SERVICE ORIENTATION
7.3 MAIN DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE ORIENTATION • Reliability It refers to individuals’ ability to provide the expected service in a professional and ethical man- ner. Stakeholders typically rely heavily on these services, making it important for organizations to regularly assess service quality to ensure consistency and customer satisfaction. • Responsiveness It refers to individuals’ ability to help customers and provide service in a timely manner. The em- ployee must not attempt to assist more than one customer at a time in order to ensure that the current customer is fully serviced and happy with the service provided. Most workplaces nowa- days use timers to measure how long it takes an employee to serve a customer. This dimension implies the following: • Creating and improving the process of business services to achieve timely organizational respon- siveness to customers’ needs and market changes. • Providing accessible and user–friendly web services. • Establishing transparent organizational policies and procedures to ensure quality service delivery. • Endorsing a culture of knowledge sharing among employees and stakeholders. • Empathy It refers to individuals’ ability to develop a culture of care. This is a learnable skill that enables one to understand and appreciate the culture, values and belief systems of others. Empathy also refers to the ability to understand what other people feel in certain situations. • Tangibles Tangibles refer to the physical appearance of personnel, communication materials and available facilities. Most organizations implement dress code and uniforms that reflect their brand identity. Employees’ appearance helps customers identify staff members within the organization and know where to seek assistance. In some organizations, appearance is considered the most important factor in service orientation. Figure 7.1 summarizes the main dimensions of service orientation.
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Building Competencies for Sustainable Learning | Chapter Seven
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