chapter 11 Flashcards
why service employees are so important for the success of a firm.
*Help maintain the firm’s positioning. They are:
–A core part of the product
–The service firm
–The brand
–Affects sales
–Is a key driver of customer loyalty
–Determine productivity
what factors make the work of front-line staff demanding
–Organization vs. Client: Dilemma whether to follow company rules or to satisfy customer demands
*This conflict is especially acute in organizations that are not customer oriented
–Person vs. Role: Conflicts between what jobs require and employee’s own personality and beliefs
–Client vs. Client: Conflicts between customers that demand service staff intervention
Emotional Labour
*Occurs when there is gap between what employees feel inside, and emotions that management requires them to display to customers
*Performing emotional labour in response to society’s or management’s display rules can be stressful
*Good HR practice emphasizes selective recruitment, training, counselling, strategies to alleviate stress
what is a service sweatshop
Service Sweatshops (low wages, long hours, high pressure, high quotas)
*Deployment of new technology and methods can change the nature of the work environment
*In many firms, face-to-face contact is replaced by the use of the internet or call-centre services
*Call centres must have up to date lists.
*Such jobs can offer flexible working hours and part-time employment
*The work is often intense, with a high level of monitoring
*Motivated agents suffer less customer stress
the employee cycle of failure
*Narrow job design for low skill levels
*Emphasis on rules rather than service
*Use of technology to control quality
*Bored employees who lack ability to respond to customer problems
*Dissatisfied with poor service attitude
*Low service quality
*High employee turnover
The customer cycle of failure
*Repeated emphasis on attracting new customers
*Customers dissatisfied with employee performance
*Customers always served by new faces
*Fast customer turnover
*Ongoing search for new customers to maintain sales volume
what are the Costs of short-sighted policies are ignored
*Constant expense of recruiting, hiring, training
*Lower productivity of inexperienced new workers
*Higher costs of winning new customers to replace those lost—more need for advertising and promotional discounts
*Loss of revenue stream from dissatisfied customers who go elsewhere
*Loss of potential customers who are turned off by negative word-of-mouth
the cycle of mediocrity
*Most commonly found in large, bureaucratic organizations
*Service delivery is oriented towards:
–Standardized service
–Operational efficiencies
–Promotions based on long service
–Successful performance measured by absence of mistakes
–Rule-based training
–Little freedom in narrow and repetitive jobs
*Customers find organizations frustrating to deal with
*Little incentive for customers to cooperate with organizations to achieve better service
*Complaints are often made to already unhappy employees
*Customers often stay because of lack of choice
cycle of success
*Longer-term view of financial performance; firm seeks to prosper by investing in people
*Attractive pay and benefits attract better job applicants
*More focused recruitment, intensive training, and higher wages make it more likely that employees are:
–Happier in their work
–Provide higher quality, customer-pleasing service
*Broadened job descriptions with empowerment practices enable front-line staff to control quality, facilitate service recovery
*Regular customers more likely to remain loyal because:
–Appreciate continuity in service relationships
–Have higher satisfaction due to higher quality
the key elements of the Service Talent Cycle for successful human resource management in service firms.
- Recruit the right people
- Enable the front line: build high preformance service delivery teams, empower the front like , extensive training
- Motivate and energize the front line
Know how to attract, select, and hire the right people for service jobs.
*Be the Preferred Employer:
–Create a large pool: “Compete for Talent Market Share”
–What determines a firm’s applicant pool?
Positive image in the community as place to work
Quality of its services
The firm’s perceived status
*Select the right people:
–Is there such a thing as a perfect employee?
