Description
The documentation about the applying the concept of special dimensions of services quality to the college education field.
Apply the concept of Special Dimensions of Services Quality to the college education field and mention the measures required for this purpose? Special Dimensions of Service Quality include: a. Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials. b. Reliability: Ability to perform the service dependably and accurately. c. Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers provide prompt service. d. Competence: Possession of the skills and knowledge required to perform the service. e. Courtesy: Politeness, respect, consideration, and friendliness of contact personnel. The above dimensions when applied to college educational field would translate into the following features: a. Tangibles: ? The infrastructure must be excellent. This is particularly important when the institute is a graduate or post-graduate institute. The class rooms must be well furnished, spacious and should house all the modern equipments (like a projector, mikes, speakers, etc). They must be well ventilated, should have adequate lighting facilities and should be spacious. ? The study materials provided must be of top quality and the best in business. ? Labs must be equipped with the latest equipments available and should be adequate in number. b. Reliability : ? Educational institutes have to be consistent in their performance, as far as the quality of the students they produce is concerned. This would definitely depend on the consistency in their processes, the quality of education that they provide and the dedication of the people imparting education. ? Also, the institute should perform its services at the right time, all the time. This would be in terms of the dates of admission, dates of examination, completion of the syllabus, regularly updating the schedules of the upcoming events on a common site/location, etc. ? The institute should also show genuine concern to address all its students’ concerns. Problems faced by students, academic or administrative, should be addressed and solved without delay.
c. Responsiveness : ? The students are made known of all the processes that exist in the system so that they have an idea of the exact time each service will take. This reduces uncertainty in their minds. ? The management is always proactive in solving any issue and goes that extra mile to solve the same. ? Any changes that are taking place in the world of education, the management is aware of them. This could be in terms of latest technology developed, latest findings in a particular field, etc. The management is quick to adapt to these changes and incorporate the same in their curriculum so that the students are not deprived of anything. d. Assurance : ? The way the management functions should instil confidence in the students’ mind that they are in the right hands. The students are sure that the quality of education that is provided by the institute is top class. ? There should also be an assurance in the students’ mind that the faculty that is imparting education is one of the best in business. ? In case of professional institutes, some colleges also provide an assurance of jobs to its students (placements). In such cases, the college must consistently deliver on this promise and be able to provide good placements to most of its students, so that the reputation of the college is maintained in the eyes of the general public as well as the companies that come to recruit. e. Empathy : ? Each student must be made to feel important. There must be a sense of belonging towards the institute in the minds of every student. This is possible if the institute manages to provide individual attention to every student. ? The systems and processes designed must be such that they are convenient for the students to avail them, rather than convenient to the management to run the institute. ? The institute must always be open to hear suggestions from the students for improvement. ? The faculty employed must be able to understand the needs of each student and teach in a manner that can be understood by student of different calibre.
Above are some of the important special dimensions of service quality for an educational institute. There are broadly two different ways of measuring the above stated parameters – Hard Measures and Soft Measures. Soft measures are those that cannot be easily observed and must be collected by talking to customers, employees or others. Soft standards provide direction, guidance and feedback to employees on ways to achieve customer satisfaction and can be quantified by measuring customer perceptions and beliefs. Hard measures relate to those characteristics and activities that can be counted, timed, or measured through audits. These could include a count of number of unsatisfied customers, number of customers who were served late, number of customers who were served a low quality product, etc. Some of the soft measures that an educational institute could use to monitor its quality could be: ? Establish an ongoing listening system using multiple methods among different customer groups. This could include a listening system for students where they can share their satisfaction levels as far as the above mentioned parameters are concerned. A listening system may also be provided to the faculty so that their point of view in terms of the set parameters can also be taken. This ongoing research must be conducted through a portfolio of research approaches. Key customer service quality measures include total market surveys, annual surveys, transactional surveys, service feedback cards, focus group discussions, analysis of unsolicited feedbacks and service reviews. ? Set-up an advisory panel to offer feedback based on the data gathered from the above feedbacks. This panel would identify the gaps existing in the system and suggest actions to be taken to close the gaps. Some of the hard measures that are used to monitor quality of the educational institute could be: ? The ranking of the institute by different rating agencies. This forms an important measure which affects people’s perception of a college. There are a number of rating agencies that are available which rate different institutes based on a set of parameters. These rating provide valuable information to students to choose a particular institute.
