服务营销[英文原版]Christopher Lovelockchapter 8.doc

Part Managing the Customer InterfaceCHAPTER 8Designing and Managing Service ProcessesCHAPTER 9Balancing Demand and Productive CapacityCHAPTER 10Crafting the Service EnvironmentCHAPTER 11Managing People for Service AdvantageReadingsKung-Fu Service Development at Singapore Airlines Loizos Heracleous, Jochen Wirtz, and Robert JohnstonGetting More from Call Centers Keith A. Gilson and Deepak K. KhandelwalHow to Lead the Customer Experience Stephan H. Haeckel, Lewis R Carbone, and Leonard L. BerryPart III of the book focuses on managing the interface between customers and the service organization. It begins with design of an effective service delivery Process, specifying how operating end delivery systems link together to create the promised value proposition. Customers are often actively involved in service creation, especially if they are acting as co-producers, and the process becomes their experience. A related task in markets with widely fluctuating demand levels is to balance the level and timing of customer demand against available productive capacity. The next steps involve two elements of the 8 Ps that are particularly important in high-contact services. Physical service environments help to engineer customers service experiences and provide clues to positioning strategy and service quality. People are a defining element of many services. Effective management of frontline employees is key to delivering customer satisfaction, productivity, and competitive advantage.Charpter 8Designing and Managing Service ProcessesThe new frontier of competitive advantage is the customer interface.Making yours a winner will require the right people and, increasingly,The right machines-on the front lines.JEFFREY RAYPORT AND BERNARD JAWORSKIUltimately, only one thing really matters in service encounters-the customers perceptions of what occurred.RICHARD B. CHASE AND SRIRAM DASUProcesses are the architecture of services. They describe the method and sequence in which service operating systems work, specifying how they link together to create the value proposition that has been promised to customers. In high-contact services, customers themselves are an integral part of the operation and the process becomes their experience. Badly designed processes are likely to annoy customers because they often result in slow, frustrating, and poor-quality service delivery. Similarly, poor processes make it difficult for front-line staff to do their jobs well, result in low productivity, and increase the risk of service failures.One of the distinctive characteristics of many services is the way in which the customer is involved in their creation and delivery. All too often, however, service design and operational execution seems to ignore the customer perspective, with each step in the process being handled as a discrete event rather than being integrated into a seamless process.In this chapter, we emphasize the importance for service marketers of understanding how service processes work and where customers fit within the operation. Specifically, we address the following questions:1. How can service blueprinting be used to design a service and create a satisfying experience for customers?2322. What can be done to reduce likelihood of failures during service the delivery?3. How can service redesign improve both quality and productivity?4. Under what circumstances should customers be viewed as coproducers of service, and what are the implications?5. What factors lead customers to embrace or reject new self-service technologies?6. What should managers do to control uncooperative or abusive customers?BLUEPRINTING SERVICES TO CREATE VALUEDEXPERIENCES AND PRODUCTIVE OPERATIONSIts no easy task to create a service, especially one that must be delivered in real time with customers present in the service factory. To design services that are both satisfying for customers and operationally efficient, marketers and operations specialists need to work together. In high-contact services in which employees interact directly with customers, it may also be appropriate to involve human resource experts.A key tool that we use to design new services (or redesign existing ones) is known as blueprinting. Its a more sophisticated version of flowcharting, which we introduced in Chapter 3. As we distinguish between these terms in a service context, a flowchart describes an existing process, often in fairly simple form, but a blueprint specifies in some detail how a service process should be constructed. Perhaps youre wondering where the term blueprinting comes from and why were using it here. The design for a new building or a ship is usually captured on architectural drawings called blueprints, so-called because reproductions have traditionally been printed on special paper and on which all the drawings and annotations appear in blue. These blueprints show what the product should look like and detail the specifications to which it should conform. In contrast to the physical architecture of a building or a piece of equipment, service processes have a largely intangible structure. That makes them all the more difficult to visualize. As Lynn Shostack has pointed out, the same is true of processes such as logistics, industrial engineering, decision theory, and computer systems analysis, each of which employs blueprintlike techniques to describe processes involving flows, sequences, relationships, and dependencies. Developing a Blueprint How should you get started on developing a service blueprint? First, you need toidentify all the key activities involved in creating and delivering the service in question and then specify the linkages between these activities. Initially, its best to keep activities