Consumer Responses to Service Failure - Case Study Example

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Marketing in business is one thing that every manager who wants to achieve excellence cannot avoid. Quality service delivery can only be achieve if the service provider understands the expectations of their customers and strives to offer that which is required. This paper has identified six service encounters, developed service encounter diary report and finally analyzed the service encounters using the relevant theories. The paper has illustrated clearly that marketing should create, deliver and communicate the service that the customer value most. This will facilitate proper identification of customers, serving them well and retaining them for long. The Service- Dominant Logic has also been used to illustrate the need to empower customer’s participation and the need for the organizations should shift from product focus to customer focus where customer expectations are met first. TABLE OF CONTENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ANALYSIS OF SERVICES ENCOUNTERS CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS CUSTOMER EMOTIONS IN THE SERVICES ENCOUNTERS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND SERVICE QUALITY SERVICE- DOMINANT LOGIC THE RATE OF SERVICE QUALITY SERVICE FAILURE AND SERVICE GAPS CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES APPENDICES 1.0 INTRODUCTION Services marketing have been used by many organizations in marketing the services offered by the organization as opposed to marketing of goods that are tangible. Marketing managers have a great role in ensuring the Service customers, customer behaviour, culture and needs is well understood.(Lovelock, C.H. 1996) Service have unique features that needs to be well understood; Services use is not separable from purchase hence use and consumption is simultaneous, they are not tangible, and its use is subjective hence each person using the service experience it uniquely. Services marketing theories/concepts There are services marketing theories/concepts that have been researched by various scholars and documented. These theories include:- Roles and script Scripts theory Consumer perceived risk theory The affect of culture on consumer behavior Customer control theory Service- Dominant Logic Service-dominant logic is a term that has been equated to the Theory X management. Here the employee is treated as a person to be controlled and managed while the customer is the one to control and manage. The customer therefore participates in service delivery as co-creator of service. 2.0 SERVICE ENCOUNTERS Service is characterized by intangibility and inseparability features. It is during service encounter that customers perceive quality service. The contact situation between the customer and the provider is therefore referred to service encounter. This encounter is the major determinant of customer satisfaction. This report has identified six service encounters with a variety of service providers which include medical facilities, processing industries, dry cleaners, banking sectors and restaurants. A service provider here refers to a business organization that the superficial value of the contribution to the customer is determined much by the service delivered rather than the product offered. Encounter 1 Service encounter with the employee of a dry cleaner Factual details On my fifth day in college, I took my clothes to the new Avenue dry cleaners for washing, as a matter of urgency I asked the employee of the company for guarantee that I shall receive the clothes within 3 hours in order to catch a train, and he assured me that I will but urged me to pay more for express service, which I did. Analysis My expectation of the service was that the company will do me the fast service without any extra payment because I was a regular customer. Though the service is tangible in terms of dry cleaning, however because of the attached deadline, the intangible aspect comes in. Even though I was dissatisfied in the beginning because of more payment, the final outcome later on was good because I received my clothes in time. I would rate this service as reliable, responsive with assurance but with less empathy. According to attribution theory on stability, I contemplated whether the failure was temporary or permanent if the same recurs again, I was to be forced never to step there again because the same will happen to me. I would not even refer my colleagues to the company because I was not happy. Encounter 2 Service encounter at the college restaurant Factual details: I would also mention my service encounter in the college restaurant where I went for lunch two weeks after my admission in the college. The waitress took some time before giving me food. I was delayed for a couple of minutes before the waitress came informing me to choose another meal because what I had requested was not there. She was not even apologetic for the delay. I had to request for a different meal and she brought it after sometime. Analysis My expectation was to have a meal, I had no problem missing what I like eating but I just wanted a faster service. However my need to be served fast was not met and I was dissatisfied. The reason why she had to stay for that long before responding was something I did not like. I would actually understand that due to the magnitude of services, it cold probably is inevitable to have failure in service delivery especially when there is much variability, dependence on client cooperation and the interactive nature of service encounters. (Weiner, B. 2000). However frequent failures in service delivery will lead to customer dissatisfaction and even quits. The service was tangible in terms of the meal; however, my expectation was the nature of service and how it is delivered especially that aspect of rapid service and response to queries, was what I expected but it was missing. Encounter 3 Service encounter with the Starbuch Hotel waiter Factual details: Two weeks ago I went to Starbuch Hotel for dinner. On entering the hotel, I met a security guard who directed me to an empty seat. A waiter came to me and asked what I would like to take. I placed my order. The waiter then went on taking orders from the other customers. It took sometime before I was served. I was impatient and wanted to leave. When I was just about to leave one of the customers called the hotel manager addressed the problem. We were all happy and enjoyed our meal. Analysis Being a regular customer of the hotel, I expected the waiter to serve me faster. I expected the hotel employees to work without supervision but only to understand later that they too need to be controlled and managed. The customer can therefore play a key role in controlling and managing service provider to maintain quality service standards. Service-dominant logic places the customer as a co-creator of