vii
Contents
Preface ...xi
About the Authors ... xvii
1 Service: Definitions and Attributes ...1
Toward a Definition of Service ...1
Fundamentals of a Service Encounter ...2
Key Components of Service ...3
Service and Service Management ...9
Transfer of Ownership ... 11
Service Requires an Immediate User ...12
Service Processes Differ from Manufacturing Processes ...12
Manufacture and Delivery of Products Are Separated by Time and Space ... 13
Service Provision Is Personal and Immediate ... 14
Service Is Emotional ... 15
Service and Trust ... 16
Endnotes ... 17
2 Service and Moments of Truth ... 21
Service and the Moment of Truth ... 21
Service as Serial Moments of Truth ... 21
Moments of Truth in Practice: Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) ...22
Implications of Managing Moments of Truth...25
Daily Moments of Truth ...26
Moments of Truth, the Customer and the Employee ...28
Recognizing Moments of Truth in Service Delivery ...29
Endnotes ... 32
3 Service Management, Service Systems, and Service Excellence ...35
The Moment of Truth: El Momento de Verdad ...35
Ensuring Quality at the Point of Service Delivery...36
Moments of Truth as an Opportunity for Assessing Service Quality .... 39
A Service Delivery System, including Organizational Systems and Processes ...40
Endnotes ...43
4 People and Service: Customers ...47
Service and the Customer ...47
Reputation Matters ...49
viii Contents
The Costs of Poor Service ... 52
Loyal Customers ...53
Endnotes ... 62
5 People, Technology, and Usability: An Ergonomic Perspective ...65
Ergonomics: A Brief Overview ...65
Fundamentals and Criteria of Ergonomics and Usability ... 67
Ergonomics: Aiming for Balance ...68
Motives for Physical Design as a Part of Excellence in Design and Practice ... 70
Usability/Ergonomics Related to Different User Groups ...73
The World Is Getting Older ...75
Aging Populations and Sustainable Work Life ...77
An Aging Workforce and Technology ...79
Managing and Assuring Ergonomics and Usability ...79
Endnotes ... 81
6 Leading Organizations and Employees toward Service Excellence ...85
Identifying Leadership ...85
A Leader’s Key Tasks: Develop the Organization and Its People ...86
Leadership the Richard Branson Way ...87
Leaders and Organizational Development ...88
Leadership and Moments of Truth: Making a Difference in Service Organizations ...89
Endnotes ...93
7 Leading Organizations as if People Matter: Humanist Approaches ...97
Leadership Matters and People Matter ...97
The Humanistic School of Management ...99
Employees Come First ... 101
Endnotes ... 103
8 Service in and by Public Sector Organizations ... 107
Service in and by the Public Sector ... 107
Moments of Truth in Public Service Delivery ... 108
Managing Moments of Truth in Public Service Delivery ... 111
The Future of the Public Sector Work and the Potential of Automation ... 113
Endnotes ... 115
9 Public Sector Culture and Values: Delivering Public Service Excellence ... 117
The Work and Structure of the Agency ... 117
Delivering Public Service: A Political Dimension ... 121
The Agency’s Organizational Culture and Values ...122
ix Contents
The Agency as a Cadre Organization ... 123
The Agency’s Service Delivery and Performance Measurement ... 125
Performance Measurement of the Local Branch Offices ... 127
Employee Evaluation of Work Conditions (360° Feedback) ... 128
Public Service Excellence ... 132
Endnotes ... 133
10 Designing a Service Dream: Excellence from Merging Public and Private Service ... 137
Excellence in a Private and in a Public Organization ... 137
Service Excellence in a Large International Private Sector Organization ... 138
Service Excellence in a Large Public Sector Organization ... 142
Learning between Private and Public Sector Organizations ... 144
Endnotes ... 147
11 Service and Technology in Retailing: History, Concepts, and Concerns ... 149
Retailing and the Moment of Truth ... 149
The Birth of Modern-Day Retailing: Le Bon Marché ... 150
What the Retail Pioneers Gave to Modern-Day Retailing ... 152
Endnotes ... 158
12 The Future of Service Excellence through People and Technology ... 161
The Moment of Truth from an Ergonomics Perspective ... 162
Service through Automation: A New Era Takes Shape ... 163
The Customer as Co-Producer of Value in the Service Encounter ... 165
Endnotes ... 167
