Service Recovery And Failure In Air Line Industry
Service recovery has taken over the whole world by storm. People hear the word service recovery and service failure over and over again. In the globalized world as people know it, the world seems to be getting smaller and yet it is expanding, the world is developing. Information can travel fast and easily, boundaries are being reduced gradually. This not only happen in the world generally but also in the business world specifically. By looking at this arising phenomenon, service recovery of companies in the management of business is getting more and more important for airline companies who are trying to explore the global market. The airline companies have to come up with the right strategy for different market in different countries. Without a good strategy in service recovery and the way how to decide complaints and resolved problems which called service failure, the airline companies will falter in the international market. While on the other hand, if an airline company has a good service recovery and can solved service failure, it will achieve success.
The airlines industry involves a high degree of interaction between employees and consumers and so provides many opportunities for service failures to occur. The quality of service encounters is frequently determined by the action of front-line staff, whose experience and commitment may be limited and whose attitude may vary from one encounter to another. The inseparability of production and consumption means that failures occur at the point of consumption, providing little scope for correction without inconveniencing the passengers. However, failures, errors, mistakes, and complaints can frequently happen in the process of service delivery. A poor service or a service failure will result in dissatisfaction and this in turn will prompt a variety of responses which may include complaining, negative word-of-mouth and decisions not to repurchase. If it is impossible to avoid service failures and dissatisfaction, then it becomes increasingly important for organizations to understand how to manage such occurrences and minimize their adverse effects. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that effective service recovery will generate a range of positive passengers’ responses with complaint handling being seen as a key element in service recovery. This research paper an overview of existing research relating to service failure, service recovery in airlines industry.
The Emirates Airlines was founded in 1985, but it didn’t start to show up on Americans’ radar until 2005, when they began service to New York’s JFK. They are the fastest-growing airline in the world, and today Emirates has a fleet of 138 aircraft and serves over 100 destinations in 61 countries across six continents. Their North American gateways are: New York, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. Their hub is Dubai (DXB), which is now the 15th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic (40.9 million passengers in 2009).
Literature review
Service recovery and service failure in air line industry
The service recovery and the service failure may directly influence each other. Generally, the service recovery in airline industry is concerned with the process of addressing service failures, which can be happened in that time when is the flight on the plane or before flight; more specifically, service recovery can be thought of as being concerned with the productive handling of complaints and includes all actions taken by a service provider in order to try to resolve the problem a passenger has with their organization. It is generally recognized that complaints are essential to institute a recovery effort. Without complaints, a firm may be unaware that problems exist and unable to appease unhappy passengers.
Ennew and Schoefer (2006) stated that basic of service recovery strategy, which the model is used in airline industry as well, can be classified as:
– Apology: A first person apology rather than a corporate apology, and one which also acknowledges that a failure has occurred.
– Urgent reinstatement: Speed of action coupled with a ‘gallant attempt’ to put things right even if it is not possible to correct the situation.
– Empathy: A sincere expression of feeling for the passenger’s plight.
– Symbolic atonement: A form of compensation that might include not charging for the service or offering future services free or discounted.
– Follow-up: An after-recovery call to ascertain that the consumer is satisfied with the recovery process.
That service recovery also includes situations where the passenger has not expressed a complaint but the provider has recognized the failure and initiated a recovery procedure. Service recovery in airline industry refers to steps that are intended to identify and correct service failure. According Kuenzel, S and Katsaris, N, (2009), the necessity for service recovery is brought about by service failure. Service failure is defined as those situations when the service fails to live up to the passenger’s expectations or any service-related mishaps or problems that occur during a consumer’s experience of the firm. Service failure situations are especially inevitable in the airline industry due to the ‘people factor’ nature of services, the high level of contact between employees and passengers due to the increasingly high demand of today’s passengers.
As one of the service industries, the airlines industry involves a high degree of personal interaction between staff, which are working in air company and passengers; miscommunication can lead to service failure. Responding effectively to consumer complaints can have a significant impact on satisfaction; repurchase intentions and the spread of word-of-mouth. However, in order to understand how best to deal with service failure and how best to handle complaints, it is essential to understand the way in which consumers react to service failure and how they respond to different approaches to service recovery. The service recovery in Emirates Airline Company, which is defined as all those actions taken by a service provider in order to try to resolve the problem that caused the service failure, aims not only to resolve the problems in order to minimize negative outcomes and retain passengers who are prefer this air company, but also to “seek out and deal with service failures”. After all, a good recovery, as well as reducing passengers’ negative emotions, also tries to increase the positive ones. While service recovery’s effectiveness depends on several parameters, excellent recovery tactics can leave those passengers who experienced a service failure followed by successful service recovery with greater satisfaction than those who did not experience a service failure incident at all.
