Chapter 12: Measuring and Managing Service Delivery
TRUE/FALSE
1. A process strategy for measuring service quality is a means of comparing what is happening against
what is supposed to happen.
2. Knowing what errors are being made is a key to providing excellent service.
3. Measuring what guests think about a guest experience is easy to do.
4. MBWA stands for Management Being Watchful Always.
5. The good organizations pick one primary method for measuring quality.
6. “Walking the front” means the front-line employees watch the guest experience first-hand.
7. Simplicity and low cost are two advantages of MBWA.
8. A large management challenge is that employees must feel safe in reporting the errors they caused.
9. A service guarantee is an internal goal of service set for employees and not communicated to the guest.
10. Some hotels actually offer an unconditional 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.
11. A good service guarantee does not have to be easy to use if it is truly focused on the guest’s needs.
12. Employers should improvise questions when asking guests about their experience because guests are
always motivated to tell the whole truth.
13. Servers should be responsible for collecting all comment cards.
14. Most guests fill out a comment card before leaving the service location.
15. Comment cards are particularly valuable because they represent a true random sample.
16. In the critical incident technique, the moments in the guest experience are classified as dissatisfiers,
neutral, or satisfiers.
17. SERVQUAL assesses guest perceptions of service quantity.
18. A major advantage of mystery shoppers is the relatively large sample on which reports are based.
19. Mystery shoppers are inexpensive and a useful tool.
20. To try to encourage guest feedback, some companies offer coupons and prizes.
21. Mystery shoppers are always trained observers who sample the service and its delivery.
22. The best time for a telephone survey is dinner time on Friday night because families are most apt to be
home.
23. There is no need to offer compensation to guests to get appropriate participation in obtaining guest
feedback.
24. Service guarantees do have some downsides.
25. Job performance standards and service standards are the same thing.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
26. The best time to find out about service failures is
a.
when the mystery shopper reports them.
b.
when the matrix system informs you.
c.
when you receive e-mail failure reports from employees.
d.
as soon after they happen as possible.
27. What do methods and techniques for monitoring and assessing the quality of the service experience
being delivered NOT depend on?
a.
careful planning to set service standards
b.
careful training to prepare employees to meet service standards
c.
careful planning of surveys to ask about service standards
d.
rewards for employees when the experience meets or exceeds service standards.
28. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of job performance standards?
a.
allow easy monitoring
b.
translate service standards into behaviors that can be measured
c.
encourage innovative solutions to customer requests
d.
provide objective criteria for rewarding employee for doing what the standards require
29. Job performance standards are
a.
performance expectations for each major duty associated with employees’ jobs.
b.
employees’ personal expectations for themselves.
c.
the organization’s long-term goals.
d.
none of the above.
30. Which of the following are key to the use of job performance standards?
a.
The standards must be clear and relevant to the service being delivered.
b.
Employees must know what they need to do to meet those standards.
c.
The standards must be related to things the employee can control.
d.
All of the above.
31. Which of the following is NOT necessary for managers to do to gain the benefits of job performance
standards?
a.
Ensure that they observe enough of each employee’s performance
b.
Interview guests during the experience to learn how the service is going.
c.
Differentiate between levels of service.
d.
Give honest feedback to employees about what they are doing effectively and
ineffectively.
32. Which of the following is a disadvantage of managerial observation?
a.
It lacks statistical validity and reliability.
b.
Management presence may influence service providers.
c.
Objective observation requires specialized training.
d.
All of the above.
33. A primary advantage of management observation for measuring service quality is
a.
the observational results have statistical validity.
b.
it is simple and inexpensive.
c.
employees perform better when they know they are being observed.
d.
employees can be monitored without their knowledge.
34. Which evaluation technique is more apt to reveal guests smoking in a no-smoking section?
a.
guest comment card
b.
MBWA
c.
structured interview
d.
focus group
35. Which of the following is a benefit of service guarantees?
a.
It forces everyone to think about the service from the customer’s point of view.
b.
It enhances the likelihood of recovery from a service failure.
c.
It sends a strong message to employees and customers alike that the organization takes its
service quality seriously and will stand behind it.
d.
All of the above.
36. Which of the following is an advantage of a guarantee for the organization?
a.
It forces managers to supervise the guest experience carefully.
b.
It forces employees to worry about whether the boss is watching.
c.
It pinpoints exactly where the service failed.
d.
It saves the organization money.
37. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a good service guarantee?
a.
conditional
b.
transparent
c.
easy to implement
d.
focused on key features of the service
38. A characteristic of a good service guarantee is that
a.
it is unconditional.
b.
it is easy to understand and communicate to guests and employees.
c.
it is meaningful to the guests and the employees.
d.
all of the above.
39. A well-accepted technique for assessing service quality is
a.
employee feedback.
b.
guest feedback.
c.
the service guarantee.
d.
both a and b
40. Which of the following is an advantage of comment cards?
a.
They force guests to be objective.
b.
Self-selected respondents are more likely to be honest.
c.
They enable quick response to failure.
d.
They are relatively easy to use.
41. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of comment cards?
a.
Minimal cost for data gathering and documentation
b.
Signed cards are an opportunity to recover from service failure.
c.
Self-selected sample of customers is statistically representative.
d.
Communicates company interest in customer opinions of service quality
42. An advantage of a mail survey is
a.
very high response rates.
b.
guests remember more upon reflection at home.
c.
convenience to the guest.
d.
it provides evidence of the organization’s interest in guest opinions.
43. SERVQUAL is
a.
an instrument designed to evaluate service quality.
b.
a leading mystery-shopping organization.
c.
a leading budget motel chain.
d.
none of the above.
44. SERVQUAL measures the way customers perceive the quality of the service experiences in which five
categories?
a.
reliability, sympathy, focus, help, and kindness
b.
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles
c.
care, speed, focus, kindness, and compensation
d.
help, speed, feedback, focus, and care
45. Focus groups are very helpful in
a.
providing statistically valid data on service failures.
b.
itemizing the costs of gathering information about service failures.
c.
maximizing guest inconvenience.
d.
providing qualitative information that might otherwise be unavailable.
46. Which of the following are ways in which customers are evaluating service on their own?
a.
posting information to company Web sites
b.
sending in unsolicited letters and e-mail messages
c.
posting on blogs
d.
all of the above
47. Which of the following is a major advantage of mystery shoppers?
a.
They are inexpensive.
b.
Their findings have statistical reliability.
c.
They are biased.
d.
They observe and report on service delivery in detail
48. To ensure a successful experience, an organization should
a.
continually check the performance of organizational members against pre-established
service standards.
b.
use managerial observations.
c.
have employees observe and ask customers about their experience.
d.
all of the above.
49. The best evaluators are
a.
mystery shoppers.
b.
trained managers.
c.
the guests.
d.
observant servers.
50. If 95 percent of an organization’s guests do not fill out comment cards, the organization can assume
that these guests had what reaction to the service?
a.
happy
b.
unhappy
c.
indifferent
d.
You can’t assume anything.