Management- Service Organization - Report Assessment Answer

Management Assignment

Assignment Task

Introduction

The report consists of the evaluation of a real service organization which is known AS BC airlines. The culture of the organization can be categorized on the basis of four components which is action with integrity, respect for the passengers, strive for excellence and Service to customers. The vision and the beliefs of the company are followed on the basis of the given above four components. The significance of the service encounter with ABC Airlines is evaluated in the study and carious aspects are outlines. This includes the blue print of the organization, fronts tags and back stage operations, moment fi truth, Gap model analysis and the service recovery strategic plan in case of critical issues. It is essential to understand that the experience a service company provides its customers is by far the most significant aspect for the organization. Since the entire company is based on the service it is essential for the company to provide its customers, a state of the art service which leaves them satisfied and fulfil their expectations.

Blue print of service organization

The blue print of a service organization is mainly the diagnosis of problems associated with operational efficiency and it can be used to evaluate the structural change or the repositioning required by a company. The blueprint of the airline is given below

By looking the above blue print the operational in efficiency can happen at the failure points which are marked by a red cross. These points are

• Time of making reservations
• Check in for the adjustment of extra weight carried by the passenger
• Flying time which required trained staff in order to handle any sort of medical emergency and cater to the customers in terms of customized food options
• Baggage claimin case the airline loses the bags of the customer or improve the management of baggage by adopting the RFID technology Lee, Lee and Yoo, 2000).

The company manages the above aspects in order to maximize operation efficiency in the following ways

• It has number of payment systems so that customer can pay according to their convenience including an option where the customer can hold the ticket for 2 days paying a menial amount
• Provision of extra counters during peak hours so that the waiting time for customers become less
• Provides enough number of inflight option her the customer can choose from a wide variety of options
• In the baggage collection the service provided by the workers is a result of their improved transportation systems between the airline and the baggage collection area
• The innovation that the company provides it’s that it has a self-check in kiosk which help customers with no luggage to expedite their process and go straight to check after checking in through the kiosk and skipping the line for the counter check in
• The airline also has a facility where they can pre order their meal and inform the airline of any allergies that the customer may have. The airline also has touch screen devices attached to the seats where they can place their meal orders available with the airline (Walker and Baker, 2000).

Front stage and back stage functions

A focus on the service functions means that there is a sharp difference between the interactions that the customer and organization have as a part of the service encounter and other activities that come first it to make that possible. The front stage mainly consists of an interaction of the customer ha with the service provider. The back stage is the part of the service value chain that the service consumer cannot have (Gardner, 2004).

ABC Airlines flow chart

The above chart represents the blue print of the customer side of the experience.

The first is when the passengers of their check in where the customer service executive help the customers who have a check in baggage procure their ticket and do the other needful arrangements for the customer to check in at the counter. In case the customer has done a proper check in or does not have a check in bag then they use the self-check in kiosk avail is near the manual check in counters. The back stage here is that the back end crew ensure start the customer have seamless check in process which is fast and at the same time its comfortable for the passengers. Here it is essential that the crew do not lose their control even when the customers get slightly hyper with the crew due to their request being outside the limits of the crew’s authority(Lapré&Tsikriktsis, 2006).

The next is the time when the passenger gets into the bus to the aircraft, here the customer come since contact with the ease they are put on to the bus as well as the amount of time they have to wait in case the first bus becomes full and they have to wait for another one. Here the back end is that the busses have to be driven by qualified personnel who knows the regulations of the airport and follows the speed limit which it’s outlined and give the passengers a comfortable ride.

The third is when the passengers aboard the plane and the customer perceives the way they are helped in the boarding process. The back stage work here is that the on flight crew helps the passengers to board the flight in a manner such that there is minimum wastage of time and they reach their assigned seats in a smooth manner.

When it comes to the company side the process of the front’s stage and the back stage can be explained below

The front’s stage is that the qualified staffs checks the tickets of the customers as well as the weights of baggage and check if it’s within the prescribed rule of the airport.Here the company is very efficient on the back stage as they employ people who have extremely good skills in handling a high stress job and at the same time keeping the customers happy by providing them with a good customer experience.

