This report of Amy's Ice Cream includes the problem faced by the company, the analysis of the case, alternatives, decision and implication toward the company.

1. Service Management: Group Assignment 2
Case Study Analysis: Amy’s Ice Cream
Natrah Ahmad Fadil KBA13025
Ateera Ahmad Dahalan KBB16011
Nur Syuhada Zakaria KBA14011
Che NurulImaniahChe Alias KBB 16005
Due: 10th April 2016

2. 1
Introduction
The article is about how Amy Miller, the owner and founder of Amy's Ice Cream manage her
business and her employees that successfully keep customers coming back again and again to her
store. With the help of a man behind the scene, Phil Clay, her production manager, Amy opened
her first store with concrete foundation of her two philosophies which is one that an employee
should enjoy what he or she does and the service as well as the ice cream should make the
customer smile.
Amy recruited employees who are able to attract customers and sustain the quality of her ice
cream product. Successful applicants will go through on-the-job training process. The training
consists of two parts in which the new employees are trained on the ice cream procedures to
consistently deliver the product and also how to express themselves from behind the counter to
customers. The article also tells how Amy treats her employees. She practices freedom-oriented
rather than rules-oriented. The only rule the employees are restricted to is to wear apron and hat
as their uniform. Other than that, the employees have their freedom to wear any clothing that suit
with their mood, bring their own music to play in their stores and are free to make contribution in
design and display artwork which can attract more customers come to the store.
Problem Statement
From the article, the main problem statement is how to effectively recruit employees with
full commitment who are able to deliver high quality service that translates into an added
value to satisfy customer and encourage repeat purchases.
However, there are several problems that lead to the main problem. In order to overcome the
problem, the store needs to sustain the quality of the ice-cream product. Moreover, the store itself
must have a good esthetic value in terms of its physical appearance and friendly customer
service. Staffs or the employees who will be hired must be able to well-attract people
surroundings to come over and over again. The personnel hired also who are willing to
contribute to people, not who are desperate getting wages. On top of that, one must have a very
strong sense of team-work and camaraderie to their mates which will create a lifestyle choice to
work for Amy which is not a mainstream. The employees also need to understand the demand
from the customer or public. So, it can provide customer service satisfaction.

3. 2
Case Analysis
Culture is a pattern of beliefs and expectations that is shared by the organization’s members and
produces norms that powerfully shape the behavior of individuals or groups in organizations
(Schwarts and Davis). Culture is the traditions and beliefs of an organization that distinguish it
from other organizations (Mintzberg). Organizational culture is a system of shared orientations
that hold the unit together and give a distinctive identity (Hoy and Miskel).
Amy Miller, the founder and president of Amy’s Ice Cream had created a strong group culture
which had led to her company’s success. The culture had offered unique way to differentiate
Amy’s from its competitors. She differentiates her stores by creating a nonmainstream
environment. She wanted to sell an experience with every scoop cone. She had sustained that
difference by ensuring that the customers will encounter the greatest experience ever and will
repeatedly come over to her store. She had created and nurtured a culture that made the
experience overwhelming.
The employees believe that the business is the best job based on Amy’s two philosophies: one
that employee should enjoy what he or she does, and another that the service as well as the ice
cream should make the customer smile. The employees have full independence with their
responsibilities and also job satisfactions by fulfilling the happy customers with their services.
This means that she created a feel good occupation.
Amy believed that service is the differentiator. The service provided by the employees is very
appealing to the customers. The way employees and customers communicate are through the
interaction during business activities and through jokes that employees made to cheer the
situations. Furthermore, the employees were given adequate training in ensuring to deliver a
consistent service by maintaining the unique services to the customers. Another culture that is
practiced at Amy’s Ice cream is creativity to the core. The employees have to be creative since
they applied the job at Amy’s. There was no formal application form and the applicants must
show their extra ordinary skills in order to get interviewed.
In addition, the employees are also free to make any contributions of the design in each store
with their artworks and decorations. The atmosphere in the store is lively and everyone enjoys a
friendly and happy attitude. The service encountered by the customers or the “moment of truth”

4. 3
should be customized and entertaining. The employees established a culture that is customer
centric whereby, they interact with the customers according to the customer’s perceived
personality. The customer’s attitude is very important to the management in ensuring the
customers’ satisfaction towards the high quality and consistency in the service offered.
Another important success factor is the personality of employees. Amy’s Ice Cream has a few
specific criteria that all the future employees must fit in. All the employees should possess a
personality that is suitable to a service industry which interacts with customers on a daily routine.
From this article we can determine that the employees of Amy’s Ice Cream are people who do
not want a “real job”. Instead, they perceive it as more of a lifestyle choice. These employees do
not want to wear certain clothes, work on certain hours and not as much fun at Amy’s. The
employees enjoy what they were doing by which they put more emphasis on intrinsic rewards
rather than on monetary rewards.
They also possess high level of creativity. Amy’s hires outgoing and creative employees who
were very skilled at projecting their colorful personalities across the counter. They are those who
were able to joke and interact with the customers while filling their orders.
Another attribute that is sought by Amy’s is having a strong sense of teamwork and friendship.
All the employees will be doing all the works required in the store. If the floor should be cleaned,
any of the employees should have their own initiatives to get the job done without any
instructions given.
Employees must also be excellent at expressing themselves, by be performers who can express
themselves freely, comfortably, confidently and be sensitive to the customers’ needs. The
employees chosen must be lively and enthusiastic. Employees can delight customers by bringing
their own music, and keeping in mind the type of customer to play a suitable music in the stores
so that everyone feels relaxed with the ambience.
As stated earlier, it is a lifestyle choice for Amy’s Ice Cream. Therefore, selecting a suitable
worker is vital to maintain the company’s vision and strategy. There has to be personnel
selection process that will determine the compatibility of the worker and identify the added value
that the worker can bring into the business.

