Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Robust Services: People or Processes?

Weiss, Elliott N.,...

Technical Note

Robust Services: People or Processes?

Weiss, Elliott N.; Goldberg, Rebecca

OM-1607 | Published November 13, 2018 | 9 pages Technical Note

Collection: Darden School of Business

Product Details

Service systems are inherently subject to variability, whether through customers, service providers, suppliers, or unexpected events. Yet customers demand excellence and consistency regardless of this variability. In general, there are two ways to handle this variability?through people or through processes. We use the concept of robustness to describe these two approaches, addressing when one or the other might be appropriate and discussing how and why one might transition from one approach to the other.