Deck 9: Service Processes

Question 1

Services often take the form of repeated encounters involving face-to-face interactions.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A service system with a high degree of customer contact is less difficult to control than a low degree of customer contact service system.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

When recovering from a defective service encounter, a botched task calls for material compensation.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The service-system design matrix identifies six forms of service encounters.

Question 5

The "service blueprint" is a classification of services.

Question 6

The service-system design matrix identifies five alternative forms of service encounters.

Question 7

Because little or no inventory is carried in a service operation, it is easy to separate the operations management functions from marketing in services.

Question 8

Poka-yokes are procedures that block the inevitable mistake from becoming a service defect.

Question 9

Service guarantees can be used at the service design stage to focus the firm's delivery system on the things it must do well to satisfy the customer.

Question 10

The customer is (or should be) the second most important focal point of all decisions in a service organization.

Question 11

When recovering from a defective service encounter, a poor treatment from a server calls for material compensation.

Question 12

Marketing is responsible for fulfilling the service guarantee.

Question 13

Poka-yoke is roughly translated from Japanese as "quality management."

Question 14

It is difficult to separate the operations management functions from marketing in services.

Question 15

A service business is an organization whose primary business requires interaction with customers to produce the service.

Question 16

When recovering from a defective service encounter, a botched task calls for an apology.

Question 17

When recovering from a defective service encounter, poor treatment from a server calls for an apology.

Question 18

The term "encounter" is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "meeting in conflict or battle" and is used to also designate meetings between consumers and service systems.

Question 19

Effective management of services requires a clear focus on understanding operations, so much so that it may even require the exclusion of consideration of marketing or personnel.

Question 20

Poka-yoke is roughly translated from Japanese as "avoid mistakes."

Question 21

A facilitating good is something purchased or consumed by the buyer or items provided by the customer.

Question 22

To avoid lost sales, service capacity must be set to match peak demand.

Question 23

A characteristic of a well-designed service system is that it manages the evidence of service quality in such a way that customers are aware of the value of the service provided.

Question 24

"Combine the pain" is an application of behavioral science to service encounters. It means that, when something is going wrong for a group of customers, it is better to totally enrage one or a very few customers rather than slightly annoying a large number of customers.

Question 25

An important aspect of service products is that they cannot be inventoried.

Question 26

The service triangle is completely made up of the service strategy, support system, and the customer.

Question 27

Service strategy begins by integrating operations and strategy.

Question 28

The "back end" of the service encounter is more important than the "front end" because the "back end" is where most service providers are paid.

Question 29

Implicit services are not part of the service package.

Question 30

The work process involved in providing the service must involve the physical presence of the customer in the system.

Question 31

A supporting facility is the same thing as a facilitating good.

Question 32

An explicit service is readily observable by the senses.

Question 33

All services need to be located near the customer.

Question 34

Customer contact refers to creation of the service.

Question 35

An implicit service implies psychological benefits that the customer may sense only vaguely.

Question 36

In services, the product is developed first and then the process to produce the service is developed.

Question 37

It is not necessary that a well-designed service system be robust.

Question 38

Choosing how to accommodate customer induced variability in a service business is the decision of the front-line service provider.

Question 39

One characteristic of a well-designed service system is that it is cost-effective.

Question 40

All services have the customer in the production schedule and so the customer must be accommodated.

Question 41

Which of the following is a characteristic that can be used to guide the design of service systems?

A) Services cannot be inventoried.
B) Services are all similar.
C) Quality work means quality service.
D) Services businesses are inherently entrepreneurial.
E) Even service businesses have internal services.

Question 42

Which one of the following is not a major factor distinguishing service design and development from manufacturing design and development?

A) The process and product must be developed at the same time.
B) Many service organizations can change their service offerings virtually overnight.
C) Many parts of the service package are often defined by the training that individuals receive before they become part of the service organization.
D) The service package, rather than a definable good, is the output of the development process.
E) Service operations can be protected by patents; manufacturing operations cannot.

Question 43

Which of the following is a major factor that distinguishes service design and development from manufacturing design and development?

A) The service process and service product can be developed independently.
B) The service package has the same legal protection available to manufactured goods.
C) The service package is the major output of the development process.
D) Manufacturing is far more capital intensive than services.
E) Capacity decisions are much more critical in manufacturing operations.

Question 44

One of the three approaches to delivering on-site service is __________.

A) Airline approach
B) Self-service approach
C) Fast-food approach
D) Do-it-yourself approach
E) Internet approach

Question 45

There are many applications of poka-yokes in service organizations. Which of the following is one of the three-T's used to classify poka-yokes?

A) Task
B) Time
C) Teamwork
D) Trust
E) Talent

Question 46

In the service-system design matrix, a mail contact service encounter is expected to have which of the following?

A) High sales opportunity
B) High degree of customer/server contact
C) High production efficiency
D) Low sales opportunity
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 47

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a well-designed service system?

A) Robust
B) Cost-effective
C) Puts customers in charge
D) User-friendly
E) Effectively links "front office" with "back office"

Question 48

Which company is mentioned in the text as a pioneering of the production-line approach to delivering on-site service?

A) Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
B) McDonald's Corporation
C) Prudential Insurance Company
D) Southwest Airlines
E) Citibank

Question 49

Which of the following approaches to service design is characterized by having the customer take a greater role in the production of the service?

A) Production-line approach
B) Personal-attention approach
C) Quality approach
D) Do-it-yourself approach
E) Self service approach

Question 50

Which of the following is not part of "the service triangle"?

A) Employees
B) Support systems
C) Customers
D) Service strategy
E) Service encounter

Question 51

In the service-system design matrix, a face-to-face loose specs service encounter is expected to have which of the following?

A) Low sales opportunity
B) Low production efficiency
C) High production efficiency
D) Low degree of customer/server contact
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 52

There are many applications of poka-yokes in service organizations. Which of the following is one of the three-T's used to classify poka-yokes?

A) Talent
B) Teamwork
C) Trust
D) Treatment
E) Time

Question 53

Which of the following are alternative possible service encounters included in the service-system design matrix?

A) Mail contact
B) Warranty
C) Sales call
D) Field service
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 54

In the service-system design matrix, an Internet and on-site technology service encounter is expected to have which of the following?

A) High sales opportunity
B) High degree of customer/server contact
C) Low production efficiency
D) High production efficiency
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 55

Which of the following is an alternative possible service encounter included in the service-system design matrix?

A) Face-to-face distance
B) Internet
C) Questionnaire response
D) Automated teller (ATM)
E) Response card encounter

Question 56

Which of the following is one of the three contrasting approaches to delivering on-site service?

A) Quality approach
B) Stock market approach
C) Production-line approach
D) Retail approach
E) Professional approach

Question 57

Which of the following is not a strategic use of the service-system design matrix?

A) Enabling systematic integration of operations and marketing strategy
B) Design of the service package
C) Comparing how other firms deliver specific services
D) Indicating evolutionary or life cycle changes that might be in order as the firm grows
E) Clarifying exactly which combination of service delivery the firm is in fact providing

Question 58

Which of the following refers to the physical presence of the customer in a service system?

A) Creation of the service
B) Customer contact
C) Intermittent production
D) Continuous production
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 59

In the service-system design matrix, a face-to-face total customization service encounter is expected to have which of the following?

A) Low sales opportunity
B) Low production efficiency
C) High production efficiency
D) Low degree of customer/server contact
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 60

Which of the following is not an element of a good service guarantee?

A) Unconditional (no small print).
B) The customer controls the process.
C) Easy to understand.
D) Easy to communicate.
E) Meaningful to the customer.

Question 61

In designing service systems, as you go from mail contact to phone contact to face-to-face total customization, which of the following is most appropriate?

A) Sales opportunity decreases while degree of customer/server contact increases.
B) Sales opportunity decreases while degree of customer/server contact decreases.
C) Sales opportunity increases while degree of customer/server contact decreases.
D) Sales opportunity increases while degree of customer/server contact increases.
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 62

Every service has a service package, which is defined as a bundle of goods and services that is provided in some environment. This bundle consists of five features. Which of the following is not one of those features?

A) Supporting facility
B) Explicit goods
C) Information
D) Explicit services
E) Implicit services

Question 63

Which of the following is a characteristic of a well-designed service system?

A) Provides an unconditional service guarantee.
B) Each element of service system is consistent with the operating focus of the firm.
C) The front end of the service encounter is equal to the back end.
D) It segments the pleasure for the customer.
E) It lets the customer control the process.

Question 64

Examples of this include the status of a degree from an Ivy League school, the privacy of a loan office, and worry-free auto repair.

A) Supporting facility
B) Facilitating goods
C) Information
D) Explicit services
E) Implicit services

Question 65

Examples of this include an Internet website, a golf course, a ski lift, an airline, and an auto repair facility.

A) Supporting facility
B) Facilitating goods
C) Information
D) Explicit services
E) Implicit services

Question 66

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a well-designed service system?

A) It is user-friendly.
B) It is cost-effective.
C) It provides effective links between the back office and the front office.
D) It is structured to have consistency between organization and department.
E) Each element of the service system is consistent with the operating focus of the firm.

Question 67

Which of the following is considered a high-contact service operation?

A) On-line brokerage house
B) Internet sales for a department store
C) Physician practice
D) Telephone life insurance sales and service
E) Automobile repair

Question 68

Examples of this include the response time of an ambulance, air-conditioning in a hotel room, and a smooth-running car after a tune-up.

A) Supporting facility
B) Facilitating goods
C) Information
D) Explicit services
E) Implicit services

Question 69

Which of the following approaches to service design involves the customer to the greatest extent in providing a service (in effect making them "a partial employee")?

A) Production-line approach and self-service approach
B) Personal-attention approach only
C) Quality approach
D) Do-it-yourself approach
E) Self-service approach

Question 70

Examples of this include golf clubs, skis, beverages, auto parts, and services sold by the firm.

A) Supporting facility
B) Facilitating goods
C) Information
D) Explicit services
E) Implicit services

Question 71

Examples of this include detailed descriptions of the items offered, tee-off times, weather reports, medical records, seat preferences, and item availability.

A) Supporting facility
B) Facilitating goods
C) Information
D) Explicit services
E) Implicit services