Management - Moments Of Truth - Service Organisation - Assessment Answer

Management Assignment

Assignment Task

Introduction

I did internalize the British Airline flow chart. From the flow chart, I was able come up with a service Blueprint for the Airline; analyze the front stage and back stage of the Airline; analyze the moment of truth for the Airline; illustrate the determinant of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for the Airline as a service organization using relevant theories to focus on measurements of service quality in this particular company as well as devising strategies for service recovery for the Airline. The flow chart forms the basis of the structure and functions of the blueprint that is proposed for the Airline in the subsequent years. In fact, it is a foundation on which the structure of the management of the airline is anchored.

Based on the previous flow chart of the British Airline, I propose a blueprint for the year 2015 that will affect both the customer side and the company side. To start with, at the front stage of the customer side, there will be an improved on checking in on the passenger using scanners; new buses for the passengers; and the use of conveyors instead staircases for entry into plane (Hunter & Lambert, 2016). At the back stage, the proposal is that there will be the use trolley to assist the passengers with hand luggage, Taking drivers to refresher courses to drive the digital and new buses as well as the use of signage to direct customers to plane. On the other hand, at the front stage of the company’s side there will be an installation of seats instead of customers queuing at the waiting bay; Sourcing companies for Controlled processes like servicing and maintenance as well as employing more skilled customer care employees to assist passengers (Beckman, 2016). Moreover, at the backstage there will be Employing cleaners to ensure that the seats are always clean; additional aeronautical engineers for airplane maintenance as well as offering services like free delivery of forgotten luggage at the airport. All these projected adjustments will go hand in improving the quality of service delivery and eventually improve on customers’ satisfaction. By so doing, the turnover of the Airline is projected to increase by a margin of 10%. This will eventually result into growth and expansion of the British Airline.

Functions of the front and back stages of the British Airline service organization

In most of the service organizations including British Airline, an employee can either be engaged at the front or at the back depending on the structure of management (Tseng, 2015). At the front stage, the employee is tasked with handling the customer directly under close supervision of the managers. For example, in British Airline, front office services include customer care services. At British Airline or any other Airline, customer care employees are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the passengers together with their luggage are safely taken in the plane at the right and appropriate time. In this position, the customer care agent is the first person to actually meet the passengers before they embark on the flight. Therefore, the customer care agent and even the air hostesses are required to welcome the passengers into the airline and into the plane respectively. They must be friendly and ready to help at all the time. On the other hand, the backstage of the airline is characterized with mostly the administrative duties. Their core function is to run the operations of the Airline. They are basically involved in policy implementation, hiring of employees and ensuring that the missions and objectives of the Airline are achieved. They may also include the administrative support staff like the secretary, accountants and clerks who don’t deal directly with the passengers, but work behind the scenes to ensure that the operations of the Airline goes on smoothly. The aviation administrators are also involved in managing and coordinating all the activities that takes place within the precincts of the Airline.

Moment of truth for British Airline

By definition, “Moment of truth” means those interactions involving too much energy being presented by the customers so that they get the satisfaction they want from a service industry. In a company like British Airline, there can be thousands and thousands of what is described as moments of truth in any single day. It does not matter whether the moments of truth favors or does not favor the Airline in terms of customers’ perception on the quality of service delivery. What is of importance is that normally moments of truth unravel the weaknesses or sometimes the strengths of the Airline (Lee & Han, 2016). Such crucial information can be used to improve on the quality of service delivery and eventually this would translate into positive customers’ satisfaction. Examples of moments of truth in British Airline include flight delay; congestion at the airport waiting lounge; misdirection of customers to flight by the airport workers as well as irregular provision of snacks on the plane leading to the customers staying hungry. In British Airline, customers are usually given priority to discuss their moment of truth with the customer care agents as well as the Airline’s operations manager. The implication is that when the customers’ complains are sorted and well addressed, the customer get connected emotionally with the Airline. This will result into customer retention and eventually the profitability of the Airline will remain stable or rise if other new customers opt to use British Airline.

