Tight versus lose specifications in service operations

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Pinto, Sofia
Data de Publicação: 2002
Outros Autores: Johnston, Robert
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/4603
Resumo: In this exploratory paper we contend that a service specification is an important mechanism which is needed to plan and control the design and delivery of a service. Despite this importance it is surprising that there is limited coverage of the nature of specifications in both the manufacturing and service operations literatures. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the key differences between a service specification in a mass service and in a professional service. The underlying hypothesis is that mass services will have a tight specification and professional services a loose specification. Based on interviews with senior managers in a UK and a Portuguese bank we found, contrary to expectations, that both mass and professional services made use of tight specifications. Professional services created their customisation from the tightly specified base using skilled staff at the interaction with the customer. We would also seek to challenge the view that mass and professional service processes are distinct, as they both appear to have mass-type tendencies with standardised and tightly controlled cores, and that professional services differ simply through the addition of a degree of customisation.
id RCAP_491e7788f73bd3c155bec20a2b37b235
oai_identifier_str oai:repositorio.ucp.pt:10400.14/4603
network_acronym_str RCAP
network_name_str Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
repository_id_str 7160
spelling Tight versus lose specifications in service operationsServiceSpecificationPerformanceControlIn this exploratory paper we contend that a service specification is an important mechanism which is needed to plan and control the design and delivery of a service. Despite this importance it is surprising that there is limited coverage of the nature of specifications in both the manufacturing and service operations literatures. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the key differences between a service specification in a mass service and in a professional service. The underlying hypothesis is that mass services will have a tight specification and professional services a loose specification. Based on interviews with senior managers in a UK and a Portuguese bank we found, contrary to expectations, that both mass and professional services made use of tight specifications. Professional services created their customisation from the tightly specified base using skilled staff at the interaction with the customer. We would also seek to challenge the view that mass and professional service processes are distinct, as they both appear to have mass-type tendencies with standardised and tightly controlled cores, and that professional services differ simply through the addition of a degree of customisation.EurOMA - European Operations Management AssociationVeritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica PortuguesaPinto, SofiaJohnston, Robert2011-06-29T08:46:10Z20022002-01-01T00:00:00Zconference objectinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/4603engINTERNATIONAL EUROMA CONFERENCE, 9th, Copenhaga Denmark, June, 2002 - Proceedings of the 9th International EurOMA Conference – Operations management and the New Economy. Vol. 2. p. 1183-1190info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-09-06T12:00:04Zoai:repositorio.ucp.pt:10400.14/4603Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openairemluisa.alvim@gmail.comopendoar:71602024-09-06T12:00:04Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
title Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
spellingShingle Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
Pinto, Sofia
Service
Specification
Performance
Control
title_short Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
title_full Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
title_fullStr Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
title_full_unstemmed Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
title_sort Tight versus lose specifications in service operations
author Pinto, Sofia
author_facet Pinto, Sofia
Johnston, Robert
author_role author
author2 Johnston, Robert
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Pinto, Sofia
Johnston, Robert
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Service
Specification
Performance
Control
topic Service
Specification
Performance
Control
description In this exploratory paper we contend that a service specification is an important mechanism which is needed to plan and control the design and delivery of a service. Despite this importance it is surprising that there is limited coverage of the nature of specifications in both the manufacturing and service operations literatures. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the key differences between a service specification in a mass service and in a professional service. The underlying hypothesis is that mass services will have a tight specification and professional services a loose specification. Based on interviews with senior managers in a UK and a Portuguese bank we found, contrary to expectations, that both mass and professional services made use of tight specifications. Professional services created their customisation from the tightly specified base using skilled staff at the interaction with the customer. We would also seek to challenge the view that mass and professional service processes are distinct, as they both appear to have mass-type tendencies with standardised and tightly controlled cores, and that professional services differ simply through the addition of a degree of customisation.
publishDate 2002
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2002
2002-01-01T00:00:00Z
2011-06-29T08:46:10Z
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv conference object
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/4603
url http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/4603
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv INTERNATIONAL EUROMA CONFERENCE, 9th, Copenhaga Denmark, June, 2002 - Proceedings of the 9th International EurOMA Conference – Operations management and the New Economy. Vol. 2. p. 1183-1190
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv EurOMA - European Operations Management Association
publisher.none.fl_str_mv EurOMA - European Operations Management Association
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
instacron:RCAAP
instname_str Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
instacron_str RCAAP
institution RCAAP
reponame_str Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
collection Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
repository.mail.fl_str_mv mluisa.alvim@gmail.com
_version_ 1817546706075516928