Encounter Services: Conceptual Model of Service Quality - Term Paper Example

Encounter services Journal and Analysis Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Introduction 2 Conceptual Model of Service Quality 3 Services encounter one 4 Marketing mix –‘7Ps’ and service encounter two 5 Disconfirmation of expectations paradigm and service encounter three 7 Servqual model and service encounter four 9 Services encounter five 11 Conclusion 11 References 12 Appendices 13 Appendix 1: Journal I 13 Appendix 2: Journal II 14 Appendix 3: Journal III 15 Appendix 4: Journal IV 16 Appendix 5: Journal V 18 Executive summary Service evaluation is vital and can be done through several models. These models try to identify the level of satisfaction and establish who is to blame for any level of dissatisfaction. This paper evaluates several service encounters through serquel, conceptual model of service, disconfirmation of paradigm and market mix models to establish the level of satisfaction and find out who is to blame and needs to be improved for a greater satisfaction. For the purpose of this paper, four journals will be used as examples of encounter services; the journals are attached at the appendix section. Introduction In day to day activities people get to encounter needs that they want to be sorted out. This leads to the need to find solutions from different sources. While accessing these solutions, people are exposed to different services provided by different organizations or service providers. These services could be evaluated by different models or marketing frameworks to establish the levels of satisfaction. From the satisfactions people get from the services they are acquiring, they get to decide whether they will go back to the service provider for more. Customer satisfaction is most of the time dependent on the customer’s anticipations and the actual experience compared (Zeithaml & Berry, 2002). These models and marketing frameworks include Servqual model, Conceptual Model of Service Quality, Marketing Mix-‘7Ps’ and the Disconfirmation of Expectations Paradigm. Conceptual Model of Service Quality In this model a service-marketing, definition of quality is built on the idea that quality is judged on the evaluation of the consumer of the services as shown below. It was developed in 1985 and it identified several gaps as indicated in the model framework. There were five gaps identified. Gap 1 was the difference between the customer expectations and the management perceptions. Gap 2 refers to the difference between management perception and the actual service-quality specification. The third gap is the difference between service-quality and the service delivered. Gap four is the difference between external communication and service delivery. The fifth gap is the difference between perceived and expected service although the fifth gap is perceived to cover the first four. These gaps define the service quality according to this model. If the management was to close the gaps, it would be imperative to measure service performance against expectation (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985). The diagrammatic representation of the model is as shown below. . Services encounter one In the recent past, service encounters were made with Kenrestorage. Their business is providing storage facilities to those that are in need of space to keep their belongings. The need was to have furniture and other belonging stored. Contact with them was on a personal basis. According to what friends had to say and the word that was going around, it was that they were the guys to go for if one needed storage facilities. These were the kind of services wanted. Cheap yet good and could be used for long duration of time as I was to be out of the country for a quite some time. According to what was wanted and expected, they offered just that. There was good security and the place was clean. The services were nice and the outlook of the place was good. Their prices were also fare as it was reducing the longer one used their facilities. One can analysis their services using the several gaps. In gap 1 analysis, expectations were as stated above and the management did very well in perceiving them. When it comes to gap 2, what was offered for the perceived expectations was fairly good and made one be impressed although they should have facilitated moving of the goods in to the storage facilities. In the third gap, they also performed as they delivered what they promised and at a fare rate which was impressive. In gap 4, there was good performance as what was initially heard about them was delivered. According to this model, the gap between the expected and the perceived was very small and this makes their services to be of good quality and one would prefer to use them in the future. Marketing mix –‘7Ps’ and service encounter two In marketing many tactics are usually used to bring the customer to buying your services or goods (McCabe, Rosenbaum & Yurchisin, 2007). These activities of marketing comprises of several concepts one of them being the marketing mix. The marketing mix comprises of the 7Ps which include; product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical (evidence). One can use this model to evaluate services offered by different organizations. In this case, a recent encounter with Madi bank will be evaluated. This paper discusses their services under the 7Ps. The first P represents the product which is what a company is offering or the goods or services they deal in. In this case, health insurance was the product of interest. Under the marketing mix, a product must provide value to the customer (McCabe, Rosenbaum & Yurchisin, 2007). The need was to have a good medical cover to which was found in their product would cover all the needs. The second P is the pricing of the product. The price should entail the profit and should be competitive in the market. Compared to the quality of their services, their price was very fare and better compared to the other firms offering the same services. The other P stands for place. This is where the customer can buy the products. This includes the internet or the physical premises. The product should be easily accessible. When it comes to this, there is need to improve. They should