However service recovery’s major importance is owed to the fact that it affects passenger satisfaction and, as a consequence, passenger loyalty. Furthermore, a number of findings have shown that satisfaction with the service recovery directly affects a passenger’s intention to repurchase and to recommend the service provider. These relationships constitute the vital reasons why providers pay so much attention to service recovery because in financial terms loyal passengers can increase profits. (Kuenzel, S and Katsaris, N, 2009). The Emirates Airline Company believes that satisfaction plays a key role in the service industry and especially in the airline industry. As the airline industry has evolved, Emirates Airline has made great strides to define and understand satisfaction from the consumer’s perspective. The emphasis to comprehend what truly creates satisfied passengers has lead to an ever increasing body of literature surrounding satisfaction, how service providers create satisfied passengers and the effects that satisfaction has on businesses today. Competitive environment analysis is the factors which influence the air company’s competitiveness in the market. It enables the airline company to understand its current competitors.
The Emirates Airline, as air company is defined that the most important part in the value of service recovery and failure are consisted of professional staff which can be opened in a time for solving problems with passengers, improving passenger satisfaction, minimizing negatives emotions and making loyalty decisions for complaints.
Methodology
Service recovery and service failure in Emirates Airline Company
For the past several years, many air line companies executives have ascribed to the widely circulated notion that a strong problem-recovery process is the key to enhancing passenger loyalty. Some claim to possess statistics that show a higher intent to return among passengers who experienced a problem followed by excellent resolution, compared to passengers who had a problem-free flight. The Emirates Airline has outperformed their rivals British Airways, Korean Airline and Delta Airline in a service quality report. This airline company is analyses the passenger experience from flight booking all the way through to check-in, baggage drop, boarding, plane conditions, in flight services such as food and beverage, entertainment and shopping, right through to disembarkation and final baggage claim. The Emirates Airline known that the service recovery builds passenger loyalty that brings passenger back from the brink of defection is putting a smile on a passenger’s face. A poor service recovery in structure of organization will result in dissatisfaction and this in turn will prompt a variety of responses which may include complaints, negative word-of-mouth and decisions not to repurchase. The effective service recovery will generate a range of positive passenger responses with complaint handling being seen as a key element in service recovery.
Analyzing the structure inside of Emirates Airline as a large air company in the world and which model of organizations they used, I found that this company is provided and followed by service recovery strategies as an important element in service process. The service recovery strategies are consisted of eight components:
1. Act quickly (usually use as an apology)
2. Provide adequate explanations
3. Treat passengers fairly
4. Cultivate relationships with passengers
5. Learn from recovery experience
6. Learn from lost passengers as passengers
7. Fail-safe the service
8. Track complaints
According this type of service recovery strategies, which was chosen by the Emirates Airline Company, I can say that this air company is tried to involves and to improve new methods of psychological behaviours in organizational process between employee and passenger, because it is interested in passenger’s positive recommendations about their air lines to family and friends are an important, cost-effective method of promotion which are suggested to make profit. The goals of service recovery strategies are consisted how to satisfy the passenger in during that time when the flight is on the board, identifies and corrects the problems in a time without negative effects and improves professional air staff to be helpful and friendly with passengers.
The Emirates Airline company, as the biggest air company in the world, is recognized the service recovery as a significant determinant of passenger satisfaction and loyalty. The most common and frequently what they used in service recovery are:
1. apology
2. assistance
3. compensation
The apology can be in two forms: verbal and writing. For example, in the Emirates Airline, I found the tactical way which the air staff used in the during flight’s time. If some kind of the drinks or some kind of the meals are finished in the during flight, and that time one of the passengers needs persistently, so air staff solve the problem by nicely and kindly form in offering to choose another drinks and meals which they have in menu. The writing form is used when the situation or problems are decided by official form from Emirates Airline management.
The assistance is used in finding the luggage by air staff which are in the airports (local or international terminals). Emirates Airline is suggested to find luggage by modern technology as operational efficiency between operations and general system of technical supporting inside the airport where were going lost luggage.
The compensation is frequent form of the service recovery, which can be financial form, it’s meant that the Emirates Airline is able to pay the compensation from the negative effects in during the flight’s time if the occurrences were happened without passenger’s fault. Another form of compensations are vouchers, free upgrades to gifts or loyalty miles, can also be defined against a complaint category and stored for each complaint. Vouchers can be auto-generated and points can be auto-credited into the member’s account. Tier upgrades can be provided as compensation, and tier downgrades or expiry of points can also be restricted for members.
Why are the air staff so qualified and professional in the service recovery? The Emirates Airline Company invests much more time and money in training each new employee than many of its competitors. There are 18,179 employees work in the Emirates Airline who are qualify after 3 months of 13 indoctrination will receive 450 hours of training in their first year and 160 hours of training every year after. Training programs include methods of the communication with passengers in the board during the flights, how they can make service without negative effects just use the smile or literate speech which are based on the psychological principles. The motivation employees, train them, care about them, and make winners of them are successful steps in the service recovery. The Emirates Airline knows that if they treat their employees correctly, they will treat the passenger’s right. And if the passengers are treated right, they will come back.