The second aspect of the front stage from the company side is the Controlled processes such as maintaining and servicing the planes as that is the area where the customer is expected duo spends the maximum time. ABC airlinehas immaculate cleanlinesswhenitcomes to their aircraft maintenance as well as the technical upkeep. The back stage work is to ensure that the flight maintenance is done in a timely manner by qualified engineer who are well versed with air craft maintenance.

The third aspect associated with the front stage is the customer care service that the customers may require is when they alight form the aircraft means showing them the baggage carousel and the right exit gate as well as shortening the time from landing and the passengers exiting the aircraft. Here the back stage work is that the staff and the crew on board ensure that customers do not leave any belongings behind once all the passengers have alighted (Kau& Wan-YiunLoh, 2006).

Moments of truth

The moment of truth is usually defined as an instance when the customer and the company come in contact with each other that show the customer to have a perception about the company. The interaction in the case of this company happens when it comes in contact with the services offered by the airline.Various instances can be a part of the moment of truth. This include such as greeting the customer, handling customer queries or complaints, promotion of special offers or giving discounts and the closing of the interaction (Neely, Andy and Mohammed Al Najjar, 2006)

First impressions are often critical moments and if customers have certain expectations which if not fulfilled than it leads to disappointment.

The moment of truth for ABC airlines happens when the customer and the employee interact during tehc heck in time at the airport, the ease at which the customer is checked in and the attitude of the employee towards the customer. The ability of the airline to deliver the baggage to its passengers in a smooth manner is definitely something which adds value to the airline. ABC is quite efficient in that department and manages to receive and deliver 98% of the bags to its customers even if they have been lost or delayed and the entire cost is borne by the airline (Shaw, 2011).

For the airline to have an extremely good impression on the customer, it isimportantthat they maintain good experience for the passengerduring the initial contact. The passengers may perceive the airline to be an on time arrival company but it may delay its flight which will create a wrong impression of the airline in the minds of the consumers,It is to be noted that the moments of truth are integral for a company and by managingit anefficientmanner, it can provide excellent service quality to the passengers (Nejati et al., 2009).

Gap model

The gap model is mainly the difference between the expected service and the perceived service that is offered by an organisation, the model was proposed by A. Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and LL Berry.

Service quality measurements

The service quality of the airline is done using the SERVQUAL method. The five dimensions which are given below are used to measure the gap between the customer’s expectations and the actual services delivered by the organization.The SERVQUAL instrument, when applied over time, helps service providers understand both customer expectations, perceptions of specific services, and areas of needed quality improvements (Zeithamlm, Berry&Parasuraman, 1993)

Reliability -ability to perform the promised service in a dependable and accuratemanner

Responsiveness – willingness to help customers and the promptnesswith which it does it

Assurance - knowledge and courtesy of the service employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence to the customer

Empathy – theindividual and caring attention that the organization provides to its customers

Tangibles – the appearance of the physical facilities and the equipment along with the personnel (Zeithamal and Mary Jo Bitner 2003)

Customer Satisfaction determinants

The customers are satisfied with the below service of the airline

• Airplanes are departing on time and the arrival is also on time in 95% of the cases
• The airline is very prompt in solving the problems of the passengers without much delay
• The handling of the baggage is very efficient and without much baggage loss

Hence it can be aid that the airline is reliable in terms of customer’ssatisfaction

• The ticketing system sis quick without much lag time
• The help from the staff is always there without much loss of time
• The air staff in general are friendly
• The baggage is comparatively slow while arriving at the belt

Hence overall other than the baggage response time, the airline can be deemed high in responsiveness

• The airline has the latest state of the art aircrafts
• The cabin crew is very efficient
• The ticketing counter has relatively longer queues compared to other airlines
• The reservation offices are not many compared to other airlines (Lapré&Tsikriktsis, 2006).

