Qualitative Data Analysis Assignment
Introduction
The importance of quality in customer service has been recognized by companies worldwide. Several major companies have applied prioritized quality in customer services, resulting to positive business outcome. Customer satisfaction, loyalty, employee satisfaction and profit growth are some of the main advantages of this business practice. In order to cope with the present business challenges, several businesses have implemented different strategies that will enhance their respective customer services. Consumer studies, trainings and application of information technology are some examples of the most commonly used strategies for customer services.
However, it is said that these strategies are not enough for quality integration. Values, skills and most importantly, involvement of the members of the entire organization must be part of the quality customer service framework. The committed, authoritative and adaptable role of the management is also significant in establishing quality customer service. This research paper presents a study regarding the contextual meanings of customer service among Hong Kong Chinese. As such, the researcher conducted two interviews which were recorded in order to explore on the concept of service in order to attain the following research objectives: (1) definition of service, (2) the distinction between good or quality service and bad or poor service, (3) ideal personality or character of a service personnel, (4) common type of communication and interaction with service personnel, and (5) comparison of the Chinese and the Western styles of service quality.
In order to accomplish the research activity, the researcher prepared a list of questions for the interviews that were conducted in an attempt to explore the nature and perception regarding quality service utilizing the perspective of the consumers. As such, the researcher asked two volunteer interviewees to participate in the study to which a 30-45 minutes interview questions was facilitated. Both the accomplished interview sessions were recorded and transcribed accordingly in order to come up with manageable data analysis and interpretation to comprise the findings and discussion reports of the activity. The only criterion used to select the participants of the study was that both the interviewees should not be students from SHTM. Content analyses of the collected data was used by the researcher to reduce the bulk of information gathered followed by open coding techniques of data to logically present the results and findings of the study. Discussions of the research results were likewise presented along with the drawn conclusion of the researcher.
Content Analysis of Data
Definition of service. According to Interviewee 1 service is the assistance that the provider offers to the recipient for specific purposes or goals. On the other hand, Interviewee 2 responded that a service is an intangible product that can be measured. It is when someone gives you assistance and guidance. In this light, the respondent provided different perceptions on the concept of service as Interviewee 1 focused on the range of types of services while Interviewee 2 emphasized the aspect of service which can be measured.
Good and bad service. According to Interviewee 1 good service is when the provider can satisfy your request in a prompt and timely manner while bad service is when the provider does not meet your request and leaves you feeling angry and disappointed. Interviewee 1 narrated her good service experience when a Singapore Airline flight stewardess exceeded his/her expectations on a particular request he/she made as well as his/her experience in Malaysia Genting Highland inefficient and untidy treatment to guest occupants of the hotel. Interviewee 1 likewise indicated that services in Hong Kong are efficient but are not personalized or customized with low relational effort to costumers.
Meanwhile, Interviewee 2 described good service as when the provider can satisfy your request in a prompt and timely manner and provided a general good experience when she is respected and accommodated by service staff that is pleasingly polite. On the other hand, bad service for Interviewee 2 is when the provider does not meet your request and leaves you feeling angry and disappointed just like the times when she felt the service personnel seem not happy in assisting her with her needs. Interviewee 2 also indicated the fast and efficient transportation service of the MTR in Hong Kong but criticized the region’s unfriendly and unhelpful staffs as well as the dirty and slow services particularly in diners.
Ideal service personnel. Interviewee 1 described ideal service personnel as caring, love to serve others, helpful, attentive, cheerful, positive, and love people indicating further that working a one would be good if there is not too much responsibilities and duties that accompany the nature of the work. On the other hand, Interviewee 2 who wants to work as a service person emphasized that suitable service people are those who are open-minded, understanding and helpful, adaptable to change, can work under pressure, put customers as a priority, always go beyond their call of duty, great listeners, and cheerful and positive individuals.
