Week 8 - People Management

Question 1

What is meant by ‘emotional work’?

Answer 1

Working in services can be emotional for the employees as they often have to draw on their emotions as part of service guidelines

• Ability of front line staff to communicate the promises being given by the organisation
• Must exude enthusiasm
• They must have extroversion (be able to talk in front of people), be able to agree and adjust with/to customer demands

Question 2

What are some examples od Disneys guidelines?

Answer 2

• Make eye contact and smile

- Greet and Welcome every guest

Question 3

Who came up with the emotional labour theory?

Answer 3

Hochschild 1983, Surman and Sturdy, 2009

Question 4

What does the emotional labour theory?

Answer 4

-It is a theory that says we as ourselves ‘How can I best serve the customer in this situation?’

It becomes an occupational norm that you are dealing with these consumers which then leads to customer satisfaction and profit. In order to do this you have to draw on emotional skills such as empathy, care etc

Question 5

What is emotional theory made up of?

Answer 5

Service acting - e.g just got to smile in that moment, get over it quickly

Deep acting - When you have to think of a situation that puts you into a better mood which requires digging down into inner feelings, draw emotions to the feelings

Question 6

What is meant by Disney a dark side…? e.g emotional burnout and emotional exhaustion

Answer 6

• Working their takes a high degree of emotional intelligence
• Emotional exhaustion is for example when they have to maintain a certain size yet they are going through this stress on minimum wage leading to emotional burnout
• Only 28% of Disneyland employees report having the same schedule every week.

Question 7

What is emotional contagion theory?

Answer 7

This theory attempts to explain how emotions are transmitted between people

Question 8

What does emotional contagion theory suggest?

Answer 8

It suggests that if your happy and smiling then the people around you will too, as your mood is contagious

Question 9

What are the two types of people in emotional contagion theory? who created these?

Answer 9

Hatfield et al. 1994

Transmitters - Individuals who can easily transmit emotions e.g. the bubbly friend

Infection- prone ( Catchers ) - Individuals who can easily catch the emotion of another

• This is important when recruiting staff as you want the correct people in the correct roles

Question 10

What are the four types of people that make up emotional contagious theory?Verbeke (1997, p. 622)

Answer 10

Charismatics - High capability to be infected and infect

Empathetics - Catch other emotions but aren’t easily able to infect others

Expansives - are able to infect other but have no empathy towards those that they are infecting

Brands - Unable to infect and aren’t infected by people around them

Question 11

What is meant by Inseparability in regards to Customers?

Answer 11

• Customer are inseparable from staff and other customers

Question 12

What are examples of C2C interactions ?

Answer 12

• Customers often ask for advice from other customers – rather than from staff.
• May provide a stabilizing influence that de-fuses customer dissatisfaction
• Customers can act as partial employees e.g customers
• Talking and interacting with other customers is part of the joy
• May be a contributing factor to ‘jaycustomer’ behavior

Question 13

What is the stabilising effect of C2C conversations? and who suggested C2C interactions have this effect?

Answer 13

Harris and Baron (2004)
- Can have a stabilising effect as they reduce consumer anxiety e.g on a boat as they can talk to others and ask whats going on if they are anxious

• They supply social interaction

Question 14

What are the customer management issues?

Answer 14

• Managing customer participation
• Managing customer waits
• Managing Jay customers and uncooperative customers
• Customer relationship management

Question 15

What is the principle of managing customer participation?

Answer 15

Facilitating co-creation, they can’t do it for the consumer only facilitate it e.g via self service
-Increasing consumer participation in the service delivery process has become a popular strategy to increase the supply of service available

• By allowing consumers to co-produce, workers are freed to perform other duties

Question 16

How do firms go about facilitating value-co creation onto their customers?