Different jobs are best filled by people with different skills, styles or personalities
Hire candidates that fit firm’s core values and culture
Focus on recruiting naturally warm personalities for customer-contact jobs
Tools to Identify the Best Candidate
1.Employ multiple, structured interviews:
–Use structured interviews built around job requirements
–Use more than one interviewer to reduce “similar to me” biases
2.Observe candidate behaviour:
–Hire based on observed behaviour, not words you hear
–Best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour
–Hire those with service excellence awards and complimentary letters
3.Conduct personality tests:
–Willingness to treat co-workers and customers with courtesy, consideration and tact
–Perceptiveness regarding customer needs
–Ability to communicate accurately and pleasantly
4.Give applicants a realistic preview of the job:
–Chance for candidates to “try on the job”
–Assess how candidates respond to job realities
–Allow candidates to self-select themselves out of the job
Explain the key areas in which service employees need training. (3)
1.Organizational culture, purpose and strategy
§Get emotional commitment to core strategy and core values
§Get managers to teach “why”, “what” and “how” of job
2.Interpersonal and technical skills
§Both are necessary but neither alone is enough for performing a job well
3.Product/service knowledge
§Staff’s product knowledge is a key aspect of service quality
§Staff must explain product features and help consumers make the right choice
Empowerment is most appropriate when
–the firm’s business strategy is based on personalized, customized service and competitive differentiation
–emphasis is on extended relationships rather than short-term transactions
–complex and non-routine technologies are used
–service failures are non-routine and cannot be designed out of the system
–the business environment is unpredictable
–managers are comfortable letting employees work independently for the benefit of firm and customers
Levels of Employee Involvement (3)
1.Suggestion involvement
–Employee make recommendation through formalized programs
2.Job involvement
–Jobs redesigned
–Employees retrained, supervisors reoriented to facilitate performance
3.High involvement
–Information is shared
–Employees skilled in teamwork, problem solving, etc.
–Participate in management decisions
–Profit sharing and stock ownership
how to build high-performance service delivery teams.
Building high-performance service delivery teams
*Many service require cross-functional coordination for excellent service delivery
*Teams, training and empowerment go hand-in-hand
*Creating Successful Service Delivery Teams
–Emphasis on cooperation, listening, coaching and encouraging one another
–Understand how to air differences, tell hard truths, ask tough questions
–Management needs to set up a structure to steer teams towards success
how to integrate teams across departments and functional areas.
Integrating teams across departments and functional areas
*Ways to reduce conflict and break down the barriers between departments
–Transferring individuals internally to other departments and functional areas.
–Establishing cross-departmental and cross-functional project teams.
–Having cross-departmental and cross-functional service delivery teams.
–Appointing individuals whose job is to integrate specific objectives, activities, and processes between departments.
–Carrying out internal marketing, training, and integration programs.
–Having top management’s commitment to ensure that the overarching objectives of all departments are integrated
Know how to motivate and energize service employees so that they will deliver service excellence and productivity.
1.Job content:
§People are motivated and satisfied knowing they are doing a good job
2.Feedback and recognition:
§People derive a sense of identity and belonging to an organization from feedback and recognition
3.Goal achievement:
§Specific, difficult but attainable and accepted goals are strong motivators
What is a service-oriented culture?
*Service culture is defined by
–Shared perceptions of what is important in the organization
–Shared values and beliefs about why those things are important.
Know the difference between service climate and culture and describe the determinants of a climate for service.
Service climate and culture
*Organizational climate
–The shared perceptions of employees about the practices, procedures, and types of behavior that get supported and rewarded in a particular setting
–Employees form perceptions based on daily experiences with HR; operations; marketing; and IT policies, practices, and procedures
–Essential features of a climate for service include clear marketing goals and a strong drive to be the best
Explain the qualities of effective leaders in service organizations.
–Leaders should love their business. Do you like what you do?
–Leaders should be driven by a set of core values that are related to service excellence and performance.
–Leaders must recognize the key part played by employees in delivering service.
–Effective leaders can involve the team in decision-making rather than dominating the process.
–Leaders must be able to role model the behaviors they expect
–Effective leaders have a talent for communicating with others in a way that is accessible.
Understand different leadership styles and realize the importance of role modelling and focusing the entire organization on the front line.
Effective leaders in service organization
*There are two leadership styles in a service climate:
–management of the “basics”
–transformational leadership that sets strategy and drives change. However, both are important.
*Persistent management of the basics and endless details create a strong climate for service.
*Leaders create a strong climate for service when they
–demonstrate commitment to service quality
–set high standards, recognize and remove obstacles
–ensure the availability of the resources required to do it
*A strong service culture is one where the entire organization focuses on the front line. Do you agree?
