The figure above illustrates well the problem
that service designers face. They are a new occupation and seek a role in
designing how organizations interact with their customers or clientele, both
for firms and public organizations. Such interactions have either been ignored
before, or done by other occupations – for example, as part of consulting
contracts. Given how important service is in the modern economy, it seems
reasonable to design services – just think back to the last time (earlier
today?) that bad service annoyed you or created a problem. Probably the first
thing that comes to your mind is a minor annoyance, but keep in mind that
hospitals and airlines are also service providers, and both of them need to avoid
mistakes. Service design is useful, but new occupations always have to
establish themselves as distinct and necessary. How is that done?
A forthcoming paper by Anne-Laure Fayard, Ileana Stigliani, and Beth Bechky in Administrative Science Quarterly explains how the service designers found their place.
They focus on the tools they used to gain a mandate as an occupation that has a
distinct role in the organization, with clear authority over some tasks.
Clearly the methods they developed – like the figure above – was an important
part, because any methodology not held by another occupation creates
distinctiveness. The closest competitors were management consultants and
product designers, and none of them used such scripting tools. Service
designers also developed other tools for interacting with customers and
understanding their needs well.
Tools were not the most important part of their
mandate, however, as they saw it. Instead, they emphasized the special ethos of
service designers. They had values of holistic views of customers
interactions, empathy with the customer, and co-creation of services with customers
and client firms. This ethos was more important than the tools, because the
tools were just ways of putting this ethos into practice. This is an important
claim because it means that one cannot become a service designer simply by
copying the tools (as consultants might try), because the tools don’t work the
right way when used by someone lacking the service designer ethos. Other people
than service designers might believe that they can do the same work, but it
would be difficult for them to provide service design legitimately without a
clear service designer background and signs of this ethos in how they work.
The paper provides more detail, and tells an
interesting story of how an occupation created itself out of nothing and made
what looks like a clear mandate and a well-defended position for itself.
Service design is here to stay. So, next time you experience service problems,
you can ask yourself if service design has not been done, or whether it has
been done poorly.
