88) Empowerment becomes more important when the service is
A) institutionalized.
B) repetitive.
C) individualized.
D) routine.
E) standardized.
89) The old cliché “Service with a smile” recognizes the fact that
A) service providers need to be pleasant even if the customer is not.
B) smiling is contagious.
C) service providers should smile and not think.
D) life is too short to be ugly.
E) services are perishable but a smile is forever.
90) Service providers often encounter rude and unreasonable consumers. Services marketing
managers can reduce the delivery gap, even for these customers, by
A) empowering consumers.
B) providing support and incentives for their employees.
C) directing zone of tolerance limits for employees.
D) doing effective customer screening.
E) forcing rude customers to use technology.
91) After observing a customer verbally abuse a server, the first thing a manager can do to ensure
quality service is to
A) ask the customer to leave the restaurant.
B) assume the server is at fault and respond accordingly.
C) provide emotional support to the server.
D) review the delivery support system.
E) clarity service delivery expectations.
92) Managers of fast-food restaurants struggle with a rapid turnover of personnel. Employee
turnover rates of 100 to 200 percent annually are common. The work environment is difficult and
customers can often be demanding. One of the first steps managers can take to help workers
deliver quality service is to
A) ban abusive customers from their restaurants.
B) reward service providers based solely on the speed of service.
C) provide emotional support and concern for their employees.
D) review the delivery support system.
E) make sure services delivery expectations are consistent and coherent throughout the
organization.
93) ________ provides the equipment or systems needed to perform a task in a job setting.
A) Service infrastructure
B) Quality mechanics
C) Instrumental support
D) Dynamic support
E) Customer interface architecture
94) Rob was complaining to another member of the lawn crew, “I don’t know how they expect
me to do an adequate job. The mower doesn’t work right, the trimmers are so dull they don’t cut
anything, and the rest of the equipment is so old we can’t get parts.” Rob’s company lacks the
________ workers need to be able to do a good job.
A) maintenance schedule
B) instrumental support
C) emotional support
D) service infrastructure
E) customer expectation mechanisms
95) Today, almost every sales rep can immediately check the company’s inventory and
production schedule electronically. This allows sales reps to sell what is available and make
promises to customers that they can keep. This technology has improved service delivery
through
A) access to a wide variety of services.
B) greater control by customers over service delivery.
C) increased zone of tolerance.
D) greater ability to obtain information.
E) saving customers time.
96) Although firms such as restaurants have difficulty controlling service quality from day to
day, they do have control over
A) how they communicate the services they promise.
B) the price of ingredients.
C) the attitudes of customers.
D) the way customers view them compared to competitors.
E) the knowledge gap consumers create.
97) If a firm promises more than it can deliver,
A) it has created an empowerment gap.
B) consumers will have a knowledge gap.
C) it creates a communication gap.
D) it needs to enact a voice-of-customer program.
E) perishability becomes a problem.
98) The ________ gap can be reduced by managing consumers’ expectations and promising only
what can be delivered or possibly even a little less.
A) knowledge
B) communication
C) delivery
D) standards
E) empowerment
99) Physicians regularly overstate the expected recovery time from surgery, knowing that
managing patients’ expectations will reduce the ________ gap associated with their service.
A) knowledge
B) empowerment
C) delivery
D) standards
E) communication
100) Dopson’s Hardware was in bad financial shape. It owed so much money that vendors put
the store on a cash-only delivery basis. As a result, the store had a dwindling inventory of goods
to sell. The owner directed the sales staff to tell any customer asking about an unavailable item
that it was on backorder and would be in stock the following week. When customers returned a
week later as instructed, the item would still be unavailable. The owner’s policy created a(n)
________ gap.
A) knowledge
B) empowerment
C) communication
D) standards
E) tangibility
101) Effective service recovery entails all of the following except
A) listening to the customer.
B) estimating the damage.
C) providing a fair solution.
D) resolving the problem quickly.
E) involving customers in the service recovery where possible.
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102) Effective service recovery efforts can lead to all of the following except
A) increased purchase intentions.
