Service process

The service process refers to how a service is provided or

delivered to a customer. Delivery system is a creative process.It
begins with a service concept and strategy to provide a service.
In order to achieve these objectives, various alternatives must be
analysed and identified before a decision is made. Designing a
service process involves issues such as location facility, design
and layout for effective design and layout for effective customer
and work flow, procedure and job definitions for service
providers, extent of customer involvement, measures to ensure
service quality, equipment selection and adequate service
capacity.
According to C. Lovelock there are 7 operational issues,
which have to be considered while designing the service quality
process.
(1) In order to achieve economies of scale and perform
consistently the operation people would prefer to process in a
batch while the marketing would prefer to cater to individuals so
that the customer feels as being treated specially.
(2) The decisions on designs and facility layout should satisfy
the objectives of both.

(3) Operational people are interested to improve the

productivity as the cost of production per unit will reduce.
(4) Operation people want a standardised service since it keeps
the cost lower and is easy for implementation. On the other hand
the marketing people prefer customization to match customers'
needs.
(5) Manage the queues in such a way that it is possible to use
the available space.
(6) Operational employees feel that the job design should
minimize error and standardize tasks, making efficient use of
approach.
The operational personnel lie to manage capacity in such a way
that wasteful under-utilisation will not take place.
DESIGNING SERVICE PROCESS:
The following factors are to be considered in the service
process design and implementation:
(1) The Service Itself: It is necessary to understand whether
the service itself is process dependent. Most of the equipment
based services like laundry and lawn care as well as services
with highly intangible attributes like insurance and banking are
process dependent.
(2) Customer Participation: In case of most service system the
customer is present when the service is being performed. The
customer can be made a productive labour instead of being a
passive bystander. Productivity can be increased by shifting
some of the service activities on to the customer. The customer
participation can increase the degree of customisation. By
involving the customer in the service process it can support a
competitive strategy of cost leadership with limited
customisation. A spectrum of service delivery system is possible
depending on the degree of customer involvement from self-
service to complete dependence on a service provider.
(3} Degree of Customer Contact: It refers to the physical
presence of the customer in the system. The degree of customer
contact can be measured by the amount of time that the
customer is present in the system in relation tc**the total service
time. In case of high contact services the customer determine the
timing of demand and the nature of the services by directly
participating in the process. In case of low contact system
consumers have direct influence on the production process
because they are not present.
(4) Degree of Divergence: A standardised service with low
divergence is designed for high volumes with a narrowly
defined and focused service. Since the tasks are routine it
require a workforce with relatively low levels of technical skills.
For customised services more flexibility and judgement are
required to perform the service tasks. In addition to this more
information is exchanged between the customer and social
worker. Customised services require high levels of technical and
analytic skill since the service process is unprogrammed and not
well defined. In order to achieve customer satisfaction, decision
making is delegated to service workers.
(5) Location of Service Delivery: The service delivery process
should be located either at the service providers premises or
carried out at the customer place. In case of services like
painting, carpet cleaning etc. the service has to be delivered at
home. Services that require the customer to come to the supplier
have a greater opportunity to control the delivery experience,
e.g. legal advice, medical, etc. Many services are being
delivered without the customer and supplier meeting e.g. ATMs,
telephone banking, etc.
(6) Complexity of Service: Complexity of services reflects the
number of steps that are involved in delivering the services. By
looking at the blueprint it can be easily determined whether the
service is high or low in complexity and its divergence can be
determined by having a
SERVICE PROCESS PLANNING: "..
The following strategic decisions and
design elements must be considered in the service planning
process.
(1) Basic Technological Decision.
(2) Conversion/Materials Decision.
(3) Specific Equipment Decision.
(4) Process Flow Decision:
(a) Blue prints.
(b) Flow charts.
(c) Front and back Office.
(d) Layouts.
(e) Benchmarks.

(5) People Decision.