Common communication and interaction with service personnel. The participants were likewise asked regarding the type of communication and interactions they engage with service personnel. Both Interviewee 1 and Interviewee 2 said that they prefer the conversational communication and interaction engagement with a service person making feel and think that face to face interaction best suit each of them as customers. Interviewee 2 highlighted also highlighted that her knowledge of a particular product or service dictates the extent of conversation that she engages in with a service personnel. Both likewise indicated that the voicemail system is inefficiently substandard media of service communication.
Chinese and Western service. Finally, they were asked to compare the service orientation between the general Hong Kong service culture and that of the Western service practices. According to Interviewee 1 Chinese customer service focuses on the relational aspect of the business transaction in order to meet the diverse demands of their clients. However, the lack of a structured system that ensures consistency of service is lacking particularly in the case of untrained staff members. On the other hand, the Western service orientation highlights the adherence to regulation for consistency equally treating every guest but such rigid and formal relationship with customers greatly affects the loyalty of the clients. Interviewee 2, on the other hand, observed that Chinese service is fast and prompt unlike the relatively slower yet high quality service in the West.
Coding of Data
The research activity focused on the perception of the participants regarding their concept and contextualization of service. In this light, the participants were asked regarding their meaning and definition of service as Chinese Hong Kong customers who are in the position to assess and evaluate the level of satisfaction they experience in encountering commercial aids and products offered to the public at large. The table below presents the answers of the participants.
Table 1. Participants’ Definition of Service
Definition of service
Interviewee 1
assistance that the provider offers to the recipient for specific purposes or goals
Interviewee 2
intangible product (assistance and guidance) that can be measured
As such, the participants were able to differentiate what a good and a bad service by sharing their memorable experiences as consumers of services exploring further their notion of the exemplary as well as substandard Hong Kong services they have encountered. The results are in Table 2 below.
Table 2. Participants’ Differentiation of Good and Bad Service
Good/Quality Service
Bad/Poor Service
Interviewee 1
Satisfying
Prompt
Timely
Exceeds expectations
Unmeet demands
Makes customers angry
Disappointing
Interviewee 2
Satisfying
Prompt
Timely
Polite and respectful
Substandard
Unhelpful
Slow and dirty
Moreover, the participants of the study were asked regarding their personal specifications and criteria on ideal quality service personnel personality and characteristics as well as the appeal of working as one. Table 3 below presents the results of the study.
Table 3. Participants’ Characterization of an Ideal Service Personnel
Characteristics of an Ideal Service Personnel
Interviewee 1
caring, love to serve others, helpful, attentive, cheerful, positive, and love people
Interviewee 2
open-minded, understanding and helpful, adaptable to change, can work under pressure, put customers as a priority, always go beyond their call of duty, great listeners, and cheerful and positive
Finally, they were asked to compare the service orientation between the general Hong Kong service culture and that of the Western service practices. See the results of the study at Table 4 below.
Table 4. Participants’ Differentiation of the Chinese and Western Service
Chinese Service
Western Service
Interviewee 1
· focuses on the relational aspect of the business transaction in order to meet the diverse demands of their clients
· lack of a structured system that ensures consistency of service is lacking particularly in the case of untrained staff members
· adherence to regulation for consistency equally treating every guest
· rigid and formal relationship with customers greatly affects the loyalty of the clients
Interviewee 2
· fast and prompt
· relatively slower yet high quality service
Drawing conclusions
Despite the economic and technological conditions that make it possible now to promote products and services in a larger consumer market, there are other factors that still need to be considered for a business organization reach out easier to their target market. Looking into the characteristics and thought processes of the people still holds as the most significant factor to be looked into by the individuals in the field of customer service. The large scope of market can pose a hindrance to a successful customer service strategy in terms of over generalized definition and characterization of the clients and customers.
Along with the changing business world, customers change as well, becoming more demanding and knowledgeable than before. In turn, company management had shifted their focus on their clients or customers so as to stay successfully in business. This transition meant that organizations have to completely reformulate their conventional business aims and purposes from being process-focused to customer-centered. Hence, in order to bring out exceptional customer services within the company operations, the management should employ fine-tuned organizational restructuring. Moreover, employing proactive customer commitment involves the consideration on culture and infrastructure (1997).