Answer 16

1) Develop trust
2) Promote the benefits and stimulate trial - Benefits include convenience, customisation and cost savings to the customer, getting the customer to be a partial employee
3) Understand customer habits - Important to remember that customers might like the dealing with a college
4) Teach consumers how to use service innovations - ensure they are facilitating the best way a consumer deals with the service

Question 17

What are the 8 ways of managing consumer waits?

Answer 17

1) Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time
2) Preprocess waits feel longer than in-process waits
3) Anxiety makes the wait seem longer
4) Uncertain waits are longer than known finite waits
5) Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits
6) Unfair waits are longer than equitable waits
7) The more valuable the service, the longer the customer will wait
8) Solo waits are longer than group waits

Question 18

How are firms solving - Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time?

Answer 18

They occupy the consumer e.g restaurants suggesting that customers wait in the lounge area and medical companies often offer reading materials

Question 19

How do firms solve - Preprocess waits feel longer than in-process waits?

Answer 19

• The waiting period before a service starts feels longer than the actual serve so doctors have been known to put patients in empty examining rooms to convey the sense that the service has started

Question 20

How do firms solve -Solo waits are longer than group waits

Answer 20

• Encourage customers to interact

Question 21

What is a Jay customer?

Answer 21

• Undesirable customers
• Physical abusers
• Oral abusers
• Harris and Reynolds 2004

Question 22

What are the 5 profiles of uncooperative customers?

Answer 22

1) Egocentric edgar - Belitles management, pushes in line to deal with them u appeal to their ego, demonstrate you do have the ability to perform the action
2) Bad-mouth Betty - Let you know what she thinks of you, the business etc you could ignore her langue, force the issue by hanging up or use selective agreement such as agreeing with her on selective issues
3) Hysterical Harold- is a screamer, angry if doesn’t get his way, let him vent, take responsibility for solving the problem, offer an apology

4) Dictatorial Dick - Likes to tell people exactly how to do their job. Break Up His Game (Fulfill His Request)
Stick With Your Game
Be Consistent With Customers
Tell Him What You Can Do For Him

5) Freeloading Freda - Wants is all for free, will push your returns policy to the limit. Biting you tongue and giving her what she wants, Don’t Let The 1% Dictate Action For The 99% Who Actually Have Problems

Question 23

What has happened to technology and customer interaction

Answer 23

• Made it 24/7 access
• Enhanced the customer experience
• They are more comfortable than ever to use them but may often need help so videos are needed to help
• They can connect easily

Question 24

What is a boundary spanning role?

Answer 24

• They link the organisation with the outside world as the communicate on a regular basis to customers and suppliers
• They spend the boundaries between their own department and colleagues and managers from different departments within the organisation
• Multiplicity of roles often results in service staff having to pursue both operational and marketing goals
• The various parts played by contact personnel who perform duel functions of interacting with the firms external environment and internal organisation

Question 25

What do firms want to be like with labour unions?

Answer 25

• work jointly with unions, reduce conflicts, and create a service climate
• Management consultation and negotiation with union representatives are essential if employees are to accept new ideas

Question 26

What are some of the conflicts in boundary spanner roles?

Answer 26

Person/role conflicts - playing the role at work may be inconsistent with an individuals self perception. Hard to be smiling when customers are being unreasonable or refusing to listen etc

Organisation/ client conflicts - Dilemma whether to follow company rules or satisfy the customers demands

Inter client - These arise as many service delivery systems have a number of clients who influence one another experience
- Conflicts between customers that demand service staff intervention e.g if a customer is being loud and disturbing others, staff will have to step in to resolve the issue

Question 27

What are examples of role stress experienced by boundary spanners?

Answer 27

• Dissatisfaction
• Frustration
• Diminished Health
• Turnover intention

Question 28

How do employees respond to the stress?

Answer 28

• Avoid the customer, allowing them to increase personal sense of control
• Move into people processing mode - trade customers as inanimate objects to be processed
• Add physical symbols such as furniture to boost employee status
• Side completely with the customer - reduce stress by seeking empathy from the customer