Managing People for Service Advantage - SERV3001

In the 21st century, most service organizations in a given industry perform their core service function equally well and hence it does not become a source of competitive advantage. Competitive advantage can however be achieved by developing a service culture and a customer-centric organisation that results in delivery of excellent customer service, be it with customers of general services (e.g., telecommunications, fitness centres, hotels, tourism, restaurants, airlines, etc) or clients of a professional service firm (e.g., accountancy, financial planning, higher education, architecture, engineering consulting). Excellent customer service does not happen by chance. It has to be designed into the firm's service delivery systems and delivered by people and technology. Employing the service-profit chain concept as a framework, this course is about designing a service delivery strategy (built around service reliability, exceeding expectations, service recovery, and fairness) then examining the role of technology and people (e.g., service vision, service leadership, 'internal' customers, service climate and teamwork).