Hence it can be said that the airline in general is rated medium on the tangibility measurement

Customer dissatisfaction

The customers were found it be dissatisfied on these dimension

• Airline does not have a very established brand name
• Good safety record
• Employees on some aspects are not so competent
• Have a very average standard in in house service by staff

On the assurance dimension, the airline seems to prove dissatisfaction to the passengers

• The airline does not understand the individual need of the customers
• Not very proactive to anticipate passenger problems
• Does not give personal attention to each customer

On the empathy dimension, the airline seems to prove dissatisfaction to the passengers

There are four types of provider gaps which are mentioned below

• Provider 1 – Not knowing about the expectations of the customer

Here the airline company would want it be ambience driven and not price driven for its customers but this may not be true for the customers who may expect the service to be the other way around

• Provider 2 – Not knowing the right design and standards that needs to be selected for the service

Here the ABC airline completely understand the type of aircraft and the service it needs to provideto the custome5r hence the gap is not huge

• Provider 3- the non-delivery of the required service standards
• ABC airline is known for the service delivery from the perspective of its customers hence it ensures that the gap between the required service standards from the customer and the delivery of that standard from the airline does not have a huge gap
• Provider 4 – Not being able to match the performance to the outlined promises

Consumer expectations in many cases are affected by the statements made by company’sadvertisements and their representatives. ABC airlines has advertisements about the airline offering services like free Wi-Fi but it is not mentioned anywhere on the hoarding that this is applicable only for the passengers that re flying 1^stclass and this is not mentioned anywhere on their campaign. Here there is a missmatchbetween the outlined promise andthe performance of the airline (Smith, 2005)

Service recovery strategy plan to deal with critical incidents

Any service could fail and even the most admired airlines have their defects and shortcomings due to which it I necessary for a company to have a service recovery strategic plan. The error could be internal or external in nature that is dependent on the critical incident that has taken place.

If an airline wantsto retain its customers it sis important thatthey have a service recover strategyplannedemphasize on their importance.

Handling the situation

• For a failure which is less critical like a delay in the flight timing should result in a modest apology from the airline in order to ensure that customers are satisfies
• For a failure in service which is more critical and leads to cancellation or other situations, customers should be compensated as well as be presented with an apology

The recovery strategy to ABC airlines is in collaboration with software that transmits the global view of its interaction with customers and services that they face at a granular level. It also enables the airlines to work with external information systems that helpthem gather data on critical issues. It has a web service interface through which it has integrated various aspects like the reservation system, tracking of baggage, customer data bases with respect to operations and giving these service representatives a complete overview of real time time information. Hence when there is a critical issue the software helps the service team to trigger the response action(Lapré&Tsikriktsis, 2006).

Once the critical issue has been establishes the next step is to outline the compensation to the customer and develop a solution for the airline. On occasion when the airline loses baggage it offers a monetary solution while other cases in which there is complete cancellation of flights the company works with a an insurance company to compensate the passengers for the losses that occur. The compensation is not calculated by the service team but automatically calculated by the software by putting in information like the nature of losses, duration lapse from occurred critical event, type of compensation among others.

In extremely rare cases but if one happens when there is a crash due to any externalactivity, a newdesk is to beset up where concerned families andfriends of passengers will be services and any available information would be shared with them(Gardner, 2004).

The reason that the service recovery strategicplan worked is because it replaced a number of non-integratemanual systems into a fully automatic integrated system. The claims that would take a lesser amount oftime and in some cases more than a few months are now completed in a much shorter time. The service time and quality both have increased due to the real time visibility of the passenger information and enhance data collection and reporting systems.

The compensation to passengers is also done in real time which is on the spot through a compensation card which can be used at a number of ATMs locations which greatly increases the recovery process for the customers.

The service recovery process is greatly enhance by the airline by using state of the art information systems and having an in-depth view of the customers experience by enhancing the product offering that is based on more real time information (Grönfeldt&Strother, 2005).

Conclusion

In conclusion it can be said that the airline has manage to give its customers a good service by elimination operational efficiencies wherever it is possible and ensuring the front stage and the back stage are both competent to give the customers a good service. The service of the airline is measured by using the 5 dimension on which the customers seem to be satisfied with the tangibility, reliability and the responsiveness but the empathy and assurance can be worked on. The moment of truth for most customers is at the check in counter of the airline hence the company should take care that its main focus lies on the front lien employees.