Quality Service Management PDF

Preview

Summary

INTRODUCTIONService Delivery (SD) competition in the current aggressive economy is developing significantly to the Remarkable Customer Experience (RCE) concept in application to tourism, where services, relationships, and emotions are essential ingredients (Ou & Verhoef, 2017). Literature ha...

Description

INTRODUCTION Service Delivery (SD) competition in the current aggressive economy is developing significantly to the Remarkable Customer Experience (RCE) concept in application to tourism, where services, relationships, and emotions are essential ingredients (Ou & Verhoef, 2017). Literature has emphasized the explanation and practical implications of RCE components on making services seem more authentic (Torres et al., 2018). Authenticity denotes that something is genuine, and this is understudied objectively and subjectively as a customer perception (Baker & Kim, 2018). Authenticity is about customers portraying co-producers' role in their own experiences using actual dimensions of experiences as determinants in the process, according to Alnawas et al. (2018). The RCE concept, introduced by Holbrook et al. (1982), is not only cognitive but also hedonic, symbolic, and aesthetic (Kranzbüehler et al., 2018). That means it becomes more difficult for service providers to differentiate themselves from others. In this sense, it is not only about the competitiveness, but also about customers' growing needs. Studies demonstrate that even if customers are satisfied, they can leave the company looking for new experiences (Loureiro,2010). Despite differences related to customer-oriented services, many companies in sectors characterized by higher offer availability, such as tourism, try to know the current most effective way to win the battle. In such cases, services need to manage customer behaviors to become authentic. Thus, customer delight (CD) has been studied in different scenarios describing the positive state reached by customers having memorable experiences (Torres et al., 2018) A simple, customer-driven concept of quality that is widely used today is: Quality is fulfilling or surpassing customer expectations. To fulfill or surpass customer expectations, organizations must fully realize all service attributes that lead to customer value and cause satisfaction and loyalty (Evans & Lindsay, 2010). Quality Management is closely related to the concept of continuous improvement. It does not take the form of capital -in the sense of an asset but involves work to make something evolve, and it is implemented within a reference framework. It uses tools and methods and involves repetition and evaluation (EU, 2000). As companies came to accept the broad scope of quality, the concept of total quality (TQ) emerged. Total quality is a people-focused management system that aims to increase customer satisfaction at a continually lower real cost continually. TQ is a holistic system approach (not a separate area or program) and an integral part of an ultimate strategy. It functions horizontally across functions and departments, involves all workforce, top to bottom, and extends backward and forwards to comprise the supply chain and the customer chain. TQ stresses learning and adaptation to continual change as keys to organizational success (Procter & Gamble, 1992). In hospitality, total quality management (TQM) is a participatory process that empowers all levels of employees to work in groups to promote guest service expectations and identify the best way to fulfill or surpass these expectations. A successful property will hire leader-managers who make a stimulating work environment where customers and staff turn into integral parts of the mission by participating in the goal and objective setting (Walker, 2010). It is expected the TQM implementation in the tourism sector to inspire and motivate its human resources and create a competitive advantage that will enhance the property itself and the whole tourism industry (Laloumis & Katsoni, 2010).

1

Among the common strategies to achieve competitive advantage, improving customer loyalty by serving distinct features to customers becomes popular and widely used (Khalifa, 2018). These days, thriving to increase market share by low-cost strategies through discounts has severe effects and negative impacts on financial performance (Alonso-Almeida and Bremser, 2013; Qoura and Khalifa, 2016; Schwenk and Shrader, 1993; Waddock and Graves, 1997). Consequently, service quality compared to price turn into the main factor to make different from its main rivalries and acquire loyalty (Hwang and Chang, 2003; Kandampully et al., 2011a; Wu and Liang, 2009). Because of the overall advancement of technology (Alkutbi et al., 2019; Khalifa and Mewad, 2017), amenities, facilities, economic situations, and globalization, the hospitality industry has been encountering the uprising trends of competitors and competitive environment. The determinant or critical factor which can be assessed or judged with other hotels becomes so complicated and more relied on the service quality or delivery of service of hotels (Khalifa and Fawzy, 2017; Morsy et al., 2016). Thus, SQ is the essential element to improve CS, loyalty, and financial performance of the hotels (Khalifa, 2018). Hotels are trying to improve their loyalty via retention programs, loyalty cards, loyalty rewards, benefits so forth (Abd-Elaziz et al., 2015; Husin et al., 2013; Sudigdo et al., 2019), owing to customer loyalty's prominence. Service industries like tourism and hospitality require the consistent quality service delivery of its products and services. As the prime service providers, service staff and personnel must be equipped with the appropriate skills in delivering consistent quality service. COURSE OUTCOMES This subject offers students with knowledge and skills in service management in the hospitality and tourism industry. It includes the roles and nature of services in the hospitality and tourism industry and emphasizes its prospects. Students are familiarized with various customer service strategies and professional service skills. The concepts of organizational culture and environment, staffing and training for service management, and hospitality service systems are also highlighted. LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of this course, students are expected to:

2

1.

assimilate the roles and importance of service management in the hospitality and tourism industry;

2.

utilize the concepts of customer service strategy in the context of management and operation of hospitality and tourism organizations;

3.

apply professional service skills in the hospitality and tourism industry and

4.

enumerate current issues of quality service management in the fast-evolving hospitality and tourism industry.

