Customers As Productive Resources:
Service customers have been referred to as “partial employees” of the organization human resources who contribute to the organization’s productive capacity. if customers contribute effort, time or other resources to the services production process, they should be considered as part of the organization.
Customer’s inputs can affect the organization’s productivity through both the quality of what they contribute and the resulting quality and quantity of output generated.
E.G. research suggest that in an IT consulting context , clients who clearly articulate the solution they desire, provide needed information in a timely manner communicate openly, gain the commitment of key internal stake holders, and raise issues during the process before it is too late will get better service. In turn the consulting firm will spend less time redoing the service or waiting for information, allowing it to be more productive overall. The contributions of the client thus enhance the overall productivity of the firm in both quality & quantity of service.
Customer participation in service production raises a number of issues for organization because customer can influence both the quality and quantity of production because customers can influence both the quality and quantity of production; some experts believe the delivery system should be isolated as much as possible from customer inputs in order to reduce the uncertainty they can bring into the production process. This view sees customers as a major source of uncontrollability of their attitude and actions. The conclusion is that any service activities that do not require customer contact or involvement should be performed away from customers. The less direct contact there is between the customers and the service production system, the greater the potential; f or the system to operate at peak efficiency.
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