Executive summary
Service quality is a very critical aspect of any business. The paper carried out researches on five service-providing firms. The firms included one bank, three restaurants, and a hospital. Many theories and models have been put in place to explain the subject of service quality. The paper links theories such as the attribution theory and equity theories, among others to the specified service encounters.
The researcher rated the service provided on a five-point rating scale. CERVICAL model also comes in handy in terms of analyzing the aspect of service delivery and quality. The paper also explains the researcher’s expectations together with what he thought the firm would have done at that point. The journal also required the researcher to recommend how employees or the firm would have improved on its service provision. These journals were later on analyzed to give an insight into the practice of service marketing.
First Service Encounter
Various entries were made in a study of service marketing conducted on Joapick hotel on July 22, 2013, at 10.00 am. The researcher had a personal encounter with service providers in this restaurant. The entries were therefore likely to give accurate information about service provision in the restaurant. In this encounter, the researcher had purposed to understand the events and behavior of various front-line operators and employees that result in client dissatisfaction.
The researcher had purposed to visit this restaurant to evaluate how it offers its service. In this entry, the service encounter involved one-on-one communication between the customer and the service-providing officer. For improvement of the delivery of restaurant services, the management should offer close employee supervision. Service provision could also be improved through increased employee commitment.
Second Service Encounter
The second journal entry was made at ANZ bank. The industry offered banking services to its clients. The entry was recorded on June 15, 2013, at 11.00 A.M. The encounter was also entered through a personal visit to the bank. The researcher decided to visit the bank due to its location. The bank was in proximity to the point where the researcher was working. It would therefore, easy for him to reach the bank.
The researcher rated satisfaction with the service encounter at one in a five-point rating scale. The rating depended on the feelings of the client. The researcher felt that way because the front office operators had no organization ability, which resulted in delays in service delivery. The client felt that there were delays in service delivery.
On the question of what the employee or the firm would have done to increase the level of client satisfaction, the journal indicated that the employees of ANZ bank would have been more orderly in their service provision. To improve the service system of ANZ bank, bank management should apply job subdivision. The bank should also restructure its job design in a way that employees who are offering any service feel at the right positions in a bid to maximize their input and hence the overall yield of the bank.
Third Service Encounter
The third journal was recorded from PPK restaurant, which is a service industry that provides food services to its clients. The data was recorded on July 2, 2013, at 10.00 A.M. The service encounter took place via telephone. The specific circumstance of the encounter was expectations. The researcher had expectations that the restaurant would provide better services owing to its high publicity. According to the journal, the rate of satisfaction with the service encounter was put at five on a five-point rating scale. This was the highest rating mark.
The researcher recorded that the feeling of delight resulted from the fact that service providers were able to provide services on time. The services were also satisfactory to the customer. The researcher also suggested that the employee or the firm would have improved on their level of emotional labor to offer better services. From this journal, there is an indication that the service system required that employees need to do job training on emotional labor.
Fourth Service Encounter
The fourth journal entry form was filled from Making hospital. The hospital provides a variety of medical services to clients. This journal focused on services offered by nurses at Making hospital. The journal entry was made on July 30, 2013, at 10.00 A.M. The journal was recorded during a personal service encounter with the hospital nurses. This encounter resulted from the expectations of the researcher on the quality of services provided by the hospital.
The service encounter with this hospital was rated at two in a five-point rating scale. The researcher attributed this below-average performance to the fact that the service providing employees did not indicate much dedication to their duties and responsibilities. For example, nurses would respond to patients’ questions in a rude way.
On the issues of what the hospital would have done to improve on the client’s level of satisfaction, the researcher asserted that it should have motivated its employees to enable them to offer the best qualities to the client. The researcher also suggested that the service provider should improve on employee motivation to make employees perfect their service provision ability.
Fifth Service Encounter
The fifth journal entry was entered from Small World Restaurant. The company provides catering services. The journal was entered on June 29, 2013, at 10.00 A.M. The service encounter happened through mail correspondence. The encounter was purposely planned by the researcher.
The service encounter was rated at two on a five-point rating scale. The researcher attributed this rating to the fact that the restaurant took much time to respond to the mail and had little commitment to mail. The journal entry also indicated that the restaurant would have minimized delays in service delivery. The service system needs improvement in communication and training of employees on the best communication practices.
Analysis of service encounters
The service encounters may be explained in several theories and models. Although some were related, there are also differences within these models. In the first service encounter, the three evident theories are the attribution theory, equity theory, and personal involvement. The attribution theory is used to explain human behavior and suit the first case based on the employee attitude at the work place (Bloemer, de Ruyter & Peeters, 1998, p.276; Choi et al., 2004, p.913).
Various models can be used to explain the behaviors of the employees in the first encounter, and the owner of the restaurant expresses a particular attitude to the employees. Caruana (2002, p. 811) states that the theory is important as it can be used to explain human behavior even in management and business.
Equity theory also applies to the encounter, with the employees trying to fit in the workplace and appear to be doing equal tasks. However, they had little personal involvement, and this could be a significant factor for the performance of the business and the employee rating.