Effective service recovery is not just an after-thought but is rather an intentionally designed part of service delivery system that has been planned into the service design in support of the service recovery strategies. The Emirates Airline believes that the service recovery is one of the most important key factors differentiating business performance and success between competitors.
Understanding the system of the service recovery in the Emirates Airline Company, how they can solve and decide situations with passengers before the flight, during the flight’s time, and after the flight without negative effects, I was analysing that this air company however has failures, mistakes and complaints which could be happened in the process of service delivery. The service failure occurs when the passengers do not get basic services from air company. The passengers consider centre of the service failure because they have been promised or contracted, either directly or implied and are basic to the whole service experience, for example, in the Emirates Airline, this is reservations air tickets which could be booked in official website or in the official agency. According statistical report which was established by the Emirates Airline, I could see which kind of service failures and complaints were happened in during flighting process, which are widespread and how this air company tried to minimized effects.
The service failures, which were founded in the Emirates Airline Company:
1. Ethical problems (conflict of interests)
2. Personnel failures
3. Safety issues
4. Baggage handling
5. Ticketing matter
6. Doing work too slowly in-flight
7. Responses to service failure
8. Employee responses to customer needs and requests
The most serious failure in the Emirates Airline was slow the service in-flight, the drink and the meal brought lately, the air staff were unhelpful and unfriendly because on the board were about 175 passengers who were flied on the long destinations. Other frequently mentioned problems related to agent operations which were provided booking and reservation air tickets. After according that statistic report, the Emirates Airline was developed absolutely new model of the service recovery strategies which were helped to solve and minimized the service failures in the organizational process and satisfied the passengers in-flight and on the ground. This air company was organized Service Recovery Management, that the functions are detection, analyzing and solving service failure without negative effects between organization and passengers.
Finding
aˆ? It is very difficult to exceed passengers’ expectations in service recovery. The Emirates Airline typically exceed passengers’ expectations in problem situations in only one of 10 problem occurrences. This air company are at least four times more likely to fail to satisfy a passenger in recovery efforts than they are to exceed expectations.
aˆ? When the Emirates Airline resolves problems in a method that meets, but does not exceed expectations, satisfaction scores are significantly lower than when an experience is problem-free.
aˆ? The only time satisfaction and loyalty are improved after a problem is when service has been outstanding throughout the entire experience. Outstanding problem resolution is seen as a part of a larger service culture within the air company, not as a stand-alone reaction.
aˆ? Recovery efforts arguably represent a much greater cost compared to the type of service recovery and service failure.
aˆ? Good training provides air staff with the skills and confidence to perform well. Giving them the opportunity to practice their customer service skills in a safe environment will help them to apply those skills in the sales environment.
aˆ? Good service in the Emirates Airline is tightly linked to good sales. If service standards are poor, sales performance will inevitably be poor as well.
aˆ? Satisfied, loyal air staff will take proper care of their passengers, resulting in high levels of passengers satisfaction and repeated successful sales.
aˆ? On the service recovery in Emirates Airline Company is influenced the elements as the air company will be successful in the organizational process:
Environment
Qualification staff
Performance
Motivation
Conclusion
This research paper has reported the main reasons of service failure within international airline company which is the Emirates Airline Company. The findings shown that service recovery excellence can only be achieved through passenger satisfaction, professional staff and loyalty as a result of senior management commitment. The paper has determined the air company’s process of service recovery with respect to the main causes of service failure, in its goal to achieving passenger satisfaction. There are two component consisted service recovery. The first one is service failure and the second factor is satisfaction. In this structural model, I also mentioned about two predictors which can directly influence on service recovery. Qualification employees and loyalty directly impact on service recovery, that I explained earlier the way that how they can increasing high-level, be perfect in relationships with passengers of the Emirates Airline company in details.
This research paper is confirmed previous assertions that passenger’s satisfaction and loyalty require high levels of management commitment, as well as frequent communication and indicated that for service recovery to be effective, it must be external (to the passengers) as well as internal (to the air company) so that internal improvement can be ensured. The Emirates Airline has to conduct surveys from time to time to get the uttermost feedback from employees and first time passengers as well. The Emirates Airline has to improve passenger’s satisfaction without negative effects after covering failure, tries to provider training programs for air staff, because the service recovery is so important for reputation air company. They should be more focus on the solving problems between air company and passengers by professional way because one of the weaknesses that a bid company faces is the decentralized organizational structure. So controlling the big company such as the Emirates Airline would be very difficult without having the centralized and good structure in the organization. For the huge air companies such as the Emirates Airline that is geographically apart, using the virtual organization in order to control the all aspect of the company is essential. In conclusion, for each air company, especially for large air companies, the service recovery is one the most important part in organization that can make the air company more successful because I can reach all the important success key such as passenger’s satisfaction and encourages of passengers and employees, better behavior, better communication and highest service quality through the air company. Once a air company decides how it wants its members to behave, what attitudes it wants to encourage, and what it wants its members to accomplish, it can then design its structure and encourage the development of the cultural values and norm to obtain these desired attitudes, behaviors, and goals.
