Summary on From Scientific Management to Service Management

In this article, the importance of service management in modern times has been discussed. The main focus of the article is to determine how and why the management policies of today are still following the methods of scientific management which was introduced in the Industrial Age. The author implicates how the principles of modern service management are different from the scientific management principles and how the service management policies requirements have changed with time and what are the modern needs. The author discusses the competitive edge that excellent management services provider in modern businesses and the critical factors of service management.

In the article, it is discussed how even after the businesses and services have existed for so long a majority of the people are still not clear about the concepts of service management. Despite the continuous use of the term service management in literature and seminars, no one knows the definition of this term. Service management is still developing as a field, and it needs attention and newer roots. The viewpoints of service management focus on the products, transactions, the effect of transactions on long term relationships and the quality of the product. According to the author, there are many critical factors involved in service management which include management, marketing, human resources and the executives and their advisors. Service management was summed up as understanding the needs of the customers, how the organization will fulfil that need and how the organization should reach that goal. The main reason for the demise of service management today is that the focus of the management is still on economies of scale and reducing the cost of production. Even though this is a good thing, but it is not helpful in terms of the negligence of service management.

The author emphasizes that the base of service management was set using principles of the industrial era, and due to the Internet explosion and education of the employees and the consumers, their needs and demands have increased substantially. Moreover, due to the e-commerce and internet, the competition has become global, and the services and goods of the company can easily be compared with others and alternatives can be found just as quickly because of all these factors the modern service management needs to change as well. There is a dire need of developing new base, theories and models for service management, which are more in line with customer needs and modern demands. In all the research that has been done regarding the service industry, the major flaw was that the principles and methods used were of the old management.

The author indicates the failure of the old management system in the long term both for the product and customer relationships. With the clarification of the importance of service management, its improvement extended from service firms to all the industries and with this service management is becoming customer-oriented and efficient in relationship management. By applying this new model, it has been found essential to have a more quality-based market share than a quantity-based market share in the longer run. The trend of decrease in customer interest due to reducing the quality of the product has also been noted. Another critical point is to retain just the right customers and not the expensive ones. Improving the quality and customer retention can be done in various ways and even though there is not a clear way to calculate the success of service management applying service management methods to increase customer satisfaction can lead to increased customer loyalty and stable business profits.

According to the author quality of the products is another area where the positive impact of service management can be observed. Service researches have shown that it is the customer who chooses the quality of a service or product so the consumer should be the subject of the service research study. One of the main emphasis of service management is on the maintenance of the long-term relationships these alliances based on these relations help and improve the business over time. Part-time sales associates have provided inconsistent services and thus depreciation of customers reviews for the product. Service management theory and its framework have also been able to develop a link between human resources and marketing departments.

The author concludes his article by stating the importance of the five critical factors in service management and how its development is necessary with the changing business trends. Cost-effective production is essential but it is equally as essential to have an excellent customer based and quality products for achieving customer satisfaction. Service management should develop and perceived as a different discipline than marketing. Research is being done in this field but still concerning marketing. It is necessary and need of modem business to have independent researches done in the field of service management for developing new models and theories.

Lessons Learned on From Scientific Management to Service Management

Hotel industry in Oman is facing high competition. It is an industry which is hugely dependent on customer reviews and feedback as there are many alternatives present for the customers in all scenarios. The hotel industry needs to focus on developing a customer base and should thrive on customer loyalty. They should not judge their progress solely by the profits because, in the long run, these profits will deteriorate. The actual progress and success of the hotels should be judged on the combined basis of profits and customer satisfaction. The hotel’s prime focus should be on increasing the quality of existing products and services rather than increasing the number of services because research indicates that having long term relations with customers proves more profitable. The hotel industry should develop new models of business where there marketing department and services department are independent of each other. There should also be the development of extensive systems for customer feedback and for differentiating profitable customers from nonprofitable customers. (Grönroos, 1993).

References on From Scientific Management to Service Management

Grönroos, 1993. From Scientific Management to Service Management: A Management Perspective for the Age of Service Competition. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 5(1), pp. 5-20.