Organizations that capitalize on customers’ active participation in organizational activities can gain competitive advantage through greater sales volume, enhanced operating efficiencies, positive word-of-mouth publicity, reduced marketing expenses, and enhanced customer loyalty (1979; 1990). Rather than going after every potential source of revenue, companies eliminate useless assets that do not add value for customers’ satisfaction. Business organizations implement bureaucratic policies and procedures for the benefit of the staff, customers and the company in general. According to (1990), if consumers somehow become better customers — that is, more knowledgeable, participative, or productive — the quality of the service experience will likely be enhanced for the customer and the organization.
Total Quality Management is a planned procedure for satisfying internal and external customers and suppliers by integrating the business environment, continuous improvement, and come through with advancement, growth, and safeguarding the cycles while changing organizational culture. Furthermore, TQM is an array of management system throughout the organization, geared to ensure that the organization to continuously attain or surpass customer requirements. Total Quality Management is a philosophy of management that is driven by the constant attainment of customer satisfaction though the continuous improvement of all organizational processes (1998).
Discussion & Conclusion
In today’s fast and technological modern world, the challenge that the Information Man faces is time’s nature of putting things in order and in place in the best and most effective way. Life has changed since the invention of the computer which dictated man to deal with things in the most efficient way possible. In the world of big international business industries where transactions and other business operations are governed by law, cultural differences and mutual trust, efficiency counts largely as a common entrepreneurial aim.
The best product and service providers continuously update and upgrade their service deliveries in order to answer the demands of their customers. Customers have the ever-increasing demand on getting their hands into the products which can lead to change in business establishment if expectations are not met. As industry leaders, owners of a chain of small retail outlet stores trend toward more reliable delivery services across their customers for efficient product and service distribution. However, problems of delivery and distribution are usually attended by most companies with either quick fixes that do not work or complete and comprehensive delivery and distribution designs that take too long and are expensive.
Strategy perhaps, is the most important key to the successful implementation of customer relationship management. In order to do so, company management must realize that, either directly or indirectly, the achievement of its goals contributes much to the customers’ or clients’ general experience with the company. Successful incorporation of people, process and technology is probably the most efficient strategy in customer relationship management.
Appendix
Interview Result (1):
What is Service? What does it mean to you?
Service is the assistance that the provider offers to the recipient for specific purposes or goals.
What do think is: (a) Good service? And Bad or poor service?
Good service is the assistance that the provider offers meets or exceeds the expectation of the recipient. Bad service or poor service is the assistance that the provider offers deceives the recipient.
Probing Question – Can you share with me an example of a:
memorable guest service experience; and
An example from Singapore Airline: When I took the flight from Hong Kong to LA. After sleeping on the plane for several hours, I woke up and requested a cup of tea from the air hostess to fill my thirstiness. She came back to me not only with a cup of tea, but instead a sandwich set and a warm smile! I didn’t notice that I was that hungry until I saw the nicely prepared sandwich with smoked salmon. She anticipated my needs and did more than what I had expected.
bad service experience
An example from Malaysia Genting Highland: My sister and I went to Malaysia with a tour. On our second night, we stayed at one of the casino hotels and our tour guide told us to store our luggage in the rooms first even they were still unclean. We went into the room and saw the blankets were all over the place, toilet was not even flushed, used toothpicks were on the cabinet…We left the room immediately and decided to come back to the room at night after it had been cleaned. We went back to the room at around 10pm. The room was technically cleaned, but it still looked as if the cleaning job was a rush. We had to rest anyway because we were extremely tired from having nothing to do on Genting Highland. All of a sudden, there was a cockroach running on the wall!!!!!!!!! I was so scared that I called the operator for a room change. Someone from the front desk picked up the phone so I immediately explained my situation to her. Instead of offering me any assistance, she said that she would transfer me to the housekeeping department. All of a sudden, the waiting sound was on. Then the housekeeper answered the phone but seemed like he had no clue why he got the phone. I had to explain the whole situation again. He then said that he was not responsible for this so I needed to talk to the front desk. I was livid but was too eager for a room change so I called the front desk again. It was the same girl who had answered my phone earlier, but she had me to explain the whole situation again. I told her that I needed a room change.