These are also helpful to the institutes as they can know the areas where they lack and can improve on the same. ? The percentage of students that have obtained distinction (or passed in the exams) also serves as an important measure. Some institutes always post a cent percent result in their final exams. This translates to high consistency on the part of the college in delivering quality education. ? The number of companies that visited the college for placements and the number of students actually placed are very important measuring parameters, as far as professional institutes are concerned. ? The number of students applying for a particular institute also provides an insight to the perception of the institute by the students. If this number increases year after year, it shows that the college is performing very well and students have high regard for the college. If however this number is dwindling, this indicates that the college’s reputation is going down and there are problems that must be quickly addressed. ? The proportion of qualified teachers has an influence on quality and is one of the most common proxy indicators. This could be measured in terms of the number of teachers with a doctorate, number of teachers with master’s degree, number of teachers who are post-graduates, etc. Usually, the design of the hard and soft indices of measuring service quality would be such that the findings of one would be reflected in the other. In order to make best use of the above system, the institutes must assign weights to each of its important parameters. Then, based on the findings from the soft research, the aggregate score that is obtained by different feedbacks must be calculated. A goal must be set in terms of the average rating that the institute wants to achieve. The institute may thus work towards achieving this goal by looking at the various factors it needs to address. Control charts may also be used by the institute so that it can display its performance over different indicators over a period of time. Hence increasing and decreasing trends may easily be viewed and appropriate steps could be taken to improve each of the degrading factors. This method would keep in check with the factors where it lacks and help it in working towards improving the same.
1. What are the criteria they would use to select a person for the position of a hotel receptionist? Companies today face the challenge not only of designing innovative customer-focused service strategies to compete and grow but also of translating such strategies into results through successful execution. Experience and research demonstrate the difficulty of such an execution, but little research in marketing has focused on strategy implementation, particularly at the employee level. Prior research has suggested that frontline employee participation is critical to successful innovation implementation, especially in service contexts The most demanding of jobs in the services businesses are these frontline jobs. Employees are expected to be fast and efficient at executing operational tasks as well as courteous and helpful in dealing with customers. Frontline employees are a key input for delivering service excellence and competitive advantage. They have a tough job. They need to be cheerful, provide solutions, communicate well, and know about the workings of a business. One such important service industry where the frontline employees play a big role is hospitality. The most important frontline employee here is the receptionist, the first point of contact of a customer with the hotel. Hotel receptionists are responsible for making guests feel welcome, checking them in and out efficiently, and dealing professionally with enquiries, face to face and by phone, fax or email. They deal with general reservation enquiries, as well as answering guests' questions and dealing with complaints. Receptionists reflect the public image of the hotel; it is very important that they make guests feel welcome and answer their questions about local transport, places of interest and entertainment. They also promote the facilities of the hotel such as the fitness centre or beauty salon. In smaller hotels, receptionists may help out with other duties, for example, serving behind the bar. With such diverse requirements of the job, the qualifications that are required to be an effective receptionist are many. Some of the important criterion in choosing a good receptionist is as discussed below: ? High standard of personal appearance : For service organisations the interaction between front-line personnel and the customer is crucial as they aim to create high quality service encounters. Of primary
importance for a good receptionist is the way he/she carries himself/herself and the overall attitude he/she portrays. It is not enough to have the skills that the company requires; a receptionist must also have the general disposition and spirit which companies look for potential employees, especially for the frontline jobs. ? Listen first : The person must be a really good listener. She/he should take the time to identify customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. It is important to listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Effective listening and undivided attention are particularly important on the show floor where there is a great danger of preoccupation - looking around to see to whom else we could be selling to.
?
Know the customer : A receptionist must be very shrewd. He/she, after a point of time, must develop learning about the customer, especially the regular ones. Prior knowledge of the customer specific needs and wants, an insight of his personal likes and dislikes, always works in favour of the hotel. This information could be invaluable in maintain long and sustaining relationships with the customer. The receptionist should be one who is capable of doing the same.
