Overview
With increasing demands for quality service in the service industry, and the fact that service standards have mostly been casted in an American ideal, there is a demand in addressing the issue of cultural diversity (Gleason, 2004). In service industry, you meet people from many different countries. One of the means for gaining that edge is firms meeting service quality expectations. Cultural diversity can either be an asset or a hinderance toward that goal.
As current or future service providers, it is important to be proactive in understanding the culture you are serving in order to meet service expectations of diverse customers.
1. After reading the assigned article (Please see attached --- ONLY read Pages through 1 to 3 right before the “Research Hypotheses” section)
Donthu, N., & Yoo, B. (1998). Cultural influences on service quality expectations. Journal of Service Research, 1(2), 178-186
donthu-yoo-1998-cultural-influences-on-service-quality-expectations-1.pdfDownload donthu-yoo-1998-cultural-influences-on-service-quality-expectations-1.pdf
2. Think of a scenario where you have encountered or experienced a cultural difference when providing / receiving service. What was the cultural difference? What was the experience like? Depending on how you perceived the service, was there anything you learned from the experience that you wanted to take away or is there anything you might have done differently?
Writing assignment: Identify a female leader in your field that you admire. This can be a current leader, historical figure. It can be someone you know or someone you would like to know! Write a 3-5 page paper that answers the following questions:
- What leader did you chose?
- Why did you chose this leader?
- What qualities do they exhibit that you admire?
- If you don’t know this person/leader what would you like to ask them
- What challenges do you think they encountered and how did they move forward from them?
- Discussion: [Culture and Service]: Understanding culture is crucial in providing services that are respectful, inclusive and effective. Please share with the class either your personal experience or a scenario of how a lack of cultural awareness can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts between service providers and customers.