(1) Basic Technological Decision: In some cases,

technology exists but not in consumerised form. So the question
arises: Whether the technology available can be developed to
provide the materials, processes and equipment to deliver the
service? For an example, at one time it was possible to design
printed electronic circuits on small chips, but the technology and
specific equipment required to produce the chips were beyond
the state of the act. In the same way telephone was invented in
1876, but the technology came in use for consumer 15 years
later when the telephone dial was invented.
(2) Conversion/Materials Decision: The decision on
conversion process is complex as it depends on technological
and market factors as well as economic considerations. There
are many alternative processes and materials that will satisfy the
design specifications. When each person or machine supplying a
service is dedicated to providing that specific service efficiency
is achieved. However effectiveness is achieved by the flexibility
in the conversion process. In other words, the broadest range of
services should be supplied by the service provider.
(3) Specific Equipment Decision: Technology selection is an
important decision for any firm. It must fully support the design
of the product or service as it creates the demand and
requirements for all other parts of the operating system. It is
necessary for a manager to be able to Visualise' the physical
process taking place in order to make intelligent decisions about
equipment and process technology.
Types of Basic Conversion Systems:
The selection of equipment is dependent on the type of
conversion systems that is chosen. The conversion system can
be grouped into three basic categories:
(a) Fixed position
(b) Process based and
(c) Product or service based.
Fixed position conversion is often characteristic of custom, high
quality personal service. Examples: Beauty treatments,
landscaping etc. Higher education is a good example of process
based conversion or batch production in services. Students move
in batches from class to class. The conversion system is said to
be service based if the equipment required to serve a customer is
arranged in a sequence according to the steps in the service
process.
Service sector Management
Example: Fast food restaurants.
Process Flow Decision: It is related to conversion/materials
decision and specific equipment decision. The process flow
decision is developed on the basis of flow process charts, blue
prints, layouts and benchmarking.
(a) Service Blue Print: A service blue print is a flowchart of
the service process. It is a picture of a service system. It conveys
the service concept by showing the service at an overview level.
It shows how each job or department functions in relation to the
service as a whole.
In preparing a service blue print the following important
steps are taken:
(I) Identify the activities involved in developing the service
and prevent them in a diagrammatic form,
(II) Identify the failure points. Develop a system and
procedure to reduce the likelihood of their occurring in the first
instance. • .
(iii) Set standards for measuring the performance.
(iv) Analyze the profitability of the service delivered.
The blueprinting exercise also gives the managers the
opportunity to identify the potential point of failure and design
"foolproof" procedures so that they may not occur again.
Thus, a blue print is a precise definition of the service delivery
system that allows the management to test the service concept
before final commitments are made. By identifying potential
points of failure and highlighting opportunities to enhance
customer's perception of the service, the blue print facilitates
problem solving and creative thinking. Uses of Service Blue
Prints:
Managers employ the concept of blue prints to assist in the
decision making activities associated with strategy setting,
allocation of resources, integration of service functions and
overall evaluation of performance. Blue prints are used by
marketing managers in developing advertising and sales
promotion campaigns. Details service blue prints are useful to
marketing and communication people.
The marketing managers can employ them in consumers
research. They can also use them as a starting point for
development of consumer material in order to convey invisible
actions.
When it is time to shift the new services from R&D into routine
operation, the marketing manager performing an R&D function
can use detailed blue prints in order to communicate operational
details. Detailed service blue prints can be used by human
resource managers in preparing job description, selection
criteria, performance appraisal system and compensation
schemes.
The training managers can use them as a foundation for setting
realistic training objectives and creating task based training
material. Even the technology managers can adopt detailed
service blue prints as the technical basis in order to evaluate the
need for new software and order or develop it.
(b) Service Mapping/Flow Charting: Flowcharting can be
applied to any type of service when a management needs to gain
a better understanding of how the service is created and
delivered. It is also known as service mapping when portraying
an existing situation and service blueprinting, when planning a
new or revised process and prescribing how it ought to function.
Developing a flowchart begins by identifying
Each interaction that a particular type of customer has while
using a specific service. Managers should distinguish between
the core products and supplementary elements.
The next stage is to put all these interactions linearly into the
sequence in which they occur. The service delivery process is
like a rivet, some activities take place upstream and others
downstream. At each step the management needs to know what
does the customer really wants and where is the potential for
failure at this step. It is seen that flowcharting provides a means
for managers to gain understanding of the underlying service
processes and is the first step necessary in exercising control
over such procedures.
This technique is particularly useful for depicting the set of
