Running Head: DEVELOPING AND MANAGING CONSUMER SERVICE

DEVELOPING AND MANAGING CONSUMER SERVICE

Name of the Student:

Name of the University:

Learner’s Note:
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Q1: List five principles or characteristics of quality management.

Total quality management can be regarded as a very important aspect in any organization that
looks forward to delivery products, services or projects in a very efficient manner. The five
characteristics of TQM are as follows –

 Benchmarking
 Customer Feedback
 Teamwork
 Continuous Improvement
 Empowerment

Q2: List four types of external customers.

Ross (2017) suggested that customers are someone who buys certain products and services
for their own use. However, outside this category there are also people who, by being a part
of the distribution process act as customers. Four types of external customers are as follows –

 Suppliers and Retailers

 Agents
 Government Agencies
 Media Representatives

Q3: List four types of internal customers.

Any individual or group that is in the internal environment of the organization, and benefits
from the efforts can be termed as internal customers. Few types of important internal
customers as follows –

 Team Members
 Colleagues
 Committees and its members
 Staff from different departments

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Q4: Why should you take the initiative to obtain information on customer needs and

expectations?

Consumers can be regarded as one of the most important stakeholders of any firm and
therefore, in order to secure consumer interests, obtaining information on consumer needs is
very important. The reasons below can also be termed as important.

 Internal service quality

 Employee satisfaction
 Employee loyalty
 Consumer loyalty

Q5: List three formal and three informal ways to get information on customers’ needs

and expectations.

To understand the needs or expectations from the consumers there are many ways which can
be categorised in formal and informal ways. The formal ways are as follows –

 Need Analysis
 Competitor Analysis
 Market analysis

The informal ways to gather information are as follows –

 Conducting Surveys
 Consumer Interviews
 Focus Groups

Q6: Discuss how you could obtain formal feedback from customers to research their

satisfaction levels.

Recording satisfaction is very important to make sure that firm is well aware of all the
different activities it needs to conduct to satisfy consumers. In this case, feedback can be
gathered by the following ways –

 Emailing a Feedback form to the major consumers

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 Attaching a satisfaction form with every bill

 Recording feedbacks in databases at receptions

Q7: What information do companies want to know about when conducting formal

customer feedback?

According to Lamberson & Page (2018), there are different types of information that
companies need to know when collecting feedback. Some of them are as follows –

 Was the product or service effective?

 Why was it satisfactory?
 Why it was not satisfactory?
 What are the scopes of improvement?

Q8: Identify two ways you could provide opportunities for staff to give you feedback on

products and services.

The staff at any organization can also be important for providing feedbacks so that services
and products can be tailored to perfection. Two ways to do this are as follows –

 Suggestion box implementation

 Departmental meetings

Q9: State three changes in the internal environment which could impact your quality

service planning.

Quality service planning can be very important in terms of makings sure that the quality
service planning has been done effectively. Three such changes in the internal environment
are as follows –

 Management changes
 Recruitment practices
 Technological changes

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Q10: State two changes in the external environment which could impact your quality

service planning.

The external environment can also cause changes to happen within the service planning
process as there are a lot f stakeholders related with this part. The reasons for change can be
as follows –

 Change in competitive environment

 Change in economic climate

Q11: List the policies and procedures that are created to ensure quality customer

service provision.

To ensure quality service provision it must be made sure that the certain procedures are taken
into account. The procedures that must be taken into account are as follows –

 An overall plan to map the activities

 A strategic plan which is long term
 An operational plan that is short term

Q12: Describe how you can protect your plans to ensure customer service outcomes.

The plans that will be set can fail due to unavoidable circumstances and therefore, the
following aspects will help protect the plans effectively -

 Enough capital
 Adequate staff
 Sufficient staff
 Adequate facilities
 Materials

Q13: List two professional service standards hospitality staff must adhere to.

The hospitality sector has many standards that it must follow in order to be effective and few
of them are as follows –

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 ISO Standards which ensure continual improvements in operational consistencies.

This helps in developing the service development process.
 Service Standards that enable the consumer a right to refund

Q14: What attitudes and attributes are expected by the service industry to work with

customers?

There are some specific activities that are expected from the employees within the hospitality
industry. Those are as follows –

 Following the industry codes of conduct

 Having a positive attitude
 Continuous improvement
 Being responsible
 Participation in accreditation schemes

Q15: Provide three reasons you should involve staff in developing customer service

practices.

The staffs in most of the occasions have a direct contact with the consumers and hence they
can communicate better with the consumers.

If the employees are more psychologically involved, they will be more loyal to the
organizations.

The process also encourages employees to be more responsible and thus they must be
involved in the practices.

Q16: Explain how staff can participate in developing customer service practices.

The staff can be effectively involved in the practices if the organizational management follow
the steps below –

 The current plans must be analysed

 The points where there is most customer contact must ne indentified
 The employees must be asked to increase value at those points identified

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Q17: Discuss the similarities and differences between standards, policies and

procedures.

Standards are usually determined by law and it relates with the benchmarks that set
acceptance levels.

Policies are guidelines set by the internal management of any organization that helps in
guiding operations

Procedures are the rules that employees have to follow in order to execute the policies.

