Designing Robust Services

1. Designing Robust Services Douglas M. Stewart, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management Michigan State University

2. Overview • The 3Ts of the service encounter • Task • Treatment • Tangibles • Robustness to service failure • Interrelationships of 3Ts • Theory • Examples (SWA and others) • Implications

3. Design of the Service Encounter • Designing for service success… • Culture-based • Design-based • Variation-based • Failure-based • The 3Ts perspective • An integrating framework • How managers view problem

4. The Tangibles • Physical Realm • Things or Artifacts • Objective evaluation criteria • Non-temporal – enduring • Long planning window, managed in low contact areas • Skills of facility management and industrial design • Focusing on tangibles at SWA: • “…new aircraft, attractive hostesses…and inexpensive exotically named drinks” • Bold painted aircraft and casual uniforms • Limited foodservice • Related reading • Servicescapes (Bitner 92)

5. The Task • Action Realm • Processes, procedures, scripts, algorithms, decision making activities • Techniques and technology • Temporal – clear beginning and end • Planned ahead of time, but reactive, front or back office. • Skills of operations management • Focusing on task at SWA: • “… using a machine to print out tickets and a pedal-operated tape recorder to enter names on the passenger list…” • “Pilots help flight attendants pick-up the plane between flights…and [they] sometimes carry luggage…” • Will not transfer bags to other airlines • Related reading • Blueprinting (Shostack 87)

6. The Treatment • Psycho-social Realm • Interpersonal interaction • Attitude, empathy, assurance, trust or fun • Intentions of service provider in a social context as perceived by the customer • A-temporal – formed as fleeting subconscious impressions • Highly reactive, purely front office • Perceptual measures • Skills of psychology, sociology, neuropsychology • Use of people people

7. The Treatment (2) • What the academics have to say… • Dedicated evolved capabilities for interacting with environment • Applied without conscious awareness • (Cosmides and Tooby 94) • Capabilites for navigating the social milieu within cultural groups • Body language, facial expression, verbal intonation, and other cues • Subconsciously detected and evaluated • “…neither willed performances nor socially unconscious discharges of raw feeling” • (Brothers 97) • Hard to fake successfully

8. The Treatment (3) • Focusing on treatment at SWA: • “Southwest’s essential difference is not machines and ‘things’. Our essential difference is mind, hearts, spirits, and souls” • “We try to hire people who are fun, and that translates to friendly.” • “Fun and friendliness comes from the heart. We don’t want a phony smile. We want a genuinely open spirit, someone who really likes people, and wants to help out. • “If you don’t have a good attitude, we don’t want you, no matter how skilled you are. We can change skill levels through training. We can’t change attitude. • Peer hiring practices

9. 3Ts Dimensions of Service Quality Direct Effects Reliability Task Responsiveness Assurance Treatment Empathy Tangibles Tangibles 3 Ts and Dimensions of Service Quality

10. Benefits of using 3T Framework • Clearly separates physical, process and interpersonal issues inherent in design • Each area is clearly associated with a relatively well-established body of knowledge. • Reflects how practicing managers disaggregate the encounter design and management problem • Mutually supporting relationships provide robustness

11. Supporting Relationships Variation- and Failure-based Approaches Task Design-based Approaches Supporting Relationship Supporting Relationship Tangible Supporting Relationship Treatment Culture-based Approaches Robust Service Through the 3 Ts

12. Making Treatment Robust • Challenges to Good Treatment • High turnover • Cultural differences between customers and servers • Emotionally charged or stressful services

13. Robust Treatment –Through Task • What SWA does: • Formal committee tasked with maintaining small family spirit • Training also used to get internal customer feedback • Formal celebrations promote “fun” culture • Popular games “guess the weight of the gate agent” • Other Examples • Financial planner scripts • Funeral homes • structured decision process • Task shifting from family (runners to courthouse, communicating with cemetery) • Dentists keeping tools out of sight • Check luggage tag for departure city • Eye color checklists • Service recovery plans • Employee scripting

14. Robust Treatment – Through Tangibles • What SWA does • Experiment with paper boarding passes • Employee had to focus on reading rather than welcoming passengers • Capitalization of “Customer” • Props (bunny costumes and Easter eggs) • CEO in Drag • The BOOK on Service • Mission statements in Cracker Jack boxes • Other Examples • Funeral homes • Business conducted in formal living room • No room full of caskets • Hospitals • Birthing rooms, pediatric & oncology wards • Disney’s litter pickers system of pneumatic tubes • Mirrors near phone

15. Making Task Robust • Challenges to Task • Highly customized services • Task subject to outside influences • Complex tasks • Substantial decision making • Co-production involving inexperienced customer

16. Robust Task – Through Tangibles • What SWA does • Same model aircraft across fleet • Predetermined equipment location • Supply carts standardized • “Love Machine” for tickets • Red numbered plastic cards • Boarding gateways • timing game, luggage inspection, delays between groups • Other examples • Most failsafing or poka-yoke • Use of artifacts to elicit scripts • Standardized equipment and layout

17. Robust Task – Through Treatment • Research shows: • Customers will engage in their own service recoveries • Youngdahl and Kellogg 97 • Customer discretionary activity driven by their perceived support • Bettencourt 97 • Outrageous service can influence customer behavior • Gross 94 • An example • NWA delay for rolling bands of thunderstorms • Need for prompt boarding • Pilot fielded questions • Best estimate of next break provided

18. Making Tangibles Robust • Challenges to Tangibles • No fixed place of business • Generic facilities (or those designed for other uses) • Amenities degraded by sources beyond control of firm • Services that operate remotely • Services that operate through multiple subcontractors

19. Robust Tangibles – Through Task • What SWA does • Flexible job descriptions allows pilots to help clean plane • Other examples • Ritual in place of trappings – • maitre’d not in tuxedo • Lawyers or doctors on house calls • Business lunch • Disney trash collectors at end of parade

20. Robust Tangibles – Through Treatment • What SWA does • Peanuts only meal service spiced with attitude • Other examples • Club med’s relatively meager accommodations overlooked because of fun and otherwise excellent treatment • Local bank branch under construction mitigated through fun • Tellers in orange construction vests • Construction barriers with flashing lights instead of line chains • Construction themed trinkets

21. Benefits of Framework • Aid in designing service encounters • Structures problem consistent with how management relates to problem • Grounded in legitimate and distinct realms • Physical world • Process • Psycho-social interactions • Also suggests what not to do…

22. Benefits (2)

23. Summary • Must address all 3 T’s in Service Encounter • Tangibles – The Physical Realm • Task – Action Realm • Treatment – The Psycho-social Realm • Understand reactive vs. pre-emptive options for each • Seek out available knowledge for each • Understand differences in available planning window • Exploit reinforcing relationships • Avoid challenging service concepts where these relationships cannot be exploited