Exercise 1: Customer Roles in Service Delivery

This assignment facilitates students understanding of the complexities of managing a medium- or high-contact service operation. Everyone has a part to play in a service encounter. A persons role in a service encounter is a set of behavior patterns to be performed by the players to achieve the goals of the encounter effectively and efficiently. Very often, we expect service providers to play their role well, in order for us to have a satisfactory service encounter. However, students should be sensitized to the fact that in services, customers are also required to play their parts well, to facilitate a smooth delivery of the service.

Students are asked to select a service that requires a moderate or high level of customer participation and then to answer all of the following questions:

What service have you selected?

Describe your role as a customer in the service delivery process.

How did you learn your role?

How important is the customer to the service delivery process?

How would you describe your level of participation (low/medium/high)? Explain.

What influence do other customers have on your service experience?

7. When might other customers enhance your experience?

When might other customers diminish your experience?

Could you be considered a partial employee of this organization? Explain.

When might you, as the customer, be able to enhance your experience?

When might you, as the customer, do something that diminishes your experience?

Is this a service that you might be able to provide yourself (without the

service providers assistance)? Why or why not?