COURSE MATERIALS

Lesson 1 Service Concept, Culture and Quality

Role and nature of services; Introduction to service industries; Service products; Service encounter; Customer behavior; Customer loyalty.

Lesson 2 Customer Service Strategy

Guest experience; Meeting guest expectation; Setting the scene for the guest experience; Developing the hospitality culture.

Lesson 3 Managing Service Staff

Staffing for services; Training for services; Motivation and empowerment; Involving guest coproduction; Service leadership.

Lesson 4 Service Skills

Professional

Verbal and non-verbal communication skills; Handling complaints; Teamwork development; Customer loyalty and employee retention; Cultural awareness.

Lesson 5 Understanding Service Applications

Application of service quality management in various sectors; Global strategies for hospitality and tourism services; Technology in services; Current issues in service industries.

3

Lesson 1: Service Concept, Culture, and Quality Service characteristics of Tourism and Hospitality 1. Intangibility: Tourism products are identical to any service product. However, tourism products possess characteristics that are an amalgamation of product features and that of a service. Put in simple words, tourism products possess both intangible nature and some tangible and concrete elements. Any tourism and hospitality manager's job revolves around making the tourism product more tangible to apply better tools and techniques in the marketing mix to the tourism and hospitality services. An obvious outcome of the fact that tourism products are intangible is that the tourism and hospitality products cannot be transferred, displayed, or tested well before the real service encounter. The tourism products are unique, and unlike the tangible products, tourism products are composed of memories. The intangible nature of a tourism product also means that a buyer is never sure of what he/she will get until the actual service encounter occurs. It is probably the only reason customers start searching for the complete tourism product information well in advance to limit any uncertainty in the future that might arise due to the intangible nature of the tourism product. Further, tourism and hospitality services have been assigned intangible nature. A relaxed stay in a hotel in the woods, a week well spent on a cruise, a friendly and safe flight with a polite flight crew, and a friendly, warm and knowledgeable guide taking a tourist to the amazon forests, etc. all can be very well considered as an intangible experience. The products/services created/offered by tourism companies cannot be replicated or reclaimed later. Tourists can attempt to store their memories with photographs and videos, but the real essence of such a happy moment is beyond capturing. Hence, tourism is a very personal picture that a customer creates in his/her mind after a fantastic tourism experience. 2. Perishability: Perishability is used in services marketing to define how services are unpreserved and cannot be warehoused for future usage. Service products have a very peculiar characteristic that it cannot be warehoused, refunded, or resold once they have been used. Once a customer is provided a service product, another customer cannot be serviced with the same product after that. Service products are attributed to be perishable in two ways. First, it has to be remembered that a service gets wasted if not used in time. For example, a movie theatre can only sell tickets before the show. The customers can attend the show during the defined show timing only. An empty seat in the theatre cannot be utilized and charged for after-show has ended. Secondly, services get vanished once

4

consumed by a consumer. For example, when a tourist has been transported to his destination through an airline, he/she has to pay for another service. Perishability forces the hospitality industry to operate in a way that they must either sell at the market going rate or well in advance. The tourism services must be availed as they are produced lest they get wasted. Hotel rooms availability, international and national flight schedules, and movie theatre seats, etc. cannot be produced in the present and stored for future sales. Once a plane has left for the destination, an empty seat cannot be sold afterward. As there will always be an uncertainty inaccurate demand forecasting, tourism and hospitality firms tend to overbook available capacity. 3. Variability: Service delivery depends upon people. Hence services cannot be separated from the people who deliver it. They are produced and offered by individuals (service staff and the customers, respectively). As a result, quality of service differs from person to person and from time to time with the same individual, and hence these cannot be standardized. Another reason for the variability of services is the guest or customer's involvement in the process of service production, delivery, and consumption system. This again varies from customer to customer, thereby differentiating the service experience from customer to customer. 4. Similarly, products of the tourism industry are variable. Similar cuisine in the same restaurant can taste differently due to the mood of the chef. Other than taste. The way it is being served might vary if delivered by a less experienced service staff than an experienced one. Rational service product attributes like price, and additional services can only be compared to a minor degree. It is challenging to deal with the perceived quality as it is positively affected by numerous uninfluenceable aspects such as weather, construction sites, other customers, etc. Therefore, the product is very inconsistent/variable and cannot be standardized. 5. Inseparability: Buying and selling of tourism is not like buying and selling of regular products. It is actually like buying a service. Buying and selling the tourism product doesn't involve any real transfer of ownership than other tangible counterparts. Moreover, most of the tourism and hospitality services are created, sold, and rendered simultaneously. This feature differentiates a tourism product from tangible counterparts. Buying a new refrigerator involves production and shipping before the consumer can see it in the company showroom/retail outlet or on the e-commerce website. The consumption of refrigerators, i.e., refrigerate food items, occurs after purchase at the user's place. In contrast, a customer cannot take a hotel room or a skiing site, or a cruise at home. Tourism and hospitality products hence can only be used up at the service provider's premises. 6. Participation of Customer: Customer acts as one of the integral parts of the service delivery process. In selling – production-consumption delivery system, the end-user is involved literally at every stage of service delivery. A person willing to take a haircut must be present at the salon for getting this service. Similarly, a person willing to fly to Paris to watch Eiffel Tower can ask a friend to book a flight ticket and a hotel room. At the time of actually availing the service, the person must be physically present. The service cannot be produced and cannot be consumed by the person while he is absent. Lack of Ownership: In the real world, when a consumer pays for a car, the car after the transaction belongs to the buyer. This simply means a real transfer of ownership takes place in such regular day to day transactions. However, this doesn't hold in case of consuming a service. This is possibly why the lack of ownership is usually referred to as one of the most commonly quoted characteristics of services like tourism and hospitality.

