As the focus of service quality is to establish consistency due to the variability in
the human element, the “internal development of the personnel,” or employee development,
is one of the key characteristics of service management (Gr๖nroos, 1994, p. 7).
In summarizing the OECD report on Promoting Innovation in Services, Bitner and
Brown (2006) additionally argue that HRD is especially important for innovations in
service firms because service innovations depend on highly skilled and educated
employees. Innovations in services can further increase service quality and the overall
effectiveness in the service delivery.