activities experienced by customers in learning about ordering,
using and paying for a specific service. Managers must
recognize that unless they fully understand the customers own
exposure to the involvement in a service environment, it is very
difficult to improve service quality and productivity. (c) Front
and Back Office: The front office is that part of the system
which, is directly experienced and visible to the customer. This
is the place where the actual service is performed. That part of
the system from which the office is excluded is the back office.
e.g. Kitchen in a restaurant. It is the manufacturing side of the
service that is not visible to the customer. There are certain
services like banks where the back office Ts visible to the
customer. (d) Layouts: The layouts of a service organisation
can be Process layout, Product layout or Group layout. In
process layout the resources are arranged according to the
particular state in the process that is to be applied to the
customer. It allows the servers to specialise at particular tasks.
In product layout the requirements of specific group of
customers are identified and only than the resources are
sequentially set-up so that the customers flow through the
system and move from one system to another until the service is
complete. E.g. Car servicing.
Group layout is a composite to batch and flow and embraces the
advantages of both. The group layout approach is generally
more customer focused and given satisfaction to the employees
or it offers a wider variety of possible tasks. (E) Benchmark,
Benchmarking and Steps in Benchmarking:
Benchmark:
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The word benchmark is defined by The Oxford Dictionary for
the Business World as "Standard or point of reference".
Benchmark is related to a company's product, services and
practices. Normally benchmarking is required by a company to
have market leadership in the industry and competitive
advantages over others due to its enhanced performance.
Performance and quality improvement process is directly linked
to financial performance in terms of net profit of the company.
Benchmark is a lever to make workforce in a company to
change. The benchmarks show much more profit than the profit
of another company in the same market and with the same
products but using different mechanisms. Benchmarking:
Benchmarking is not a single time job. At the same time,
benchmarking is neither a complex job such as building a
nuclear reactor nor is an inaccessible technology for an ordinary
manager. It is just a process of continuous improvement over a
company's manufacturing process, distribution process,
advertisement process, consumer.
satisfaction process and so on. In the late 1970s, when the
Japanese competitors such as Cannon, Mitsubishi etc. entered
into the US market the Xerox Co. pioneered the process of
benchmarking its manufacturing costs against those of domestic
and Japanese competitors. However, this benchmarking concept
has become widely accepted only in he late 1980s. Nowadays,
international quality standards due to the use of benchmarks are
taken as a cue and they are applicable to India management
practices also. Approaches of Benchmarking:
The benchmarking of a company may be related to (1)
Consumer services, (2) Distribution channel, (3) Product
development, (4) Reduction of total manufacturing cost, (5)
Improving maintenance operation, (6) Improving/curtailing
human resources, (7) Downsizing inventory levels, (8) Quality
and strategic positioning of the market and so on.
When the benchmarking is completed and implemented, the
results of such company in terms of its net profit are astounding.
As an example, the British Airways (BA) began the process of
benchmarking the customer satisfaction by identifying the
strengths and weaknesses of BA. It found out that its staff
members were rarely visible to passengers when there were
problems in the baggage hall. Through the benchmarking
process, it came to know that many other airlines and staff
members assisting in the baggage area. After the benchmarking
process, the BA implemented the following: Service people
were placed in the baggage hall, Lost-baggage-passengers were
given drinks in the lounge, Providing free-telephone on arrival
information to both meeters and greeters, Help-line telephone in
the terminal etc. These benchmarks embedded in the minds of
the passengers and they were ready to pay more for a ticket; the
company was able to reduce 150 million pounds from its
overhead in its second year of this benchmarking process. Steps
in Benchmarking:
The following steps are required to do benchmarking process:
Step 1: Identify the Items to be Benchmarked: The very first
step is to identify your own self as a company. Zoom in and
focus accurately on the analysis, implementation and retrieval of
your own work. After doing this, identify the company's
operation, function or service which are to be benchmarked.
Define them categorically. Never take broad subject area, such
as reducing delivery time to consumers. The delivery time may
be related to one or more of the following channels: (i) One-
level channel (retailers). A big company such as Hindustan
Lever Ltd. has region-wise and area-wise two-level channel on
its more than 135 products. In such case the company has to
benchmark on "delivery of shampoo to customers in Chennai
area through the wholesaler and/or retailer".
Step 2: Create a Benchmarking Team: Benchmarking arises
from the result of a team effort. Formation of a team is the norm,
even though individuals can also do benchmarking process, the
results of the team are far superior to the results of an individual
benchmark. Therefore, a blend of skills, expertise, experience
and understandability of each other member and preparedness to
achieve the objective is the basic requirement needed to form a
team. Once the team is formed, rules and responsibilities of each
member must be assigned. In case of not attaining the basic
requirement of a team, then plethora of wrong and unrequired
information may be collected, or they may be improperly used
and analysed by the improper team. The very purpose of
benchmarking process will end up as a failure.

