Walk through Audit (WtA) Project -Flight Center- Project Report

Walk through Audit (WtA) Project -Flight Center- Project Report
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1, Prepare a process diagram of the main operational process of the firm
 The customers’ first make and wait for the reservations, which partly influences their perceptions about the whole process relying on the services of   the company. Commitment to offer comprehensive customer service then requires that the company consider the customers’ needs and expectations. It is beneficial for the customers to get all the relevant information on the process before, during and after using the service. Emphasis on understanding the customers’ perspectives reflects the company’s ability to meet the customer needs and expectations. The ideal expectations show that the customers are satisfied when meeting the needs and expectations is excellent in all aspects.
 Choosing to us an agent lengthens the process and the customers who chose the option may wait longer if there are no agents available.  Regardless of whether to make the reservation of use agent quick and timely response in providing customer services is seen as meeting the customers’ expectations as expected. The customers may need to provide some of the information in advance, and there are those who do not know this and they may have a negative perception of the process.  The quality of service is reflected in the different dimensions of service quality that measure the perceived quality including the effectiveness of using agents. Willingness of the staff to provide quick help and service to the customers reflects responsiveness, and after getting what they need at the customer service desk.  The customers then focus on booking flights, flight details, confirming the booking, preparing for ticketing and making payments.  The dimension of credibility in customer service quality is apparent when there is honesty and truthfulness in the service offered. After evaluating the service and customer experience, the different steps influence customer perception since both direct and indirect experience reflect what the customers perceive.  A package that combines affordable price and quality service is associated with meeting the customer expectations when considering their perceptions. 
2, prepare a first draft of the audit questionnaire/ design considerations
The questionnaire is designed to assess the quality of services where there is a scale of measurement of the perceived quality in the services provided. Subsequently, there are questions on ticketing, information, facilities, professional ability, pricing and satisfaction. The same audit questionnaire is administered to the customer and the manager, and there are differences in perceptions on service delivery. This also differs with the employees’ viewpoints as they interact directly with the customers and are responsible for service provision. The customers rate their experiences, which provide clues on their perceptions and experience of customer service.  The same questions are asked to the customers, manger and employees, and this helps to compare the difference in perceptions and to improve customer service delivery.  To understand customer perceptions there was emphasis on determining that the firm provides good service at all times, focusing on different dimensions to understand this. Additionally, there is focus on perceptions of promise and delivery on commitments, and this is also reflected in the ability of the firm to solve the problems that the customers raise. The questionnaire is inclusive as there is focus on total quality and for each element of customer service there are different questions.  The customer service agents are important to the success of customer service provision, and customers gave different responses on whether the options available are adequate and there is a need to improve service delivery and in which specific areas. 
The different services reflect offering services of total quality and the provision of additional services to facilitate consumer purchases is also considered in the customer survey.  Good communication of the firm’s activities and ability to meet the customer needs is also a priority to show that the customers are getting value for money.  It is important to determine whether the customers get the right information and when they need it as many make decisions based on the information. When there is a positive perception that the information is adequate then it is more likely that the customers will report that customer services are good. The questionnaire is administered through online mail where different customer segments answer questions. Administering the survey in person is not feasible at the moment unlike the e-mail survey approach, where 20 employees and 1 manager were contacted.  The employees and the manager are requested to indicate their perceptions of customer service experience  and provision for each of the each items based on the five-point Likert scale of 1-5, with 1 rating representing “strongly disagree” followed by disagree, not sure, agree and “strongly agree” for a rating of 5.   The average of the responses for the 20 employees is used in the charts and may include decimal points since there are differences in rating. On the other hand, the manager rates from 1 to 5, and the responses are reflected as whole numbers. In The customers and manager strongly agreed that it takes a long time to get a flight ticketan average rating of 3.1 and 2 respectively.  
3, Conduct audit
 Professional ability, Pricing & Satisfaction
 The first chart is on information and facilities, while the second chart is on professional ability, pricing & satisfaction. The Waiting for the service time is very long was rated as 3 (not sure) by customers and 2 (disagree) by the manager. When focusing on the ticketing and Information categories there are differences in the response of the customers and the management.  Poorly communicated expectations by the company and  the lack of adequate follow-up is a concern for  Flight Center since they need to provide services that meet the customer expectations. For the second chart, focusing on the “Professional ability, Pricing and Satisfaction”, the lowest rated item among the customers was 3.5 for “Flight Center has any special offers” under the pricing dimension. On the hand, the highest rated question was 4.5 for “the agent responded promptly and profess...