What is the service encounter and how is it managed in the hospitality Essay

What is the service encounter and how is it managed in the hospitality industry - Essay Example â€Å"A service encounter is defined as the period of time that a customer interacts with a service†.The description of a service encounter is wide and comprises of a customer’s contact with customer-contact staff, machinery, computerized systems, physical services, and any other service related components (Massad and Crowston, 2003). Service encounter is a very crucial event for an organization while conducting a service oriented business. In its essence, it refers to any contact or interaction between the customer and the organization providing the service (Johnston and Clark, 2008). As previously mentioned, this interaction may be in various different forms. It could be a person to person interaction between a seller and the customer, a communication between the organization and the customer through an advertisement, or even the customer’s encounter with the actual product of the organization, that is, the service it is providing (Johnston and Clark, 2008).As previously mentioned, this interaction may be in various different forms. It could be a person to person interaction between a seller and the customer, a communication between the organization and the customer through an advertisement, or even the customer’s encounter with the actual product of the organization, that is, the service it is providing (Johnston and Clark, 2008... An interesting fact regarding services is that it is a personal experience. That is, a person goes through the entire process of the service himself and has a much closer contact with the organization and its personnel as compared to a tangible product, in which case a person might never come in contact with the organization itself (Johnston and Clark, 2008). Moreover, the services have a more personal impression on the customers (for example a medical examination with the doctor, a haircut with the barber, a dress design session with the tailor, a wedding plan with the event manager, a birthday party at a restaurant etc.) and have a deeper impact on their lives as compared to the tangible products (like soaps, shampoos, clothes, shoes, and even cars, etc.) Therefore, the customers are more particular about choosing the service provider and once they are satisfied, they tend to stick to a particular service provider and hesitate to switch (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2005). Thus, if a series of service encounters, also called a service relationship, turns out to be a positive experience for the customer with a particular service provider, he becomes loyal to that organization and tends to stick (Johnston and Clark, 2008). Furthermore, the customer would talk about it happily with his peers and colleagues, that is, a positive word of mouth will be spread about the service being provided. Hence they become a service encounter themselves for potential new customers. This can work wonders for the reputation for the service provider since when it comes to services, most people refrain from experimenting and blindly follow referrals from close friends and family (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2006). Service Encounter and Hospitality

Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Management of Google Essay

Organizational Capabilities and Strategic Management of Google - Essay Example In relation to the study the company which has been selected is Google as a multinational corporation that was founded in the year 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were Ph.D. Students at Stanford University. It is a search engine that provides various internet services such as advertising technologies; cloud computing, internet search, and software. It links various Web pages allowing sharing and accessibility of information. Brin and Larry note that its mission is organizing world information and making it accessible and useful to everyone. It offers tools that enable one to do a fast search such as Google Chrome and Android. It also focuses on the success of various businesses in the online world and offline too.  Ã‚   It does this by focusing on products such as media and sales ads. For the web, Google has built various products with the intention of making the web and the experiences of the users better. Google has proved to have a wide range of organizational capabilitie s that enable it to stay ahead of the market competition. Scott states that one of the capabilities that Google has is innovativeness in terms of its products and even how they offer the services. This can be clearly seen from its motto of continuous innovation. Google usually invests some of its money and time towards innovation growth by encouraging its employees to come up with new products and ideas. An example is where it recommends 20% of the technical employees’ time to be spent on their own activities while 80% of their time spent on advertising and core research. This investment has accounted for half of new features and products that have been created by Google. Every employee is given freedom of thought and ability to make changes to projects or even create their own projects. This in effect continuously encourages the employees to concentrate on coming up with new ideas that will add value to the company. The ideas are presented in an open environment which enhanc es its image. Dornefest and Calishain note that another capability that Google has is its strong organizational culture (133). It uses every opportunity in motivating employees by regular recognition of best performers. It has an open culture where every employee contributes to the running of the organization by accepting ideas from everyone. This in turn makes people to be comfortable in raising their ideas without intimidation which leads to its success. When hiring, goggle has a culture of hiring people based on the capabilities and not their experiences and it hires smart and determined workforce which contributes to higher capabilities. Another culture that the company has is that of holding weekly all- hands meeting where people raise ideas and issues directly to the management. This culture is effective because it leads to quality production and quick decision making as well as problem solving. Another capability is that Google provides the best working environment for its workers. This has been evident from the many awards that Google has received as ‘the best place to work’ which has in turn led to employee satisfaction. This capability is of great importance for it attracts a lot of professionals to the company. This in turn has seen the company to comprise of a lot of people who have great potential making the company to stand in a better chance of expanding and developing new ideas. Information technology is another capability that Google has which makes it to be more competitive. This is from the ability to link various pages and come up with other products and search tools (Brin 95).Having vast technology has enabled Google to connect various web pages, advertise and even sell. With enough resources that Google as i.e. a good capital base, it has been able to purchase tools that add to its efficiency. An example is where Google bought You Tube which has led to its efficiency in terms of its market share. This has been from the fact that a lot of people love watching live