Step 3: Trace out the Benchmark Partners: Few companies may

follow the world class practices and these benchmark leaders
may be taken as a partner. However the basic requirement is
such company is also ready to share their benchmarking
information. Their comparable operation may be within the
same industry or in dissimilar industries, but with best practices.
In addition to this, articles from magazines/newspapers,
publications of consultancies, printouts issued by trade
associations etc. can also be used as benchmark partners.
Step 4: Identify the Data Collection Process: There are
numerous ways of collecting data, such as postal surveys, direct
interviews, collection through questionnaire, desk-fop research
through internet and so on. However, these collections' of data
depend on the type, quantity and resources of the benchmarkable
product/service, ability, design and execution of the
benchmarking team and the objectives of the benchmarking
process.
Step 5: Termination of the Benchmarking Study: The
benchmark study must be finalised after analysing all the data in
an impartial way. Irrelevant, inaccurate and unreliable data must
be thrown out and the team must come out with the findings.
Compare your company's strength and weakness with those of
benchmarking partners, in case you find out any performance
gap between yours and the benchmarking partners in terms of
performance, efficiency, implementation, operation etc., fill that
gap. Suppose this gap is not filled by your company/team, the
whole benchmarking process becomes meaningless.
Step 6: Implement the Findings: The findings derived after
filling the gap as given in step 5 should be ruthlessly
implemented in to the task force of predetermined operation,
function or service (refer step 1)
The benchmarking by a company on its operation, function or
service may become the standard in its industry, such
benchmarked company slowly becomes the leader and other
companies in the same as well as dissimilar industries adopt its
standards. The knowledge is disseminated, the consumers are
benefited and the power of a company in terms of its profit and
net worth value to shareholders are multiplied in many fold.
Source: Indian Journal of Marketing, (5) People Decision: The
decision regarding people means determining the number of
people, their skills, and the labour cost. Many a times people
decisions are made on the assumption that people may be hired
any way. The need to have knowledgeable, continuous and
.motivated workforce is overlooked. A firm may have
sophisticated technology but it is the people who manage them
and therefore in people decision knowledgeable and motivated
work fpfce cannot be overlooked
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Generally a service transaction involves the interaction of the
service provider with the customer in a service environment.
Services like hotel services and hospitals are delivered in
physical environment created by the service firm.
Physical evidence is termed as the social environment along
with the tangible cues. Zeithaml & Bitner defines physical
evidence as "the environment in which the service is delivered
and where the firm and customer interact; and any tangible
commodities that facilitate performance communication of the
service".

