The document discusses the concepts of service quality and service productivity, emphasizing the importance of meeting customer expectations for satisfaction. It outlines various determinants of service quality, such as reliability and responsiveness, and criteria for perceived quality, including professionalism and recovery strategies. Additionally, it explores methods to improve service productivity by enhancing staff capabilities, integrating technology, and balancing service supply and demand.

1. Service Quality &
Service Productivity
Dr. Esraa Mohammed Soltan
Lecturer of Nursing Administration-Suez Canal University
Diploma of Health Professions Education (DHPE)

2. Service Quality

3. Outline:
• Introduction
• Definition of service quality
• Total perceived quality
• Determinants of service quality
• Five new quality determinants
• Six criteria of good perceived service quality
• Summary

4. Introduction:
Service quality is an important issue in the marketing of
services due to the fact that both the production and
consumption of services occur at the same time. The quality of
service will delight a customer when it exceeds the service
expectations of the customers.

5. Definition of service quality:
Service quality is a measure of how well the service
level delivered matches customer expectations.
Delivering quality service means conforming to
customer expectations on a consistent basis.

6. Total perceived quality:

7. Total perceived quality:
• It can be calculated by comparing expected quality with experienced
quality.
• If the two are the same, the consumer feels satisfied with the service.
• If the expected quality is more than the experienced quality, the
consumer is dissatisfied.
• If the experienced quality is more than the expected quality, the
consumer is highly satisfied.
• The degree of dissatisfaction can be assessed by ascertaining the extent
of deviation (negative) between the expected quality and the experienced
quality.
• Similarly, the degree of satisfaction can be ascertained by measuring the
deviation (positive) between the two factors.

8. Technical quality:
• What is offered to the customer from the organization and what
customers receive in their interactions with the service firm is
called the technical product.
• The quality in designing the basic service package (BSP) is
reflected in the technical quality of service.
• In other words, it speaks of the technical quality of blueprinting
and its execution.
• Technical quality molds the first impressions of customers.

9. Functional quality:
• Technical quality contributes only to a part of the total quality
experienced by the customer.
• Customers are also influenced by how they receive the service and how
they experience the service process in which they also played a part.
• Research studies indicate that customers will be influenced mostly by the
way technical quality is transferred to them.
• The way service processes are handled in a service encounter is called
functional quality.

10. Image:
Most consumers will evaluate a firm by taking into consideration its resources,
history, and ways of operating service activities.
Therefore, a firm's image at the corporate as well as at the local level is of
utmost importance in quality perception.
If an organization enjoys a favorable image, customers probably might forgive
the occasional minor mistake of the organization.
However, if the mistakes are repetitive, there is a danger of spoiling the market
image.
Customers use a firm's image as a filter or a net while perceiving quality.

11. Expected quality vs experienced quality:
Every consumer makes an assessment of quality
based on the expectations that he or she has
developed of a service offering.

12. Factors influencing customer expectations:
• Market communication
• Image
• Word-of-mouth communication
• Customer needs

13. Market communication:
• Service firms communicate, through direct and indirect channels,
to the target market relating to the features and specialities of the
BSP.
• This is the promise the service provider makes with the customer.
• Market communication is the authentic source of information with
an identified sponsor and, therefore, plays a vital role in the
formation of consumer expectation.

14. Image:
• The image of a service firm at the corporate level as well as the
local level influences the expectations of the customers.
• It pervades various dimensions.
• An image of proven skills, consistency, innovativeness, care and
concern, empathy, handling problems ably, performance and so on
are some of the identities companies develop over a period of
time.
• These identities mould consumer expectations.

15. Word-of-mouth communication:
• This is an informal communication channel.
• Word-of-mouth communication is considered to be the most
powerful, particularly in the case of services.
• As services are intangible and variable, comparison of
alternatives and trials are not possible.
• Consumers often feel less confident about taking a purchase
decision, based upon communication from the service
provider.
• They look for advice and information support from others,
whom they consider as having more knowledge and
experience in that particular service, and who will give a
frank opinion about the service.

16. Customer needs:
• The need intensity of consumers influences the expectations.
• A relaxed customer may expect the quality of a high level
compared to a customer who is hard-pressed for time.
• For example, in the case of health care services, at the time
of emergency, people expect better and quicker response
than in normal conditions.

17. Determinants of service quality:
Alfrecht and Zemke (1985) identified four factors that
influence perceived service quality. They are:
• Care and concern How devoted employees and operational
systems of service are in solving the problems of customers.
• Spontaneity How employees demonstrate willingness and
readiness to serve.
• Problem solving The expertise and skill of contact
employees in performing services.
• Recovery The special efforts of a service provider in
handling a situation when something goes wrong or
something unexpected happens.

18. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) identified ten
determinants of service quality from the customer's point of
view:
1. Reliability
2. Responsiveness
3. Competence
4. Access
5. Courtesy
6. Communication
7. Credibility
8. Security
9. Confidentiality
10. Tangibles

19. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Reliability involves consistency of performance and
dependability. The important measures of reliability
are:
• Performance of the initial service
• Accuracy in billing
• Keeping records correctly
• Performing the service punctually

20. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Responsiveness concerns the willingness or readiness of
employees to provide service. The measures include:
• Timeliness of service
• Mailing transaction slips immediately
• Efficient customer support
• Giving prompt service

21. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Competence means possession of the required skills
and knowledge. The measures include:
• Knowledge and skills of the contact employees
• Knowledge and skills of the operational support
personnel
• Research capability of the organization

22. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Access involves approachability and ease of contact.
The accessibility of a service is determined mostly by
the following:
• Easily accessible by telephone
• Waiting time for service is not long
• Convenient hours of operation
• Convenient location of service facility

23. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Courtesy involves politeness, respect, consideration,
and friendliness of contact personnel. The
organization should provide:
• Consideration for the consumer's property
•Clean and neat appearance of public contact
personnel

24. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Communication means keeping customers informed in a
language they can understand and listening to them. The
important criteria are:
• Explaining the service itself
• Explaining how much the service will cost
• Explaining the trade-offs between service and cost
•Assuring the consumers that a problem will be handled

25. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Credibility involves trustworthiness, believability,
honesty and having the customer's best interest at
heart. The indicators are:
• Company name
• Company reputation
• Personal characteristics of the contact personnel
• The degree of hard sell involved in interactions

26. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Security is freedom from danger, risk or doubt. It
includes:
• Physical safety
• Financial security

27. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Confidentiality Understanding/knowing the
customer involves making the effort to understand the
customer's needs. It includes:
• Learning the customer's specific requirements
• Providing individual attention
• Recognising the regular customers

28. Determinants of service quality (cont.):
Tangibles includes physical evidence of the service.
They are:
• Physical facilities
• Appearance of the personnel
• Tools or equipment used to provide the service
• Physical representation of the service
• Other customers in the service facility

29. Five new quality determinants:
The researchers later in 1998 condensed the list of ten
determinants to five in order to avoid repetitiveness
and provide universal applicability. The five new
quality determinant factors are:
• Tangibles
• Reliability
• Responsiveness
• Assurance
• Empathy

30. Six criteria of good perceived service
quality:
Professionalism and skills
Customers realize that the service provider, its
employees, operational systems, and physical
resources have the knowledge and skills required to
solve their problems in a professional way (outcome-
related criteria).

31. Six criteria of good perceived service
quality (cont.):
Attitude and behaviour
Customers feel that the service employees (contact
persons) are concerned about them and are interested
in solving their problems, in a friendly and
spontaneous way (process-related criteria).

32. Six criteria of good perceived service
quality (cont.):
Accessibility and flexibility
Customers feel that the service provider, its location,
operating hours, employees and operational systems are
designed and operated in such a way that it is easy to
access the service and that the service providers are
prepared to adjust to the demands and wishes of the
customer in a flexible way (process-related criteria).

33. Six criteria of good perceived service
quality (cont.):
Reliability and trustworthiness
Customers know that whatever takes place or has
been agreed upon, they can rely on the service
provider, its employees and systems, to keep
promises and perform with the best interest of the
customers at heart (process-related criteria).

34. Six criteria of good perceived service
quality (cont.):
Recovery
Customers realise that whenever something goes
wrong or something unpredictable happens, the
service provider will immediately and actively take
action to control the situation and find a new,
acceptable solution (process-related criteria).

35. Six criteria of good perceived service
quality (cont.):
Reputation and credibility
Customers believe that the operations of the service
provider can be trusted and give adequate value for
money, and that they stand for good performance and
values that can be shared by customers and the
service provider (image-related criteria).

36. Summary:
• Introduction
• Definition of service quality
• Total perceived quality
• Determinants of service quality
• Five new quality determinants
• Six criteria of good perceived service quality

37. Service productivity

38. Outline:
• Definition of productivity
• Definition of service productivity
• Ways for improving service productivity
• Challenge of evaluation of service productivity
• Summary

39. Definition of productivity:
Productivity is a measure of relationship between the
various types of inputs that are required to produce
the service and the service output.

40. Definition of productivity (cont.):
Productivity is a measure of the relationship between
an input and an output.
For example, if more people can be served (output)
using the same number of staff (input), productivity
per employee has risen.

41. Definition of service productivity:

42. Ways for improving service productivity:
• Improving staff
• Introducing systems and technology
• Reducing service levels
• Substituting products for services
• Introducing new services
• Customer interaction
• Reduce the mismatch between supply and demand

43. Improving staff:
• One way is through improving the knowledge, skills,
attitudes and behaviour of existing and new staff involved in
service delivery and performance through better systems of
recruitment, training, development and motivation.
• Thus staff in contact with customers handling the visible
elements of the service can be trained in handling queries
and complaints, in product knowledge, in the operations of
internal systems.