?
Identify and anticipate needs : Customers don't buy products or services. They buy good feelings and solutions to problems. A good receptionist must be aware of the fact that most customer needs are emotional rather than logical. She/he must try to know more about the customer, the more you know your customers, the better you become at anticipating their needs. A good receptionist must communicate regularly so that she/he is aware of problems or upcoming needs of the customer.
?
Make customers feel important and appreciated: A receptionist must always use their name and find ways to compliment the customer, but must be sincere. People value sincerity. It creates good feeling and trust. She/he should think about ways to generate good feelings about doing business with you. Customers are very sensitive and know whether or not you really care about them.
The receptionist should also have a good body language. His/her body language should convey genuine concern and sincerity. His/her words and actions should be congruent. ? Good understanding of the systems: An organization may have the world's best systems for getting things done, but if customers don't understand them, they can get confused, impatient and angry. A good receptionist should have a detailed knowledge of all the system in-place in the organisation. He/she must take time to explain how your systems work and how they simplify transactions. ? Good communication skills : Probably the most important skill that a good receptionist requires is that of communication. Being the first point of contact to the customer, how the receptionist is able to portray the image of the organisation to the customer depends on the communication skills of the receptionist. He/she should be articulate and refined and should use a have a good command on English, Hindi, the regional language and some foreign language. This would work highly in favour of the organisation. ? Good IT skills : A receptionist would require handling quite a large amount of data on the computer and also need to do certain calculations. A good knowledge of the IT infrastructure of the organisation would quicken all the processes that the receptionist would need to at the desk, thus reducing the waiting times for the customer. ? Good organisational skills: A receptionist will be required to take calls, write down telephone messages, book meetings, raise invoices, order stationery, keep a log book of visitors coming and going out of the department and a lot more. He/she must have excellent prioritization and time management skills, as well as be able to multitask. This reduces customer dissatisfaction levels by reducing waiting time.
?
High awareness levels: It is important for a good receptionist to be a buffer to the employees they are assisting. If someone on the staff is busy, the receptionist should know it. They will
help the organisation avoid unnecessary last minute drop ins, without denying legitimate appointments. The receptionist should also be capable of engaging the customer in good, intellectual conversations whenever necessary. However, he/she should know where to draw the lines. The discussions should not be on topics that are controversial, as the opinion of the receptionist may be branded as the opinion of the entire organisation, which would prove to be fatal in some cases. ? Good marketing skills : The receptionist should be your heaviest marketer. Keeping track of important dates of clients, giving out information you want your client to know, but giving it out in way that makes your client feel special is a gift and a good receptionist should have it. The receptionist should keep company brochures at the coffee table, the coffee pot full and fresh, the candy bowl loaded, and the clients moving through the reception area smoothly. ? Tactfulness : It is very important for a receptionist to be tactful. During the work tenure, many situations may arise where the customer is unhappy with a service and would show it to him/her through use of abusive language. The receptionist must be able to tactfully handle such situations in a manner wherein the customer’s faith in the organisation is restored and the organisation’s image is untarnished. ? Honesty : It is very important for the receptionist to be honest. Customers would not want to come to a hotel where they were promised a number of things at the reception desk but none of the facilities were actually available at the hotel. The receptionist must give the actual information to the customer and should not try to win him over by lying. ? High levels of motivation: The job of a receptionist is very hectic and not highly rewarding. It is characterised by long working hours and could be highly thankless. It is however very important for a
receptionist to be sufficiently motivated at all points of time. Being the face of the organisation, he/she cannot afford to be disinterested from his work as it could affect the reputation of the organisation and could lead to loss of valuable customers. Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long. A customer would come back to an organisation for business only when his previous experience with the same organisation has been fruitful. And one of the main parameters that determine this in a service industry is the people that the customer has interacted with at the organisation. The role played by the receptionist in building this relationship with the customer is invaluable. A receptionist can make/break the relationship that a customer has with an organisation. Hence it is very important for an organisation to keep in mind the above qualities before choosing a receptionist for his/her hotel.
doc_248632499.docx
The documentation about the applying the concept of special dimensions of services quality to the college education field.
