Undergraduate Course: Service Management in an International Context (BUST10142)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Service Management will introduce students to the key concepts of the service-dominant logic of business on an international scale. Focusing on themes such as co-production, service leadership and service competition, the course will familiarise students with current academic theories, while frequent guest speakers will emphasise how these are applied in practice across the private, public and Third sector and across developed and emerging countries. With over 75% of employment in the service sector, the course is an essential asset for anyone planning a career in service industries, with relevance for consulting, retail, healthcare, hospitality, the arts, or financial services. The course also introduces the role of services in development, drawing from truly global case studies.
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| Course description |
This course will explore the nature of services management and the distinctive challenges that it poses both for managers in this sector and for management theory. The sector (comprising both private and public sector services) covers such industries as finance and banking, accounting, consultancy, the arts and the media, retail, utilities, health-care and public services, tourism and hospitality, and leisure. It now comprises around 75% of employment in the developed world and 35-50% (and increasing quickly) in the developing world. Additionally 'service' has also been a key element of the profit equation for manufacturing firms. This makes understanding the nature of the service sector and the distinctive nature of its challenges essential for newly qualified graduates if they are going to have a strong position in the employment market. Moreover, service management presents distinctive challenges that contest much traditional management theory and provide an exciting new perspective on it for students. In the contemporary world, an understanding of service management is vital for the well-rounded management graduate.
This course will enable students to understand the distinctive nature of services management and of value creation in service delivery, to consider the key challenges for service managers in the sector and the skills that they require to address them, and to explore a range of approaches to successful service management for service businesses. It will directly address the employability of our undergraduates in this vital sector of national and global economies and equip them with the knowledge to function as effective managers in these sectors. This will be achieved by a mix of lecture inputs, visiting speakers, case study and experiential exercises, and course assessment intended to focus the student on applying service management theories and techniques to the real world.
Topics to be covered will include the nature of the service sector and its role in national and global economies, the co-creation of value in service delivery, co-production and the role of the consumer in service delivery, designing effective services, strategic and marketing management in service businesses, the role of service staff in the service encounter, the impact of digital technology on service delivery, and evaluating quality and performance in service delivery.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Honours entry |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students must have at least 4 Business courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Online Activities 25,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
149 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Students will be organised in groups and continue to work in these teams. Each team will be assigned a real-time service challenge around a social issue. These issues will be as far as possible co-created with the students.
While students are expected to work together throughout their assigned projects (e.g. applying for ethics approval if required), they will be assessed individually through a journal and a final report. However, reflecting on their experience of working as a team will be part of the assessment (journal).
Online Journal 30% (three entries, 1,500 words total)
Report 70% (2,000 words total)
The proposed assessment would cover the course learning outcomes in the following way:
Journal
LO1 : By requiring students to reflect on how they can use the course concepts to organise their team and address the service management issue they have been provided.
LO2 : By reflecting on their own experience of working as a group, including self-, time- management.
LO4 : By requiring students to critically reflect on their overall experience of designing a service to address a real-time issue
Report
L01 : By requiring students to use concepts from the course to assess their assigned case.
LO2 : By asking students to provide practical management advice on how the real-time issue they have been assigned could be addressed by managerial staff.
LO3 : By requiring students to design their own form of service evaluation based on the course materials.
LO4 : By tying the student assignment to a particular real-time service issue
LO5 : By requiring students to compose a report that could be submitted to the observed organization. |
| Feedback |
1. Online Journal (formative and summative):
The Course Organiser will review the first two journal entries during the first part of the course (by week 6) and provide formative feedback.
Summative assessment will take place at the end of the course, taking into account all four submissions,
2. Report (summative)
While teams are expected to work and discuss the service management issue together, they will submit individual final reports.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically evaluate the key concepts and ideas of service management and a service-dominant logic and appreciate the role of the service sector in the economy and the implications of this for the service management task.
- Understand how the service process requires a distinct set of managerial skills be able to identify these and to situate them within the service process in the private and public sectors.
- Be able to critically evaluate different models and paradigms of service management and their implications for both theory and practice.
- Assess the options for delivering effective service quality as the basis for sound business performance by a service firm in the private or public sector.
- Speak confidently about service management issues and explain service management concepts to a lay audience.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research & Enquiry:
The course format, in particular the coursework assessment, enable you to create, identify and evaluate options in order to solve complex problems in a service management context. You will throughout be required to analyse facts and situations in service management contexts and apply creative thinking to develop the appropriate solutions, using the concepts and tools introduced throughout the course. The particular assessment format will also encourage you to analyse, synthesise, critically and methodically appraise thoughts to break down complex problems into manageable components.
Personal & Intellectual Autonomy:
You will receive ongoing assessment as well as peer feedback, helping you to become critically self-aware and self-reflective in order to fully maximise potential. You will also learn to develop personal resilience and learn from early assessments in order to develop your ideas in the final coursework assessment. With its practice-oriented focus and regular contact with practice speakers, you will appreciate the importance of the development of lifelong learning skills as part of continuing personal and professional development, in particular in a service industries context.
Addressing a real-time issue will demonstrate that you are able to think creatively and manage the creative process in oneself and in others.
Personal Effectiveness
Throughout the term, you will need to be organised and show the appropriate use of project and time management tools in order to manage your learning experience. With multiple assessments, staggered over the duration of the course, you will also demonstrate that you have an ability to plan and effectively use resources to achieve goals.
Communication skills
You will develop oral communication skills, share complex ideas and arguments using a range of media during lectures and tutorials, and on the reflective journals. Regular group work in lectures will enhance verbal communication, including listening and questioning.
The format of the summative assessment will enable you to develop your presentation skills as well as written communication skills using a range of media (coursework writing, online journals).
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| Keywords | Service management,value creation co-production,Service management,value creation co-production |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Maria Cucciniello
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Anne Cunningham
Tel: (0131 6)50 3827
Email: |
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