Case of Emmy’s & Maddy’s First Service Encounter

1. An assignment
On
Case of Emmy’s & Maddy’s First Service Encounter
Course Title: Service Marketing
Course no: MKT – 4203
Submitted to
S M TOWHIDUR RAHMAN
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Submitted by
PRIYANKA HUI CHOWDHURY ID: 120316
ARNA BANERJEE ID: 120324
SUMONA HOSSAIN ID: 120336
MEMOSHA MAUSAK RAHMAN ID: 120352
MD. NIAZ BHUIAN ID: 120354
Business Administration Discipline
Khulna University, KHULNA
13th
March, 2016

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Case Summary
The case describes the hospital service experience of a married couple who were forced to rush to
hospital two weeks earlier of the operation date. They were expecting twins and the doctor
informed them about the risk of multiple-birth pregnancies. So the doctor prescribed them to take
every possible precaution before coming to the hospital. When the couple arrived in the hospital,
a security guard helped them to park the car and a triage nurse took the wife to the maternity ward
in the third floor. There the couple met a physician who mistakenly introduced himself as Dr.
Baker and later reintroduced himself. Dr. Baker was out of the hospital and were constantly
informed of the patient’s condition. When Dr. Baker came, he informed the couple that they had
to deliver the babies because of one of the baby’s breach position. At that time another Doctor
named Dr. Aurthor assured them that 90 percent of premature born babies survive and 90 percent
of those develop normally. After that they were taken in the delivery room where 12 people were
preparing for the operation. The husband was seated beside the wife’s head. At 9:15 am the first
baby was born followed by the second at 9:16 am. Upon their birth, they were taken immediately
to the examination stations in the delivery room. From there the babies were taken to the recovery
room and the family rejoined there. One volunteer of the hospital took some pictures of the family.
After that the mother was taken to a fourth floor room and the babies were placed in neonatal
intensive care unit. The neonatal intensive care unit located in the isolated area of the fourth floor
provides intensive care to the premature babies. The staffs in NICU were very helpful and
introduced the husband to every technological health equipment. The caring for the babies at the
NICU were primarily exceptional. The babies’ health was progressing every day and their parents
celebrated their weight gains. The babies stayed at the NICU for seven weeks and then transferred
to the grower room. It is a staging area that acts as a transition between NICU and sending the
babies home with their parents. In the grower room, there was no intensive care required for the
babies. The room was for feeding, diaper changing, administrating medications and recording vital
signs of the babies. There was a friction existed between the NICU and grower room. The grower
room was very hesitant to request supply from NICU and on several occasions would delay
informing. The family experienced the rift but after few days they established new relationship
with the grower room personnel and they became very careful to the babies. After few days, the
babies were transferred to Nesting room were the whole family will stay for one last night. It was
located on the second floor. The parents were wholly responsible for feeding, medications, general
care of the babies in the nesting period. The family nested for 22 hours and frequently visited by
neonatologists, nurses, babies’ eye doctor, social workers, hospital insurance personnel and
discharge nurse. After nine weeks at the hospital, finally the family returned to their home with
their healthy babies.

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1. Develop a molecular model for this hospital
Molecular model is a conceptual model that shows the relationship among the tangible &
intangible components involved in firm’s operations. The main benefit of molecular model is to
represent the benefits offer by the firm’s product or service. It is a management tool that offers the
opportunity to visualize the firm’s entire bundle of benefits that its product offers to the customer.
Molecular model of the hospital is given below. The hospital basically provides treatment & health
care services. The tangible components of the hospital are different departments, equipment,
physicians, and other personnel. On the other hand, intangible components of the hospital are their
service environment, behavior, treatment methods, serving techniques etc.
List of tangible & intangible components
Tangible components Intangible components
The Emergency Department Atmosphere
The Maternity Ward Medical assistances
The Delivery Room Medical aid & guidance
The Recovery Room Billing methods
Private room Consultancy
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Information recording
The Growth Room
Caesarean section
The physician team
Nesting room
Nurses & other staffs

