36 Employee and Customer role in Service delivery

Dr. Puja Waalia Mann

 

1.0 Introduction

 

Employees of a service organization are the only face between the marketer and the customer till the time the service delivery is completed. It is the employees who facilitate the interface between the organization and the market. Service organizations spend huge amounts in creating a Brand by consistently striving to create and sustain a strategic advantage in the highly competitive market. But eventually it is the delivery of „satisfaction‟ from the employee to the customer that builds or kills the Service Brands. In addition, the customers are also increasingly taking a center stage in the creation and delivery of services to define the performance standards. Thus it is significant to understand the role played by the employees and the customers in the Service delivery.

 

1.1 Learning Objectives

 

a)      Role of Employees in Service Delivery

b)      Employees as contributors to quality, satisfaction and value

c)      Role of Customers in Service Delivery

d)      Levels of Customer participation in Service Delivery

e)      Customers‟ roles in service experiences

f)       Customers as contributors to quality, satisfaction and value

 

1.2 Key Words

 

Service delivery, Service Quality, Employees in service delivery

 

2.0 Role of Employees in Service Delivery

 

In most of the service marketing encounters, the delivery personnel would be the only interface between the Customer and the organization and hence these employees make a significant contribution in the development of the organizational competitive advantage. It rests upon the Service delivery employees to ensure that the interaction between them and the customer is consistent with the desired positioning of the Service encounter as conceived by the top management to make the building of the competitive edge exercise successful. Front end executives are considered as the most important asset for any service organization and hence the most capable in achieving and sustaining the competitive advantage.

 

2.1 Role of Employees in building Service Brands

 

For any Service organization to survive in the increasingly competitive market, building Brands has become an important strategic tool (Sureshchandar et al, 2002). According to Avin Achenbaum, a

 

Brand represents the sum total of consumers‟ perceptions and feelings about the features and performance of the Product or service (Keller, 1999). The process of Branding places customers at the central focus of all marketing decisions. This is done so that the Brand is perceived to be consumer friendly thereby leading to a top of the mind recall resulting in financial gains for the organization (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000). According to Noble et al (2002), if any organization wants to build itself as a Brand, all components of the organization should be committed to the Branding process, including the development of the culture where customers are viewed as central to all the interventions. In such a situation it is pertinent for the service delivery employees to be viewed as playing an important role in creating customer values through their interactions. Therefore it is important for the organization to treat these employees as most important variable in presenting a service, reinforcing a Brand image and ensuring customer satisfaction by coming up to the expectations of the customers at each encounter. The interaction of the frontline employees with the customers will have the lasting impression regarding the reputation of the organization and the perception of the quality of services provided. If the front line executive of an Insurance organization presents the different types of policies to the target customer and is not able to clearly understand the reason of the purchase of the insurance policy during the first fifteen minutes of interaction, it is very likely that the customer will not buy policy from this organization, despite the fact the company has a very appropriate plan meeting the target customer‟s needs. Hence if the frontline employees are able to provide good quality service meeting the needs and expectations of the customers, the customer carries a positive impression about the organization resulting in developing its positive image and reputation.

 

2.2 Role of employees in influencing Service Quality

 

A knowledgeable and well trained Human Resource (HR) would also be instrumental in influencing the Service quality. In Service industry it is extremely important to understand the needs and wants of the customers to be able to service them with the suitable offering. There are five dimensions of Service Quality according to Wilson et al (2008) viz Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy, Assurance and Tangibles. It is the duty of Service HR to understand these dimensions and deliver the same during the service encounter by carefully understanding the needs and wants of the consumers. The quality of service delivery by the HR will have a direct impact on the overall service delivery and Quality perception of the organization. If the Service staff is not trained or is not in sufficient numbers to handle the customers, it is likely that the service delivery would be not upto the desired level of consumer satisfaction. Let us take an example of a Restaurant. A consumer would generally come to the restaurant to be served courteously the desired meals. If the service staff is not trained to be customer –centric in his approach or is not trained to be sensitive to the needs and expectations of the customers, he may end up dissatisfying the customers despite the fact that the food quality may be good. The overall service level of the customer lowers if the service staff is not encouraged to be customer – conscious or service minded.

 

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

 

1.       What do you mean by Service Delivery?

2.       What are the factors affecting Service Delivery?

3.       How can the Employees be crucial to the process of Service Delivery?

4.       Describe the concept of Branding of Services. How can employees contribute in the same?

 

 

3.0 Role of Consumers in Service delivery

 

