Page 83 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management

Notes Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

7. Customers are co-producers of .......................
8. ....................... is a marketing offer; where consumers confine themselves to valuing only
the service they receive ad nothing else.

9. ....................... is a typical marketing offer where the tangible goods and service may be
given almost equal weightage by the consumers.
10. The ....................... way to improve homogeneity and standardization is to go for large-
scale automation in the service transaction process.

3.2.4 Inseparability

The implication of both the provider and the consumer of the service having to be present
during the time and at the place of the service encounter is that the marketing takes the form of
an event management. Its success would depend on the ability to bring the service provider and
the consumer under one roof, at the same time. Otherwise, the service transaction does not take
place.
There are ways to overcome inseparability:

1. Training of internal customers: The service provider with the help of his organisation
should take extra quality effort to train other service providers, as trainees under an
expert. The intention is to bring more service providers of the same expertise into the
market. Then the number of people who can be served at one time would be more and the
catchment area of service could also be widened.
A surgeon with the co-operation of the hospital, medical colleges and the apex body
Medical Council of India takes in interns. They work under the surgeon, being present
during operations, aiding him in a few of the processes of surgery. These surgical processes
are routine, preliminary and for which expertise may not be required like making the
initial incision, clamping blood vessels, swabbing blood flow, holding the cut part for
deeper and main surgery, sutures and sponge count, etc. If the interns acquire the requisite
expertise, they can then begin the preliminary steps of the surgery while the surgeon
completes another case. Minor surgeries are then handed over to the junior doctors. Once
this process of training has been perfected, most preliminary operation procedures are
handled by the junior surgeons and the expert is present only for the major surgery. In this
way, more patients can benefit from the main surgeon’s expert.
A professor of management has teaching assistants who would sit in his class, observe and
adopt the different pedagogical (teaching methodology) skills, carry on supervising
assignments, tests and group work and also help the professor in evaluations. The TA also
develops case studies, teaching materials and follows up with the class for smooth co-
ordination. Inseparability is sought to be overcome by bringing out in the market more
and more qualified and capable service providers.
2. Adopting and innovating other methods of service: Psychiatrists have innovated with the
concept of group therapy to achieve their treatment goals. Previously, they used to see
one patient at a time, having one-to-one interaction. This limited their exposure to patients.
But with group therapy, the psychiatrists see many patients simultaneously by design and
the methods seem to be delivering results. Organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous and
drug rehabilitation centres are successfully using this technique. Modern day gurus use
group therapy only.

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