Download Sociology as a contributor to service management science

Service management – some insights from sociology
Richard Nicholls
Poznan University of Economics
Abstract
As the share of service(s) in economic activity rises service research is
increasingly attracting the attention of policy makers. Topics such as innovation and
leadership, seen as vital for economic progress, are increasingly becoming styled as
service innovation and service leadership. Moreover, early focuses of interest in services
such as service marketing and service management are increasingly being seen as just
parts of the much larger iceberg of service science. Service science is highly interdisciplinary and draws on a wide range of disciplines including management science,
economics, geography and sociology.
The paper will attempt to illustrate some of the ways in which sociological
research can contribute to our understanding of services, in general, and of the service
encounter, in particular. Drawing on a selection of sociological studies, a number of
sociologically inspired insights into service work and the lives of service workers will be
presented. The relevance of these studies to service management will be made clear.
Introduction
It is increasingly recognised that a wide range of disciplines provide useful
insights into services, service management and the service economy (Cambridge, 2007;
Pilkington and Chai, 2008). The following examples illustrate this point. Important
insights into how some services have a tendency to develop in clusters have been
generated by geographers (Bryson and Daniels, 2007). The findings of biologists
regarding the behaviour of animals in crowds have proved useful for predicting behaviour
in service settings. Work by social psychologists (Gutek, 1995) has provided
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explanations of why service customers and employees may behave differently in one-off
and repeated encounters. Work by historians, for example Perkin (1989) has explored
factors behind the growth of public services and identified differences in the values and
motivations of private sector and public sector managers. Ergonomists are increasingly
paying attention to human factor issues in service industries, such as cashier work
(Lehman et al. 2001), and finding a wealth of complexity.
This paper takes the service encounter, one of the most researched themes in
service management, and illustrate some of the ways in which sociological research can
contribute to our understanding of it. Such an approach provides the opportunity for fresh
insights into service encounters by considering the impact that factors from beyond the
workplace can have on service work.
The service encounter
The term ‘service encounter’ usually refers to the interpersonal element of service
performance. It is generally used to denote interaction between the customer and the
employee1. Indeed, in their seminal article on the service encounter, Solomon et al.
(1985) use the term “to indicate face-to-face interactions between a buyer and a seller in a
service setting”. Likewise, Suprenant and Solomon (1987) define the service encounter as
“the dyadic interaction between a customer and service provider”.
A repeated and consistent theme in the service management literature is that the
service encounter is central to service delivery. Evaluation of the human interaction
occurring in service delivery has been found to be a vital component of customers’
perceptions of a service. The following widely known research contributions underline
this. The servuction system model (Eiglier and Langeard, 1977) contains the main
elements, both visible and invisible, which impact the service experience. Out of the three
visible components identified, two components are based on human interaction. Servqual
(Parasuraman et al. 1988), one of the most influential models in service management,
identified five independent dimensions of service quality: reliability, responsiveness,
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Some service management researchers, however, have interpreted the service encounter more
broadly, to contain a range of personnel and other customers as well as the physical context in which the
encounter occur (Nicholls, 2005: 72).
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assurance, empathy, tangibles - most of which crucially rely upon ‘on-stage’ human
interaction.
The service management literature frequently emphasises the pivotal role of the
front-line employee (FLE). For example, Mattila and Enz (2002: 268) write: “The
behaviors of frontline service providers are crucial to customer evaluations of service”.
Considering the high-contact, labour-intensive nature of many services, it is not
surprising that numerous services management publications highlight the critical
influence of the human-interaction element of service production. The recognition of
interaction failure as a major source of service failure has also been important in focusing
attention on the service encounter. Bitner et al. (1990) found interactional failures
responsible for 32% of unsatisfactory service incidents. Keaveney (1995) found
interaction failure to represent 34% of the factors behind customer switching.
Front-line employees have been recognised as fulfilling a wide range of roles.
These include: competent service performance; customisation of the service;
personalization of the service; being perceived as authentic; maintaining suitable
standards of civility; appropriate personal appearance; and effective service recovery
actions (Price et al. 1995). The realisation of such objectives relies upon suitable human
resource management, for example in selection and training activities, reward systems
and job design, so as to develop the desired technical and behavioural employee
performance.
