Abstract
THE CASE SCENARIO
This section presents a brief of the case to highlight and analyse the particular happenings of the case. The case illustrates the experience of Ridhima in the re-issuance of the passport for her eight-year-old minor daughter, Anukriti. Passports in India are issued by the Consular, Passport and Visa, Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India. Since 2010, the MEA, Government of India, has launched the Passport Seva Project with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to improve passport service delivery to Indian citizens. Under this project, there are passport offices and passport seva kendras (PSKs) as extended arms of passport offices to facilitate passport issuance. The case details the steps at a PSK for the passport application process, including online application followed by interactions at pre-processing zone, then Zone A, Zone B and Zone C. Zone B and Zone C are managed by passport authority personnel and not by TCS employees.
Ridhima first visited the PSK with her husband and daughter for an appointment at 11.30 am. It was a school holiday for her daughter while Ridhima took the day off, and her husband took a half-day off from his office. During the first visit, paper verification started. At the first counter, the pre-processing zone, the papers required to re-issue the daughter’s passport were checked, which included post-paid mobile bills of both parents to indicate current address proof. They were asked to move ahead to Zone A. Till this time the process appeared smooth. When they moved from Zone A to Zone B, there was a long waiting time. Though there were 11 counters, of which only a few were operational.
After two and a half hours of waiting, the application was placed on hold. Ridhima was asked to re-visit after a week. The executive indicated that address proof is not original because post-paid bills downloaded from the website were not considered authentic. Ridhima argued in vain that the website does not mention the requirement to have a store stamp on the e-copy of the bills. While leaving the PSK at 2.50 pm, she received an SMS regarding her next appointment after five days at 9.15 am. The new date was Monday, which was a working day at the office, and school was functioning. She inquired whether her daughter’s presence was needed for the next visit. She was informed that her daughter needed to be present during the next visit. Ridhima had an unpleasant experience with many questions in her mind. She was feeling bad about why it was not stated before that post-paid mobile bills had to be stamped or why the application was processed at pre-processing zone? The process was smooth in the zones handled by TCS. Still, there is an information gap between TCS employees and passport authority executives regarding assessing the originality of the e-copy of mobile bills.
Later in the evening, Ridhima met her neighbour’s father, Mr Sharma, a 78-year-old retired government employee. Ridhima told him about her visit to PSK. Mr Sharma shared his experience of getting a passport for himself and his wife under the senior citizen category. He was delighted with the experience because everything was done quickly and hassle free with nearly no waiting time. He appreciated the polite, courteous and helpful behaviour of employees at PSK. Ridhima was not able to compare her experience with the narration by Mr Sharma. During this conversation with Mr Sharma, she realized that it is possible for a date change if the given date is not convenient, which she was not aware of it. She was aware that there was a difference in the service category. Ridhima had applied passport for her daughter under the normal category, but Mr Sharma had applied under the senior citizen category.
On the next visit to PSK, Ridhima carried store-stamped mobile bills. She was quickly moved through the initial steps till Zone B but needed to wait at Zone C. She was asked to show the parents’ passport at the Zone C counter, but the application was processed in affirmative before she could show the passports. She was surprised and unable to understand why the passports were sought for, if they were not looked at? However, the passport was granted to her daughter, and she made it to her office after leaving her daughter at the school.
Two days later, her friend Kaushal Kishore from another city called her up to understand the passport process since he was going to apply for his three-year-old daughter. Subsequently, he applied for the passport in the Tatkaal category. He also had a very smooth experience getting a passport for her daughter. Ridhima was again surprised because her experience was not a smooth one. She came to know from Kaushal that they do not let people wait with minor children. It is to be considered that the case describes a kind of assertive nature of Kaushal regarding his requirements around PSK.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Three Offer Types under the Same Service
The case shares a bad service experience vis-à-vis two good service experiences for the same passport issuance services. All three incidences represent three different scenarios: normal passport category (Ridhima’s daughter), senior citizen category (Mr Sharma) and Tatkaal category (Kaushal’s daughter). Tatkaal service is for those who need a passport quickly, and though not mentioned in the case, there is a higher fee for tatkaal service like in railway tatkaal tickets. However, the application process is the same. Kaushal received his daughter’s passport in less time than Ridhima’s daughter only because of the Tatkaal category application.
