Ch 11: Employees' roles and service delivery Flashcards
Corporate culture (def)
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.
Culture (def)
the way we do things around here
Service culture (def)
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.
Why can transporting corporate culture to a different country be difficult?
The corporate culture might conflict with the national culture of the country.
Who physically embodies the brand?
Employees
In what ways can the 5 dimensions of service quality be influenced by service employees?
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
A different name for the front line of service employees
Boundary spanners
Boundary spanners (def)
They operate at the organisation’s boundary and provide a link between external customers and the internal operations of the organisation.
Which additional labour does being a boundary spanner bring
Emotional labour
Emotional labour (def)
Refers to the labour that goes beyond the physical or mental skills needed to deliver quality service.
7 ways to reduce emotional labour
- 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.
3 sources of conflict for service employees?
- Personal/role conflict
- Organisation/client conflict
- Inter-client conflict
Personal/role conflict (def)
When a person is forced in a certain role as an employee it might clash with their personal standards.
Organization/client conflict (def)
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.
Inter-client conflict (def)
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.
Quality/productivity trade-off (def)
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.
To build a customer-oriented workforce an organisation needs to … (4)
…Hire the right people
…Develop people to deliver service quality
…Provide the needed support systems
…Retain the best people
Which two capacities do service employees need?
- Service competencies = the skills and knowledge needed to do the job
- Service inclination = interest in doing service-related work
Empowerment (def)
Giving employees the desire, skills, tools and authority to serve the customer.
Internal customer service audits (def)
Evaluation on various aspects of how your team interacts with customers