The banking industry, as represented in the second encounter, displays several theories that are generalizable in other organizations. In this second encounter, disconfirmation of expectation paradigm is applicable. The encounter proves that employees are not always satisfied with the services offered in organizations despite the positive feedback that this confirmation of expectations paradigm may provide.
The encounter also includes a display of the conceptual model of service quality (Brown & Meuter, 2000, p.138). Consumers have personal needs, experience and other sources of information to predict the services that they can get from institutions such as banks, and marketers should filling the gaps that exist in the satisfaction of these services.
The SEQUAL model can also be applied here. Marketers should ensure that they participate in creating reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and assurance so that the clients are assured of quality services (Brady, Cronin & Brand, 2002, p.17).
The third and fifth encounters were both in restaurants, and the major values that were evident include the consumer expectation types. Consumers display varying expectations based on several factors. Desired expectations are displayed in the restaurants, with the management having to use the marketing team to make sure the customers provide feedback on these expectations. The other forms of expectations that are evident include equitable and predictive expectations (Lovelock, Patterson & Walker, 2011).
The fourth service encounter in MarieKing Hospital was crucial in displaying the different kinds of values in organizations, including perceived value, performance value, social value, emotional value, and interaction value.
Though the clients in the institution displayed the values, the performance value and the social values were expressed in a significant way and applicable in the management of the institution. The reason for the application of the social value is mainly the nature of the institution that is meant to offer services without regard to client ability to pay for the services.
The link between Theory and Practice
The theories discussed above are applicable in management and business, and organizations apply them to ensure that they maintain a competitive edge in the respective markets. In the disconfirmation and expectation paradigm, employers can use surveys to ensure that the consumers are satisfied with the services offered by their organizations.
The SEQUAL model also helps employers to gauge the service delivery quality in their respective organizations. This will be effective in making them improve their services. Chebat and Slusarczyk (2005, p.664) assert that the declining quality of service in service provision industry has been associated with poor training of employees. Consumers tend to stick to organizations that provide the best services as per their evaluations, and the service encounters discussed above are good examples of the same.
Organizations can apply the 7 P’s of marketing in the form of price, place, product, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence to ensure that their products are rated highly. The product design, quality, and usability are some of the factors that they can alter in the output to ensure that it is appealing in the market (Bitner, Brown & Meuter, 2000, p.138).
The place of sale and the price at which the products are available should also be convenient to the customers, with the employees being trained on how to approach the target market. Physical evidence and promotion will be crucial in the determination of the availability of a particular product to the target market.
The characteristic of services is some of the other links that exist between theory and practice in marketing. Marketers should aim at replicating the goals of the department in the field (Brady, Cronin, and Brand 2002, p.16), with the right measures being put into place for this. The theories in marketing provide a conceptual framework on which marketers can use to promote their products and organization.
To ensure that the theory is applied, marketers and organizations need to plan and make the objectives of the particular department, with the employees being trained on the same (Pluta-Olearnik, 2011). The organizations should also carry out surveys to evaluate the efficiency of the applied theories and take relevant measures based on the findings (Cadogan et al., 2001, p.261).
Decision-making process in organizations should be consultative and inclusive, with members in all the working levels being involved (Nijssen & Herk, 2009). Despite involving several employees, the decision-making process should also be fast enough to ensure that the relevant measures are taken in time. A service triangle involving consumers should also be established (Bendapudi & Leone, 2002, p.83).
The management should not be solely involved in decision making that is likely to involve other employees without consulting them first. Several factors influencing behavior in organizations include the culture in the organization, the social background of the employees, and the management, and the type of personalities within the organization.
Employees and the management team can display differing behaviors based on the above factors (Brady & Robertson, 2001, p.53). To ensure that the behaviors do not affect the output of the organization, an appropriate organizational culture should be cultivated.
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework of service delivery that is relevant in the above service encounters is mainly the working hypothesis and the descriptive types. Analysis of the literature on the same topic would provide adequate information for a descriptive study, and this would ensure that any gaps in the literature are filled and more models of evaluating service encounters are developed (Choi et al., 2004, p.913).
The initial process of planning such a study would involve the assessment of the services discussed, and appropriate information gathered based on the existing theories and other literature on the same. Businesses need to ensure that marketing is an essential function, and such a framework would be beneficial (Schultz, Frederiksen & Doerr, 2013; Bendapudi & Leone, 2002, p.83).
Marketing does not necessarily involve the presentation of the products and can be done even using other methods (Daunt & Harris, 2012; Elsamen & Alshuride, 2012). The conclusions of a study on the service encounters above would go a long way in determining the efficacy in the marketing profession.
Summary and Conclusion
Service encounter has become a relevant field of study in the business world. The researcher carried out journal entries from various service providers. Analysis of various service encounters indicated that service provision in the world economy is still below average.
The findings of the research indicated that factors such as poor communication, low motivation, and lack of proper training resulted in poor service quality. The research also found that service encounter quality has a direct impact on the level of customer satisfaction. Service encounter was also found to influence the perception of service quality.
Reference List
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