Apply Service Scripts Judiciously: Cornell Research
-- Hotels, 12/2/2008 7:46:00 AM
Ithaca, NY, December 1, 2008 – Not all hospitality employees should be required to stick to their service script, according to a new study from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research. Scripts, which are frequently used to ensure service standards in hospitality settings, are best applied to routine transactions, according to the new hotel management research study, “Service Scripting: A Customer's Perspective of Quality and Performance.” On the other hand, scripts are best used primarily as guidelines for service interactions that require customized service. The new hospitality management research on service scripts – written by Liana Victorino, Rohit Verma, and Don Wardell – is available at no charge from the Center for Hospitality Research, http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2008.html.
“Make no mistake—your customers can immediately tell when your employees are using a script,” said Verma, an associate professor at Cornell University. “Our study found that customers thought that scripts did not influence the quality of a standardized service, such as checking into a hotel, but scripts did influence the quality of a customized service, such as a concierge.”
Customized Design Is Key to Value of Service Scripts, According to Hotel Management Research
Respondents from across the United States in the video-based hospitality management research study viewed one of several customer service scenarios, which depicted either the front-desk check-in or the concierge interaction. Some videos had relaxed scripting, some were moderately scripted, and some were heavily scripted. The video showing a heavily scripted concierge interaction drew an evaluation of poor service from the respondents, while respondents were indifferent to whether the check-in was heavily scripted.
“Since the respondents' view of service quality was not diminished when they saw scripts in use at the front desk, we suggest that managers can use such scripts to ensure service standards, as needed,” said Victorino, an assistant professor at the University of Victoria. “However, our results also suggest that scripts must be designed and managed flexibly for customized interactions such as concierge services. Most important, our findings underscore the importance of considering the customer's view of the service interaction in all scripting decisions.”
Liana Victorino is an assistant professor for the Faculty of Business at the University of Victoria; Rohit Verma is an associate professor at Cornell School of Hotel Administration; and Don Wardell is a professor at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.
Meet and interact with Dr. Verma, an active member of the executive education faculty at the School of Hotel Administration, when he presents sessions in the Professional Development Program: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/industry/executive/pdp/.
Thanks to the support of the Center for Hospitality Research partners listed below, all publications posted on the center's website are available free of charge, at www.chr.cornell.edu.
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