Physical Evidence includes all the efforts taken by the service

provider to tangibilise their services, they include:
(a) Physical facilities.
(b) Physical environment, and
(c) Social settings.
(a) PHYSICAL FACILITIES:
On the basis of physical evidence like building, furniture,
equipment, stationery etc the potential customers forms an
impression about the service organisation.
Physical evidence include essential evidence and peripheral
evidence. Essential evidence are the technical facilities without
which the service delivery is not possible e.g. air-craft in the
airline services. Essential evidence is integral to the service
offerings. In every services, the quality and standard of the
essential evidence will be of major influence in the customer's
purchase decision.
Peripheral evidence can actually change hands during the
service transaction, they include stationery, brochures etc.
Though services can be performed without these items, still they
can be used to enhance the corporate image.
Examples of physical evidences that could be included for a fast
food restaurant:
Physical Evidences Inferences
(1) Food - Taste, smell, presentation etc.
(2) Seating - Comfort, layout, availability.
(3) Overall appearance - Cleanliness, decor, lighting,
attractiveness.
(4) Facilities - Payphones, toilets, children
amusement.
(5) Service delivery - Efficient, prompt
(6) Atmosphere - Friendly, cold, indifferent.
- Location of entrances, car parking.
.sr
Another factor influencing consumer expectations of service
quality and satisfaction is the physical setting or the service
environment within which the service takes place.
The important elements of physical settings are:
(i) Ambience.
(ii) Space.
(iii) Decor and Artifacts.
(i) Ambience: The ambience of the physical setting include
temperature, lighting, noise, music, scent and colour. All these
factors affect the way the people think, feel and respond to a
particular service setting. The most comfortable source of light
is the natural light. In the absence of natural light artificial light
is needed. Different types-of lights create different types of
atmosphere. For an example, low levels of lighting are
associated with romantic setting, well lit passages create a
feeling of safety and so on.
Often colour and lighting are used in conjunction. Colours create
different feelings, some colours have a soothing feeling while
some have disturbing feelings. Green and blue are cool colours
whereas red, orange and yellow are warm colours. Temperature
and humidity also affect the comfort of the customer and
employees. It affects the efficiency directly.
 (i) Space: People need space around them to feel
comfortable. Ease of access, good visibility, proximity of
linked services will help to make the customer feel
comfortable. The service provider should not expect the
customer to share their space with others as it will lead to
8
Physical Evidence includes all the efforts taken by the service
provider to tangibilise their services, they include:
(a) Physical facilities.
(b) Physical environment, and
(c) Social settings.
(a) PHYSICAL FACILITIES:
On the basis of physical evidence like building, furniture,
equipment, stationery etc the potential customers forms an
impression about the service organisation.
Physical evidence include essential evidence and peripheral
evidence. Essential evidence are the technical facilities without
which the service delivery is not possible e.g. air-craft in the
airline services. Essential evidence is integral to the service
offerings. In every services, the quality and standard of the
essential evidence will be of major influence in the customer's
purchase decision.
Peripheral evidence can actually change hands during the
service transaction, they include stationery, brochures etc.
Though services can be performed without these items, still they
can be used to enhance the corporate image.
Examples of physical evidences that could be included for a fast
food restaurant:
Physical Evidences Inferences
(1) Food - Taste, smell, presentation etc.
(2) Seating - Comfort, layout, availability.
(3) Overall appearance - Cleanliness, decor, lighting,
attractiveness.
(4) Facilities - Payphones, toilets, children
amusement.
(5) Service delivery - Efficient, prompt
(6) Atmosphere - Friendly, cold, indifferent.
- Location of entrances, car parking.
.
Another factor influencing consumer expectations of service
quality and satisfaction is the physical setting or the service
environment within which the service takes place.
The important elements of physical settings are:
(i) Ambience.
(ii) Space.
(iii) Decor and Artifacts.
(i) Ambience: The ambience of the physical setting include
temperature, lighting, noise, music, scent and colour. All these
factors affect the way the people think, feel and respond to a
particular service setting. The most comfortable source of light
is the natural light. In the absence of natural light artificial light
is needed. Different types-of lights create different types of
atmosphere. For an example, low levels of lighting are
associated with romantic setting, well lit passages create a
feeling of safety and so on.
Often colour and lighting are used in conjunction. Colours create
different feelings, some colours have a soothing feeling while
some have disturbing feelings. Green and blue are cool colours
whereas red, orange and yellow are warm colours. Temperature
and humidity also affect the comfort of the customer and
employees. It affects the effeciency directly.
(i) Space: People need space around them to feel
comfortable. Ease of access, good visibility,
proximity of linked services will help to make the
customer feel comfortable. The service provider
should not expect the customer to share their space
with others as it will lead to
10