service, here the employee is controlled and managed to ensure they offer quality service while the customer controls the service. Encounter 4 Service encounter between a restaurant customers a drunkard Factual details: I observed an incident between two customers in Blue Hills restaurant at the Town Center. While one of the customers was seated enjoying his meal, a drunkard came in and requested for a drink with a very high voice. The drunkard was too loud that he interrupted with the peace of the house, one customer could not stand it any more hence requested the employees in the house to do something. However nothing was done, may be because of fear or other reasons known to the management. I actually expected the drunken man to be dragged out of the restaurant because he was a nuisance. No body liked the scene anyway. Customers may affect each other directly or indirectly while in the same environment even having interpersonal encounters like noise (Martin, 1996). This customer to customer interaction has a negative impact on their satisfaction. Every customer need peaceful and relaxed environment after the tedious work of the day, giving them a place to relax and drink in the evening is what they need most, however if interference creep in then they are dissatisfied. I was too not happy. According to attribution theory on controllability, customers believe that an organization has the ability to control service failure from happening. If the organization does not do anything to control service failure from occurring, then the customer might feel disappointed and dissatisfied and hold the firm responsible for the de-service. (Martin, C.L. 1996). I felt the organization was in a position to control what the drunk man was doing but could not actually do that due to negligence. Encounter 5 My service encounter with the college clinic physician Factual details: Last week when I had flu, I visited the college clinic; here I met the college physician who attended to me well. I told him my problem and he gave me medication. I felt ok three hours letter. Analysis The service was incredibly friendly. Being a consultant, the doctor gave be a service that I can say he went out of hill normal call of duty when he was attending to me. The time he took listening to me was enough. He was able to understand what I was saying even before I finished the explanation. He had a lot of smile that gave me a lot of hope. The service quality was actually very high. According to (Lovelock, C.H. 1996) when the roles are clear and both the customer and employees know their responsibilities, then customer needs are easily satisfied. I was satisfied and I think I can refer any of my friends who need medical attention to this physician. I like his service. Encounter 6 Service encounter with a gym attendant Factual details: On week ago, I went to the gym in the school sports complex for the day to day exercise, as it has always been, the gym attendant took me through the various activities. Unlike my couch, this new attendant was not free with me; his classes were just too boring. I did not like his service at all. I expected much energy and flexibility but all in vain. I later learned that the he was from a different cultural background where ladies do not practice in the gym freely with their male counterparts. Analysis Cultural believes and values determine how customers should receive a service hence it is upon the marketing managers and service providers to understand the diverse cultural differences in order to offer the best service and even maintaining the required quality standard. Culture can affect customer behavior and satisfaction. The customer expectation during service encounter may differ with those of the service provide especially when they are from different cultures. Culture is actually a pattern of believes, values and assumptions whose meaning is shared among a given group. During service encounter and interaction, it is possible to get misunderstandings due to cultural differences. CONCLUSIONS For every business to prosper there must be a satisfied customer. Customer satisfaction highly depends on identification of their expectations. Various theories have clearly illustrated hoe these customers need to be handled. Service encounter with various providers has clearly indicated how dissatisfied can be identified through research. It has also been very clear that customer’s service satisfaction is determined by the organizations ability to control and allow customer participation in service delivery. Cultural differences and need to understand customer diversity has also come out clearly. RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the finding in this report, the following recommendations have been put forward. Marketing managers need to clearly understand customer behaviour, expectations and roles. The management should put in place better recovery strategies to correct failures within the line of service delivery. Improved interpersonal relationship between customers and providers is also very important. REFERENCES Bitner, M.J., Booms, B.H. and Tetreault, M.S. 1990) “The service encounter: diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, pp. 71-84. Goodwin, C. and Ross, I. 1992, “Consumer responses to service failure: influence of procedural and interactional fairness perceptions”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 25, pp. 149-63. Lovelock, C.H. 1996, Services Marketing, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Martin, C.L. 1996, “Consumer-to-consumer relationships: satisfaction with other consumers’ public behavior”, The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 146-69. Morgan, N.A., 1991, Professional Services Marketing, Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, Oxford. Mitchell, V.-W. (1995a), “Assessing the role of perceived risk associated with appointing planning consultants”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 165-86. Weiner, B. 2000, “Attributional thoughts about consumer behavior”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 382-7. APPENDICES SERVICE ENCOUNTERS DIARY REPORT Encounter 1 Service encounter with the employee of a dry cleaner Date:……………………. Time:………………………. Location……………………………. Details: Encounter 2 Service encounter at the college restaurant Date:……………………. Time:………………………. Location……………………………. Details: Encounter 3 Service encounter with the Starbuch Hotel waiter Date:……………………. Time:………………………. Location……………………………. Details: Encounter 4 Service encounters between a restaurant customer a drunkard Date:……………………. Time:………………………. Location……………………………. Details: Encounter 5 My service encounter with the college clinic physician Date:……………………. Time:………………………. Location……………………………. Details: Encounter 6 Service encounter with a customer smoking in the public gathering Date:……………………. Time:………………………. Location……………………………. Details: Read More