Although this article provides an overview of the role of HRD interventions in
service firms, other organizational functions, such as operations management, information
technology, and marketing, can also contribute to quality in service firms.
Information technology can provide service employees with immediate access to
information about customers that can enable them to provide more responsive service
(Walczuch, Lemmink, & Streukens, 2007). Information technology service systems
can also be used to automate the service delivery (Hamilton & Selen, 2004). Automation
can empower customers to serve themselves, thereby substituting service employees
with technology. It is likely, however, that different national cultures will react differently
to technology-based service systems that automate the service delivery. For
example, in general, collectivist cultures would prefer to maintain the human dimension
of the service encounter than to use an automated service system that may provide
more rapid service. While the organizational functions described above can benefit
from the conceptual model presented in this article, the model can be especially useful
to HRD professionals. Implications for HRD are discussed below