Page 193 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management Ginni Nijhawan, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 9: The Service Encounter

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
9.1 The Service Encounter

9.2 Service Experiences
9.3 Creation and Evaluation
9.4 Summary
9.5 Keywords

9.6 Review Questions
9.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
Explain the concept of service encounter
Discuss the type of service encounter
Describe the concept of service experiences
Elaborate the model of service encounters creation and evaluation
Introduction

The heart of a service is the encounter between the server and the customer. It is here where
emotions meet economics in real time and where most people judge the quality of service. As
currently conceived, service science treats customer satisfaction with an encounter predominantly
as a function of engineering measures of throughput and output quality. Thus if a service is
performed efficiently and process output variability is low, it is assumed that the service process
has been optimised. Our view is that this misses critical psychological variables that lie at the
subconscious level, and which, if understood by management could be managed in such a way
as to enhance customer satisfaction.

9.1 The Service Encounter

The service encounter is defined as all activities involved in the service delivery process. Some
service managers use the term “moment of truth” to indicate that defining point in a specific
service encounter where interactions are most intense.
Customer perception of service quality is primarily influenced by the service encounter. A
customer estimates the quality of service throughout his/her interaction with a service provider.
For example, a bank customer’s service encounter begins when he approaches the bank officials
with queries, and is influenced by aspects such as the time taken to meet the senior officer, or to
deposit or withdraw cash, the courtesy of the bank officials and so on. During these interactions,
a customer would assess the quality of service offered by the service provider. Every incident in
the service encounter sums up the customer’s satisfaction and his intention to repeat business
with the service provider.

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