Q18: List the steps involved in developing policies and procedures

If a step by step process is followed, the policies and procedures can be developed effectively

 Firstly, the senior management must support the process

 Plans must be made along with consultation
 Research must be conducted
 Final Policies must be written down
 Final Procedures must be written down

Q19: Write a procedure for a customer service duty you commonly perform in your

work or training environment

In the workplace, if a consumer is unhappy with any equipment in his or her room. Then after
receiving the complaint, the main aim is to carry the complaint to the room service
department as soon as possible. The rule is to then inform the departmental manager who will
bring a technician to fix the issue.

Q20: Provide a brief description of consumer protection laws in these categories and an
organisation’s responsibilities under it for the following.

Category Consumer protection law procedures

Cancellation Fees The cancellation must be reasonable and fair.
Normally it is 10% of the actual price.
Description of Goods or Services The goods or services must provide guarantee
that it will full fill the purposes of the consumers

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Price of products and Services The aspects of Comparative Pricing,

Recommended Retail Pricing must be followed
Refunds If there are major issues with the product or
service, then only refund must be paid.

Q21: Describe what is meant by total quality management (TQM).

Total quality management can be described as a process that is related to enabling every staff
to maintain high standards of quality of working so that operational results are according to
the desires.

Q22: Which people in the workplace should you communicate policies, procedures and

expectations to?

Corones et al. (2016) opined that within the working environment, the policies, procedures
and expectations must be communicated with the departmental managers or line managers as
well as the employees.

Q23: Identify eight ways to communicate policies and procedures to staff.

The aspects can be communicated in the following procedures

 Distribution of hard copies

 Emailing
 Informative sessions
 Informal coaching
 Staff handbook
 Staff meetings
 Being a mentor
 Role play in departments

Q24: State two ways you can check that colleagues understand policies and procedures.

To check if colleagues understanding we need to ask them to explain the policies and
procedures to us.

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 Physical Demonstration: The staff and colleagues could explain certain practical tasks

like taking down orders and other physical tasks.

 Role-play: To ensure colleagues’ behaviour to certain customer and reactions falls

under standard procedure we could role play a customer-employee conversation.

Q25: List five places you can keep policies so they’re readily available to both staff and
customers.

Five effective places to keep policies are:

 Signage in our establishment

 On our website

 In staff manuals

 In common areas

 In contracts

Q26: What are the roles and responsibilities of management, supervisors and other
employees in the monitoring and provision of quality customer service?

According to Lau et al. (2017), roles and responsibilities can be assigned as follows:

 Managers: They include Deputy, Assistant and Department managers in a hierarchical

fashion each reporting to their super ordinates. They prepare policies, analyze reports

and make important decisions.

 Supervisors: Their main job is to look after the staff and ensure they follow

department policies and procedures.

 Customer service staff: Main workers who keep stores clean and interact with

customers.

 Trainee: Apply their new skills to work like other staffs but within restraints.

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Q27: Write two open questions you could use to start a conversation with a colleague
about customer service problems or training needs.

The two open questions with our colleagues could be:

 How do you feel your team is tracking at the moment?

 So what do you think of the new reservation system?

Q28: List four types of internal or external staff training you could initiate to enhance
customer service.

Some external and internal staff trainings are:

 Distance learning

 Self-directed study

 Attending seminars

 Coaching

Q29: Your customer service team is concerned about a new colleague whose
performance is not up to scratch. They say the trainee’s bad attitude is affecting
customer service outcomes. Describe what you would do.

To improve customer service we should deal with the new employee, talk to him about
policies and understand his problems related to the job. We should try to resolve his issues
and provide him with a more comfortable environment to strengthen his bond with other team
members.

Q30: State the steps you would take to resolve any team disputes that have arisen from
the issues with customer service.

To manage team disputes, we must sense the issues of customer service and understand the
factors leading to disputes like employee stress and personal disagreements in customer
service techniques.

Q31: List four attitudes and attributes you should model as a manager of service
industry personnel.

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Hanna & Dodge (2017) suggested that the four attitudes and attributes we should model as a
manager are:

 Increased job satisfaction: We must cater to the needs of the employees and regard

ourselves as a family.

 Increased motivation: We must provide constant motivation to employees by

rewarding them for appreciable services.

 Increased loyalty: Loyalty is earned from both customers and employees and it adds

on to customer service quality.

 Increased team spirit: Team members in customer service must have an instilled sense

of togetherness in order to bond and cooperate with each other.

Q32: Describe six ways you can demonstrate responsibility and accountability.

Six ways you we can demonstrate responsibility and accountability are:

 Keeping commitments

 Taking responsibility of own actions

 Considering environmental factors

 Promote mutual respect

 Stay honest with facts

 Work as a team member

Q33: Explain the purpose of an organisational structure chart.

The purposes of an organisational structure chart are:

 To help us identify the various departments and teams

 To help us understand every member’s role within the departments and teams.

 To help us acknowledge our duties and responsibilities.

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 To help us understand the organisational hierarchy and where we are located in the

structure tree.

Q34: List six policies you should make readily available to customers.