Improved understanding of the role of front-line employees, together with
increasingly competitive service markets, have made managing service interactions a key
managerial concern. Service management research has developed awareness of the
degree of employee-to-customer interaction; the complexity of that interaction; and the
significance of the ‘service encounter’. Since the 1980s customer service has been widely
portrayed as fundamental to competitive advantage. It is commonly depicted as a
competitive advantage which is not easy to imitate. The “moments of truth” philosophy
outlined by Carlzon (1987) in his management classic clearly revealed the inner-logic of
a business strategy founded on managing employee-to-customer interaction. The linkage
between customer perceptions of their interactions with employees and customer
satisfaction, and hence loyalty, is well accepted.
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Evidence of the importance of human interaction in services is reflected in the
evolution of marketing concepts. Firstly, the expansion of the marketing mix from its
original 4Ps has, in part, been motivated by the desire to emphasise the importance of
human interaction in service. For example, people are frequently presented as the 5th P,
and Participants are one of the 3 new Ps of the 7 P services marketing mix. Secondly,
models of service production, delivery and consumption usually incorporate the front-line
employee.
Examples include the servuction system model; the services as theatre
metaphor; and the RAPP model (Rogoziński, 1998). Thirdly, a number of service
management concepts are based on the interactive nature of much service work. These
concepts include: the full-time/part-time marketer distinction, and interactive marketing.
There is an extensive literature on managing the employee during the customeremployee interaction that occurs during service production, delivery and consumption. A
broad diversity of themes has been investigated, including: body language; employee
appearance; employee rapport with customers; personal selling by employees; crosscultural encounters, difficult interactions, service recovery; employee empowerment; and
employee emotional intelligence.
Clearly much is known about the service encounter. However, to better
understand the service encounter it is necessary to go beyond the immediate managerial
interest of how to control the service encounter and to attempt to explore service
interactions from a perspective which is less driven by managerial convenience. A highly
credible discipline with which to do this is sociology, where a range of insights into
service employees’ attitudes towards work can be found.
The contribution of sociology to deepening understanding of human interactions in
services
Sociology, whilst containing a vast diversity of perspectives, has a strong focus on
analysing society based on the structure of social relations. Sociologists commonly seek
to explore and explain phenomena through constructs such as gender, class, age and
community. Moreover, such phenomena often occur in service interaction contexts.
Sociology provides interesting insights into service management from both a customer
perspective and an employee perspective. Questions include: how does a worker’s
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experience from society (social background) influence (a) expectations from work, (b)
experience available to be drawn upon at work, and (c) attitude to work?
Edwards and Wajcman (2005) make an eloquent case for the merits of following
a sociological line of inquiry in explaining the world of work. They point out that
economists and psychologists studying work and employment are inclined to follow an
individualistic approach. Such an approach neglects the wider social context which
surrounds individuals. Sociologists, who tend to treat work as a social phenomenon, have
contributed much to our understanding of the social complexities of work2. In the words
of Edwards and Wajcman (2005: 22):
The world of work cannot be adequately explained by reference to market
forces and economic rationality alone. Nor can it be explained by
reference simply to the dimensions of human personality. Work
encompasses
symbolic
representations,
meanings,
values,
and
interpretations.
Accordingly, sociology seems to have the potential to provide a useful perspective for
broadening understanding of the service encounter.
Having drawn attention to the relevance of a sociological perspective to
deepening understanding of human interaction in service, it is now time to present some
evidence. The remainder of this paper will focus on presenting a selection of sociological
studies which are relevant to the service encounter and exploring the managerial
implications and applicability of their findings.
Selected sociological studies of service work and their relevance to service
management
The studies presented in this paper deal with three main areas: gender,
occupational community, and class. They were selected as being particularly relevant to
human interaction in the service encounter following an initial search of the sociological
literature. This search included the following well known sociological periodicals:
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Indeed, as Edwards and Wajcman point out, even if a worker works alone, they still work within a
social context.
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Sociology; Work, Employment and Society; and Journal of Gender Studies. The
discussion is exploratory in nature, and a more in-depth search would have produced
more studies worthy of discussion. This may be the purpose of a future publication.