“Madame, how big is the roach?” she asked
“It’s not too big, but I’m scared enough.” I answered
“How many are there?” she seemed to ignore my fear.
“well, there is only one, but it doesn’t matter if it’s only one I am scared of roach so please give me another room now!”
“okay, we’ll send someone up.” She hung up.
30 minutes later, a guy came to our room with a big spray. Before I could stop him, he had already spray every corner of our room.
Me and my sister sat in the corridor and were not able to get back to our room until one in the morning
(b) what do you like most about service in HK?
Efficiency
(c) what do you like least about service in HK?
Not personalized, not from the bottom-of the heart
3) What type of personality or character would be suitable for people working in the service industry?
Caring, love to serve others, helpful, attentive, cheerful, positive, and love people!
Probing question – Do you think you would like to work in service industry? (if so, why or why not?)
Yes and no. I’d like to work in the service industry when there is enough personnel and the workload is not a headache.
In general, what type of interactions / communications do you usually have with service providers?
Probing question –
(a) Do you usually engage in general conversation with service provider
Yes
(b) What aspects of interaction with the service provider do you like / dislike?
Like: Face to face; dislike: voicemail system!
In your opinion, what are the characteristics of service from the: i) Chinese and ii) Western viewpoints?
Probing Questions – Is Western and Chinese service the same or different? Please explain?
Chinese service focuses more on relationship. The service providers will go out of the route to satisfy your needs. However, they are less trained up, less systematic so consistency can be a problem.
Western service focuses more on regulation and consistency. They wanted to be fair to every guests, however, they might lose loyalty of the clients easily.
Interview Result (2):
What is Service? What does it mean to you?
Service is an intangible product that can be measured. Service is when someone gives you assistance and guidance.
What do think is: (a) Good service? And Bad or poor service?
Good service is when the provider can satisfy your request in a prompt and timely manner.
Bad service is when the provider does not meet your request and leaves you feeling angry and disappointed.
Probing Question – Can you share with me an example of a:
memorable guest service experience; and
The staff will ask me do I need any help. And greet me as Ms. and keep smile, provide a very good service.
bad service experience
One day when I go out to do some shopping, the staff not being helpful and rube to me. Feel like she don’t want to service me.
(b) what do you like most about service in HK?
Like to take MTR, because it’s fast and efficient
(c) what do you like least about service in HK?
When I dining in some local restaurant, the staff not being helpful and friendly, and the restaurant being slow and dirty.
3) What type of personality or character would be suitable for people working in the service industry?
The type of personality and character that would be suitable for people in the service industry are:
· open minded people
· understanding and helping
· adaptable to change
· people who can work under pressure
· puts customers as a priority
· always going beyond their call of duty
· a great listener
· cheerful and positive
Probing question – Do you think you would like to work in service industry? (if so, why or why not?)
Yes
In general, what type of interactions / communications do you usually have with service providers?
These can include:
Train service, hotels, restaurants, phone company, electricity company, housing services, bank etc ….Just add more to the list.
Probing question –
(a) Do you usually engage in general conversation with service provider
This depends on how well you know your product. If you have no idea on the product you intend to purchase you would engage in a longer conversation with the service provider to get a better understanding. Use an example – ie booking a function room for a wedding.
(b) What aspects of interaction with the service provider do you like / dislike?
Like: Face to face and people are keep smile,
Dislike: voicemail system
In your opinion, what are the characteristics of service from the: i) Chinese and ii) Western viewpoints?
Probing Questions – Is Western and Chinese service the same or different? Please explain?
Chinese – service is fast and prompt
Western – service is slower but has higher standards of service
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