Deck 6: Leveraging the People Factor

Question 1

The personnel aspect of services is very important for all of the listed reasons EXCEPT

A)The appearance and behaviors of backstage service are open to customer scrutiny.
B)Frontstage service workers can significantly influence customer evaluation of the service itself.
C)The appearance and behaviors of service workers may enable service organizations to differentiate themselves from competitors.
D)The personnel aspect of services is very important for all of the listed reasons.
E)None of the listed statements is a reason why the personnel aspect of services is important.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The technical skills involved in the delivery of a particular type of service are often quite similar from one service provider to another.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

From a customer's point of view,all of a service organization's employees are equally important.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The decision to empower frontline employees requires that mid-level managers share some of their authority with their subordinates.

Question 5

Frontstage service personnel make a big difference in how customers perceive and respond to a service organization.

Question 6

Many service organizations have adopted the practice of employee empowerment as a way of leveraging the people factor.

Question 7

Even for complex services,service customers are often able to accurately evaluate the technical skills of the service personnel.

Question 8

The boundary spanners in a service organization are

A)frontstage employees
B)backstage employees
C)customers
D)Each listed type of employee is a boundary spanner.
E)None of the listed types of employees is a boundary spanner.

Question 9

Empowerment is not a good idea for service organizations that adopt customized service as a business strategy and consider building long-term relationships a goal.

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT a benefit of empowerment?

A)Quicker response to customer needs during delivery
B)Quicker response to dissatisfied customers during service recovery
C)Employees more satisfied with their jobs and themselves
D)Lower training costs and overall labor costs
E)Employees acting more warmly and enthusiastically with customers

Question 11

A service organization's service personnel often have the greatest impact on the long-term success of the service organization itself.

Question 12

The decision to costume service employees is an easy one.

Question 13

When service employees are laboring at the maximum end of the discretionary effort scale,customers are likely to hear employee mutterings such as "I do not know,I only work here."

Question 14

Empowered service employees are not often encouraged to improvise in their service tasks.

Question 15

'Double-barreled training' involves a focus on technical skill and math skills.

Question 16

Which of the following conditions is NOT considered a cost of empowerment?

A)Greater monetary investment in the hiring of service personnel
B)Service delivery may be slower
C)Service delivery may be inconsistent
D)All of these are costs associated with empowerment.
E)None of these are costs associated with empowerment.

Question 17

The responsibility of creating a favorable emotional customer response can take a toll on frontline service employees.

Question 18

With respect to service personnel,great social skills compensate for poor technical skills.

Question 19

Which type of service personnel,if any,has the greatest impact on customer perceptions of the service encounter?

A)Frontstage service personnel
B)Backstage service personnel
C)Middlestage service personnel
D)Each of these types of service personnel has an equally important impact on customer perceptions of the service encounter.
E)None of these types of service personnel has an important impact on customer perceptions of the service encounter.

Question 20

Which of the following service organization directives is NOT required for increasing the likelihood that a service organization's employees will be excellent performers?

A)Hire intelligently
B)Train intensively
C)Monitor incessantly
D)Reward inspirationally
E)Acknowledge instantaneously

Question 21

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
___________ is the management practice of sharing information,rewards,knowledge,and power with frontline employees so that they can better respond to customers' needs and expectations.

Question 22

Service personnel who fall short of operating at the maximum end of the discretionary effort scale run the risk of being viewed as ______________ when they are ___________ to discharge their responsibilities but are ______________ to do so.

A)malcontents,unwilling,able
B)malcontents,willing,unable
C)incompetent,unwilling,able
D)incompetent,unwilling,unable
E)malcontents,willing,able

Question 23

Which of the following activities should a service organization consider using to maximize the productivity of its employees?

A)The service organization should challenge its employees to operate at the maximum end of the discretionary effort scale.
B)The service organization should institute a program of internal marketing.
C)The service organization should consider ways of harnessing technology to facilitate workers' appointed tasks.
D)All of these activities should be considered by service organizations that want to maximize employee productivity.
E)None of these activities should be considered by service organizations that want to maximize employee productivity.

Question 24

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
____________ is the term given to treating employees as internal customers of the organization.

Question 25

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
A service organization uses __________ when it decides to require its service personnel to wear uniforms while on the job.

Question 26

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
_____________ training focuses on the development of employees' technical and social skills.

