Question

1) Why do customers have to wait in line even when the service system is not overloaded?

2) Discuss any two tools that managers use to influence the perceptions and expectations of waiting customers.

Answer 1

1 There are various situations where the customers have to wait in line even when the system is not overloaded. If I take an example of a bank then the systems work for some set specific time. So when the system does not work for example lunch hour then the customers have to wait in the queue.

The condition when material availability is not there and it takes time to procure the material or making the material ready for customers. For example when you go to the restaurant and order some food then it takes some time to get the food ready. In this case, the customer has to wait for the order.

Sometimes there are server issues for which this service is unable to service the customer. If I take an example of an elevator that elevator is itself a server and there are different floor to go. So it takes time for the server to arrive at a designated floor and hence queue occurs.

2 The first tool which the managers use to influence the perception of the customers is to make them busy or keep them engaged while waiting in the queue. For instance when you go to the hospital, service, etc then you find magazines, newspapers at the waiting lounge for the relatives or the patients. so when the customer/ relatives are waiting in the queue for consulting the doctor when they are engaged and occupied in reading the newspaper or magazine. By this way the managers keep the customers occupied. When the customers are engaged and occupied then there is the least probability that they will leave the queue. The second tool used by the managers is informing the customers about expected waiting time. When the customers know that what exactly waiting time is then and they perceive the waiting time lower than what actually is. They form a perception that they are waiting for a lesser than expected time. So they do not leave the queue