NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
NUS Business School
Department of Decision Sciences
DSC3203 Service Operations Management
Lecturer
:
Professor Teo Chung Piaw
Session
:
Semester I I, 2007/2008
Introduction
Services are a predominant force in our society. The rapid and continuing growth in service
sector is providing marked opportunities for managers. Understanding the concepts of
successfully managing the service will provide a significant advantage to new graduates
who, the odds are, will find themselves employed by a service-oriented firm.
Good service does not happen as a result of one extraordinary employee who goes out of
the way to please a customer; good service should be properly planned and managed.
Service operations management concerns the design, planning, direction and control of all
the facilities, processes and required activities to transform labour, capital, materials,
energy, and skills into performance and delivery of service. Good service organisation
performs the operations functions of planning, scheduling, equipment operation, quality
control, record keeping, and human resource management for maintaining efficient
usefulness. This takes place while ensuring that the quality of the service is both high and
consistent.
Course Objectives
The intent of the service operations management course is to provide students with an
understanding of the analysis, decision making and implementation issues of managing the
operational aspects of a service. There must be a strategy for providing service, which
matches the target market with the strengths of the Service Company. Furthermore, the
operational decision-making must support the service strategy of the company. Decisions
such as location, layout, capacity, inventory, distribution and quality assurance must be in
place. We must effectively address the management of technologies and human resources.
Borrowing techniques from the manufacturing sector can resolve some issues; others are
uniquely service oriented and require special consideration. The course will have a
comprehensive and systematic coverage of service operations.
Service firms have unique characteristics that challenge managers. For example, service
firms are people-oriented because of the direct interaction with customers. Customers
generally participate in the service process, often with direct and uncensored interactions
with employees and facilities. The resulting variations in demand present a challenge to the
operations manager to effectively use the perishable service capacity. This results because
production and consumption occur simultaneously and thus the inability to inventory
services. The intent of the course is to provide students with the concepts and tools
necessary to effectively manage a service operation.
Course Materials
Recommended Text
Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology by James A.
Fitzsimmons and Mona J. Fitzsimmons, 2005, Fifth Edition, McGraw Hill
Supplementary & Reference Text
Successful Service Operations Management by Metters, King-Metters, Pullman and Walton,
2006, Thomson Learning.
Assessment Method
Class Participation
(Group) Case Presentation
(Group) Term Project
Assignmentsx2
Final Exam
10%
10%
20%
20%
40%
Tentative Course Outline
1.
The Role of Services in an Economy and the Nature of Services
2.
Services Strategy
3.
New Service Development and Technology
4.
Services Quality
5.
Services Facility Location
6.
The Service Encounter
7.
Managing Supply and Demand
8.
Managing Waiting Lines
9.
Managing Capacity and Demand
10.
Managing Service Supply Chain
11.
Managing Facilitating Goods
12.
Managing Service Projects