Essentials of Services Marketing,

2nd Edition

Instructor Supplement
 Designing and Managing Service Processes

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8
 Chapter 8 Outline

8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery

8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage Service Processes
8.3 Service Process Redesign
8.4 The Customer as Co-Creators
8.5 Self-Service Technologies

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 8.1
Flowcharting Service Delivery

5
8.1
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 8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery
Insights from Flowcharting

• Technique for displaying the nature and sequence of the different

steps in delivery service to customers

• Offers way to understand total customer service experience

• Shows how nature of customer involvement with service

organizations varies by type of service:
– People processing
– Possession processing
– Mental Stimulus processing
– Information processing

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 8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery
Simple Flowchart for Delivery of a People-Processing Service
(Fig. 8.1a)

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 8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery
Simple Flowchart for Delivery of a Possession-Processing
Service (Fig. 8.1b)

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 8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery
Simple Flowchart for Delivery of a Mental Stimulus Processing
Service (Fig. 8.1c)

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 8.1 Flowcharting Service Delivery
Simple Flowchart for Delivery of a Information-Processing
Service (Fig. 8.1d)

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 Application exercise

Draw a flowchart for the following services:

1. Medical check-up for flu (people processing)
2. Wash a car (possession processing)
3. Watch a football match at the stadium (mental stimulus processing)
4. Develop a website (information processing)

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 8.2
Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage Service
Processes

8.2
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 Service as a Theater

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Blueprinting
• Developing a Blueprint
- Identify key activities in creating and delivering service
- Define “big picture” before “drilling down” to obtain a higher
level of detail

• Advantages of Blueprinting
- Distinguish between “frontstage” and “backstage”
- Clarify interactions between customers and staff, and support by
backstage activities and systems
- Identify potential fail points; take preventive measures; prepare
contingency
- Pinpoint stages in the process where customer commonly have
to wait

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Key Components of a Service Blueprint
1. Define standards for front-stage activities
2. Specify physical evidence
3. Identify main customer actions
4. Line of interaction (customers and front-stage personnel)
5. Frontstage actions by customer-contact personnel
6. Line of visibility (between front stage and backstage)
7. Backstage actions by customer contact personnel
8. Support processes involving other service personnel
9. Support processes involving IT

- Identify fail points and risks of excessive waits

- Set service standards and do failure-proofing

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Blueprinting the Restaurant Experience: Act 1
(Fig. 8.5)

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Blueprinting the Restaurant Experience: Act 2

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Blueprinting the Restaurant Experience: Act 3

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Blueprinting The Restaurant Experience: A Three-
Act Performance
• Act 1: Introductory Scenes
• Act 2: Delivery of Core Product
– Cocktails, seating, order food and wine, wine service
– Potential fail points: Menu information complete? Menu
intelligible? Everything on the menu actually available?
– Mistakes in transmitting information a common cause of quality
failure – e.g. bad handwriting; poor verbal communication
– Customers may not only evaluate quality of food and drink, but
how promptly it is served, serving staff attitudes, or style of
service
• Act 3: The Drama Concludes
– Remaining actions should move quickly and smoothly, with no
surprises at the end
– Customer expectations: accurate, intelligible and prompt bill,
payment handled politely, guests are thanked for their patronage

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 8.2 Use Blueprinting to Document and Manage
Service Processes
Improving Reliability of Processes by Failure
Proofing

• Identify fail points

• Analysis of reasons for failure often reveals opportunities for failure
proofing to reduce/eliminate future risk of errors
• Need fail-safe methods for both employees and customers
• Have poka-yokes to ensure service staff do things correctly, as
requested, or at the right speed
• Customer poka-yokes focus on preparing the customer for:
– The encounter
– Understanding and anticipating their roles
– Selecting the correct service or transaction

• See Service Insights 8.1 – Framework to

prevent customer failures
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 Setting Service Standards

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 8.3
Service Process Redesign

8.3
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 8.3 Service Process Redesign
Why Redesign? (1)

“Institutions are like steel beams—they tend to rust. What was

once smooth and shiny and nice
tends to become rusty.”
Mitchell T. Rabkin MD,
formerly president of
Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital

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 8.3 Service Process Redesign
Why Redesign? (2)
• Revitalizes process that has become outdated

• Changes in external environment make existing practices obsolete

and require redesign of underlying processes

– Creation of brand-new processes to stay relevant

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 8.3 Service Process Redesign
Why Redesign? (3)
• Rusting occurs internally

– Natural deterioration of internal processes; creeping

bureaucracy; evolution of spurious, unofficial standards

– Symptoms:

○ Extensive information exchange

○ Data that is not useful

○ High ratio of checking or control activities to value-adding

activities

○ Increased exception processing

○ Customer complaints about inconvenient and unnecessary

procedures
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 Objectives of Service Process Redesign

1) Reduced number of service failures

2) Reduced cycle time from customer initiation of a service process to
its completion
3) Enhanced productivity
4) Increased customer satisfaction

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 8.3 Service Process Redesign
Process Redesign: Approaches and Potential Benefits
• Examining service blueprint with key stakeholders

• Eliminating non-value-adding steps

– Simplify front-end and back-end processes with goal of focusing
on benefit-producing part of service encounter
– Get rid of non-value adding steps
– Improve productivity and customer satisfaction

• Shifting to self-service
– Increase in productivity and service quality
– Lower costs
– Enhance technology reputation
– Differentiates company

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 Increased Use of Robots in Service?

