Part 4
DELIVERING AND
PERFORMING
SERVICE
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Provider GAP 3
CUSTOMER
Service Delivery
COMPANY
GAP 3
Customer-Driven
Service Designs and
Standards
Part 4 Opener
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Chapter
11
Employees’ Roles
in Service Delivery
• The Critical Importance of Service
Employees
• Boundary Spanning Roles
• Strategies for Closing Gap 3
• Service Culture
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Objectives for Chapter 11:
Employees’ Roles in Service Delivery
• Illustrate the critical importance of service
employees in creating customer satisfaction and
service quality
• Demonstrate the challenges inherent in boundaryspanning roles
• Provide examples of strategies for creating
customer-oriented service delivery
• Show how the strategies can support a service
culture where providing excellent service is a way
of life
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Figure 11.2
The Services Marketing Triangle
Company
(Management)
Internal
Marketing
External
Marketing
enabling
promises
Employees
setting
promises
Interactive Marketing
Customers
keeping promises
Source: Adapted from Mary Jo Bitner, Christian Gronroos, and Philip Kotler
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Services Marketing Triangle
Applications Exercise
• Focus on a service organization. In the context
you are focusing on, who occupies each of the
three points of the triangle?
• How is each type of marketing being carried out
currently?
• Are the three sides of the triangle well aligned?
• Are there specific challenges or barriers in any of
the three areas?
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Ways to Use the
Services Marketing Triangle
• Overall Strategic
Assessment
– How is the service
organization doing on all
three sides of the triangle?
– Where are the weaknesses?
– What are the strengths?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
• Specific Service
Implementation
– What is being promoted
and by whom?
– How will it be delivered
and by whom?
– Are the supporting systems
in place to deliver the
promised service?
©2003. The McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved
Figure 11.3
The Service Profit Chain
Source: An exhibit from J. L. Heskett, T. O. Jones, W. E. Sasser, Jr., and L. A. Schlesinger,
“Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 1994, p. 166.
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Service Employees
•
•
•
•
•
They are the service.
They are the organization in the customer’s eyes.
They are the brand.
They are marketers.
Their importance is evident in:
– The Services Marketing Mix (People)
– The Service-Profit Chain
– The Services Triangle
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Service Employees
• Who are they?
– “boundary spanners”
• What are these jobs like?
– emotional labor
– many sources of potential conflict
•
•
•
•
person/role
organization/client
interclient
quality/productivity
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Figure 11.4
Boundary Spanners Interact with Both
Internal and External Constituents
External Environment
Internal Environment
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Figure 11.5
Sources of Conflict for
Boundary-Spanning Workers
• Person vs. Role
• Organization vs. Client
• Client vs. Client
• Quality vs. Productivity
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Figure 11.6
Human Resource Strategies for Closing GAP 3
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Develop
People to
Deliver
Service
Quality
P
Te rom
am ot
wo e
rk
Me
as
Re ure a
w
Str ard nd
o
S
n
P e er vi g
rfo ce
rm
ers
Treat
Employees
as
Customers
e
lud s in
Inc ee
y
plo e
s
Em th any’
mp n
Co Visio
De
S e vel o
or rvic p
i
e
Int ente Pr ern d
oc
es al
se
s
CustomerOriented
Service
Delivery
Provide
Needed Support
Systems
Provide
Supportive
Technology
and
Equipment
Empower
Employees
Retain the
Best
People
Hire the
Right People
B
Pr e t
Em efe he
p l r r ed
oy
er
r
fo and
ain l
Tr nica tive
ch r ac
Te Inte kills
S
r
fo
e
t t
p e es
m B le
Co the op
Pe
Hire for
Service
Competencies
and Service
Inclination
re
su al
a
Me tern e
In rvic y
Se alit
Qu
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Empowerment
• Benefits:
– quicker responses
– employees feel more
responsible
– employees tend to interact
with warmth/enthusiasm
– empowered employees are
a great source of ideas
– positive word-of-mouth
from customers
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• Drawbacks:
– greater investments in
selection and training
– higher labor costs
– slower and/or inconsistent
delivery
– may violate customer
perceptions of fair play
– “giving away the store”
(making bad decisions)
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Service Culture
“A culture where an appreciation for good service
exists, and where giving good service to internal
as well as ultimate, external customers, is
considered a natural way of life and one of the
most important norms by everyone in the
organization.”
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