Service Operations Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Service Operations Management - Case Study Example Using the processes described by Lovelock and Wirtz (2004), the customer support processes of British Airways were blueprinted. Specifically, this blueprint addresses services provided by British Airways from purchasing a ticket through the flight process. The customer segment refers to the three methods of buying a ticket: online, over the telephone or at the airport. Customer actions are clearly outlined along the top row of the blueprint - beginning with 'purchase ticket' through to 'claim baggage'. The contacts that customers have with employees are also identified in the blueprint, both onstage and backstage. Support processes are listed near the bottom of the blueprint, just above the physical evidence. Finally, links connecting customer to employee activities and to support functions are also clearly identified in the blueprint. Defining service as a process has considerable implications from a service operations management perspective in view of the fact that the process-view is seen as the foremost model in operations management (Ponsignon, Smart and Maull, 2007). ... Introduction Defining service as a process has considerable implications from a service operations management perspective in view of the fact that the process-view is seen as the foremost model in operations management (Ponsignon, Smart and Maull, 2007). Additionally, according to Roth and Menor (2003) service operations management as a field of study is important to the design, delivery and assessment of services. They further noted that the design of services is instrumental for allowing an organisation to make sure that its strategy can translate into operations. In other words, mistakes made at the design level will result in mistakes made in operations as well. Based on their understanding, Roth and Menor (2003) proposed that, in order to be effective, a service design must consider how services are delivered, what the concept of service is, and identify the right customers. This is illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1: Looking at the big picture: the service strategy triad Source: Roth and Menor, 2003 Other authors and studies have indicated the importance of understanding the needs and expectations of customers which is vital to success in service design (Goldstein et al., 2002; Roth and Menor, 2003). By and large, the dominant purpose of such a design is to create a service that meets or exceeds customer expectations (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2004). A successful design is one that guarantees that both the service outcome and the process of delivering that service are such that will produce customer satisfaction (Dabholkar and Overby, 2005), which in turn drives customer retention. Indeed, service that is designed properly and is effectively carried out will provide an organisation with competitive advantage in its sector (Verma et al., 2002). A