Six policies that should be available to customers are:

 Dress code

 Cancellation policies

 Package inclusions

 Sales & promotions conditions

 Public holiday surges

 No smoking policies

Q35: Identify six industry schemes aimed at improving customer service (including but
not limited to accreditation schemes).

The six industry schemes aimed at improving customer service are:

 ISO Accreditations

 GreenPower Accreditation

 Restaurant rating system

 Hotel star rating system

 Online rating systems

 Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP)

Q36: Identify typical systemic customer service problems.

The typical systemic customer service problems are:

 Incorrect product and service prices

 Refund and Exchange requests

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 Delay in product and service delivery

 Incorrect product delivery

Q37: List five ways you can prevent or resolve communication breakdowns.

The five ways to prevent communication breakdowns are:

 Establish communication standards and policies.

 Building a common language every employ could communicate in.

 Build listening skills among staff.

 Ensuring formal and professional conversation.

 Ensuring legitimacy of facts before communicating them.

Q38: Identify three ways you can seek ongoing feedback from staff and customers.

Celuch et al. (2015) opined that three ways to seek ongoing feedback are:

 Day-to-day discussions about customer service with all levels of employees.

 Interview customers to know their opinions.

 Hold regular meetings to discuss service policies and decisions.

Q39: List four measurements you can use to assess and evaluate your effectiveness when
it comes to business performance, customer satisfaction, staff performance, etc.

We could evaluate our effectiveness through four measurable targets. We can:

 Monitor customer satisfaction over time

 Check performance with customer’s priority

 Enumerate and prioritise the made adjustments

 Evaluate if our adjustments improve customer satisfaction

Q40: Identify six more general methods of assessing and evaluating your effectiveness
with regards to quality customer service.

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Six more general methods of evaluating quality of service could be:

 External customer survey

 Employee satisfaction

 Observing the quality of food

 Sanitation and hygiene scores

 Evaluating staff against service standards

 Maintaining customer complaints list

Q41: Explain four ways you can identify when you need to adjust standards, systems,
policies and procedures.

The four ways are listed below:

 Customer service issues identified: When problems regarding customer services are

known, policies must be adjusted.

 Changes made: When new changes are made, new policies and standards should be

implemented.

 Failing to meet customer needs: Sometimes policies do not work as intended, and in

such cases, updates need to be made.

 Outdated procedure: Some procedures, efficient in the past have become ineffective

due to change in time.

Q42: Define the ‘continuous improvement approach’ to making adjustments in the

workplace.

Continuous Improvement Approach states that syatems and procedures must always improve
and evolve with customer needs, change in economy and society. They aim at evolving the
operations and processes by eliminating the time wasted in redundant and outdated
procedures and hence enhancing the performance.

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Q43: Who do you need to communicate new approaches to?

We need to communicate new approaches to:

 Managers and Supervisors

 Permanent employees

 Casual and temporary staff

 Loyal customers

Q44: Provide three tips for communicating new customer service approaches
effectively.

Three tips for communicating the new customer service approach are:

 Set ourselves a deadline within which we must communicate the changes.

 Make a list of all employee names, both permanent and casual to ensure the total

number of employees to be communicated.

 Make a checklist to keep track of people communicated and those that are yet to be

informed.

Q45: Complete the CSI chart for your restaurant.

Average Weighting Average Weighted

Item importance satisfaction
factor score
scores scores
A B C
Taste 9 32.1% 8 2.57
Presentation 3 10.7% 7 7.49
Service 8 28.6% 5 1.43
Value for money 8 28.6% 8 2.29
Total 28
CSI: 13.78

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Q46: Look at the performance matrix. What is the systemic service problem that will
need some attention?

The performance problem lies in the customer service department. Even though importance is
given to the knowledge of tour leader, it fails to please the customers. Also, more importance
is needed to be given to bus facilities.

Q47: List two sources of information on current service trends in the hospitality
industry that affect service delivery.

Two sources of information on current service trends that affect service delivery are:

 Customer profile: It enlists the most frequent customers. It would help in gaining

information through surveys.

 Analysis of records: All records logged in like customer complaints, customer

requests, customer satisfaction surveys could be analyzed.

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References:

Celuch, K., Robinson, N. M., & Walsh, A. M. (2015). A framework for encouraging retail
customer feedback. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(4), 280-292.

Corones, S. G., Christensen, S. A., & Howell, N. (2016). Submission to Australian Consumer
Law Review Issues Paper.

Hanna, N., & Dodge, H. R. (2017). Pricing: policies and procedures. Macmillan
International Higher Education.

Lamberson, P. J., & Page, S. E. (2018). First mover or higher quality? Optimal product

strategy in markets with positive feedbacks. Journal of Economics & Management

Strategy, 27(1), 40-52.

Lau, P. Y. Y., Tong, J. L. T., Lien, B. Y. H., Hsu, Y. C., & Chong, C. L. (2017). Ethical work
climate, employee commitment and proactive customer service performance: Test of
the mediating effects of organizational politics. Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, 35, 20-26.

Ross, J. E. (2017). Total quality management: Text, cases, and readings. Routledge.

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