44. Introducing systems and technology:
• Service organizations can reap productivity improvements if they
become more systems and technology-oriented.
• The systems approach looks at the task as a whole.
• It attempts to identify key operations to be undertaken, examines
alternative ways of performing them, devises alternative methods,
removes wasteful practices, and improves co-ordination within the
system as a whole.
• Alternative layouts, better job design, and consideration of the overall
costs of the system are important features of the systems approach.

45. Introducing systems and technology (cont.):
The systems approach to service can be applied in three ways:
through hard technology, soft technology, and hybrid technology.
(a) Hard technology means substituting machinery and tools for
people (e.g. automatic car washes, airport x-ray surveillance
equipment, automatic car parking, automatic vending
equipment, audio-visual equipment, and computers.)
(b) Soft technology means substituting pre-planned systems for
individual service operations. The systems may involve some
technology, but their basic characteristic is the system itself
which is designed for optimal results (e.g. fast food outlets, pre-
packaged tours).
(c) Hybrid technology is where equipment is combined with
planned systems to give greater order, speed, and efficiency to
the service process (e.g. limited service, fast repair facilities for
car exhausts, tyres, and brakes).

46. Reducing service levels:
• Productivity can also be improved by reducing the quantity of
service and/or the quality of service (e.g. doctors could give less
time to each patient).
• There are dangers in these approaches particularly where a service
organization has promised to deliver a higher level of service in
the past.
• Also, competitors can differentiate their services by broadening
and upgrading their service quantity and quality.

47. Substituting products for services:
Productivity can be improved by providing a product
substitute for the service (e.g. new data transfer
technology has removed the need for the telegram
service).

48. Introducing new services:
• It is possible to design a more effective service that
eliminates or reduces the need for the less effective
service.
• For example, trans-Atlantic travel by air has largely
replaced transatlantic travel by sea; the credit card has
replaced the former system for obtaining overdrafts.

49. Customer interaction:
• It is possible to change the way in which customers interact with service
providers.
• This is particularly possible with 'high contact' services.
• Using the consumer more in the production processs demands a greater
understanding of consumer behavior and its underlying causes.
• Ways have to be found to hardness consumers or to change their
behaviour through education and persuasion for the benefit of service
delivery.

50. Customer interaction (cont.):
• Consumers are involved in service delivery anyway, whether actively or
passively.
• Improve the useful, active role of the customer in service delivery may
mean new managerial approaches, changed organizations or
organizational structures, the employment of paraprofessionals, and
perhaps a changed role for the professional service manager.
• He may become more of a catalyst, stimulator, orchestrator or manager
directing energies toward the maximum involvement of the consumer,
student, client, parent or whatever.

51. Reduce the mismatch between supply
and demand:
• A significant feature of many service organizations is the mismatch that
often exists between supply of the service and demand for it.
• A major goal in marketing services is to get greater control over supply
and demand and to obtain a better balance between the two.
• If more people want to use an airplane than there are seats available then
business may be lost to competitors; unsold scats for a theatrical
performance mean revenue lost forever.

52. Reduce the mismatch between supply
and demand (cont.):
• Service marketers may therefore face problems of:
• Increasing demand (e.g. using up spare capacity);
• Decreasing demand (e.g. where demand is excessive);
• Obtaining a better-balanced service supply (e.g. to meet fluctuating demand patterns).
• Kotler has used the term 'demarketing' to describe the strategy which an
organization may actively adopt to discourage additional customers on a
temporary or permanent basis.
• He uses the term 'syncromarketing' to describe the strategy which an organization
may actively adopt to bring supply and demand into better balance.

53. Challenge of the evaluation of service
productivity:
• To identify the relevant input, process, and output
factors to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness

54. Summary:
• Definition of productivity
• Definition of service productivity
• Ways for improving service productivity
• Challenge of evaluation of service productivity
• Summary

55. References:
• Balaji, B. (2002). Services marketing and management. S. Chand Publishing.
• Cant, M. C., Strydom, J. W., Jooste, C. J., & du Plessis, P. J. (Eds.).
(2011). Marketing management. Juta and Company Ltd.
• Ehrmann, T., Windsperger, J., Cliquet, G., & Hendrikse, G. (Eds.).
(2013). Network governance: alliances, cooperatives and franchise chains.
Springer Science & Business Media.
• Jacko, J. A. (Ed.). (2007). Human-Computer Interaction. HCI Applications and
Services: 12th International Conference, HCI International 2007, Beijing, China,
July 22-27, 2007, Proceedings, Part IV (Vol. 4553). Springer.

56. References:
• JOBBER, D. (2009). EBOOK: Principles and Practice
of Marketing. McGraw Hill.
• Panda, T. K. (2009). Marketing management: Text
and cases Indian context. Excel Books India.
• Lovelock, C., & Patterson, P. (2015). Services
marketing. Pearson Australia.