develop their website further to enable easy access to their products and services (McCabe, Rosenbaum & Yurchisin, 2007). The fourth P involves promotions. This is how the company or the organization communicates with customer concerning their products and what the company has to offer and how they would benefit from acquiring their services (McCabe, Rosenbaum & Yurchisin, 2007). In this field, they did well as people get to know their services very well from their campaigns and website. The fifth P refers to the people. Everybody who is involved in any process the product is involved in. Everyone should know and understand that the reputation of the brand and its features. At this level, they were really impressing as everyone encounters smiles and serves customers very well and made people feel at home. The sixth P refers to the processes or methods used in providing a service. It is important for everyone to be familiar with all the processes required and be efficient in providing these services and ensure they are done in time if they are curial to the customer (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). In evaluating Madi bank, they did great at this. This is because everything worked smoothly as everyone knew all the procedures and they performed them as expected plus they smiled while at it. The final P stands for physical or evidences or the actual product one is buying. It is important to enable the consumer know and understand the product they buy and not only showing them the brochure. At this level, they did good to show the customers the product they are acquiring even though it was not tangible. When analyzing service encounter with Madi bank using this model, they deliver. Their services are better than expected and services were delivered as communicated in their campaigns and the advertisement. The area they need to improve was their website. They should improve it to improve the customer’s experience. Disconfirmation of expectations paradigm and service encounter three This model perceives that customer’s level of satisfaction is affected by the customer’s pre-purchase expectations and what levels of service they get. The distinction that arises from the experience and expectation is what is regarded as disconfirmation. Whether customers are satisfied or not is related as so many different factors contribute (Dann & Dann, 2011). Under this model, service experience with Real Estate Love Office will be used as an example where necessary. Expectations are what one anticipates or thinks will happen in the future. In this case, the contact with Real Estate Love Office was to have them help in getting a home. The company facilitates acquisition of real estate or help in finding property for renting. In regards to this model, expectations are what the customer thinks of the services offered before experiencing it. The expectations were developed from; awareness of competing brands, word of mouth, marketing communications and experience. Expectation could be classified into desired which refers to what is ideal, equitable which refers to what one deserves, predictive which refers to what one anticipate and adequate which refers to what is the list that people can tolerate. In this case, the ideal expectation was them facilitating the acquisition of a good home. What was equitable was getting a home at fare prices and with little or no complications. Generally, getting a good home without complications was the expectation. Customer satisfaction could be affected by ones culture, personal attitudes or moods, personal involvement or expectations (Stewart & Robin, 2004). These were my expectation although what was experienced was not as much as anticipated and if it would be rated; it would be fifty percent satisfaction. This is because it was found to be more complicated for one to be confirmed as relevant info was not available and the time frame was way too short. When individuals do not get satisfied, they tend to want to put that blame on someone or certain reason. Was it the person offering the services or is it the company or organization itself? In this case, since contact was on a personal basis, the agent or the representative interacted with, did not provide sufficient information regarding the confirmation and this was a negative factor. Also, if one was from another region, it affected the confirmation and hence lowering the satisfaction. Once blame is put on someone, people try and estimate whether there are chances that they will occur and that determines whether they may be interested in going back to acquire the same services (Vargo & Lusch, 2008). Although there was no great satisfaction with their services, there is a perception that they are committed to improve and therefore chances of going back.The distinction that arises from the expected and actual satisfaction is what is referred to as disconfirmation (Dann & Dann, 2011). This shows the difference between the expectation and what was actually experienced. Some of the suggestions to them so as to improve on their services include; they should provide all information concerning the confirmation so as to make the process simpler and they should facilitate the bund and rent the house for the first two months. Having raised these issues with them, there is a possibility that they will be addressed and therefore high chances of acquiring their services again. The difference between what this paper got n what was anticipated is the disconfirmation and it was fifty percent. Servqual model and service encounter four The primary business of postal offices is to delivery letters or parcels. Quality service should be and supposed to be their key and main priority (Buttle, 1996). Having had an experience with Australia post, an analysis of their services under this model could be done. Servqual model has a set of five dimensions which include; reliability, assurance, responsiveness, empathy and tangibles (Buttle, 1996). Reliability refers to the ability and capacity to perform and deliver services that are dependable and accurate (Lages & Fernandes, 2005). In this case, what is expected is that parcels delivered to them would be shipped to the specified destination and delivered in due time which was after two weeks. Since their business