relatively aggregated in order to define the big picture. You can later refine any given activity by drilling down to obtain a higher level of detail. In an airline context, for instance, the passenger activity of boards aircraft actually represents a series of actions and can be decomposed into such steps as wait for seat rows to be announced, give agent boarding pass for verification, walk down jetway, enter aircraft, let flight attendant verify boarding pass, find seat, stow carry-on bag, sit down.A key characteristic of service blueprinting is that it distinguishes between what customers experience front-stage and the activities of employees and support processes backstage, where customers cant see them. Between the two lies what is called the line of visibility. Operationally oriented businesses are sometimes so focused on managing backstage activities that they neglect the customers purely front-stage perspective. Accounting firms, for instance, often have elaborately documented procedures and standards for how to conduct an audit,Chapter 8 Designing and Managing Service Processes 233but may lack clear standards for hosting a meeting with clients or how staff members should answer the telephone. Service blueprints clarify the interactions between customers and employees, and how these are supported by backstage activities and systems. By clarifying interrelationships among employee roles, operational processes, information technology, and customer interactions, blueprints can facilitate the integration of marketing, operations, and human resource management within a firm. Although theres no single, required way to prepare a service blueprint, we recommended that a consistent approach be used within any one organization. To illustrate blueprinting later in this chapter, we adapt and simplify an approach proposed by Jane Kingman-Brundage. Blueprinting also gives managers the opportunity to identify potential fail pointsin the process, points where there is a significant risk of things going wrong and diminishing service quality. When managers are aware of these fail points, they are better able to take preventive measures, prepare contingency plans, or both. They can also pinpoint stages in the process at which customers commonly have to wait. Armed with this knowledge, marketing and operational specialists can then develop standards for execution of each activity, including times for completion of a task, maximum wait times between tasks, and scripts to guide interactions between staff members and customers.Creating a Script for Employees and CustomersA well-planned script should provide a full description of the service encounter and can itself help to identify potential or existing problems in a specific service process. Recall from Chapter 2 the script for teeth cleaning and a simple dental examination involving three players-the patient, the receptionist, and the dental hygienist. Each of these players may be invited to review the script and to identify either missing or superfluous steps, to suggest changes in sequence, or to highlight ways in which developments in either information technology or dental equipment and treatment might require changes in the procedures. By examining existing scripts, service managers may discover ways to modify the nature of customer and employee roles in order to improve service delivery, increase productivity, and enhance the nature of the customers experience. As service delivery procedures evolve in response to new technology or other factors, revised scripts may need to be developed.Blueprinting the Restaurant Experience:A Three-Act PerformanceTo illustrate blueprinting of a high-contact, people processing service, we examine the experience of dinner for two at Chez Jean, an upscale restaurant that enhances its core food service with a variety of supplementary services (see Figure 8.1, pp.236-239). A typical rule of thumb in full-service restaurants is that the cost of purchasing the food ingredients represents about 20 to 30 percent of the price of the meal. The balance can be seen as the fees that customers are willing to pay for renting a table and chairs in a pleasant setting, the services of food preparation experts and their kitchen equipment, and serving staff to wait on them in the dining room.The key components of the blueprint, reading from top to bottom, are1. Definition of standards for each front-stage activity (only a few examples are actually specified in the figure)2. Physical and other evidence for front-stage activities (specified for all steps)3. Principal customer actions (illustrated by pictures)4. Line of interaction5. Front-stage actions by customer-contact personnel6. Line of visibility234 Part III Managing the Customer Interface 7. Backstage actions by customer-contact personnel 8. Support processes involving other service personnel 9. Support processes involving information technologyReading from left to right, the blueprint prescribes the sequence of actions over time. In Chapter 2, we likened service performances to theater. To emphasize theinvolvement of human actors in service delivery, weve followed the practice adopted by some service organizations of using pictures to illustrate each of the 14 principal steps involving our two customers (there are other steps not shown), beginning with making a reservation and concluding with departure from the restaurant after the meal. Like many high-contact services involving discrete transactions-as opposed to the continuous delivery found in, say, utility or insurance services-the restaurant drama can be divided into three acts, representing activities that take place before the core product is encountered, delivery of the core product (in this case, the meal), and subsequent