Operations and Supply Chain Management Jacobs

14th Edition Solutions Manual

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Operations and Supply Chain Management Jacobs 14th Edition Solutions Manual

Chapter 09 - Service Processes

CHAPTER 9
SERVICE PROCESSES

Discussion Questions
1. What is the service package of your college or university?

The service package for your school could be extended beyond the degree you will earn. If
you are a resident on the campus, you are using the housing that is offered by your school.
Additionally, you are able to buy all your books at the book store on the campus or your
school ships them to you. Dining facilities are often contracted out to food service
companies so you can eat on campus. The library is another service that is provided. Less
obvious services include the maintenance of the building, clearing the parking lot of snow,
cleaning the building after hours.

2. Relative to the behavioral science discussion, what practical advice do you have for a hotel
manager to enhance the ending of a guest's stay in the hotel?

How about putting a couple of Starbuck's coffee coupons in the envelope along with the bill
that is slipped under the door in the early morning of check-out day? For guests staying
several days, arrange to have the manager say a personal good bye.

3. List some occupations or sporting events where the ending is a dominant element in
evaluating success.

Attorney's closing argument at trial; the professor's final lecture in the course; the comedian
saving his best joke for last, the magician saving best trick for last; the "dismount" in all
gymnastic exercises; the entry into the water in diving competitions.

4. Behavioral scientists suggest that we remember events as snap shots, not movies. How
would you apply this to designing a service?

What this means is that not all parts of the service are of equal impact in one's memory, and
therefore place your resources on those areas that give you the most bang for the "memory
buck." That is, think about which snap shots you want to clearly "frame" in the customer's
memory-- these might be thought of as the sweet spots of the service. You might even want
to create them. For example, a Lexus dealership in Los Angeles hands out a long stemmed
rose when a customer comes to the service counter to pay for car servicing. While
the general car servicing process involves mainly inconvenience, the "movie" experience was
dominated by a positive snapshot of receiving a rose. Another example: At Splash Mountain
at Disneyland, photographers regularly take pictures of people coming to the end of their
ride. These become the keepsakes long after the details of the day are forgotten.

5. Some suggest that customer expectation is the key to service success. Give an example
from your own experience to support or refute this assertion.

Most responses will probably support rather than refute this assertion.

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Chapter 09 - Service Processes

6. Where would you place a drive-in church, a campus food vending machine, and a bar’s
automatic mixed drink machine on the service-system design matrix?

Referring to the exhibit 9.3, the church would likely be “face-to-face tight specs.” The most
logical placement for the latter two would appear to be “Internet and on-site technology”.

7. Can a manufacturer have a service guarantee in addition to a product guarantee?

Certainly. With some makes of automobiles, a rental car is guaranteed if the product fails.
Many products are sold with warranties promising free and prompt service.

8. Suppose you were the manager of a restaurant and you were told honestly that a couple
eating dinner had just seen a mouse. What would you say to them? How would you
recover from this service crisis?

The only thing you can do is to try to overcompensate for the event. Make dinner free.
Promise to contract with an exterminator. Offer them another free dinner after a “cooling
off” period. The Tylenol response is a good model to following in this situation.

9. What strategy do the following organizations seem to use to manage customer-introduced

variability?

a. EBay
Low Cost Accommodation

b. Ritz-Carlton Hotels
Classic Accommodation

c. New airline check-in procedures

Low Cost Accommodation

10. How have price and variety competition changed McDonald’s basic formula for success?

McDonald’s originally emphasized quick delivery of a limited menu. In response to

competition, McDonald’s has continuously expanded its menu and instituted customized
ordering. Some evidence suggests that service, including quick delivery, has suffered as a
result.

11. Could a service firm use production line approach or self-serve design and still keep a high
customer focus (personal attention)? Explain and support your answer with examples.

Yes, this is possible. In many instances, the customer actually desires more technology and
feels that the service will not have as high a quality without it. For example, dental care
with its mechanized X-ray techniques requires far less customer time and less exposure to
radiation. The self-service design can also support customer needs, for example the ATM
provides customer access to funds at a variety of locations and 24 hours a day.

12. Why should a manager of a bank home office be evaluated differently than a manager of a
bank branch?

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Since a bank home office typifies low contact quasi-manufacturing, while a bank branch
typifies medium contact mixed service, the problems faced by management differ
considerably.

13. Identify the high-contact and low-contact operations of the following services:

a. A dental office.
Dental office high contact includes waiting rooms, receptionists, dentist(s), hygienist(s),
x-ray, etc., while labs would be low contact.

b. An airline.
Airline high contact includes reservations desk, loading concourse, plane with crew and
attendants, etc. Low contact includes maintenance, baggage handling, tower
operations, etc.

c. An accounting office.
In an accounting office, high contact includes reception and CPAs, while low contact
includes records, computer, library, etc.

d. An automobile agency
Automobile agency high contact includes showroom and offices. Low contact includes
maintenance, preparation, records-files, etc.

e. Amazon.com

High contact include the, customer service representatives. Low contact includesorder
pickers, QA checkers, order packers, buyers who purchase the product for Amazon and the
computer technicians who keep the servers running.

14. At first glance, asking the customer to provide their own service in the self-service approach
may not seem very consumer friendly. What are some of the characteristics of self-service
operations that have led to their acceptance and significant popularity?

