. Furthermore, employee expenses and material costs among other factors will also be considered while setting the prices in order to earn the desired level of profit. Place: Place, in case of Derby museum, represents the location where the services will be positioned. The best place to open up a museum is in such a place which is approachable by students and learners because they are the prime customers of acquiring museum services. Thus, opening new school or educational institutions would be better for Derby museum. Furthermore, since it is also a preferred leisure place for families, the location must be far from crowded provinces of the locale. Promotion: Promotion is also a vital factor for marketing the services of Derby museum. Since the services of museum can be imitated by other museums also. Therefore, the organisation will promote it with providing additional services such as serving coffee and tea to the customers, influencing the students regarding the importance of museum and providing a place for rest to them building long run customer loyalty. People: People are also perceived to be one of the vital components of marketing mix for Derby museum as this particular attribute is able to describe the services. Thus, in order to make the customers satisfied, the people of Derby museum will be provided with training with respect to enhancement of interpersonal abilities and better customer services. It will also act as unique selling proposition for Derby museum. Process: Process determines the way services are delivered to the ultimate customers. In this context, it can be stated that the services of Derby museum will be delivered through proper support of both backstage and front floor performances following a service theatre model. Physical Evidence: The final component of extended marketing mix is physical evidence. It is a very important component for Derby museum. Since, services are intangible in nature, physical evidences can help to develop better customer experience. Thus, Derby museum will provide the services by incorporating elements such as ambient lighting, good seating planning, relaxation facilities and nice atmosphere. These services can further act as a key differentiator for Derby museum and therefore help to achieve competitive advantages over other rivals (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2009). What Skills And Knowledge Would You Need If You Were To Become The Manager Of A Service Provider? In order to become a competent manager in the service providing sector, I believe that customer satisfaction should be my top priority. If I am the manager of a service providing organisation, I will be liable for managing the employees who provide customer services and dealing with enquiries of consumers individually. My typical duties as a manager of a service providing organisation will include updating customer service strategies and processes, guiding the customer service support employees, dealing with complex enquiries, analysing employee performances, recruiting employees and gathering up to date information regarding customer services. Therefore, on the basis of these duties, the most important knowledge I should possess is about administrative processes, personal services and knowledge about the service organisation’s vision, mission, strengths and weaknesses. Apart from that, I also require knowledge about marketing activities and communication strategies (Bodderas, 2011). With respect to skills, the most important skills I need to develop for becoming a service manager are speaking, listening and coordinating. As a service manager, I need to talk with consumers for conveying information; thus, good speaking skills are required. Furthermore, I also need to provide complete attention to other people, in order to understand their requirements, which necessitates good listening skill. On the other hand, for providing better services I require adjusting service activities with respect to consumers’ requirements which in turn essentialises better coordination skill. Apart from that, other vital skills that I need to possess are critical thinking skills, negotiation skills, decision making skills, problem solving skills and skills to manage the organisational resources efficiently. These skills are further identified as vital for providing adequate services to the people and thereby making them satisfied to the utmost level. My current courses have let me acquire many of these skills. For instance, I have improved my communication skills and coordination skills. Besides, the courses have also assisted me to enhance my knowledge on different managerial activities which are important for making the service providing team competent enough for delivering quality services. However, I still lack several inherent skills such as negotiation skills, critical thinking skills and knowledge about personalised services. Thus, in order to become a manager of a service provider organisation, I require developing these skills and bridge the skill gap efficiently in my future professional endeavour (Korczynski, 2005). Conclusion Service innovation acts as a root for survival of any business in the modern world. It helps to attract the potential target customers and enhance the revenue consequently. However, in order to develop services, various intrinsic features must be considered. It can help to adjust the new services to the requirements of customers and thus enhance the value substantially. Contextually, the new services proposed for Derby museum is intended to make customers feel satisfied about the services. It will help to develop a unique image about the museum in the mind of the visitors and therefore act as a beneficial promotional technique. Furthermore, service marketing activities can also help to achieve success in the market by developing long-run association with the community. References Bodderas, M., 2011. From Customer Attitude to Company Profit: Sustainability and Insurance; Customer Information Disclosure; Linking Employer Branding and Service Branding. University of St. Gallen, pp. 1-136. Fisk, R. P. et al., 2008. Interactive Services Marketing. Cengage Learning. Grove, S. J. & Fisk, R. P., 1992. The Service Experience as Theater. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 19, pp. 455-461. Hoffman, K. D. & Bateson, J. E. G., 2010. Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases. Cengage Learning. Korczynski, M., 2005. Skills in Service Work: An Overview. Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 3-14. Pride & Ferrell, 2012. Services Marketing. California State University Stanislaus. [Online] Available at: http://www.csustan.edu/market/williams/3410-13-10.htm [Accessed May 10, 2013]. Stuart, F. I. & Tax, S., 2004. Toward an Integrative Approach to Designing Service Experiences Lessons learned from the Theatre. Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 24, pp. 609-627. Schafer, A. & Berg, M., 2010. Applications of Business Theatre in New Service Development. Marketing Review, Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 54-60. The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2009. Market and the 7Ps. CIM. [Online] Available at: http://www.cim.co.uk/files/7ps.pdf [Accessed May 10, 2013]. Wild, P. J., 2007. Review of Service Design Definitions. IPAS Deliverable I15.6 Report, pp. 2-31. Read More