Determinants of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at British Airline

At British Airline or any other Airline, the determinant of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is usually “customer satisfaction”. This is why the Airline is always engaged in constant marketing of her services to attract customers. The implication is that satisfying customer is a very important aspect in marketing ideology (Seo, 2012). Theories such as Equity Theory, Comparison-Level Theory and Expectation-Disconfirmation are often used to explain this notion of customers’ satisfaction. To start with, Equity Theory outlines the importance of treating all the passengers equally and fairly. No passenger should be given preferential treatment at the expense of the other. This implies that no one is discriminated upon. It is a theory that is subscribed to by many Airlines including British Airline. Secondly, Comparison-Level Theory focuses on looking at the market trends and gauging service delivery at the Airline with those of competing Airlines like Turkish Airline or Emirates Airline. By having certain benchmarks and making comparisons, the Airline will be able to compete with others and continue to make a profit. Thirdly, the theory of expectancy-disconfirmation assess the disconfirmation and expectations of customers via performance comparison. In most cases, pre-consumer perception which is usually associated with services or sometimes goods is reflected in expectations. On the other hand, performance forms the foundation of the perception of the customer with the quality of the service being offered by the Airline. Therefore, the three theories, that is; Equity Theory, Comparison-Level Theory and Expectation-Disconfirmation theory are used as tools for service quality measurements at British Airline. The tools are very crucial in in measuring service quality at the airline. The company is not going to let go of the theories in the year 2017 as outlined in the blueprint.

Service recovery plan for British Airline

Based on customer satisfaction, service recovery is a well-thought scheme or plan of bringing back the dissatisfied or aggrieved customers of the Airline back to the usual state of satisfaction with the service or the company. Notably, there is a very big difference between service recovery and complaint management, especially if the company or Airline is deemed as having failed in the delivery of her services and products (Wu, 2016). However, service recovery may be hindered by the fact that a number of dissatisfied customers usually are reluctant to launch complain. This makes it difficult to solve their problems and dissatisfaction before they leave the airline. There are many ways for service recovery plan for British Airline. The service delivery plan for the British Airline Company may include follow-ups, apology, empathy, urgent reinstatement, symbolic atonement and co-creation. Follow-up is generally an after the recovery call that is used to ascertain or confirm that the passenger is satisfied with the process of recovery as initiated by the management of the airline. In apology, the customer care agents at the Airline are tasked with the responsibility of making a first person apology as opposed to corporate apology. Here, the customer care agents have to accept and acknowledge that indeed there was a failure on the side of the Airline which resulted in customer dissatisfaction. Empathy in service recovery requires that the customer care agent or whoever is concerned gives a sincere and an honest expression of feeling from deep inside for the plight of the passenger. In other words, the customer cares must show some element of remorse. In urgent reinstatement, the Airline must act with speed in attempting to correct things or put the right mechanism in place to correct any possible situation that can be sorted at that particular moment of the event. Moreover, symbolic atonement as a service recovery process requires that some kind of compensation be given to the passenger. Such form of compensation may include a service waiver or not charging for the service at all. It may also include giving out discount to the passengers or offering services in the future free of any charges. Finally, the Airline has to conduct some follow-ups to ensure that it is on the right tract with regard to service recovery. Follow-up is generally an after the recovery call that is used to ascertain or confirm that the passenger is satisfied with the process of recovery as initiated by the management of the airline (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2014).

Conclusion

Taking drivers to refresher courses to drive the digital and new buses as well as the use of signage to direct customers to plane is one of the items listed in the blueprint of British Airline. On the other hand, at the front stage of the company’s side there will be an installation of seats instead of customers queuing at the waiting bay; Sourcing companies for Controlled processes like servicing and maintenance as well as employing more skilled customer care employees to assist passengers. At British Airline or any other Airline, customer care employees are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the passengers together with their luggage are safely taken in the plane at the right and appropriate time. In this position, the customer care agent is the first person to actually meet the passengers before they embark on the flight. It does not matter whether the moments of truth favours or doesn’t the Airline in terms of customers’ perception on the quality of service delivery. What is of importance is that normally moments of truth unravel the weaknesses or sometimes the strengths of the Airline. Theories such as Equity Theory, Comparison-Level Theory and Expectation-Disconfirmation are often used to explain this notion of customers’ satisfaction. Finally, there are many ways for service recovery plan for British Airline. The service delivery plan for the British Airline Company may include follow-ups, apology, empathy, urgent reinstatement, symbolic atonement and co-creation. Follow-up is generally an after the recovery call that is used to ascertain or confirm that the passenger is satisfied with the process of recovery as initiated by the management of the airline.