Operations Management for Service Industries

Competing in the Service Era

Glenn Bassett

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 1992
• Print ISBN: 9780899307466
• eBook ISBN: 9780313067785
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Effective service delivery requires a transition from high-volume, long-run operations to low-volume, short-run output. In conventional terms, inefficiency is inherent in such a shift. The Japanese experience suggests, however, that this convention is in error; success is available if we can only organize operations away from capital toward labor intensiveness with emphasis on multipurpose machinery and multiskilled workers as the foundation. Wholly new devices that accept the inevitability of bottlenecks and focus on managing them are required for managing work flow. A century of mass production has set in place habits and concepts of operations management that are inappropriate to the need. A new vision is needed. This book outlines an operations vision based on proven principles of management and organization science that can guide the way into an emerging service era. Glenn Bassett looks at a variety of service industries from the perspective of cost and quality management. He argues the basic inevitablitity of suboptimized plant and equipment utilization. The potential for conflict between commodity and noncommodity dimensions of service is examined. Basic methods of cost control and work flow management are described. The varied and sometimes shifting bases of service quality are described in considerable detail, industry by industry where necessary. Methods for selecting and training effective service-providers are reviewed. Reform of government service as metaphor and model for the service revolution is detailed. The focus always is on sound, cost-effective, high-quality service delivery using the best available operations methods. It is sound operations management that will contribute genuine value to tomorrow's service industries. The basics of that discipline are the subject of this book.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Service: The Customization Imperative
• Chapter 2 Commodity and Service Aspects of Some Common Services Contrasted
• Chapter 3 Effective Service Delivery
• Chapter 4 Capacity for Service: The Fundamental Strategic Challenge
• Chapter 5 Building Inventories of Flexible Service Supplier Skill
• Chapter 6 Basic Operating Policy: Service versus Commodity
• Chapter 7 Planning/Forecasting to Meet Service Demand
• Chapter 8 Lead Time, Cost Breaks and Inventory Control in Service Operations
• Chapter 9 Work Load Modeling: Setting Priorities and Locating Bottlenecks
• Chapter 10 Discovering Service Quality
• Chapter 11 Roles, Skill Level and System Design as Foundations of Service Quality
• Chapter 12 Objective Dimensions of Service Quality
• Chapter 13 Measuring Service Quality
• Chapter 14 Building a Service Culture: Selecting and Training Service Givers
• Chapter 15 The Economics of Service Pricing
• Chapter 16 Government Reform as Metaphor and Model of the Service Revolution
• Chapter 17 Conclusion: Now, as We Enter the Service Era
• Selected Bibliography
• Index