Apply the concept of Special Dimensions of Services Quality to the college education field and mention the measures required for this purpose? Special Dimensions of Service Quality include: a. Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials. b. Reliability: Ability to perform the service dependably and accurately. c. Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers provide prompt service. d. Competence: Possession of the skills and knowledge required to perform the service. e. Courtesy: Politeness, respect, consideration, and friendliness of contact personnel. The above dimensions when applied to college educational field would translate into the following features: a. Tangibles: ? The infrastructure must be excellent. This is particularly important when the institute is a graduate or post-graduate institute. The class rooms must be well furnished, spacious and should house all the modern equipments (like a projector, mikes, speakers, etc). They must be well ventilated, should have adequate lighting facilities and should be spacious. ? The study materials provided must be of top quality and the best in business. ? Labs must be equipped with the latest equipments available and should be adequate in number. b. Reliability : ? Educational institutes have to be consistent in their performance, as far as the quality of the students they produce is concerned. This would definitely depend on the consistency in their processes, the quality of education that they provide and the dedication of the people imparting education. ? Also, the institute should perform its services at the right time, all the time. This would be in terms of the dates of admission, dates of examination, completion of the syllabus, regularly updating the schedules of the upcoming events on a common site/location, etc. ? The institute should also show genuine concern to address all its students’ concerns. Problems faced by students, academic or administrative, should be addressed and solved without delay.
c. Responsiveness : ? The students are made known of all the processes that exist in the system so that they have an idea of the exact time each service will take. This reduces uncertainty in their minds. ? The management is always proactive in solving any issue and goes that extra mile to solve the same. ? Any changes that are taking place in the world of education, the management is aware of them. This could be in terms of latest technology developed, latest findings in a particular field, etc. The management is quick to adapt to these changes and incorporate the same in their curriculum so that the students are not deprived of anything. d. Assurance : ? The way the management functions should instil confidence in the students’ mind that they are in the right hands. The students are sure that the quality of education that is provided by the institute is top class. ? There should also be an assurance in the students’ mind that the faculty that is imparting education is one of the best in business. ? In case of professional institutes, some colleges also provide an assurance of jobs to its students (placements). In such cases, the college must consistently deliver on this promise and be able to provide good placements to most of its students, so that the reputation of the college is maintained in the eyes of the general public as well as the companies that come to recruit. e. Empathy : ? Each student must be made to feel important. There must be a sense of belonging towards the institute in the minds of every student. This is possible if the institute manages to provide individual attention to every student. ? The systems and processes designed must be such that they are convenient for the students to avail them, rather than convenient to the management to run the institute. ? The institute must always be open to hear suggestions from the students for improvement. ? The faculty employed must be able to understand the needs of each student and teach in a manner that can be understood by student of different calibre.
Above are some of the important special dimensions of service quality for an educational institute. There are broadly two different ways of measuring the above stated parameters – Hard Measures and Soft Measures. Soft measures are those that cannot be easily observed and must be collected by talking to customers, employees or others. Soft standards provide direction, guidance and feedback to employees on ways to achieve customer satisfaction and can be quantified by measuring customer perceptions and beliefs. Hard measures relate to those characteristics and activities that can be counted, timed, or measured through audits. These could include a count of number of unsatisfied customers, number of customers who were served late, number of customers who were served a low quality product, etc. Some of the soft measures that an educational institute could use to monitor its quality could be: ? Establish an ongoing listening system using multiple methods among different customer groups. This could include a listening system for students where they can share their satisfaction levels as far as the above mentioned parameters are concerned. A listening system may also be provided to the faculty so that their point of view in terms of the set parameters can also be taken. This ongoing research must be conducted through a portfolio of research approaches. Key customer service quality measures include total market surveys, annual surveys, transactional surveys, service feedback cards, focus group discussions, analysis of unsolicited feedbacks and service reviews. ? Set-up an advisory panel to offer feedback based on the data gathered from the above feedbacks. This panel would identify the gaps existing in the system and suggest actions to be taken to close the gaps. Some of the hard measures that are used to monitor quality of the educational institute could be: ? The ranking of the institute by different rating agencies. This forms an important measure which affects people’s perception of a college. There are a number of rating agencies that are available which rate different institutes based on a set of parameters. These rating provide valuable information to students to choose a particular institute.