Target Segment
There are broadly two customer segments according to the case scenario. One: parents with minor children (both case of Ridhima and Kaushal) and second: senior citizen (Mr. Sharma). There is a consideration for both segments in general across several service industries. For example, in airlines, senior citizens and mothers with small kids are given preference to board the aeroplane. In the present case, Ridhima did not get the required preference even though her daughter was with her and was restless due to the late processing of documents.
Process Awareness
The case does not indicate that Kaushal was aware of a preference given to the candidates with minor kids. However, he was informed at the PSK about this. In the case of Ridhima, no one took care of her little daughter. Additionally, she was not told about the un-stamped e-bills of the mobiles at the first counter of the pre-processing zone. If that had been known, as mentioned in the case, Ridhima would have stamped the bills the same day and re-joined the process to complete it in one day without the second visit.
Expectations and Experience
Ridhima and her husband expected that they would be free quickly. In both visits, the process did not meet Ridhima’s expectations. She always had experiences that led her to question that why this happened? In the case of Mr Sharma, the process was smooth and pleasant, so there were no questions. In the case of Kaushal, he came to know about the process from Ridhima. However, his approach appears to be a bit aggressive, that is, questioning why things are not right for me? For example, why will I stand in the heat with my daughter? After finishing the process, he went to the security guard to ask why he was asked to wait outside when accompanying minor children were taken care of?
SERVICE IMPROVEMENT IMPLICATIONS
Concerning the case scenario and situation analysis, the following can be considered for effective and pleasant service delivery:
Nature of Services
Services usually are challenging to deliver consistently across customers and time of the day. Consistent service delivery is always a concern for any service organization. This phenomenon is due to the heterogeneous nature of the services. The customers may have a different experience for the same service at two different times for many reasons. However, with enhanced awareness, knowledge and technology, there are some tools and techniques to overcome the same service delivery issues to an extent but not for all situations. In the present case, the main element of heterogeneity is the interaction with employees/ officers at PSK at various counters. Ridhima did not face any issue of misbehaviour. The other two experiences in the case have praised the employee behaviour.
On the other hand, lack of employees’ knowledge resulted in heterogeneous experience for Ridhima. It can be either employee’s ignorance or insensitivity rather than lack of knowledge. In the case of services, employees need to be trained with the empathy dimension while interacting with customers. Like Kaushal’s scenario, consideration of minor child with Ridhima should have been provided.
Employees’ Knowledge and Information Sharing
In services, people are a vital part of service delivery. Employees’ knowledge plays a very critical role in the success of a service organization. It is more apparent for professional services (such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, car mechanics). In the case of PSK services, the right communication is one of the critical areas for effective service delivery and a pleasant service experience. Service delivery experience failed with Ridhima due to lack of employees’ knowledge and communication by employees:
The website did not clearly state that an e-document needs to be stamped by the service provider. She was not told that parents with minor children are not required to wait for long, and their application processing is done faster. It was also not mentioned on the website.
Kaushal received a good service delivery experience because he was told that PSK does not let people wait with minor kids, plus his application was under the Tatkaal category. This incident indicates that employees must have training about sharing information with customers. Also, all data needs to be documented for the ready reference of the customers and employees.
Time to Deliver the Service
Among the seven Ps of service marketing, ‘process’ is one of the Ps. A PSK has a well-defined five-step process. As part of the process, there is also a need to share a possible time duration for service delivery. They also need to identify the time required at each stage, bringing consistency in providing services, which will result in pleasing service experiences irrespective of the type of service offered to any target segment. Identifying how much time a process cycle will take not only brings good experience to the customer but will improve internal ways to perform the services. The analysis of time duration will make a system or process more efficient and error free.
In a nutshell, considering the heterogeneous nature of services, it is imperative to bring transparency for information to customers so they can receive services and benefits without any hassle. Information sharing can be through the employees and definitely by providing details on the company website. The customers first access the website to fill out an application and find what they have to do and will receive. Availability of required information will help in setting the right expectation. A well-informed activity performance results in satisfactory and pleasant experiences. The employees need to be trained to show empathy as per the already established guidelines for service delivery. It is significant to have a consistent satisfactory experience of receiving services by a customer irrespective of the kind of service availed by a customer.