There are many benefits, both for the consumer and the company. For the consumer, self-
service operations can often be faster (self-checkout at grocery store), less expensive, more
convenient (24-hr ATM service), and the customer can have the service done his/her own
way. For the company it can cut down on labor costs, attract repeat customers, keep the
customer occupied during service so they are not as bored, and can cut down on complaints
about the quality of service – will the customers complain about themselves? A good
example of this is a steak restaurant where the customers grill their own steaks over a long
charcoal grill at the center of the restaurant. Steaks never go back because they were
overcooked. For the self-service approach to work, it must be well-designed, easy to use,
and dependable. If the self-scanner at the grocery store

15. Do you think a service operation can be successful by developing a system that combines
characteristics from the three contrasting service designs presented in the chapter? Why or
why not? Please provide examples.

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Generally this would not be a good idea – it is akin to the concept of straddling discussed in
the strategy chapter. It is s fairly strong argument that the “personal attention” approach is
not compatible with the other two service designs presented. However, there are examples
of successfully merging the “production line” and “self-service” approaches to a degree. For
example, fast food operations often have the customer fill their own drink after placing their
order. That reduces the workload on the service staff, occupies the customers while they are
waiting for the order to be ready, and allows them to fix the drink exactly as they would like
it.

Objective Questions

1. What is the term used for the bundle of goods and services that are provided in some
environment by every service operation?
Service package

2. Are service operations with a high degree of customer contact more or less difficult to
control than those with a low degree of customer contact?
More difficult

3. List at least three significant ways in which service systems differ from manufacturing
systems.
You cannot inventory service, the process is part of the product, patents and copyrights
cannot be obtained, service is not tangible, specific training and certifications are often
provided.

4. A ride at an amusement park is an example of a service operation where there is direct

contact between the customer and server, but little variation in the service process --
neither the customer nor server has much discretion in how the service will be provided. As
shown on the Service System Design Matrix, which type of service is being delivered?
Face-to-face, tight specs

5. As the degree of customer contact increases in a service operation, what generally happens
to the efficiency of the operation?
It decreases

6. As the degree of customer contact increases in a service system, what worker skills would
be more important, clerical skills or diagnostic skills?
Diagnostic skills

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7. An important difference between service and manufacturing operations is that customers

induce far more variability into the operation in a service system. Name at least three of the
basic types of variation that customers bring to a service system.
Arrival variability, request variability, capability variability, effort variability, subjective
preference variability.

8. Flowcharts are a common process design and analysis tool used in both manufacturing and
services. What is a key feature on flowcharts used in service operations that differentiates
between the front-office and back-office aspects of the system?
Line of visibility

9. What are the “Three Ts” relevant to poke-yokes in service systems?

Task to be done, Treatment of the customer, Tangible features of the service.

10. List at least four characteristics of a well-designed service system.

1. Each element of the system is consistent with the operating focus of the firm.
2. It is user-friendly.
3. It is robust.
4. It is structured so that consistent performance by its people and system is easily
maintained.
5. It provides effective links between the front-office and back-office parts of the system.
6. It manages the evidence of service quality so that customers see the value of the service.
7. It is cost-effective.

11. A psychological therapist treats patients according to their individual needs. Patients are all
treated in the same office on a scheduled basis. Each patient’s treatment is customized for
the individual according to the therapist’s professional training. Which of the contrasting
service designs in the chapter would best describe the therapist’s service operation?
Personal attention approach

CASE: Pizza USA - Teaching Note

This exercise is used to illustrate the ideas and issues involved in designing a service product and the
processes to deliver the service.

It is highly unlikely that any student has never had a pizza delivered. Therefore, they should all have
personal experience as customers, thus making part 1 very straight-forward. Ahead of class, ask that the
students to prepare a list that would describe their personal definition of very good to excellent pizza
delivery service. Remind them that they can assume that the pizza restaurant can make the pizza any way
that they want; the objective is to focus on the delivery service. This focus could include concerns about
what happens to the pizza while it is being delivered.

Start the students with a review/discussion of the issues in designing service products and services. Then
break them into groups to compare their individual lists (about five minutes or so). Next, go to the board

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Operations and Supply Chain Management Jacobs 14th Edition Solutions Manual

Chapter 09 - Service Processes

and ask each group to give two or three requirements. The discussion around these requirements often
results in students thinking up more requirements or debating the meaning of the requirements.

Next ask the groups to organize these items under major headings to make the next step somewhat
easier to do.

Once the list is divided under major headings, take one of the headings (usually one with relatively few
items such as “timeliness”) and ask them how they would do this if they ran the restaurant. Then ask
them how they would measure this and would there be any qualifications to a normal target. For
example, regarding “fast delivery”, most students quickly figure out that this will be affected by the
delivery area (service radius). Most also recognize that the target should be adjusted in case of bad
weather or special situations (like Super Bowl Sunday).

If someone says, “we’ll get a computer system to do this”, ask them how they would evaluate such a
system. What factors should the system consider? How would you determine that such a system is giving
you reasonably accurate output? Challenge them to think of a non-computer method.

Work through the list of requirements, given the time available for this exercise.

Many thanks to Mark Ippolito of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis for contributing this
exercise.

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