activities while still involved with the service provider. The stage or servicescape includes both the exterior and interior of the restaurant. Front-stage actions take place in a very visual environment; restaurants areoften quite theatrical in their use of physical evidence (such as furnishings, dcor, uniforms, lighting, and table settings) and may also employ background music in their efforts to create a themed environment that matches their market positioning.Act I-Prologue and Introductory ScenesIn this particular drama, Act I begins with a customer making a reservation by telephone with an unseen employee. This action could take place hours or even days in advance of visiting the restaurant. In theatrical terms, the telephone conversation can be likened to a radio drama, with impressions being created by the nature of the respondents voice, speed of response, and style of the conversation. When our customers arrive at the restaurant, a valet parks their car, they leave their coats in the coatroom, and enjoy a drink in the bar area while waiting for their table. The act concludes with their being escorted to a table and seated.These five steps constitute the couples initial experience of the restaurant performance, with each involving an interaction with an employee -by phone or face to face. By the time the two of them reach their table in the dining room, theyve been exposed to several supplementary services and have also encountered a sizable cast of characters, including five or more contact personnel, as well as many other customers.Standards can be set for each service activity, but should be based on a good understanding of guest expectations (remember our discussion in Chapter 2 of how expectations are formed). Below the line of visibility, the blueprint identifies key actions to ensure that each front-stage step is performed in a manner that meets or exceeds those expectations. These actions include recording reservations, handling customers coats, preparing and delivering food, maintenance of facilities and equipment, training and assignment of staff for each task, and use of information technology to access, input, store, and transfer relevant data.Act II-Delivery of the Core ProductAs the curtain rises on Act II, our customers are finally about to experience the core service they came for. For simplicity, weve condensed the meal into just four scenes. In practice, reviewing the menu and placing the order are two separate activities; meantime, meal service proceeds on a course-by-course basis. If you were actually running a restaurant yourself, youd need to go into greater detail to identify each of the many steps involved in what is often a tightly scripted drama. Assuming that all goes well, the two guests will have an excellent meal, nicely served in a pleasant atmosphere, and perhaps a fine wine to enhance it. But if the restaurant fats to satisfy their expectations (and those of its many other guests) during Act II, its going to be in serious trouble. There are numerous potential fail points. Is the menu information complete? Is it intelligible? Is everything listed on the menu actually availableChapter 8 Designing and Managing Service Processes 235Figure 8.1 Blueprinting a Full-Service Restaurant Experience236 Part Managing the Customer InterfaceFigure 8.1 (Continued)Chapter 8 Designing and Managing Service Processes 237 Figure 8.1 (Continued)238 Part III Managing the Customer InterfaceFigure 8.1 (Continued)Chapter 8 Designing and Managing Service Processes 239this evening? Will explanations and advice be given in a friendly and noncondescending manner for guests who have questions about specific menu items or are unsure about which wine to order?After our customers decide on their meals, they place their orders with the server, who must then pass on the details to personnel in the kitchen, bar, and billing desk. Mistakes in transmitting information are a frequent cause of quality failures in many organizations. Bad handwriting or unclear verbal requests can lead to delivery of the wrong items altogether-or of the right items incorrectly prepared. In subsequent scenes of Act II, our customers may evaluate not only the quality of food and drink-the most important dimension of all-but also how promptly it is served (not too promptly, for that might suggest frozen foods cooked by microwave!), and the style of service. A technically correct performance by the server can still be spoiled by such human failures as a disinterested, cold, or ingratiating manner, or by displaying overly casual behavior.Act III-The Drama ConcludesThe meal may be over, but much is still taking place both front-stage and backstage as the drama moves to its close. The core service has now been delivered, and well assume that our customers are happily digesting it. Act III should be short. The action in each of the remaining scenes should move smoothly, quickly, and pleasantly, with no shocking surprises at the end. We can hypothesize that in a North American environment, most customers expectations would probably include the following: An accurate, intelligible bill is presented promptly, as soon as the customer requests it. Payment is handled politely and expeditiously (with all major credit cards accepted). The guests are thanked for their patronage and invited to come again. Customers visiting the restrooms find them clean and properly supplied. The right coats are promptly retrieved from the coatroom. The customers car is brought promptly to the door in the same condition as when it was left; the attendant thanks them again and bids them a good evening.Identifying Fail PointsRunning a good restaurant is a complex business, and much can go wrong. A good blueprint should draw attention t