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Treatment
&
health care
The
Emergency
Department The
Maternity
Ward
The Delivery
Room
The
Recovery
Room
The
Neonatal
Intensive
Care Unit
Private
room
Caesarean
section
The Growth
Room
The
physician
team
Nesting
room
Nurses &
other staffs
Medical
assistances &
Consultancy Medical
aid &
guidance
Atmosphere
Billing methods &
information
recording
Figure: Molecular Model of the hospital
Circle indications
1. Distribution
2. Price
3. Market positioning
1. Tangible element
2. Intangible element

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2. Using the Servuction model as a point of reference, categorize the factors that influenced
this service encounter
One simple but powerful model which illustrates factors which influence the service experience is The
Servuction Model. The Servuction model is comprised of two parts: that which is visible and that which
is not. The visible part of the Servuction model consists of three parts: the inanimate environment
(Service Cape), the contact personnel/ service provider, and other customers. The invisible
component of the model consists of the invisible organization and systems.
Servicescape- It refers to the physical evidences that are used to design service environments. These
evidences help the customers to determine the quality of service they are receiving. From the case study
we have learned that the Hospital’s Service Cape is very impressive. Lots of physical evidence were used
to create a well-developed healthcare service environment. It consisted of emergency room, elevator, the
maternity ward, the delivery room, the recovery room, the neonatal intensive care unit, the grower room,
nesting room, advice from the doctors, the health care equipment
Contact personnel: These are employees other than primary providers that interact with consumer. The
case shows that a lot of contact personnel were actively working in the hospital to provide service to the
servuction
model
servicescape
contact
personnel/s
ervice
providers
other
customers
invisible
organization
and systems

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patients. Most of them were giving their best effort to satisfy the patients and their relatives. Contact
personnel of the hospitals were security guard, nurses, neonatal intensive care unit staffs, neonatologists,
social workers assigned to all premature baby cases, hospital insurance personnel, discharge nurse.
Other customers: Other customers refers to those people who also receive service alongside a
particular customer. These people impact profoundly on the individual’s service experience by either
enhancing or detracting the individual service experience. Other customers of the hospital include the
presence of patient’s husband.
Invisible organization and systems: The invisible organization and systems are the rules, regulations,
and processes through which the organization is administrated, therefore, the impact upon patients can
be very profound. The invisible organization and systems of the hospital include information form to be
completed by the patients, admission policy, doctors visiting hours and nurse service hours etc.
3. How do the concepts of inseparability, intangibility, and heterogeneity apply to this case?
Inseparability refers to the interaction and physical presence of the service provider and the
consumer throughout the service experience. That is it is a distinguishing characteristic of services
that reflects the interconnection among the service provider, the customer involved in receiving
the service, and other customers sharing the service experience. Inseparability of production and
consumption refers to the fact that whereas goods are first produced, then sold, and then consumed;
services are sold first and then produced and consumed simultaneously. As health care is a
service, so the patients first admit into the hospital, consuming the internal health care service as
it is produced.
Intangibility means that services have no substance and therefore cannot be touched or evaluated
like goods. That is it is a distinguishing characteristic of services that makes them unable to be
touched or sensed in the same manner as physical goods. Services are said to be intangible because
they are performances rather than objects. They cannot be touched or seen in the same manner as
goods. Rather, they are experienced, and consumers’ judgments about them tend to be more
subjective than objective. In this case, as they were taking services in the hospital, so it is
intangible.
The heterogeneity of services pertains to the variability that is inherent in the service delivery
process. That is it is a distinguishing characteristic of services that reflects the variation in the
consistency from one service transaction to the next. In this case, they were taking services in the
emergency department, maternity ward, the delivery room, the recovery room, the neonatal
intensive care unit, the grower room and thus the variation of consistency measured from one
services to another.

