The course work for this module carries a 100% weighting of the module mark. There are two sub-components: “The Service Encounter Essay” (90%) and “My Service Encounter Essay Reflections” (10%).

SERVICE ENCOUNTER ESSAY

This individual assignment is a formal academic essay, which is worth 90% of the mark for the module and has a word limit of 10 pages (± 1 page), excluding the cover page, reference list, and appendices.

OBJECTIVE:

留學生dissertation網For students to become more aware of critical aspects of the service encounter from the perspectives of 1) customers and 2) services marketing scholars.

DIRECTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

One of the aims of this service encounter essay is to analyse service encounters from a customer perspective. Most of us consume many services on a regular basis, but often not thinking about it in those terms. Examples or service encounters include (but are not limited to) banking (face-to-face, telephone and/or internet), dining out, buying a holiday from a travel agent, going to a dentist or doctor, having a haircut, getting the car serviced, going to a theatre or concert, having a garment dry cleaned, purchasing an insurance policy over the phone/internet, buying groceries on-line/in-store, having flowers delivered to someone.

In order to make you more aware of possible sources of customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, you are asked to keep a Service Encounter Journal as a first step before you can write the essay itself.

Step 1

You are required to complete six service encounters (see below for a blank service encounter form), which should be typed and attached to the essay as separate appendices. The service encounters that you enter should be from a variety of types of services (refer to lecture notes and the textbook) that you have encountered during the term, and include examples of good and bad service from your personal perspective.

The best way to complete your journal is to make notes immediately following a particular incident. If you try to do your entries from memory, or to do too many at one time, the quality of the entries may suffer.

You should examine each Service Encounter using the theories discussed in the module. When you have completed your six entries in the Service Encounter Journal, the next step is to analyse the encounters to arrive at the factors that contribute to your satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Consider your own attitudes, behaviour(s), mood and contribution to the outcome when doing so. Then, you are ready to write up a 2-3 page analysis of your encounters, which is important to the quality of the essay in Step 2. The analysis should be attached with the Service Encounters in Appendix 1.

Step 2

Having analysed your Service Encounters, you should generate a list of the three most relevant theories/conceptual frameworks to your service encounters, which are the ones that the essay will be based on.#p#分頁標題#e#

You are now ready to start your research and reading into the selected theories/frameworks. The research process plays an important role, as the quality and relevance of the selected journal articles affects the essay.

Step 3

The Service Encounter Essay consists of the following sections:

1. Introduction
• A general introduction to the essay should be provided, the aims of the essay should be stated and an outline should be provided
• Max 1 page

2. Literature review
• Review the literature on the three most relevant of the following services marketing theories/concepts:
• Services Marketing Mix
1. Focusing only on the 3 “extra” Ps
a. People
b. Processes
c. Physical Evidence
• Services Marketing Triangle
• One of the conceptual frameworks for analysing service encounters
1. Blueprinting (service blueprinting)
2. Dramaturgical approach
3. Servicescapes
4. Servuction
5. Customer experience
• Service Failure & Service Recovery
1. You can include literature on the Zone of Tolerance (which is related to Service Quality literature as well), and Service Recovery Paradox in this section
• Service Quality, select one of the following
1. Gaps Model (Parasuraman et al., 1985)
2. ServPerf (Cronin and Taylor, 1992)
3. Total Perceived Quality (Grönroos)
• Customer Satisfaction
• Relationship Marketing
• Loyalty

3. Discussion section
• In this section, you should apply the appropriate services marketing theories/concepts that you reviewed the literature on. It is imperative that you demonstrate your understanding of these concepts throughout the discussion. Based on your analysis, you need to address the following:
• Compare and contrast your BEST and WORST service encounters.
• What are the factors that contributed to your dis/satisfaction with your service encounters?
• How does a positive/negative perception of a service encounter influence your attitudes and behaviours toward these organisations?
• In your opinion, what are the three most important actions managers should take to improve service?
• What did you learn from these experiences and how will you apply it when you start the Placement Year and/or enter the business world?

4. Conclusion
• A summary of the main points of the essay
• Max 1-1.5 pages

FORMATTING GUIDELINES:

Font size and type 12 Times New Roman
Line spacing 1.5 lines
Alignment Left
Margins 1 inch/2.5 cm all sides

Please note that you are required to use the Harvard reference style.

MY SERVICE ENCOUNTER ESSAY REFLECTIONS

This component of the course work carries a 10% weighting, and should be a minimum of 1 page and maximum 2 pages long. The student’s service encounter reflections should be submitted with the essay (make a page break after the conclusion, insert your reflections between the essay and the reference list).#p#分頁標題#e#

The aim of this component of the course work is for you as an individual to reflect on and address the following:
? What you learned about services marketing from your experience, and how it affects you as a customer as well as how you envisage it will influence you when you start your Placement Year and/or enter the business world
? The skills you acquired, or had enhanced, during the process of completing the course work
? Any difficulties you encountered, how you overcame them, and what you learned from it

FORMATTING GUIDELINES:

Font size and type 12 Times New Roman
Line spacing 1.5 lines
Alignment Left
Margins 1 inch/2.5 cm all sides

Please note that you are required to use the Harvard reference style.

Service Encounter Journal

Journal entry: / 6
Student number:
Name of firm:
Type of service:
(e.g. face-to-face, telephone and/or internet)
Time and date of encounter:

What specific circumstances led to this service encounter?
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What did the firm/employee say or do?
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How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the appropriate number).
Extremely dissatisfied Extremely satisfied
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

What exactly made you feel that way (satisfied/dissatisfied)?
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___________________________________________________________________________#p#分頁標題#e#
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What could the employee/firm have done to make you happier with the encounter?

___________________________________________________________________________
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How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm?
Very unlikely
Very likely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Additional notes and comment about the encounter:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________#p#分頁標題#e#
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Marking Criteria

Introduction
Conciseness
留學生dissertation寫作指導Clarity of objectives
Outline of essay
/5
Literature review
Discussion and critical evaluation of selected core concepts
Appropriateness and quality of references used
/30
Discussion section
Demonstration of understanding of core concepts used throughout the discussion
Level of analysis
Application of theory
/35
Conclusion
Conciseness
Clarity
/5
Spelling and grammar
/5
Referencing standard
http://www.400190.com/Thesis_Tips/Harvard reference style requirement
In-text referencing
Reference list
/10
My Service Encounter Essay Reflections
/10