1. Role Of Staff in Service Company
Marketing in Services
Term Paper
Winter Semester 2023/24
Ezeji Caleb Ihechiluru- 76875
2. ABSTRACT
The focus of this topic, “the roles of staff in service delivery’ is the ways
in which companies ensure that services are performed in accordance
with customer centric designs and standards. Members of staff play very
vital roles in service delivery and strategies.
Table of Content
Introduction 3
Purpose of Study 6
Theoretical Background 7
Roles of Staff In Service Companies 12
Conclusion 18
Summary 19
Bibliography 20
4. 4
Competition among companies to attract and retain customers is
strong. The impact of staff in service companies cannot be
overemphasized. They form the front-line and are without doubt
enormously important in any business.
No business can survive the competitive environment if it cannot
meet the needs of its customers. The staff interface with customers;
their understanding of customers’ needs and interpretation of their
requirements helps to shape the strategies for effective customers-
oriented service.
Frontline employees are viewed as the organization's most important
asset, being capable of achieving and sustaining competitive
advantage (cited in Kim Hoque, 2000, p.6). Consequently, it is very
important for service to recognize the roles that its staff play in
creating positive user experiences for its customers.
5. The frontline employees, ‟Who represent the organization in the
customers' eyes, can have an impact on the image and reputation of the
company. When the frontline employees provide good or quality service,
the customer's desires could be met. As a result, the company gains a
positive reputation hence that could give them a competitive edge (Wilson
et al., 2008).
The frontline employees, who are knowledgeable, understand, and
concerned about the customers' needs, also influence the five dimensions
of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and
tangibles (Wilson et al., 2008). According to Wilson et al., 2008 it is very
essential for the management of service industry such as imperial perking
restaurant to understand the needs and wants of the customer and the
ability of their frontline employees to meet these needs and wants of the
customer and the ability of their frontline employees to meet these needs
6. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the roles of staff in a
service company.
7. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The theoretical part of this paper mainly relates to the service culture,
internal marketing communication, customer satisfaction, strategies for
managing emotion labour, strategies for delivering service quality through
people. A framework of the theory adapted was also integrated.
Service Marketing Triangle
8. Corporate Culture
Corporate culture has become a standard component in
management, business communication, and organizational
communication courses, p.1(Putnam & Conrad, 199941). All
companies have a corporate culture but not all companies have a
service culture and a situation where appreciation of good service
exists. The companies must rely on their service culture to influence
employees’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
Service Culture
A service culture appears as another form of the corporate culture.
It can be described as …a culture where an appreciation for good
service exists, and where giving good service to internal as well as
ultimate, external customer is considered a natural way of life and
one of the most important norms by everyone. (Grönroos, 2000, p.
220)
9. Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) define service culture as: “Culture where an
appreciation for good service exists, and where giving good service to
internal as well as ultimate, external customers is considered a natural way
of life and one of the most important norms by everyone”.
Building of Service culture entails paying attention to:
• Strong Service Leadership:- leadership commitment to design a
philosophy that is aligned with service.
• Performance Optimization:-This relates to the commitment of staff to
providing outstanding service and quality
• Knowledge Management:-associated with the process of documenting
and disseminating organizational knowledge and efficiencies.
• Strategic Alignment:-the alignment of the organization's
plan, policies, and procedures with its vision in its strategic intent.
• Engagement Platform:- an intentional commitment to
10. Facts About the Roles of Staff in Companies Performance
1. Companies with highly engaged employees outperform their
competitors by 147%.
2. Companies that excel at customer experience have 1.5 times more
engaged employees than companies with poor customer experience.
3. Companies that invest in employee experience are 4 times
more profitable than those who don’t.
(Source 1: www.gallup.com/services/190118/engagedworkplace)
(Source 2: www.experiencematters.blog/2016/02/16/report-employee-engagement-
benchmark-study-2016)
(Source 3: www.blog.wellable.co/2017/04/19/employee-experience-delivers-roi)
11. The Service Profit Chain
(Source: http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/im_s-p_chain.html)
12. The Roles of Staff in a Service Company
Understanding Customers’ Needs and Giving Feedback
It is the culture in almost all service companies to find the staff
interfacing between customers and the organization. This puts them
in pole position to play a significant role in giving the organization a
competitive edge.
