quality can benefit industry professionals. Service recovery is one of essential service chains to guarantee the service satisfies customers delight.
Introduction_____________________________________________
During times of economic recession, people like to conserve money to cover the essentials of life such as food, shelter and family necessities. This, however, does not mean that entertainment and tourism will be endangered specie. (Amadi, 2008)
Render (2006, p194) referring to American society defines quality as, “The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.” There are two ways that quality improves profitability, the first is sales gains and the second is reduced costs. Quality is important for the company’s reputation, product liability and global implications. Moreover, Glynn and Barnes (1995) state that, “Service quality results from a comparison of what customers feel a service provider should offer with the provider’s actual performance.” Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) defined service quality as the degree and direction of discrepancy between customers’ service perceptions and expectations (Slack et al., 2004). Fitzsimmons et al. (2004) farther explained that the assessment of quality is made during the service delivery process, especially in service industry. Schroeder, R.G. (1993, p.191) remarks, “A better definition is that service is something which is produced and consumed simultaneously.”
From an operation’s perspective, the customer is brought into direct contact with operations. The customer is therefore an uncertainty, which is difficult to control. It seems that high customer contact can lead too inefficient production process. Occasionally customer contact can also be a source of efficiency through involving customer in the service task. For instance, most fast-food services provide a low level of customisation and inter-action. The customer must select from a prescribed menu, and interaction is limited. Even though these services are high in customer contact, they are low in customer specification. Render (2006) Studies found that companies with higher level of quality had almost five times productivity than companies on lower level of quality. The hospitality industry as a typical service industry, there are several unavoidable gaps between different factors during the quality service in operation management be implemented. The SERQUAL method is a technique that can be used for performing a gap analysis of an organization’s service quality performance against customer service quality needs. After that, for service, customer satisfaction is defined by comparing perceptions of service received with expectations of service. Indeed, it is impossible to warranty the service quality is 100 percent perfect therefore analysing service recovery is necessary to improve the service quality. (Fitzsimmons 2004, Gundersen1996, Namkung 2007).
Measuring Service Quality Tools____________________________
Customers use five magnitudes to form their judgments of service quality, which are comparisons between expected and perceived service. A gap is formed between expected and perceived service, this is used to measure service quality. Customer satisfaction is accomplished by minimising the four gaps that are associated with delivery of the service. (Slack 2004)
Service quality is a concept that has the difficulties both in defining it and measuring it, with no overall consensus emerging either way. There is the important question of why service quality should be measured. Measurement allows for comparison before and after changes, for the location of quality related problems and for the establishment of clear standards for service delivery. (Stevens 1995, Fitzsimmons 2004)
The operation’s view of quality is concerned with trying to meet customers’ expectations. The customer’s view of quality is what he or she perceives the product or serv
