Chapter 8: Managing Employees' roles in Service Delivery(SD)

Boundary Spanning Roles

Service culture: how the culture and the values of the organization influence the employees behaviour

Difference between corporate culture and service culture

Corporate culture:

  • Views service as a competitive advantage,
  • the CC is a representation of the orgs values and considered the internal climate in the org
  • A Defined, service-oriented culture that all levels of employees and management can participate in, allows for employees to respond in consistent fashion

Requirements to establish a service culture:

  • Developing a service strategy entails what should be done, by whom, how, what resources will be utilized and the consumer benefits
  • Developing the organization structure:
    which focuses on the marketing done by line managers, and must be centered around the attitude throughout the organization, this responsibility falls on the marketing department.
  • Developing leadership:
    must be centered around a service orientation to develop a service culture, relies on communication
  • Knowledge and attitude requirements:
    how does the service org function, customer relations, and role of individual in the service design and delivery process.

3 Dimensions of customer linking behaviors of the Front-line Service Employee(FSEs):

  • FSEs present the organization's image to external stakeholders.
  • FSEs share information internally about new and evolving customer needs and improvements in service delivery.
  • the way the FSE behaves in regard to courtesy, personal attentiveness, and keeping promises can influence the quality of the service as well as customer satisfaction(mean ladies at pick n pay)

Source of Conflicts: Include,

  • person-role conflicts
  • organization-customer conflicts
  • inter-customer conflicts

Internal Marketing(IM), the relationship between the organization and its employees

image service triangle

Internal customers: Treating employees like customers in regard to them being the first market

prerequisite for successful internal marketing:

  • IM should be a necessary part of strategic management
  • the orgs structure should be supportive of the IM
  • Management should show active support of IM

Service culture:
requires time in order to develop. Orgs must have a set system, procedure, and process in place to ensure that the best service can be provided to satisfy the needs of the customer.

Attitude management:

  • Refers to the attitude of employees and their motivation for service-mindedness
  • necessary for positive attitudes, orgs must hire people, to create a motivation for quality service. Management must create a climate and culture in the org which allows for service-mindedness and a desire to pursue service excellence

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
All staff involved(directly and indirectly) require the info about:

  • the service process,
  • service features,
  • customer expectations,
  • service offerings to customers,
  • customers' transaction history,
  • advertising campaigns

Strategies for delivering service quality by means of people: in order for an org to create a customer-oriented, service-minded workforce:

  • Hire the right people
  • qualified to provide the service
  • develop people through training to deliver service quality

Types of training:

  • Holistically view of the org
  • skills required to execute the required task
  • specific communication skills, and service skills

image Levels of employee autonomy/empowerment

to create a customer-oriented, service-minded workforce, the necessary support system

Empowerment and Enfranchisement

Empowerment:
FSEs are given the power to meet customer needs creatively, through desired skills, tools, and authority to serve the customer as they deem fit.


Benefits:

  • Higher job satisfaction
  • FSEs increase customer retention
  • FSEs treat customers more enthusiastically

Enfranchisement:
Empowered employees should have a system in place to link performance and reward for their customer-centric behavior.


Requirements Extrinsic and intrinsic:

  • Availability
  • Flexibility
  • Reversibility
  • Visibility
  • Contingent
  • Timeless
  • Durability

Service orgs that are well-suited, to the implementation of empowerment strategies are:

  • The business strat is one of differentiation and customization
  • Customers are long-term relationship customers
  • The use of tech in non-routine(complex)

Retaining the best-trained people is important, to reduce the cost of turnover, disruption, and minimize customer satisfaction:

  • including employees in the orgs vision
  • treating employees as customers as customers
  • measuring and rewarding strong performance

Levels of empowerment
(from low to high employee autonomy(Ver) and (Horizontal high to low) Management control of employees):

  • Virtual product line(no empowerment)
  • limited involvement(suggestions only)
  • Employees define their own role(Job involvement)
  • employees manage themselves