5. 4
There are variety of ways of interviewing techniques. One that can be used by Amy’s is through
abstract questioning which is asking something involving general ideas to gain the interviewee’s
insights, often by open ended questions. For instance, questions to uncover ideas, contribution,
vision and also creativity is suggested as follows:
1- You received 1million dollars for your store,how would you spend it and why?
2- An ice cream flavor is named after you.Describe its uniqueness.
3- Describe your dream job that you would like to do for the rest of your life
From the sample questions, the interviewer will be able to analyze what are the interviewee’s
idea for improvement and his or her justification of it, which allows them to view the
interviewee’s way of thinking. Also, question allows the interviewer to view how the person
describes the attributes of him or herself and work expectations.
Another technique is by situational vignette which requires the applicant to answer questions
regarding a specific situation. A situation can be created based on the topic to be tested whether
it is teamwork, handling of customer or service recovery. For example, consider the following
situational vignette on service recovery:
“A customer that had gotten an ice cream for her son returned to counter showing a strand of hair in the ice cream.
She loudly demands for a refund and a new scoop of ice cream for free, which in your opinion is unreasonable to
provide both. The store policy is to only replace the goods or refund the money. What should you do to control the
situation and not to disturb other customers?”
The situation creates a dilemma in owning up to one’s mistake and performing service recovery
but at the same time justifying whether to give in to unreasonable customer demand. This
method can help to determine whether the applicants are able to react decisively in spontaneous
events.
Another technique that can be used in personnel selection is role playing. This is often used in
the final phase of recruitment. For instance, create a scene where a group sour faced customer of
different demographic information walked into the store, and the applicants have to figure out a
way to make them smile while serving ice cream. This will allow interviewer to observe realistic
response and behavior of the applicant, where they are able to judge the applicants’ strengths and
weaknesses.

6. 5
These suggested methods and samples of personnel selecting may be able strengthen the success
factors of Amy’s Ice cream, which are achieved through exceptional service organization culture
and hiring employees with unique personality attributes.
Alternatives
As elaborated above, Amy’s approach to the market is by focusing on its service delivery.
Another way of differentiating Amy’s Ice Cream from other providers is by focusing on its
product. It is no doubt that the taste Amy’s Ice Cream is as pleasant as its excellent service.
However, the brand is not as internationally recognized as compared to names like Häagen-Dazs
or Baskin-Robbins. Since the store has been receiving positive feedbacks from the customers
back from 1984, the management should consider expanding their target market and create a
strong product brand. It is mentioned that working in Amy’s is reflected as a choice of lifestyle.
Consequently, the idea of relating Amy’s Ice Cream as a lifestyle of choice can be gradually
instilled on prospect customers when the product has a distinct brand. Branding helps to create
customer’s perception as well as company’s reputation. With brilliant service delivery, distinct
brand and delicious ice-cream, Amy’s Ice Cream will most certainly sustain in the market for a
long time.
Decision
Therefore, Amy’s Ice Cream’s decision to focus on employees recruitment effectively with full
commitment help them to achieve repeat purchase and at the same time getting new customers.
With this, Amy’s Ice Cream will improve in terms of profitability, increases sales and also return
on investment. Effective recruitment helps to maintain customer satisfaction which achieve their
philosophies that service and ice cream should make customer smile.
Other than that, Amy’s Ice Cream should also focus on their product. Alternatives that Amy’s
Ice Cream chooses must be within acceptable risk parameters and retain flexibility. Following
the example of Baskin Robbins, Amy’s Ice Cream should expand their target market so that they
will be world – recognized and at the same time create a strong product brand in order to
compete and perform well. They must come out with the ideas that will make the Amy’s Ice

7. 6
Cream as the choice of lifestyle. Talking about the branding, it should be strong and powerful
enough to compete with others and also sustain in the market for a long time.
Implication
With the decision and alternatives taken by Amy’s Ice Cream, their sales will be expected to
increase together with the profit. These increments will help Amy’s Ice Cream to have return in
terms of investment. These changes were believed to be within their present and future resources
and capabilities. Therefore, their business will be in secure and stable within the period of
changes and improvement. Together with the hard work from both employees and employers,
customer’s satisfaction can be maintained and the corporate image can be improved and well
recognized. The freedom – oriented service by Amy’s Ice Cream will definitely attract and gain
new customer since it is unique and different from other competitors.
Works Cited
James A. Fitzsimmons, M. J. (2014). Service Management. Singapore: McGraw Hill Education.