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 8.4
The Customer as Co-Creators

8.4
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 8.4 The Customer as Co-Creators
Levels of Customer Participation (1)

• Customer Participation
– Actions and resources supplied by customers during service
production and/or delivery
– Includes mental, physical, and even emotional inputs

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 8.4 The Customer as Co-Creators
Levels of Customer Participation (2)
• 3 levels
– Low ― Employees and systems do all the work
○ Often involves standardized service

- Medium ― Customer helps firm create and deliver service

o Provide needed information and instructions
o Make some personal effort; share physical possessions

- High ― Customer works actively with provider to co-produce the

service
○ Service cannot be created without customer’s active participation
○ Customer can jeopardize quality of service outcome (e.g. weight loss,
marriage counseling)

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 8.4 The Customer as Co-Creators
Customers as Service Co-Creators
• Customers can influence productivity and quality of service
processes and outputs

• Customers not only bring expectations and needs, they also need to
have relevant service production competencies

• Customers also need to be recruited as they are “partial

employees”. Firms need to get those with the skills to do the tasks

• For the relationship to last, both parties need to cooperate with

each other

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 8.5
Self-Service Technologies

8.5
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 8.5 Self-Service Technologies
Self-Service Technologies (SSTs)
• Ultimate form of customer involvement
– Customers undertake specific activities using facilities or systems
provided by service supplier
– Customer’s time and effort replace those of employees

○ e.g. Internet-based services, ATMs, self-service gasoline pumps

• Information-based services can easily be offered using SSTs

– Used in both supplementary services and delivery of core product

○ e.g. eBay ― no human auctioneer needed between sellers and

buyers

• Many companies seek to encourage customers to serve themselves

using Internet-based self-service
– Challenge: getting customers to try this technology

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 8.5 Self-Service Technologies
What Aspects Of SSTs Please Or Annoy Customers?
(1)
• People love SSTs when…
– SST machines are conveniently located and accessible 24/7—
often as close as nearest computer!
– Obtaining detailed information and completing transactions can
be done faster than through face-to-face or telephone contact
– People in awe of what technology can do for them when it works
well
• People hate SSTs when…
– SSTs fail – system is down, PIN numbers not accepted, etc
– Poorly designed technologies that make service processes
difficult to understand and use
– they mess up - forgetting passwords; failing to provide
information as requested; simply hitting wrong buttons

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 8.5 Self-Service Technologies
What Aspects Of SSTs Please Or Annoy Customers?
(2)
• Key weakness of SSTs: Too few incorporate service recovery
systems
– Customers still forced to make telephone calls or personal visits

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 8.5 Self-Service Technologies
Putting SSTs to Test by Asking a Few Simple
Questions
• Does the SST work reliably?
– Firms must ensure that SSTs are dependable and user-friendly
• Is the SST better than interpersonal alternatives?
– Customers will stick to conventional methods if SST doesn’t
create benefits for them
• If it fails, what systems are in place to recover?
– Always provide systems, structures, and technologies that will
enable prompt service recovery when things go wrong

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 Summary for Chapter 8 ― Designing and Managing
Service Processes (1)

• Flowcharting helps clarify delivery elements. It also shows how

nature of customer involvement with service organizations varies
by type of service

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 Summary for Chapter 8 ― Designing and Managing
Service Processes (2)
• Service blueprinting can be used to design a service and create a
satisfying experience for customers. Key components of the blueprint
include
– Definition of standards for each front-stage activity
– Physical and other evidence for front-stage activities
– Principal customer actions
– Line of interaction
– Front-stage actions by customer-contact personnel
– Line of visibility
– Backstage actions by customer-contact personnel
– Support processes involving other service personnel
– Support processes involving information technology
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 Summary for Chapter 8 ― Designing and Managing
Service Processes (3)
• Blueprinting a restaurant (or other service) can be a three-act
performance
– Prologue and introductory scenes
– Delivery of the core product
– Conclusion of the drama
• Failure proofing can be designed into service processes to improve
reliability
• Service process redesign can be categorized into five kinds
– Examining the service blueprint with key stakeholders
– Eliminating non-value-adding steps
– Shifting to self-service
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 Summary for Chapter 8 ― Designing and Managing
Service Processes (4)
• When the customer is a co-producer, issues to consider are
– Levels of customer participation
– Customers as service co-creators

• When deciding to use Self-service Technologies (SSTs), firms should

consider
– Psychological factors related to the use of SSTs
– Aspects of SSTs that please or annoy customers

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 Application exercise

Prepare a blueprint for a service with which you are familiar. Upon
completion, consider (a) the tangible cues or indicators of quality
from the customer’s perspective, considering the line of visibility;
(b) whether all steps in the process are necessary; (c) the extent to
which standardization is possible and advisable throughout the
process; (d) the location of potential fail points and how they could
be designed out of the process and what service recovery
procedures could be introduced; and (e) the potential measures of
process performance.

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Thank you