B) increased positive word of mouth.
C) increased customer satisfaction.
D) lower levels of satisfaction than prior to the service failures.
E) increased dependence on technology to prevent future service failures.
103) Sam was called in to meet with his boss, Tricia. He was afraid he was going to be fired for
the mistake he had made dealing with an important customer of the store. Instead, Tricia
explained that he had handled the situation well, listening to the customer and finding a fair
solution. Tricia told him that, even more important, working the way he did to correct the error
could result in
A) a smaller empowerment gap.
B) increased customer purchases and positive word of mouth.
C) a full refund for the customer.
D) a larger service gap.
E) less instrumental support.
104) When confronted with an angry and emotional customer, the best first step toward service
recovery is to
A) call security in case it is necessary to escort the person from the building.
B) match the person’s voice in intensity and volume to gain control of the confrontation.
C) gently but firms tell the person you will not tolerate being addressed in that tone of voice and
turn away until he or she calms down.
D) listen carefully and with empathy until the customer feels he or she has been heard.
E) ask a coworker to take over handling the complaint to get a neutral perspective.
105) Service employees at the airlines’ flight cancellation desks frequently encounter travelers
who get emotional about canceled or delayed flights. The first thing these employees should do
is to
A) listen to the customer.
B) contact a supervisor.
C) estimate the damage.
D) provide a fair solution.
E) resolve the problem quickly.
106) When travelers are bumped from overbooked flights, they are frequently offered vouchers
good for future travel. The dollar value of the voucher is the airline’s estimate of
A) perishable value.
B) distributive fairness.
C) empowerment.
D) procedural justice.
E) the size of the knowledge gap.
107) Because customers have different needs and expectations, the key to distributive fairness in
service recovery is to
A) listen to the customer.
B) contact a supervisor quickly.
C) estimate the damage.
D) provide a fair solution.
E) resolve the problem quickly.
108) Randall arrived at the hotel to find that, although he had a guaranteed reservation, the hotel
had no rooms available. He became angry when the hotel made him a reservation at a more
expensive hotel but refused to pay the difference in room rates. Randall was upset because, in his
opinion, the hotel’s solution did not incorporate
A) intangible fairness.
B) distributive fairness.
C) procedural fairness.
D) service fairness.
E) empowerment fairness.
109) Most customers want to achieve a fair solution following a service failure. All of the
following factors affect a person’s perceptions of “fairness” in these kinds of situations except
A) the nature or severity of the service failure.
B) the customer’s experience with other firms.
C) the firm’s policy on service recovery.
D) observed treatment of other customers.
E) stories of service recovery told by friends and family.
110) ________ fairness refers to the perceived fairness of the process with which a firm handles
customer complaints.
A) Procedural
B) Intangible
C) Distributive
D) Service
E) Empowerment
111) Because of ________, many companies have altered their no-questions-asked return
policies to include time limits, restocking fees, and store-credit-only refunds.
A) government regulations
B) Better Business Bureau guidelines
C) high costs
D) accounting concerns
E) well-publicized liability cases
112) One of the reasons service failures need to be addressed quickly is to
A) minimize the zone of tolerance.
B) increase empowerment zones.
C) avoid negative word of mouth from upset customers.
D) avoid a situational ethics conflict.
E) keep management from finding out what happened.
113) The service dimension called ________ refers to the ability of the firm’s employees to
convey trust and confidence.
A) assurance
B) reliability
C) responsiveness
D) empathy
E) tangibles
114) The new hotel manager asked the chef, “Are you sure you know how to cook Beef
Wellington?” Which of the service dimensions was the hotel manager expressing concern about?
A) reliability
B) responsiveness
C) assurance
D) empathy
E) tangibles
115) Monique was looking for a venue for her wedding reception. When she visited one potential
location, she noticed that the landscaping was not complete, and there was stained carpet in the
lobby. Which of the service quality building blocks caused Monique to select an alternative
venue?
A) tangibles
B) reliability
C) responsiveness
D) assurance
E) empathy