5

7. People-oriented: Any service industry requires a skilled workforce to deliver the service to the consumers and be better able to compete effectively. The tourism industry is no exception as it also flourishes with skilled and talented staff. This is the reason. People constitute one of the most important P's of the marketing mix of tourism marketing. The interaction between the service staff and the consumers are referred to as perceived service quality. A tourism product's quality is mainly determined by the quality of personal interactions a customer makes right from information acquisition to its final consumption. 8. Psychological: The main motive to purchase tourism products is to satisfy the psychological need after using the product, by getting experience while interacting with a new environment. Experiences also motivate others to purchase the product. 9. Composite Product: Tourist product is a combination of different products. It has no single entity in itself. In the experience of a visit to a particular place, various service providers contribute like transportation. The tourism product cannot be provided by a single enterprise, unlike manufactured products. It covers the complete experience of a visit to a particular place. Many providers contribute to the tourism experience. For example, airlines supply seats, and a hotel provides rooms and restaurants; travel agents make bookings for stay and sightseeing.

Unique Characteristics of Travel and Tourism Services 1. Seasonality and demand fluctuations: Seasonality is one of the critical factors governing many industries' operating cycles. Tourism is known as one of the most seasonal industries, and these seasonal changes significantly affect the demand. Demand for tourism products/services depends on seasonality, politics, religion, socio-economic conditions, other special events, etc. Seasonality is a critical factor to be taken care of while framing strategies in the tourism and hospitality industry. It may result in the creation of jobs during some seasons while may cause unemployment in the season of slow growth, develop idle investment on staff, transportation, office charges, and increase the cost of production. It is not surprising to know that demand fluctuates wildly, especially on an inter-year basis in the tourism industry. Such huge inter-year seasonal demand variation leads to increased occupancies in many tourism businesses to 90 to 100 percent in the appropriate season. Still, it might as well drop to 30 percent or even less in the adverse season. These demand differences in tourism are an area of significant concern because the tourism product's nature is perishable. Thus, generating demand during low growth seasons is always the more significant concern for most tourism marketing managers. 2. The interdependence of tourism products: Tourism product is an amalgamation of products and services that span various industries like transportation, food and lodging, etc. Thus, the tourism industry's affluence depends on how these products or services work together to create a unique and satisfying experience. It can be concluded that a tourism product cannot be provided by a single firm but is the work of many specialized products and services. 3. Expensive fixed costs of service operations: Tourism and hospitality products frequently confront having higher fixed costs and relatively lower variable costs, which means that tourism firms must generate surplus demand. The majority of tourism and hospitality

6

firms work on a strict margin between total cost and total revenue caused by severe competition. Even a minimum change in the average load factors makes a substantial difference between profit or loss. 4. Heterogeneous: Tourism is not a homogenous product since it tends to differ in standard and quality in various periods. A package tour or even an airline flight can't be standard at all times, because it is a service, and services are people-based. There is variability in this product. All vary, and even the same person may not offer the same service every time. For instance, all air hostesses cannot perform the same quality of service, and even the same air hostess may not deliver uniformly in the morning and evening. Thus, services cannot be standardized. 5. Risky: The risk involved in using a tourism product is increased since it has to be purchased before its consumption. An element of risk always exists in its consumption. Like, a show might not be as engaging as it promises to be, or a beach holiday might be unsatisfactory due to heavy rain. 6. Marketable: Tourism product is sold at two levels. At the initial level, national and regional organizations endeavor to influence potential tourists to visit a particular region. These official tourist organizations first provide knowledge of their country in tourist – generating markets and influencing visitors in these markets to travel in the country. At the second level, the different individual companies offering tourist services sell their total tourist product components to persuade potential tourists to visit that region. The Marketing Action to better deal with such complex Characteristics 1. Application of more than 4 Ps: Because tourism and hospitality products have particular characteristics of inseparability, perishability, seasonality, etc., it calls for developing an extended marketing mix. Most academic literature attributes 4Ps (product, place, promotion, price) as the primary marketing mix essentials. Since the services are different than products, the marketing mix of services must have some additional components. On the same note, tourism and hospitality services are attributed to additional marketing mix components: people, processes, and physical evidence. 2. Extensive use of emotional appeals in promotions: Because of the ...