Ch 11: Employees' roles and service delivery

Question 1

Corporate culture (def)

Answer 1

The pattern of shared values and beliefs that give the members of an organisation meaning and provide them with the rules for behaviour in the organisation.

Question 2

Culture (def)

Answer 2

the way we do things around here

Question 3

Service culture (def)

Answer 3

A culture where an appreciation for good services exists, and where giving good service to internal as well as ultimate, external customers is considered a natural way of life and one of the most important norms by everyone.

Question 4

Why can transporting corporate culture to a different country be difficult?

Answer 4

The corporate culture might conflict with the national culture of the country.

Question 5

Who physically embodies the brand?

Answer 5

Employees

Question 6

In what ways can the 5 dimensions of service quality be influenced by service employees?

Answer 6

Reliability → setting things right
Responsiveness → personal willingness to help and promptness in serving customers
Assurance → dependent on employee’s ability to communicate their credibility
Empathy → employees will pay attention
Tangibles → the appearance of employees

Question 7

A different name for the front line of service employees

Answer 7

Boundary spanners

Question 8

Boundary spanners (def)

Answer 8

They operate at the organisation’s boundary and provide a link between external customers and the internal operations of the organisation.

Question 9

Which additional labour does being a boundary spanner bring

Answer 9

Emotional labour

Question 10

Emotional labour (def)

Answer 10

Refers to the labour that goes beyond the physical or mental skills needed to deliver quality service.

Question 11

7 ways to reduce emotional labour

Answer 11

• Screen for emotional labour activities
  *Teach emotional management skills and appropriate behaviours
  *Carefully fashion the physical work environment
  *Allow employees to air their views
  *Put management on the front line
  *Give employees a break
  *Handoff demanding customers to managers.

Question 12

3 sources of conflict for service employees?

Answer 12

• Personal/role conflict
• Organisation/client conflict
• Inter-client conflict

Question 13

Personal/role conflict (def)

Answer 13

When a person is forced in a certain role as an employee it might clash with their personal standards.

Question 14

Organization/client conflict (def)

Answer 14

Rules are usually standard and customer-based. When a customer does not want to comply with this the employee must choose, follow the rules, or comply with the client.

Question 15

Inter-client conflict (def)

Answer 15

Occurs when the service provider is serving customers in turn. When someone serves many people at a time it might be difficult to serve the full range of needs that the group has.

Question 16

Quality/productivity trade-off (def)

Answer 16

Employees are asked to be both effective and efficient. They are expected to deliver satisfying service to customers and at the same time to be cost-effective. Research suggests that these trade-offs are more difficult for service businesses than for manufacturing and packaged goods.

Question 17

To build a customer-oriented workforce an organisation needs to … (4)

Answer 17

…Hire the right people
…Develop people to deliver service quality
…Provide the needed support systems
…Retain the best people

Question 18

Which two capacities do service employees need?

Answer 18

• Service competencies = the skills and knowledge needed to do the job
• Service inclination = interest in doing service-related work

Question 19

Empowerment (def)

Answer 19

Giving employees the desire, skills, tools and authority to serve the customer.

Question 20

Internal customer service audits (def)

Answer 20

Evaluation on various aspects of how your team interacts with customers