These staff constantly ensure that their interactions with customers
are in line with the overall goals of the organization’s desire to
position it for competitive advantage.
13. Staff Play the Role of Service Designing
The important role of service staff in service delivery cannot be
overemphasized, in the eyes of the customer they are the service, the
organization, the brand, and the marketers . ... Thus, they play a crucial
role in how customers experience and develop love for service
brands.
Service role
Brand representators
Marketing role
14. Staff Build Service Brand
Brand represents the sum total of consumers’ perceptions and feelings
about the features and performance of the Product or service (Keller, 1999).
Service employees create positive user experiences on customers which in
return create a lasting impression on the customers. It is this perception of
the company’s image and reputation by the customers that will bring about a
return patronage
The process of Branding places customers at the central focus of all
marketing decisions. This is done so that the Brand is perceived to be
consumer friendly thereby leading to a top of the mind recall resulting in
financial gains for the organization (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000).
According to Noble et al (2002), if any organization wants to build itself as a
Brand, all components of the organization should be committed to the
Branding process, including the development of the culture where
customers are viewed as central to all the interventions.
15. Staff Play Boundary Spanning Role
The frontline service staff are referred to as Boundary spanners
because they operate at organizations boundary.
The boundary spanners provide a link between external
customers and environment with internal operations of the
organization.
Boundary spanning positions are often high-stress jobs.
These position require extra ordinary levels of emotional
Labor & ability to handle interpersonal and inter- organizational
conflicts
16. Key Functions of Boundary Spanners
Improving knowledge management
Increasing external visibility
Provide internal co-ordination
Interpersonal relationship
Communication
Conflict resolution
Building trust
Speed decision making
17. They Play Emotional Labour Role
The term emotional labour was coined by Arlie Hochschild to refer to
the labor that goes beyond the physical or mental skills needed to
deliver quality service.
Emotional labour effort is necessary to deliver quality service.
Suppressing of true feelings, portraying emotions that shows
friendliness, empathy, responsiveness, courtesy towards their
customers. This reflects on how the customer perceives the
organisation helps to earn customers’ trust and loyalty.
18. CONCLUSION
In an era of customer-centricism, the roles of staff in a service company
is very critical. Customers’ satisfaction is the live blood of business
sustainability. The staff go out of their way to ensure that every customer
gets a positive user experience whenever they patronise the services of
the company.
In interfacing with customers daily, the staff can make or mar the brand
by their actions or inactions. By offering their skills, the staff help the
service company to meet their set goals.
19. SUMMARY
A service company delivers intangible services to its customers, not a
tangible product. In the process of delivering service delivery the service
staff play an important role. They represent the face of the service
company. They are trained to meet the needs of the customers. To be
able to build customer loyalty and develop the brand that they represent,
the staff of service companies must be consistent in meeting and
surpassing customers’ expectations.
20. Bibliography
1. Aaker, D. and Joachimsthaler, E. (2000), Brand Leadership, Free Press, New York.
2. Görnroos, C (2000), Service management and marketing: a customer relationship
management approach. 2nd edition. New York, Chichester: Wiley and Sons, LTD
England.
3. Keller, K. (1998), Strategic Brand Management, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
4. Kim Hoque, (2000) Human Resource Management in the Hotel industry: Strategy,
innovation and performance. London and New York, Routledge.
5. Noble, C.H., Rajiv, K.S. and Kumar, A., (2002), “Market Orientation and alternative
strategic orientations: A longitudinal assessment of performance implications”, Journal
of Marketing, Vol 66 No 4, pp. 25-39
6. Wilson A., Zeithaml V. A., Bitner M. J. and Gremler D. D. (2008) Services marketing:
integrating customer focus across the firm. 1st European Edition. McGraw-Hill
Education.