Gender
Gender is a key subject in sociology with many themes investigated, such as the
social construction of gender differences and the gendered division of domestic labour.
The topic of gender has been explored from a number of perspectives by service
management writers. Themes have included: the contribution of the sex of the service
provider to customers’ perceptions of quality (Fischer et al. 1997; Foster 2004); gender
occupational segregation (both horizontal and vertical); emotional labour and gender; and
gender and violence. This section presents three gender-based sociological studies
relevant to the service encounter and its management.
Simpson (2004) investigates the experience of men in female dominated
occupations. Typically such occupations are forms of service work and, indeed,
Simpson’s research was based on interviews with males working as cabin crew,
librarians, nurses and primary school teachers, all being service occupations. Given the
increasing incidence of gender atypical work (Hakim, 2000), this aspect of service work
is a pertinent issue.
Simpson’s study has a range of implications for service managers. Evidence was
to provided that gender minorities may be treated differently, both advantageously and
disadvantageously, at work. Men as a minority may experience preferential treatment.
Service managers need to consider whether this is acceptable. Male workers were found
to employ various strategies, such as job title re-labelling, to overcome their discomfort
with the feminine image of their job. Service managers may be able to learn from such
behaviour and re-design gender atypical service work to make it more gender neutral. A
number of advantages of having some male workers in female dominated service work
were put forward. Service managers should consider any possible strategic advantages of
employing male workers.
Guerrier and Adib (2000) investigate the harassment of hotel employees by
customers. They explore the relevance of the social context in accounting for such
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harassment. A number of issues are identified. Hotel workers are described as having
subordinate service roles (Shamir 1980) with relatively lower status than customers, and
thus vulnerable to harassment. This vulnerability is further enhanced by the tendency of
some types of hotel work to be done by people who have “a weak position within the
labour market: by women, by young people, by members of disadvantaged ethnic
groups” (p. 691). Such factors combine with a wide range of factors connected to the
nature of hotel work, such as working alone or entering what the guest regards as
domestic space, serve to intensify employee harassment in general, and sexual
harassment, in particular.
Most of the participants in the study reported harassment incidents. The dominant
form of harassment was the sexual harassment of female chambermaids by male
customers. Some harassment incidents seemed to be connected to the ethnic status of the
employee. By examining the gender-related attitudes and expectations guests bring to
hotels, and by considering the power asymmetry between guests and workers, Guerrier
and Adib help unravel the social context behind harassment in hotels. Their study also
reveals a range of tactics which are used by workers and managers to deal with
harassment. However, as Guerrier and Adib point out, the managerial emphasis is on
offering emotional support to harassed workers, with action against the harassing
customers seldom being taken. Given the impact of harassment on service workers,
service management researchers could usefully take up the challenge of considering how
a wide range of service strategies could be used to prevent harassment.
Schmidt and Sapsford (1995) investigated how female customers perceive the
traditional male-dominated pub. The study, set in the context of the growing use of pubs
by females, found a number of gender-related barriers to satisfactory consumption
experiences. Whilst focused on a gendered view of service consumption, the study also
explored the role of service employees, in particular male employees, in serving a gender
minority. A range of specific suggestions are made for achieving effective interaction
with female customers and for making them feel more socially comfortable.
Occupational Community
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Sociologists have observed a tendency in industrial societies for work and the
workplace to provide an important platform for the development of a sense of community
belonging, and have labelled communities where this tendency is strong as “occupational
communities”. Salamon (1974: 19) characterised occupational communities as having
members who build “their lives on work; their work-friends are their friends outside work
and their leisure interests and activities are work-based”. The concept of occupational
community can provide major insights in understanding the behaviour and attitudes of its
members. The main focus of sociological inquiry into occupational community has been
in traditional (male-dominated) industrial work settings such mining, ship-building and
steel-making. However, as the service sector becomes more dominant, service
occupational communities are increasingly being researched.