Question 27

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
___________ refers to a technique in which researchers pose as customers to assess the quality of the service the employee delivers.

Question 28

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
____________ is the difference between the maximum effort one can bring to a task and the minimum effort needed to simply get by.

Question 29

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
____________ is used to train personnel to be able to perform multiple tasks within the service organization.

Question 30

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
Organizational __________________ are employees in an organization that link the organization with its customers.

Question 31

Which of the following,if any,is NOT a disadvantage associated with costuming service personnel?

A)Costumes undermine workers' sense of individuality.
B)Employees who wear a common costume facilitate customer perceptions of employee performance.
C)Wearing a costume day after day may become drudgery to service personnel.
D)All of these are disadvantages associated with costuming service personnel.
E)None of these are disadvantages associated with costuming service personnel.

Question 32

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
The _____________ of service workers have to do with the proficiency with which they perform their tasks.

Question 33

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
Techniques imparted by _______________ provide service workers with skills in reading and responding to customer cues.

Question 34

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
Organizations should develop _________________________ by hiring,training,and managing workers whose interactions with customers create a favorable emotional response.

Question 35

Which of the following characteristics may be advantages that can be realized by service organizations that costume their service personnel?

A)Costuming enables the service organization to add a measure of tangibility to its service.
B)Costumes send a message to customers by projecting a desired image.
C)Costumes may help supply credibility for an organization.
D)All of these may be advantages to the service organization.
E)None of these may be advantages to the service organization.

Question 36

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
Lessons from _______________ provide valuable guidance on coordinating a team effort among a team of service employees who are interacting with a customer.

Question 37

Service organizations can develop an emotional intelligence by _______________ service workers whose interaction with customers creates a favorable emotional response.

A)hiring
B)training
C)managing
D)a and b
E)a,b and c

Question 38

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
The _____________ of a service worker have to do with the manner in which the employee interacts with customers and fellow workers.

Question 39

COMPLETION QUESTIONS
Boundary Spanners
Mystery Shopping
Technical Skills
Empowerment
Theatrical Improvisation
Jazz Improvisation
Social Skills
Discretionary Effort
Double-Barreled
Internal Marketing
Cross-Training
Emotional Labor
Emotional Intelligence
Costumes
Service management should strive to create a service climate that is conducive to a positive customer experience through employees' _______________ .

Question 40

Techniques imparted by theatrical improvisation and jazz improvisation provide service workers with _______________

A)skills in reading customer cues.
B)skills in responding to customer cues.
C)guidance on coordinating a team effort among the team service employees who are interacting with the customer.
D)a and b
E)a,b,c

Question 41

What does it mean when a service organization leverages the people factor?

Question 42

Should all service organizations require their service employees to wear corporate costumes? Explain your answer.

Question 43

Who are the boundary spanners within a service organization,and why are they important?

Question 44

When delivering a service,which skills (technical or social)are more important to frontstage service workers? Explain your answer.

Question 45

What is meant by improvisation,and how might it help to produce a superior customer experience?

Question 46

During a recent meeting of top management,the topic of empowerment was debated.Some of the managers argued in support of empowering the service workers,whereas other managers indicated that empowerment was not desirable for the firm.You are the secretary to the meeting and need to summarize the debate for the meeting minutes.Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of empowerment that should have been discussed during the meeting.

Question 47

Across many service industries,the nature of the core product offered by different service organizations is the same.How can these service organizations achieve differentiation through the people factor?

Question 48

What recommendations would you offer to service organizations that want to maximize the productivity of their employees?

Question 49

As the owner of a local service organization,you noticed that other service organizations in your community are beginning to offer the same core service that you do.Furthermore,you are not able to change your core service or modify your service offerings.The only element of the services marketing mix that you'll be able to modify is the people factor.How can you achieve differentiation through the people factor?

Question 50

What is internal marketing?

Question 51

You are the marketing manager for a local service organization.Recently you decided to hire some frontstage service workers.What skills would you be looking for in the applicants for these frontstage positions?

Question 52

A local service organization was having difficulty achieving employee excellence and came to you for help.What types of recommendations might you offer to the service organization?

Question 53

Why are service organizations recommended to develop an emotional intelligence,and how might it be developed?

Question 54

From the customer's perspective,are all service personnel equally important? Explain your answer.