Predominantly, it is believed that the success of a service encounter, thereby resulting in the success of the Service organization, solely depends upon the Service Employees. There are several research studies also conducted that reflect that the success of any service delivery depends upon the processes involved in delivering the service, service HR and the related tangibles to be served along with the service to the employees. However, there is another important actor in measuring the success or otherwise of the service and that is the Consumer. In many services it is observed that the consumers play a vital role in creating the desired level of service outcome, eventually enhancing or sacrificing their satisfaction level or the value for money perceived to be received. It is ultimately the consumer who decides the fate of a Brand. A Brand perceived as successful by the consumer has the power to charge a premium over its competitors in the cut throat competition. This is true not only for the end consumers in health care or education services but also for the business consumers buying legal or the maintenance services. In these buying situations the customers are an active and integral part of the service creation and service delivery so that they are satisfied with the service. For instance, an HR manager of a Telecom organization wants to hire the services of a Training organization to impart required skills to its Marketing staff, he would be deeply involved in the process of- identifying the need for the training programme; Discussing the content and the skills to be imparted; Methods of delivery of training; Identification and necessary arrangements of participants; Deciding the time, duration, venue, stationery, audio-visual aids required for the training session; Observing the progress of the training and the Evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme. The HR manager has to be constantly involved in the entire training programme along with the outsourced trainers. Thus in such case, the success of the training programme is directly related to two parties representing the customer- HR manager and the Training participants. The success of the training module is dependent upon the needs shared by the HR manager and the participation and learning of the participants. Let us discuss two very important frameworks of Customer participation in the Service delivery.

 

3.1 Levels of Consumer Participation

 

Consumers are directly or indirectly involved in the Service buying situations. The level of involvement can vary across services. We shall broadly categorise the customer‟s involvement in three:

 

a) Low Involvement– There are cases, in which the consumer is merely present physically in a situation and thus have a low level of participation for example, in availing a banking service at any of the commercial Banks, the consumer is only present in a buying situation but is not much involved in the process. In a buying situation related to arranging for the regular maintenance services of office equipments, the business customer‟s involvement is very less and very little is required from the organization. The service seller takes complete charge of the situation may only occasionally seek some information for understanding the condition of the equipments.

 

b) Moderate Customer Involvement– In this buying involvement the customer inputs are needed during the service delivery. For instance while getting a haircut the service receiver needs to provide the necessary inputs on the kind of haircut desired. Similarly, for a business customer interested in getting an advertisement campaign developed by an Advertising agency, the desired positioning and description of the Brand are necessary inputs to be provided for the Agency to choose the desired story line. While ordering food at a full service restaurant, the service delivery staff would seek as much information as possible to deliver the desired taste and quantity of the food. Thus the customer is moderately involved in the process of service delivery by sharing information and giving necessary guidelines to complete a task.

 

c) High Customer Involvement– This is a situation of active client participation in the process of service delivery. The service cannot be generated or delivered without the involvement of the customer. Let us take an example of a person interested in losing some body weight and he/she hires a personal gym trainer. The Gym instructor will not be able to deliver his/her services unless the client is involved in the services at every step. In a business situation, if an HR training firm is hired to conduct a skill enhancement programme, it is mandatory for the target employees to be an active participant of the training session for it to be conducted. Thus, any buying situation in which the service cannot be delivered without the customer being an active participant is the High customer involvement situation.

 

Basis of difference Low-involvement Moderate-involvement High -involvement
1. Customer contribution Customer presence is required Customer inputs are required Customer co- creates services
2 Service creation Processes are standardised Clients‟ inputs customize standard services Active involvement of client guides customized service
3 Inputs required payment may be the only input of  customer Information and support resources may be provided by the customer customer’s regular inputs are manadatory
4 Availability of Service Service is available regardless of the consumer purchase Services are created when the customer demand Services cannot be created without the active participation of the clients
5 Example of End customer Getting a demand Draft made in a Bank Getting a Hair cut Career Counselling
6 Example of Business customer Getting office equipment maintenance Advertisement created by an advertising agency Employee development programme

Adapted from: Hubbert (1995)

 

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

 

5.      Can a customer play any role in delivery of Services? How?

6.      Mention the levels of customer involvement in a buying situation.

7.      Give three examples of different levels of customer‟s involvement in buying situations.

 

 

3.2 Roles of Customers in Service Delivery

 

In the service buying situation, the customer can play various roles depending upon the level of involvement desired from him. There can broadly be three roles observed in a service buying but the roles may not be mutually exclusive. This means that in a given service transaction, there is a possibility of each of the role to be in play.

 

a) Customer’s role as a Productive Resource- This view of the role of customers in service assumes that the service recipients are a part of the service organization and they behave and contribute the way the employees do. This behavior affects the level of service quality (Mills et al., 1983). For example, if a patient is able to provide the complete and accurate health details to the physician, it is very likely for the Doctor to diagnose the illness correctly and hence provide required medication. Similarly, in a business buying situation, hiring a HR recruitment agency would yield the pool of most suitable candidates if the Job description and Job specification is correctly developed and explained to the recruiting agency. In both the above examples, the customer provides the background information of the task at hand, directly and completely to the service provider to increase the likelihood of quality results. However, there are service encounters where the providers may not prefer an active role of the customer and thus seek opportunities to restrict the customer interface as far as possible, which is also convenient to the customer. Such a restriction can actually reduce cost and increase efficiencies. Examples of such situations are the withdrawal of cash through ATM, deposition of cheques by putting it in a box instead of personally handing it over to the Bank staff.

