Service Marketing: Analysis of Service Failure Incident and Recommendations for Service Recovery Strategies

This report evaluates the situation of service failure along with the application of different service quality and customers satisfaction models. The latter part of the report also evaluates the service recovery strategy that the companies should use in order to overcome the situation of service failure.

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Service Marketing
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................1
Service Failure Incident...............................................................................................................1
Theoretical Analysis....................................................................................................................2
SERVQUAL Model.....................................................................................................................3
Recommendations and Service Recovery Strategies.......................................................................4
Service Recovery Program and Strategies...................................................................................4
Recommendation.........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Service failure refers to the disruption in the normal business action that complies with the
requirements of the customers and satisfies them as well. A service organization in an industry
can succeed only when it properly understands the requirements of the customers and maintains
a long lasting relationship with them. If an organization suffers problem then the service users
will definitely get dissatisfied and will raise a complaint (Sharifi, et. al., 2017). It is important for
the service firm to initiate effective management strategies to handle the issues caused to the
customers. The below mentioned report evaluates the situation of service failure along with the
application of different service quality and customers satisfaction models. The latter part of the
report also evaluates the service recovery strategy that the companies should use in order to
overcome the situation of service failure. Further, more details about the report are discussed
below:
Analysis
Service Failure Incident
Nowadays, restaurants are getting more concerned towards the mannerism and hospitality
etiquettes with an aim to increase the satisfaction of service users in the society. However,
company restaurants are still facing a major problem in performing the same, one such incident
happened when me and my friend went to this newly opened restaurant for her birthday party.
There were three of us who went for the dinner, my friend had already booked a table day before
yesterday but when we arrived, no seats were arranged for us. We patiently waited for our turn
and settled down quietly after entering in the restaurant. While we were reading the menu, I
overheard people sitting on the table who were discussing about the dishes that were not
mentioned in the menu. Apart from this, very few staff were present at the restaurant to handle
the guests and that too some of them were badly dressed. The most horrible situation was when a
waitress smelt the drink and garnished the food using bare hands. Professionalism was not seen
anywhere at the restaurant and the cooks were not trained to cook traditional dishes with basic
taste. After looking at such activities, we immediately vacated the restaurant without having
anything to eat or drink (Guchait, Paşamehmetoğlu, and Lanza-Abbott 2015).

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This service failure incident dissatisfied me and my friends to the maximum extent and now we
are not going to that place again, nor will we suggest it to anyone. The staff of the restaurant
played a vital role in influencing the service encounter. The staff compromised with the quality
of food and services due to which the satisfaction of the customers reduced (Wong, Newton, and
Newton 2016).
Theoretical Analysis
Type of Complaint
Looking at the above mentioned service encounter, it can be said that it was an instrumental type
of complaint that can be expressed for the objective of changing an undesirable state of affair. At
this particular restaurant, we encountered issues related to the lack of staff, service delivery and
etiquettes while services the food and dishes. These are some of the issues that are non-
negotiable and the management should aim to change it (Israeli, Lee, and Karpinski 2017).
Root Cause
In situations like this, the root cause of the negative service encounter is discussed below:
Locus: It can be said that the management team at the restaurant was responsible of the incident
of service failure. The source of failure were the service provider and service firm. At the
restaurant, lack of adequate staff along with lack of mannerism in that created a problem for
customers. Ineffective management of employees shift rotation created delay in order taking and
serving as well.
Stability: Yes, it can be said that the cause of service failure is likely to repeat in near future. This
is one of the issues that will reoccur in future with other customers if the management team at the
restaurant will not take care of their staff properly. It is important for the management to conduct
hospitality training program to the front line as well as back office staff of the company.
Negligence of this will increase dissatisfaction among employees.
Controllability: No, the restaurant management team that is the responsible party had no control
over the reasons of service failure (Ting, et. al., 2016).

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SERVQUAL Model
The SERVQUAL Model is a model that was designed to capture the expectations as well as the
views of the customers of a service on the behalf of five dimensions that are believed to show
quality of service. This model is used to compare the performance of service quality with the
service quality needs of customers. The gaps present the service quality of an organization can be
clearly seen. The adequate service quality is discussed in order to understand the gaps present in
the service.
Tangible: Tangible aspect explain that the physical facilities, equipment, communication and
personal resources. At the restaurant mentioned above, there were many tangible things that rose
dissatisfaction in customers like waiting time, quality of food, food delivery and other food menu
issues as well. The staff did not behave professionally while dealing with customers (Bolton, and
Mattila 2015).
Reliability: Under this aspect, the visitors gain the power to analyse that whether the restaurant
will provide good food properly or not. They also gain the ability to evaluate the restaurant
offering services on pre-determined time. The given restaurant failed to satisfy the customers’
expectation, as the staff did not pay adequate attention at the customers. These aspects dissatisfy
the customers as they break their way of attaining satisfaction from the services. It shows that
there is a gap between the service offering and expectation (Roschk, and Gelbrich 2017).
Responsiveness: It is a very important component that helps the visitors to analyse the services.
The service failure discussed in the report explain that the staff at the restaurant did not wanted
to help the visitors in choosing dishes from the menu, nor they were helping in other services as
well. The order taking process was delayed due to which they waiting time increased that rose
dissatisfaction among visitors. It is most important for the organizations present in the hospitality
industry to help the guests with their confusion and provide them excellent quality services as
well (Xu, Liu, and Gursoy 2018).
Assurance: In order to analyse the different aspects of service, the customer at a restaurant look
for the behaviour and courtesy of the management team and employees at restaurant. At the
particular place, the staff was not at all trained provide customers a good visiting experience. The
waitress along with the chefs behaved unprofessionally while preparing and service the food. It