These are also helpful to the institutes as they can know the areas where they lack and can improve on the same. ? The percentage of students that have obtained distinction (or passed in the exams) also serves as an important measure. Some institutes always post a cent percent result in their final exams. This translates to high consistency on the part of the college in delivering quality education. ? The number of companies that visited the college for placements and the number of students actually placed are very important measuring parameters, as far as professional institutes are concerned. ? The number of students applying for a particular institute also provides an insight to the perception of the institute by the students. If this number increases year after year, it shows that the college is performing very well and students have high regard for the college. If however this number is dwindling, this indicates that the college’s reputation is going down and there are problems that must be quickly addressed. ? The proportion of qualified teachers has an influence on quality and is one of the most common proxy indicators. This could be measured in terms of the number of teachers with a doctorate, number of teachers with master’s degree, number of teachers who are post-graduates, etc. Usually, the design of the hard and soft indices of measuring service quality would be such that the findings of one would be reflected in the other. In order to make best use of the above system, the institutes must assign weights to each of its important parameters. Then, based on the findings from the soft research, the aggregate score that is obtained by different feedbacks must be calculated. A goal must be set in terms of the average rating that the institute wants to achieve. The institute may thus work towards achieving this goal by looking at the various factors it needs to address. Control charts may also be used by the institute so that it can display its performance over different indicators over a period of time. Hence increasing and decreasing trends may easily be viewed and appropriate steps could be taken to improve each of the degrading factors. This method would keep in check with the factors where it lacks and help it in working towards improving the same.
1. What are the criteria they would use to select a person for the position of a hotel receptionist? Companies today face the challenge not only of designing innovative customer-focused service strategies to compete and grow but also of translating such strategies into results through successful execution. Experience and research demonstrate the difficulty of such an execution, but little research in marketing has focused on strategy implementation, particularly at the employee level. Prior research has suggested that frontline employee participation is critical to successful innovation implementation, especially in service contexts The most demanding of jobs in the services businesses are these frontline jobs. Employees are expected to be fast and efficient at executing operational tasks as well as courteous and helpful in dealing with customers. Frontline employees are a key input for delivering service excellence and competitive advantage. They have a tough job. They need to be cheerful, provide solutions, communicate well, and know about the workings of a business. One such important service industry where the frontline employees play a big role is hospitality. The most important frontline employee here is the receptionist, the first point of contact of a customer with the hotel. Hotel receptionists are responsible for making guests feel welcome, checking them in and out efficiently, and dealing professionally with enquiries, face to face and by phone, fax or email. They deal with general reservation enquiries, as well as answering guests' questions and dealing with complaints. Receptionists reflect the public image of the hotel; it is very important that they make guests feel welcome and answer their questions about local transport, places of interest and entertainment. They also promote the facilities of the hotel such as the fitness centre or beauty salon. In smaller hotels, receptionists may help out with other duties, for example, serving behind the bar. With such diverse requirements of the job, the qualifications that are required to be an effective receptionist are many. Some of the important criterion in choosing a good receptionist is as discussed below: ? High standard of personal appearance : For service organisations the interaction between front-line personnel and the customer is crucial as they aim to create high quality service encounters. Of primary
importance for a good receptionist is the way he/she carries himself/herself and the overall attitude he/she portrays. It is not enough to have the skills that the company requires; a receptionist must also have the general disposition and spirit which companies look for potential employees, especially for the frontline jobs. ? Listen first : The person must be a really good listener. She/he should take the time to identify customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. It is important to listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Effective listening and undivided attention are particularly important on the show floor where there is a great danger of preoccupation - looking around to see to whom else we could be selling to.
?
Know the customer : A receptionist must be very shrewd. He/she, after a point of time, must develop learning about the customer, especially the regular ones. Prior knowledge of the customer specific needs and wants, an insight of his personal likes and dislikes, always works in favour of the hotel. This information could be invaluable in maintain long and sustaining relationships with the customer. The receptionist should be one who is capable of doing the same.
