Hundreds Of Passengers Missed The Flight †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Hundreds Of Passengers Missed The Flight? Answer: Introduction Service failure occurs when the performance of a service organization fails to meet the customer expectation or a wide gap exists between the service promise and the service delivery. Service recovery are the remedial measures taken by a service organization in response to the service failure .In service industry the front line executives are in direct contact with the customers and play an important role in the service delivery process. Service encounters also known as moments of truth have a huge impact on customer perceived value of services. Service failures have multiple reasons like failure of the front desk employees to follow the proper code of conduct as mentioned in service delivery process or technological errors in the service delivery process which can lead to customer dissatisfaction (Zurich, 2017). Discussion People of a service organization who are in direct contact with customers can lead to service failure if they fail to control the tangibles like if they do not wear clean uniform or they fail to maintain a satisfactory service environment, for instance, an airport should be kept clean, layout, decor and design of the airport should be attractive failure of which can lead to service failure. Service failure can be due lack of assurance and empathy of employees of service organization. Front-line people may fail to strict to the code of conduct like failure to acknowledge the customers or failure to listen to the customer. When people working in a service organization are not reliable or responsive, for example, when people work slowly or incorrectly and there is a technological disruption in the service delivery process, customers can be dissatisfied resulting in a service failure. Service is co-produced between people of the service organization and the customers, so service failures can also be attributed to customer like his lack of service knowledge can also lead to service failure (Heidenreich et al., 2015). Case Evidence Stansted airport is the fourth largest airport of the United Kingdom. The airport serves more than 170 destinations and more than 60,000 passengers pass through the airport everyday. In May 2017, at 4: 30 AM there was a problem with security scanners at the airport that left hundreds of passengers stranded. There was a technical issue with many X-ray machines in the main security areas. The airport authority took a lot of time to process the customers security-checking which led to long queue at the airport and many customers missed their flight (service failure, 2017). Commentary Stage Service failure lead to customer dissatisfaction There are two types of customers, one who complains and the other who dont .The customers who do not complain can either stay with the service organization or switch. The customers who complain can either do so to the service provider, spread negative word-of-mouth or take third party action. These customers can either stay with the company or exit (Forrester Maute, 2013). Customers can be of four types: Passives: These customers are least likely to take any action. Voicers: These customers actively complain to service providers but do not spread negative word of mouth. Irates: They spread negative word of mouth and switch service providers. Activists: They complain at all levels, more likely to complain to third parties (Sengupta, Balaji Krishnan, 2015) The passengers who were stranded at the airport responded to the failure in-social media sites like Twitter. Customers took photos of the crowd inside the terminal building of the airport and posted these pictures online (Gu Ye, 2014). They complained that flights were not kept on hold due to the security glitch and staffs of the airport were not helpful. The problem was fixed around 8: 30 AM. Passengers used words like hell, shambles and zombie apocalypse to describe their situation at airport. Few passengers passed out and passengers who were on wheelchairs were unable to make their way through the crowd. There can be several approaches to service recovery which are as follows: Early intervention-Service organization fixes the problem before customer is affected. Systematic response Service organizations need to identify critical failure points of service and uses a protocol for service recovery Case-by-case Service organizations address customers problem individually Substitute service-Service organizations can lose customers in this process by allowing rival firms to serve the customers. Service firms should have complaint handling policy for service delivery. Service recovery strategies can be of two types: To fix the customer or to fix the problem. Finance can be pacified in case of service failure by the service organization when they respond quickly to service failure, provide appropriate communication, treat customers fairly and cultivate relationships with customers (Wilson et al., 2012). The problem can be fixed by tracking complains, learning from past recovery experience and learning from lost customers. The service gaps which lead to service failure can be of following types: Gap 1- Gap between expected service and managements perception of customers expectations. Gap 2- Gap between managements perception of expected service and transaction of perception into service quality specification Gap 3- Gap between service quality specification and service delivery. Gap 4- Gap between service delivery and external communication to customers. Gap 5- Gap between customers perception and customers expectations. Service recovery: The airport authority did not inform the passengers initially about the technical glitch, so passengers were clueless. Passengers were not served any refreshment and flights were not put on hold. The airport authority took active action and fixed the problem by 8: 15 AM .Later on the Airport authority issued an apology statement for the glitch in the security scanners which were scanning the boarding passes of passengers. They expressed their apology for the inconvenience caused to customers in Twitter and blamed the situation on an IT glitch at the airport (Zhou et al., 2013). Conclusion The Stansted Airport is one of the busiest Airports in the United Kingdom. A technical glitch can lead to chaos as hundreds of customers will miss the flight. The airport authority should take active action to co-ordinate with airlines and put the flights on hold if any situation like this occurs further. Also, customers should be provided with refreshments and special hospitality for the inconvenience. Technical glitch should be avoided and fixed promptly. Reference Lists: Forrester, W. R., Maute, M. F. (2013). The impact of relationship satisfaction on attributions, emotions, and behaviors following service failure.Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR),17(1). Gu, B., Ye, Q. (2014). First step in social media: Measuring the influence of online management responses on customer satisfaction.Production and Operations Management,23(4), 570-582. Heidenreich, S., Wittkowski, K., Handrich, M., Falk, T. (2015). The dark side of customer co-creation: exploring the consequences of failed co-created services.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,43(3), 279-296. Sengupta, A. S., Balaji, M. S., Krishnan, B. C. (2015). How customers cope with service failure? A study of brand reputation and customer satisfaction.Journal of Business Research,68(3), 665-674. service failure. (2017).www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2017, from https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/stansted-airport-latest-updates-passengers-stranded-security-scanner-faults-london-flights-holidays-a7725826.html Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., Gremler, D. D. (2012).Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. McGraw Hill. Zhou, Y., Huang, M., SL Tsang, A., Zhou, N. (2013). Recovery strategy for group service failures: The interaction effects between recovery modes and recovery dimensions.European Journal of Marketing,47(8), 1133-1156. Zurich, L. B. (2017). Service Operations and Management.