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is important for the restaurant staff to convey their loyalty by the way of their activities but the
staffs of the given organization were not trained to do so (Shahriar, Hoq, and Rahaman 2017).
Empathy: Empathy is the attention and personal care that is given to the visitors and with the
help of such experience the visitors get to know about the individualized services by the
restaurant. However, the restaurant mentioned in the case need to improve in terms of providing
attention to the visitors at restaurant.
Recommendations and Service Recovery Strategies
Service Recovery Program and Strategies
Service recovery strategy for the restaurant are discussed below:
(Source: By Author)
Compensatory Strategies: To conquer this circumstance, the restaurant should actualize this
technique so it can wipe out the service related disappointment among clients. The service
organization ought to give diverse compensation and advantages to the clients who have
encountered negative service experience (Norvell, Kumar, and Dass 2018). The service
Practices
Beliefs
Employee
Behaviours
Development
of recovery
culture
lack of
employees
Delay in sitting
arrangement and
food delivery
Identificantion
of failure
Locus:
Administration
Team
Stability: Yes, it
can reoccur at
the restaurant
Controllability:
No
Failure
attributions
Compensatory
and Restoration
strategies
Selection of
Recovery
Strategy
Procedures
and
interaction
Implementati
on
Evaluation of
customer's
feedback
Monitoring

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disappointment can be overwhelmed by giving coupons, rebates, and redesigns and free. It will
assist the restaurant with regaining disappointed clients.
Restoration Strategies: Notwithstanding over, the food association can actualize restoration
strategies likewise under which it can make revisions in its administration and services. Under
this, it should enlist more skilled and experienced workers with the goal that they can give
enhanced administration experience to its clients. It should direct preparing system for its staff
with the goal that they can find out about food preparation and serving strategies (Kim, and Jang
2014).
The above service recovery program and systems will help the restaurant to give palatable
administrations and fruitful service experience to its guests.
Recommendation
From the evaluation of above mentioned situation, it is thus prescribed that this restaurant should
utilize viable procedures to hold the clients and enhance dependability among clients. The
restaurant staff ought to gain from the service recovery experience and clients and roll out the
improvements in its service delivery process. It ought to build up a legitimate point of view
according to the requirements and requests of clients. They should keep in contact with the
clients like they should wish them on the special occasions. In addition, the restaurant ought to
enhance the aptitudes and conduct of its workers with the goal that they can fulfil the clients. A
standout amongst the best approaches to hold the clients is that this restaurant should take clients'
input and think about their objections. It will help the restaurant to hold clients for long haul and
increment their dependability towards its services.
Conclusion
Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events the fact should be noted that service failure can
be regarded as a major issue in the service industry that should not be overlooked. It is important
for the organizations to make use of service recovery method and successfully initiate the
business process. The above mentioned report evaluates the service failure incident in a
restaurant and its impact on the satisfaction level of the customers.

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References
Bolton, L.E. and Mattila, A.S., 2015. How does corporate social responsibility affect consumer
response to service failure in buyer–seller relationships?. Journal of Retailing, 91(1), pp.140-
153.
Guchait, P., Paşamehmetoğlu, A. and Lanza-Abbott, J., 2015. The importance of error
management culture in organizations: The impact on employee helping behaviors during service
failures and recoveries in restaurants. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality &
Tourism, 14(1), pp.45-67.
Israeli, A., Lee, S.A. and Karpinski, A.C., 2017. Investigating the dynamics and the content of
customers’ social media reporting after a restaurant service failure. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management, 26(6), pp.606-626.
Kim, J.H. and Jang, S.S., 2014. A scenario-based experiment and a field study: A comparative
examination for service failure and recovery. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 41, pp.125-132.
Norvell, T., Kumar, P. and Dass, M., 2018. The Long-Term Impact of Service Failure and
Recovery. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, p.1938965518762835.
Roschk, H. and Gelbrich, K., 2017. Compensation Revisited: A Social Resource Theory
Perspective on Offering a Monetary Resource After a Service Failure. Journal of Service
Research, 20(4), pp.393-408.
Shahriar, S.H.B., Hoq, M.R. and Rahaman, B.M., 2017. Ordinary Service Recovery Strategies
Versus Customers’expectations And Involvement: A Case Study On Small Restaurants [online].
Available from: http://repository.kln.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/123456789/17638/88.pdf?
sequence=1&isAllowed=y [accessed on: 8 October 2018].
Sharifi, S.S., Palmeira, M., Ma, J. and Spassova, G., 2017. The impact of service failure and
recovery on target and observing customers: A comparative study. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management, 26(8), pp.889-910.

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Ting, C.T., Huang, Y.S., Pan, S.C. and Lin, C.T., 2016, July. Evaluating the Benefits of
Consumer Revisitation Intentions for Restaurants in Taiwan. In Advanced Applied Informatics
(IIAI-AAI), 2016 5th IIAI International Congress on (pp. 1221-1222). IEEE.
Wong, J., Newton, J.D. and Newton, F.J., 2016. Powerlessness following service failure and its
implications for service recovery. Marketing letters, 27(1), pp.63-75.
Xu, X., Liu, W. and Gursoy, D., 2018. The Impacts of Service Failure and Recovery Efforts on
Airline Customers’ Emotions and Satisfaction. Journal of Travel Research,
p.0047287518789285.