The purpose of this essay is to analyze a sub-optimal service process. The article starts with dissatisfied service experience, followed by an analysis of customer’s wants from service apply a job map. Then it covers different components of service quality (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles) by looking at the difference between the expected service and perceived service. The next part of this essay, it discusses the influence of service quality on the company’s competitive advantage. How to recover and enhance a service stated at the end of the article.
Deeds, processes, and performance comprise service (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler, 2006, p. 4). When there is a mismatch between the service expected and the service delivered, then it is a sub-optimal service. Service has been analyzed in this article is A person ordered furniture from an online furniture shop, and he received broken equipment. Then he called the company and made an appointment with them to repair the furniture, but the repair worker did not show up.
And the company reschedules time with the client. However, when the server finally meets the client, he told the customer that the equipment could not be repaired and left.
Create a job map is one way to understand a client’s demand for service from a customer’s perspective. Identifying work requirements is the first step in forming a map (Bettencourt & Ulwick, 2008). Link to the case, customers need to consider the furniture’s delivery method in terms of how far the delivery destination is, the furniture size.
The second step is to prepare components and the physical environment of the service (Bettencourt & Ulwick, 2008). For the furniture delivery service, is to pack good quality furniture and put it in a box of the right size. Then is the time to double-check all information and process needs to do before delivery (ex: check the delivery address be written correctly) (Bettencourt & Ulwick, 2008). Next, perform and monitor the task. Customers need to monitor the delivery status of the object until it been shipped to the last stop. Then is product modification. If the furniture was damaged during transportation, clients might assist with modification or repairs (Bettencourt & Ulwick, 2008). To conclude the job, the client needs to document all problem happened during the service process and record all buyers information.
Service quality is an evaluation of how a service been delivered to meet customer expectations (Sudhakar, M.Padmavathi, & Ravindran, 2011). There are five dimensions of service quality, which are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles (Prakash & Mohanty, 2012). Reliability refers to the capability to execute the committed service reliably and precisely. Responsiveness – willing to assist clients and serve in time (Bordoloi, Fitzsimmons, & Fitzsimmons, 2019). Regarding the furniture delivery case, the client is expecting that someone will help him to check whether the furniture is repairable in their scheduled meeting time. What the customer perceived is no one has arrived at the appointment time without prior notice. Because the server absent from the appointment for no apparent reason, so he is not reliable and responsible. Thus, the expected service fails to meet the perceived service, and the service quality is unacceptable (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985).
Moreover, assurance demonstrates the expertise and politeness of the staff and their ability to transmit trust and confidence. Empathy refers to the level of providing a personalized service (Bordoloi, Fitzsimmons, & Fitzsimmons, 2019). Link to the case, the customer wants the server to fix the furniture, or get a refund from the company if the furniture could not be repaired. What the client perceived is being told that the furniture could not be fixed and the server left. The way the worker communicates to clients does not indicate that he values the best interests of his clients. As the server did not show up at the first repair appointment, therefore, the worker needs to understand how clients might feel, and at least to prepare some other options to help the customer fix the problem. Thus, the expected service fails to meet the perceived service and makes an unacceptable service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1985). The last dimension of service quality is tangibles (such as physical facilities) (Prakash & Mohanty, 2012).
Quality of service is also critical to obtain a competitive advantage and increase company profit in the service industry. Competitive advantage is the ability to distinguish a firm from its rivals and allow it to obtain a position that difficult for its rivals to compete (Daneshvar & Ramesh, 2011). According to Vaura (1992), customer satisfaction is the most important standard to access service quality. Price, quality of service, and personal reasons are some elements that affect customer satisfaction, and these elements differentiate an organization from its rivals, thus making a company more competitive (Daneshvar & Ramesh, 2011). Also, service quality improves the company’s profit in two ways. First, excellent service quality attracts more new clients, thus improve the company’s market share. Second, quality of service is a key contributor to keeping existing customers researches exist to shows that premium services increase customer willingness to buy more products and services, reduce price sensitivity, and share their satisfactory experience with others (Daneshvar & Ramesh, 2011).
Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) state the service recovery is to handle the potential service failure through deals with problems, to change the negative perception of the client to the firm, and retain them. Some examples of service recovery actions are apologies, compensation, management interventions. Moreover, after a service fails to deliver, building relationships with customers can increase the likelihood of recovery, because customers are more tolerant of employees who build friendly relationships. Clients evaluate the service remedy of a company by three types of justice, which are distributive justice (the extent of fair of perceived results, such as compensation, repair), interactive justice (a sense of fairness associated with how customers are treated, such as apologies) and justice in the procedure (the fairness of actions to repairing failures, such as the speed of response, accessibility). Successful service recovery alters and strengthens the way customers evaluate a company’s service quality, potential to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty (Budeanu, 2015).
There are several things a company needs to know to enhance the service. Firstly, the end of the service is more important than the beginning of the service because it is something that stays in the customer’s memory (Chase & Dasu, 2001). In the furniture delivery service, in the end, the server did not deal with the broken furniture properly and make the customer unhappy. Service would be highly rated by customers if it begins comparably powerless and a moderate rise at the end than with an excellent start and sloppy finish (Chase & Dasu, 2001). The second principle to improve service is reducing customer waiting time. Take the furniture delivery service as an example this service could be better off if the server showed up in the first appointment and fix the problem, because the client does not need to wait for another appointment, thus reduce the pain of waiting (Chase & Dasu, 2001).
To conclude, the first part of the essay presents a poor service experience, then discuss customer’s demand for a specific service by job map. Five components of service (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles) has been included by discussing the perceived service and expected service difference. Next, the relationship between service quality and the company’s competitive advantage has also be covered. Ways to recovery and improve the service be included at the end of this article.
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