is to deliver parcels and letters, this is what is expected to be reliable; that a parcel will be delivered as expected and in due time. This however did not happen as the parcel delivered to them for shipping did not arrive as expected. When enquired as to why this did not happen, they did not have any explanation and it is when they were to carry out investigations. Assurances refer to the ability of an organization or company to provide guarantee of their services (Lages & Fernandes, 2005). It also guarantees that employees have the knowledge, ability and courtesy to convey trust and confidence. In the case of Australia post, prior to the experience there was some faith that the services to be acquired from them would be offered as requested. In the contrary, the company did not give me any assurance even after they promised to enquire as to why they did not offer services as supposed to and later came to know that the goods were stolen. This shows low levels of assurances as even the compensation was not the worth of the goods. Responsiveness refers to the willingness to help the customer and offer prompt services. This is important as it assures the customer and improves your reliability (Vargo & Lusch, 2008). In this case, sending the parcel immediately was the appropriate response but that did not happen. When enquired as to why, it is when they were to send the parcel which later came to realize that it was not in their possession. Their response was to do investigation that would take four weeks which was to be a lot of time wasted. Two weeks later they offer compensation that does not cover the loss. Their responsiveness was very poor and disappointing. Empathy refers to the caring and individual attention an organization gives to is customer. This means that an organization is to offer services to customers as per their need (Buttle, 1996). The need was to have my parcel delivered to my country. Australia post would offer empathy by shipping out my goods immediately or compensating me appropriately when the goods get stolen. This did not happen and the explanation was that their company policy allowed for that level of reimbursement. This was not equitable and the blame is to the management for the great levels of dissatisfaction. This should lack of empathy on their side. Tangibles refer to appearances or having the physical facilities, personnel, and equipment and communication material (Buttle, 1996). In this case they seem to be having all this but in limited capacity. If they had sufficient personnel and equipment, my parcel would have been shipped out immediately. If not so, they would be secure. Also if they had proper security services they would be able to hold responsible those involved. This shows that they fail in tangibles. From the example of service encounter, one can say that the expectations were not what were experienced. In fact, the level of dissatisfaction was as high as expressed above and one would not use their services. According to this model, they have failed in offering good and satisfying services. Services encounter five Under all the models mentioned above, quality is a comparison between expectation and what actually was experienced. The service encounter to analyze is the recent encounter with emirates airline. The need was to travel to Jeddah. Under conceptual model of service, the gaps were very small as the anticipated was more complicated processes but in real it was simple and changes could be done online hence no need to call or personal contact. The level of performance was ninety five percent. Under the marketing mix, all the 7Ps were properly taken to consideration to build a great product that is well priced .The level of performance was ninety percent. Under the servqual model, performance in the five dimensions was amazing. They were reliable, had high levels of assurance and their response was very quick and appropriate. Under the disconfirmation of expectation paradigm, the differences between what was anticipated was delivered at a better level so the difference was to their advantage as their procedures were not as complicated as anticipated and dealing with them was much easier.. Conclusion From the above evaluations, quality services are what all customers require. The level of quality can be measured by several models and level of satisfaction estimated as it cannot be determined to a certainty. Under the conceptual model, quality is measured as the gap between what the services provider perceived to be a customer need and offered in comparison to what actually the client perceived to be quality. Under the marketing mix it is all about the 7Ps of marketing of marketing. If the client is to find quality in ones product then getting all the seven aspects correctly is a must. Under the servqual model, quality is measured using the five dimensions and the customer satisfaction is generally based on how reliable, assuring and empathically an organization is. In general, organizations need to carry out research in order to establish what their customers want so as to be able to provide to their expectation. Perceiving does not necessarily mean one will get it right hence the need for research. Also they need to understand that customer satisfaction should be paramount hence priority and proper treatment should be accorded to them. References Buttle, F. (1996). SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda. European Journal of Marketing, 30(1): 8–31. Dann, S. & Dann, S. (2011). E-Marketing: Theory and Application. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Hoffman, K. & Bateson, J. (2010). Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, & Cases. New York: Cengage Learning. Lages, L. & Fernandes, J. (2005). The SERPVAL scale: A multi-item instrument for measuring service personal values. Journal of Business Research, 58 (11): 1562–1572. McCabe, D., Rosenbaum, M. & Yurchisin, J. (2007). Perceived Service Quality and Shopping Motivations: A Dynamic Relationship. Services Marketing Quarterly, 29 (1): 1-21. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. & Berry, L., (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49, (1): 41–50. Stewart, A. &, Robin, S. (2004). Marketing readiness of websites and organisational p erformance in Australia and New Zealand: a discussion of pre-test findings, in AusWeb X: the challenge of integration as the web moves into its second decade, Southern Cross University, Lismore. Vargo, S. & Lusch, R. (2008). From goods to service(s): Divergences and convergences of logics. Industrial Marketing Management, 37(3): 254-259. Zeithaml, V. & Berry, L. (2002). Delivering Quality Service: Balancing. Customer Perceptions and Expectations. New York: The Free Press. Appendices Appendix 1: Journal I Name of Firm/Service Provider: Madibank Type of Service Health insurance How did the encounter take place? As person What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? Good serves smiling in your face help you in the good way ­­­­­­ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaHow would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible Delighted 1 2 3 4 5 What exactly made you feel that way? I like what they do ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounterWhat could the employee /firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? ­­­Develop the web sit ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaHow likely is it that you will go back to this service provider? Extremely Unlikely Extremely Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix 2: Journal II Name of Firm/Service Provider: Real estate love office Type of Service: Help you to find home How did the encounter take place? in person What specific circumstances led up to this encounter ? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations, etc) ­­­­­­­I was searching for home to live. ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? hries as appendices. rvices encounters? hHow would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible Delighted 1 2 3 4 5 What exactly made you feel that way? Hard to confirm you They not give you time to organize yourself with your money ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encountWhat could the employee /firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? ­­­­­Give you all information to confirm you as quick as they can Facilitate the payment of the Bund and rent the house for first two months ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider? Extremely Unlikely Extremely Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix 3: Journal III Name of Firm/Service Provider: Kenrestorage Type of Service Storage items How did the encounter take place? (e.g.) in person What specific circumstances led up to this encounter ? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations, etc) ­­­­­­­­before traveling to my country I save my furniture in this storage ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? h ries as appendices. rvices encounters? hHow would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible Delighted 1 2 3 4 5 What exactly made you feel that way? ­­­good serves Safety Clean Good over like if you took more than month the price decreed. ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? huma What could the employee /firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? Put people to move furniture from your home to the store and return include your over ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaHow likely is it that you will go back to this service provider? Extremely Unlikely Extremely Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix 4: Journal IV Name of Firm/Service Provider: Australia post Type of Service (e.g. bank, restaurant, petrol station): Send and resaved mails How did the encounter take place? (e.g.) in person What specific circumstances led up to this encounter ? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations, etc) ­­­­­­­I send 3 I phone from Melbourne to my country ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? huma ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaHow would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible Delighted 1 2 3 4 5 What exactly made you feel that way? When I was in the office has the service organization and easily appliances were received from me I have been told will arrive after two weeks. After two weeks I called my brother to make sure all the phone has arrived, but discovered it was did not arrive. When reviewing the company tried to find the reasons I was surprised that they told me it was sending at that time I request to do investigation to find what the problem. Discovered the devices were stolen and will be redemptive amount but after four weeks. After to weeks received them only fifty dollars and I when I ask him about that they told that you must secure even if the devices were stolen are reimbursed the full amountries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? huma What could the employee /firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? ­­­­­should be told the customer everything about the company policy ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? huma How likely is it that you will go back to this service provider? Extremely Unlikely Extremely Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Appendix 5: Journal V Name of Firm/Service Provider: Emirates airline Type of Service: traveling Airline Company How did the encounter take place? (e.g.) in person, telephone, mail?) Web site and mail What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? (e.g. purpose, location, expectations, etc) ­­­­ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaI went to Emirates web site to made my booking flit from Melbourne to Jeddah ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? huma How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? (Circle a number corresponding to your feelings) Terrible Delighted 1 2 3 4 5 What exactly made you feel that way? If you want change your booking you can’t do it from the web site should be call them to changed ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? What could the employee /firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made to this service system? They give me up grade from economy class to business class ries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaries as appendices. rvices encounters? humaHow likely is it that you will go back to this service provider? Extremely Unlikely Extremely Likely 1 2 3 4 5 Read More