 

b)      Customer’s role as a Contributor to Quality- Customers can also contribute to Quality, satisfaction and value in the service delivery. Often a customer may not be actively interested to increase the productivity of the services of the seller but they are very much concerned about satisfaction of their own needs, which in process may be a learning for the service organisation. This situation can be best described by taking the examples of the medical, educational or legal services. A customer may not be bothered about the overall physical evidence of the hospital or dispensary if he is getting relived of his illness. However, in the process of satisfying his own needs of hygiene, he may contribute in the improvement of the overall cleanliness of the hospital. Similarly, the client may not be much concerned about the winning and losing of a lawyer but is only concerned that the lawyer should be able to win the case for him and would contribute to his best in providing assistance of any type to the lawyer. Many a times, such an involvement may lead to a new learning for the lawyer thereby facilitating him in some future situation. This is the role played by the customer as a contributor in value and satisfaction of the service purchased. The same is true for a business customer hiring a management consultancy firm. The organisation can be benefitted by contributing to the development of the improvement plan by sharing information about anticipated hurdles in implementation. This practical awareness may be useful for the consultancy firm in many future assignments. In addition to this, many customers may also enjoy the process of their participation in the service delivery. Thus, the service buyer not only fulfill their own needs but also provide some valuable learnings to the service provider thereby contributing in enhancing service quality and value.

 

c)      Customer’s role as a competitor to the Service seller- a final role played by the customers could be that of a potential competitor. In many service buying situations, the customer may be able to produce a service on his own, either completely or in parts, instead of purchasing it from the market. The decision whether the service be produced by the customer or it should be purchased is crucial for the service seller. An example of such a situation could be for a consumer to go to a retail outlet to purchase the groceries or get them delivered at home by ordering at any online retailer. A business consumer can develop a training workshop for the sales executives using its internal resources instead of hiring an external management development firm do the same. There could be several factors affecting the choice of service procurement, with cost and control as important variables to develop the services internally, and convenience and expertise as the determinants favoring external purchase of services. In the above mentioned situations the customer may become a potential threat to the service seller by opting to do the given task himself. Thus a customer may play the role of a competitor in these situations.

Fig 1.1 Role of Customer in Service creation

 

 

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

 

8.       Mention the roles played by a customer in service delivery.

9.       Can a customer become a competitor to a service seller? How?

10.   “Quality of service is determined by the customer”. Do you agree? Why/Why not?

 

 

4.0 Conclusion

 

Service delivery is the interaction of the service systems, service employees and the service buyer in any service buying situation. The role of all three variables is important in improving the quality of service delivered to satisfy the needs of the customers. The employees play a very important role in the delivery of the services as they are the face of the service organization. The employees understanding of the customer‟s needs and wants and the offering of the appropriate solution to the customer by making him appreciate its importance to satisfy his needs is significant to decide the level of satisfaction of the customers. The other important actor in the level of satisfaction with the service delivery is the customer himself. The customer can have varying degree of participation in the service delivery situation starting from low involvement to high involvement. This level of involvement results in any of the three roles played by the customer i.e. as a productive resource, as a contributor to quality and satisfaction and as a potential competitor. The resultant level of service quality and the level of customer satisfaction depends upon both the employees and the customers themselves.

 

 

5.0 Summary

 

Service marketing is the marketing of intangible package of benefits offered to the customers for the satisfaction of needs and wants. In the process of Service delivery the Service staff as well as the customers play an important role. Employees are the face of the Service organization. They are trained to be empathetic to the needs and wants of the customers and offer them a service to meet the customer‟s expectations. Consistently meeting and exceeding the needs of the customers contribute in the development of the Brand of the Service organization. Customers, on the other hand, are an active participant as well as a co-creator of the services and thus contribute in defining the service quality. The level of Customer involvement in service delivery may range from low to high, depending upon the type of service, which also defines the role that a customer may play in service delivery.

Learn More:

  1. a) Aaker, D. and Joachimsthaler, E. (2000), Brand Leadership, Free Press, New York.
  2. b) Keller, K. (1998), Strategic Brand Management, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
  3. c) Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., (2007), Marketing an Introduction, Prentice Hall, South Asian Edition
  4. d) Hubbert, A.R. (1995), “Customer co-creation of service outcomes: effects of locus of causality attributions”, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University.
  5. e) Mills, P.K., Chase, R.B. and Margulies, N. (1983), “Motivating the client/employee system as a service production strategy”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 301-10.
  6. f) Noble, C.H., Rajiv, K.S. and Kumar, A., (2002), “Market Orientation and alternative strategic orientations: A longitudinal assessment of performance implications”, Journal of Marketing, Vol 66 No 4, pp. 25-39
  7. g) Sureshchandar, G., Rajendran, C. and Anantharaman, O., (2002), “The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction – A factor specific approach”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol 16 No 4, pp. 363-379
  8. h) Wilson A., Zeithaml V.A., Bitner M.J., Gremler D.D. (2008) Services Marketing, McGraw-Hill Education