Sandiford and Seymour (2007) explored service work from the perspective of
occupational community. They investigated the hospitality industry, this was partly due
to the vital role of employee-customer interaction in that industry, and partly due to the
fact that many workers ‘live in’ at work. An occupational community perspective on
service work offers a number of opportunities to service managers. One prospect is that,
given the strong expectation for front-liners to perform emotional work, communities
have the potential to provide co-worker support systems (Korczynski, 2003). Another
issue, given the very unclear work / non-work divide and the pressure for flexibility
associated with ‘living over the shop’, is work-life balance. On the other hand, given that
hospitality workers are often “temporary migrants” from outside the locality, they are
often looking for a sense of belonging (Sandiford and Seymour: 217). Service managers
could therefore attempt to foster such social contact as a bonding strategy.
Future research could investigate which other service industries have strong
occupational communities. It would be fruitful to investigate such communities not just
from a social support perspective but also in terms of training functions, job search and
employee satisfaction. Another area for future research is internet-based occupational
communities of service workers. The internet can put front-line service workers in touch
with each other. An interesting example of this is the website www.customerssuck.com
which is designed to build a community of interactive service workers, and to help them
cope with the stress associated with performing emotional labour.
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Social Class
Social class is one of the fundamental themes of sociology. Sociologists have
written very widely about social class and often in a work context. Themes have
included: class divisions; the reproduction of social class; the polarisation of the labour
market; and class mobility. This section examines two studies where the class-origins of
service employees were found to be particularly relevant to their capacity to perform the
required service encounter role.
Hobbs et al. (2007) studied female door staff in the night-time economy security
market. They highlight a number of trends which are contributing to the increasing use of
female ‘bouncers’, in an occupation which is heavily characterised by working-class
masculinity. Based on in-depth interviews with female security workers, Hobbs et al.
propose that a key cultural capital resource that effective female bouncers draw on is their
non-work familiarity with violence. They conclude that this explains why many female
door staff are “at ease with violence and not disturbed by violent encounters at work”
(p.22).
From a service management perspective the study by Hobbs et al. raises a number
of interesting questions. Human resource management is a significant element of the
service management literature. Whilst close attention has been paid to recruitment,
relatively little attention has been given to class-related work skills. Whilst to crudely
include class background in selection criteria might be ethically and legally dubious, it
would be useful to further explore the idea of class-based work skills. Indeed, if class
cultural capital is a relevant resource in some types of service work, it might be
appropriate for the selection process to aim for a balance between work experience and
life experience. It should be emphasised that class-based cultural capital will depend on
the occupation in question. Hobbs et al. studied a service encounter where working-class
cultural capital provided economic capital. The following study (Johnston and Sandberg,
2008) examines a service encounter context where lower middle-class cultural capital
was particularly valued by the service managers.
Johnston and Sandberg (2008) studied service interaction in an exclusive
department store. They observed that the store employed predominantly lower middle
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class white females. Johnston and Sandberg point out that this was due to the importance
of employees being able to understand culturally and interact suitably with the core
customer group, namely upper-middle class females. In other words, employees needed
an appropriate understanding of class relations in order to maintain the store’s
exclusivity. Specifically, employees required the ability to:
interact confidently with the higher social position customers by using the
right tone of voice, having the ‘right’ appearance and being confident in
directing the customer, but also needed to have the ability to defer to the
customer. (Johnston and Sandberg: 398)
The study is a useful contribution to the ‘aesthetic labour’ literature. Aesthetic
labour refers to “the mobilisation, development and commodification of the embodied
capacities and attributes of employees to provide a favourable interaction with the
customer” (Nickson et al., 2001: 178). Some central aspects of aesthetic labour, such as
accent and body language, are strongly connected with social class. The findings of
Johnston and Sandberg’s study are consistent with the work of Bettencourt and Gwinner
(1996) which highlighted the importance of interpersonal adaptive behaviour during
service delivery. Employees who are near the class of the customer may possess a
valuable resource in terms of an enhanced capacity to read customer signals and act
accordingly.
Summary
Service management research is enhanced by drawing on a wide variety of
disciplines. This paper has highlighted the value of the discipline of sociology for
broadening our understanding of the service encounter. A selection of sociological
studies relevant to human interaction in service work have been presented and discussed.
It has been emphasised that the insights generated from sociological enquiry into service
can assist in managing services. They can provide insights for HRM strategies. Work can
be re-designed to allow for class or gender influences. Further exploration of the
sociological literature by service management researchers is likely to produce an
improved understanding of the service encounter.
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