?
Identify and anticipate needs : Customers don't buy products or services. They buy good feelings and solutions to problems. A good receptionist must be aware of the fact that most customer needs are emotional rather than logical. She/he must try to know more about the customer, the more you know your customers, the better you become at anticipating their needs. A good receptionist must communicate regularly so that she/he is aware of problems or upcoming needs of the customer.
?
Make customers feel important and appreciated: A receptionist must always use their name and find ways to compliment the customer, but must be sincere. People value sincerity. It creates good feeling and trust. She/he should think about ways to generate good feelings about doing business with you. Customers are very sensitive and know whether or not you really care about them.
The receptionist should also have a good body language. His/her body language should convey genuine concern and sincerity. His/her words and actions should be congruent. ? Good understanding of the systems: An organization may have the world's best systems for getting things done, but if customers don't understand them, they can get confused, impatient and angry. A good receptionist should have a detailed knowledge of all the system in-place in the organisation. He/she must take time to explain how your systems work and how they simplify transactions. ? Good communication skills : Probably the most important skill that a good receptionist requires is that of communication. Being the first point of contact to the customer, how the receptionist is able to portray the image of the organisation to the customer depends on the communication skills of the receptionist. He/she should be articulate and refined and should use a have a good command on English, Hindi, the regional language and some foreign language. This would work highly in favour of the organisation. ? Good IT skills : A receptionist would require handling quite a large amount of data on the computer and also need to do certain calculations. A good knowledge of the IT infrastructure of the organisation would quicken all the processes that the receptionist would need to at the desk, thus reducing the waiting times for the customer. ? Good organisational skills: A receptionist will be required to take calls, write down telephone messages, book meetings, raise invoices, order stationery, keep a log book of visitors coming and going out of the department and a lot more. He/she must have excellent prioritization and time management skills, as well as be able to multitask. This reduces customer dissatisfaction levels by reducing waiting time.
?
High awareness levels: It is important for a good receptionist to be a buffer to the employees they are assisting. If someone on the staff is busy, the receptionist should know it. They will
help the organisation avoid unnecessary last minute drop ins, without denying legitimate appointments. The receptionist should also be capable of engaging the customer in good, intellectual conversations whenever necessary. However, he/she should know where to draw the lines. The discussions should not be on topics that are controversial, as the opinion of the receptionist may be branded as the opinion of the entire organisation, which would prove to be fatal in some cases. ? Good marketing skills : The receptionist should be your heaviest marketer. Keeping track of important dates of clients, giving out information you want your client to know, but giving it out in way that makes your client feel special is a gift and a good receptionist should have it. The receptionist should keep company brochures at the coffee table, the coffee pot full and fresh, the candy bowl loaded, and the clients moving through the reception area smoothly. ? Tactfulness : It is very important for a receptionist to be tactful. During the work tenure, many situations may arise where the customer is unhappy with a service and would show it to him/her through use of abusive language. The receptionist must be able to tactfully handle such situations in a manner wherein the customer’s faith in the organisation is restored and the organisation’s image is untarnished. ? Honesty : It is very important for the receptionist to be honest. Customers would not want to come to a hotel where they were promised a number of things at the reception desk but none of the facilities were actually available at the hotel. The receptionist must give the actual information to the customer and should not try to win him over by lying. ? High levels of motivation: The job of a receptionist is very hectic and not highly rewarding. It is characterised by long working hours and could be highly thankless. It is however very important for a
receptionist to be sufficiently motivated at all points of time. Being the face of the organisation, he/she cannot afford to be disinterested from his work as it could affect the reputation of the organisation and could lead to loss of valuable customers. Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long. A customer would come back to an organisation for business only when his previous experience with the same organisation has been fruitful. And one of the main parameters that determine this in a service industry is the people that the customer has interacted with at the organisation. The role played by the receptionist in building this relationship with the customer is invaluable. A receptionist can make/break the relationship that a customer has with an organisation. Hence it is very important for an organisation to keep in mind the above qualities before choosing a receptionist for his/her hotel.
doc_248632499.docx