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4. Discuss corrective actions that need to be taken to ensure subsequent encounters run more
smoothly.
Health care is an intangible service that can be experienced with some tangible evidences.
It is a people processing service where the person needed to be present physically and this service
also helps to recover a patient mentally. The corrective actions that can be taken are given below:
Personal touch: An intimate behavior of the personnel can reduce anxiety very fast because
patients can feel their problems can be solved. One of the primary objectives of every hospital
should be to determine strategies which reduce the anxiety and increase the individuality
associated with the hospital experience. Greeting with a smile in the corridors or reception and
the pink ribbons that were placed in Emmy and Maddy's hair, the stickers and signs of
encouragement that were attached to the incubators, and the homemade patch quilts that were
given to the girls by the local sewing club humanized the tubes and the machinery gives the
message that the girls were special and loved exhibit personal touches, and decreases the anxiety
of parents. The quality of care should be consistent with this actions.
Hiring, Selection and Training personnel: Hiring, selection and giving training to the hired
personnel are the most crucial part of the service sector. As hospital is people processing business
the management should hire personnel who really enjoy to being around with others and who holds
higher interpersonal and technical skills. After the selection process personnel’s training session
should be held more authentically. Training should be given on the technical processes and their
own hospital management system. Because, if the nurses can’t answer patients or their families
queries it can increase their anxiety and decrease their faith in the hospital’s abilities.
Personnel changes: If patient is used to with one efficient nurse for several days then they get
intimated together. A sudden change in the personnel duty can increase the anxiety of the patient.
The quality of care may also fall. One possible solution to this problem is to have the existing
staff at least introduce the new shift worker to the patient. Particular areas of patient concern could
be addressed to all parties during introduction. This strategy can enhance the continuity of the
service and reduce patient anxiety.
Feedback from Patient: The hospital management and the employees should actively seek
feedback from patients throughout their experience. Studies show that most companies do not hear
from 96% of their unhappy customers. Within the hospital setting, customer complaints often
result in a face-to-face confrontation between the patient and the provider of the service. Patient
representatives need to actively seek patient feedback to provide a buffer between the patient and
the health care provider. With the help of patient's active involvement in the production of health
care services, service quality and customer satisfaction perceptions are made both during and after
the service experience. This evaluation process allows the health care provider to alter the patient's
experience while the patient is still within the health care facility.

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5. How would you measure customer satisfaction in this situation?
Service is completely different from product. It’s an intangible thing that is related with
our daily lives. There are many ways to identify the satisfaction that we expect to get from a
product. But it’s hard to find out the satisfaction that consumers expect from service. It is related
with mental satisfaction. In this case, it has been showed that how mental conditions of a customer
differs from situation to situation and so do the service expectation. Some of the ways to measure
customer satisfaction in that situation are given below.
Environment: In service consuming process environment plays a very important role. If consumer
doesn’t feel comfortable with the environment, he will make a negative impression from the very
first time about the service. He will make a perception that the other sections of the service will
also be unable to meet up his expectations.
Handling customer concern: In this case, it has been showed that all of the employees and the
doctors were not concerned about the customer’s mentality. Both the patient and her husband were
in need of mental strength then. But some of the members of the service process were not so helpful
that they need to be. Even one of the junior doctor lied about himself which is not expected from
the service providers at all because it create a negative impression about the whole service process.
Personal Attachment: Service is an untouchable thing. In the sector of medical care, it needs
more attention and caring because the behavior and personal attachment of the doctors and the
patient is mandatory. So it can be an important indicator of measuring customer satisfaction. In
this case, the husband of the patient was tensed before the arrival of the main doctor as they
maintained a good relation with the doctor, not his assistant.
Information: Information is a crucial part of any service process. In health care it is more
important because it is related with the health of the consumer. The hospital gained satisfaction in
this regard because everyone of the service process has provided much more information
throughout the whole service process. From the very first time they encouraged to ask questions
because they wanted to let the consumers know about their service process.
Assurance: Medical service is not like other services. It is much more than a service. It is told that
the doctors who has a good behavior and assured the consumer that he will help, it works like a
magic to them and in most of the cases, the consumers feel assured that the doctors will help and
they will get rid of their problems. In this case, the same situation occurred and the patient was
assured and dependent on the doctor. This also reflects the customer satisfaction.
Individuals are different from one another. The expectations of the consumers cannot be
determined in a service process, especially in a health care sector. But, still, there are some things
which measure the satisfaction level of the consumer or can be taken as some standard to fulfill
the customer satisfaction. The key determinants are some of the factors or areas that is useful. So,
in a service process, these standards must be maintained to make the service process more flexible
and successful.

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