Deck 6: Service Quality

Question 1

The term "producer's risk" refers to the probability that a sample will indicate an acceptable quality incorrectly.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In the service quality gap model, GAP 1 arises because of the management's lack of understanding about how customers formulate their expectations.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Being meaningful and easy to invoke are important elements of a good unconditional service guarantee.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Serving complimentary drinks on a delayed flight is an example of empathy being shown by the service personnel to the irate customer.

Question 5

The most important function of SERVQUAL is to keep a record of service quality trends through periodic customer surveys.

Question 6

The average business hears only from 10 percent of its dissatisfied customers.

Question 7

Managing evidence of information is the key to closing the gap between customer perception and service delivery.

Question 8

Severity of failure, speed of recovery, service guarantee and perceived service quality are all factors governing service recovery expectations.

Question 9

The systematic-response approach to service recovery uses a protocol to handle customer complaints.

Question 10

Fixing service-process problems before they affect the customer could be classified as another component to the systematic-response approach.

Question 11

The walk-through audit (WtA) focuses on the effectiveness of each stage in the service delivery process.

Question 12

The first stage or rung of the service quality ladder is cost of quality.

Question 13

A process is said to be in control when all the variation that is noticed can be assigned to specific causes.

Question 14

The concept of quality service deployment is based on the belief that services should be designed to reflect customer requirements.

Question 15

When customer expectations are confirmed by perceptions, service quality is considered satisfactory.

Question 16

A service guarantee becomes a service winner when it covers all aspects of the service.

Question 17

Joseph M. Juran identified internal failure costs, external failure costs, detection costs, and prevention costs.

Question 18

A customer's failure to remember the process steps is an error that falls in the preparation category.

Question 19

Setting goals and standardizing service delivery tasks will help close GAP 3, the service performance gap.

Question 20

According to the SERVQUAL quality assessment instrument, responsiveness is the most important dimension of service quality.

Question 21

The costs of quality for services include all of the following except ________.

A) failure costs
B) prevention costs
C) control costs
D) detection costs

Question 22

A gap in service quality is not the difference between ________.

A) customer expectations and management's perceptions of customer expectations
B) the service delivery and the results that are communicated externally to the customer
C) customer expectations and management's perception of the delivered service
D) the perceptions of the delivered service that are translated into service quality specifications and the actual service delivery

Question 23

Which of the following is not a reason that a service guarantee works?

A) Encourages individual employees to set their own standards.
B) Generates reliable data on poor performance.
C) Builds customer loyalty.
D) Forces a firm to identify failure points.

Question 24

Which one of the following is not an example of detection costs?

A) Rework.
B) Collecting quality data.
C) Process control.
D) Periodic inspection.

Question 25

Which of the following dimensions of service quality is most important to customers?

A) Empathy.
B) Assurance.
C) Reliability.
D) Tangibles.

Question 26

Which of the following is not an advantage of offering a service guarantee?

A) It acts as a mechanism to differentiate the firm from its competitors.
B) It advertises the firm's commitment to quality.
C) It allows employees to interpret broadly the firm's service standards.
D) It acts as a means of receiving feedback from customers.

Question 27

Which of the following is a strategy for closing the gap between customer expectations and management perceptions of customer's expectations (GAP 1)?

A) Standardization of service delivery.
B) Improved market research.
C) Employee empowerment.
D) Investment in training.

Question 28

The difference between a customer's ________ of a service and the ________ of the service delivered is called GAP 5.

A) perceptions; perceptions
B) perceptions; expectations
C) expectations; perceptions
D) expectations; expectations

Question 29

Which of the following is not part of a good service guarantee?

A) It is unconditional.
B) It is easy for the customer to understand.
C) It is meaningful to the customer.
D) It is difficult for the customer to invoke.

Question 30

Shigeo Shingo is credited with which of the following quality ideas?

A) Robustness.
B) Quality is free.
C) Poka-yoke.
D) Quality function deployment.

Question 31

Which one of the following is not an approach to service recovery?

A) Case-by-case.
B) Systematic-response.
C) Unconditional guarantee.
D) Early intervention.

Question 32

Which quadrant in the matrix below represents attributes of a good service guarantee?   

A) (a)
B) (b)
C) (c)
D) (d)

Question 33

There are five dimensions that customers use to judge service quality. The willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service is ________.

A) assurance
B) empathy
C) reliability
D) responsiveness

Question 34

When a process appears to be functioning properly when, in fact, it is out of control, the type of error and injured party are identified as ________.

A) Type I error and producer's risk
B) Type II error and consumer's risk
C) Type I error and consumer's risk
D) Type II error and producer's risk

Question 35

Which of the following is not considered effective in achieving and maintaining service quality?

A) Encouraging service providers to be highly visible in dealing with customers.
B) Establishing peer groups among service providers to foster teamwork and a sense of pride.
C) Installing a system of incentives that emphasizes quality.
D) Increasing supervision of service providers.

Question 36

Which of the following is not true of a Customer Satisfaction Survey?

A) Survey can be completed at customer convenience.
B) Survey usually is conducted by operations personnel.
C) Primary focus of survey is on overall impression of service.
D) Survey is designed around common service dimensions.

Question 37

All of the following are examples of "detection costs" of quality except ________.

A) quality planning
B) periodic inspection
C) process control
D) collecting quality data

Question 38

Which of the following statements is not true concerning a service guarantee?

A) A well designed and implemented service guarantee can help a firm gain control over its operation.
B) Fear of customer cheating inhibits some mangers from adopting a service guarantee.
C) Managers are likely to worry about the costs of a service guarantee, but for the wrong reasons.
D) Managers who seek control over the financial consequences of a service guarantee should require customers to meet various conditions.

Question 39

The Club Med example illustrated the creative initiative by staff to implement a pre-recovery.

Question 40

Which of the following is a poka-yoke method?

A) Adopting a checklist to help an employee avoid making a mistake.
B) Designing a service to reflect the customers' needs and requirements.
C) Designing a service in a robust manner that can withstand abuse by customers.
D) Comparing a firm's quality performance to the performance of others that are considered "best in class."

Question 41

Which of the following is not true of a walk-through audit (WtA)?

A) Focuses on five dimensions of service package.
B) Emphasis is on evaluation of each stage of service delivery.
C) Survey is completed at customer convenience.
D) Survey usually conducted by operations personnel.

Question 42

Which of the following is not possible using SERVQUAL?

A) Record customer expectations.
B) Track service quality trends.
C) Measure the quality of competitors.
D) Identify dimensions of service quality.