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A Study of the Experiential Service Design Process at a Luxury Hotel

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A Study of the Experiential Service Design Process at a Luxury Hotel A study of the experiential service design process at a luxury hotel. By Natalie Weathers Nixon A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Westminster Harrow Business School London, UK December 2010 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the process of designing experiential services at a luxury hotel. These processes were surfaced by means of a methodology that used the principles of jazz improvisation. Due to similarities between experiential service design and elements in jazz improvisation, representing experiential service design through the jazz improvisation metaphor leads to a new framework for exploring the process of experiential service design that is iterative in nature. A gap in the service design literature is that experiential service design is not operationalized in organizational improvisation, and one contribution from this study will be to fill that gap. This study contributes to the field of knowledge by exposing a new perspective on how experiential services can be better designed by adapting some of the design tools from this luxury hotel; a second contribution is a recommendation for how the improvisational lens works as an investigative tool to research experiential organizations. In the process, some new dimensions to understanding complexity are contributed. The research process utilized qualitative research methods. Frank Barrett (1998) identified seven characteristics of jazz improvisation which I have used as a heuristic device: 1) provocative competence (i.e., deliberately creating disruption); 2) embracing errors as learning sources; 3) minimal structures that allow for maximum flexibility; 4) distributed task (i.e., an ongoing give and take); 5) reliance on retrospective sensemaking (organizational members as bricoleurs, making use of whatever is at hand); 6) hanging out (connecting through communities of practice); and 7) alternating between soloing and supporting. This research is grounded in the body of literature regarding complexity, organizational improvisation, service design and experience design. The role of heterogeneous minimal structures that are fluid and optimize uncertainty is central to this investigation. Themes such as sensemaking and the role of story, meaning- making, organizational actors‟ use of tangible and intangible design skills, and embracing ambiguity in efforts to design experiential services are explored throughout the dissertation. The anticipatory nature of experiential service design ii is a principle outcome from the data that is incorporated into the new conceptual framework highlighting a “posture of service”. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to the professionals in the service and design organizations who took the time to speak with me, thoughtfully consider my questions, and leave me asking even more. Philadelphia University has been instrumental in supporting me to complete this doctoral dissertation: Thank you. For the intellectual growth afforded to me by my advisors Professor Alison Rieple, Ph.D. and Professor Richard Harding, Ph.D. - many thanks! Alison, my primary advisor, always motivated me to consider new issues, held me to high academic standards, and reviewed many drafts; Richard always prompted me to consider creative perspectives of my research. To my parents, Carole and Fred and my sister, Mercedes, for setting me off on this journey and granting me the huge gift of consistent and loving encouragement. To John, my husband, who came in mid-way on this journey - for his loving support, patience and confidence in me when my own faltered. To my step-daughter Sydney, who when necessary, sweetly let me be to do the work that needed to get done; here‟s to more free time! My mind and spirit have been nourished by this process - sometimes surprisingly so! I must acknowledge my faith in God, who has brought me to and through this very enlightening phase of my life. iv NOTE TO THE READER This thesis is solely the work of Natalie Rebecca Weathers Nixon. The name of the participating company has been disguised in this thesis. v PREFACE I have memories of being four years old, relaxing on my father‟s lap at the end of a summer day after a good supper and a bath, listening to jazz music. My dad would be content, tapping one of his trim fingers on the arm of the chair to the tempo of Art Blakey‟s drum, or Miles Davis‟ trumpet or Charlie Mingus‟ bass. I would be amazed at the way he knew the subtle differences in playing style between musicians from one recording to the next. As I grew older I began to appreciate the soothing smoothness of jazz‟s sonorous sounds as well as the more complicated and intricate dance emitted from feistier bands. It seemed to me that the jazz musicians were his old buddies; that they had all grown up together, proud in their unflappable style, neat suits and hats positioned just-so on their heads. The music was iconic, an art form that was simultaneously ephemeral, soulful and very much grounded in the political realities of the day. For my dad, jazz music was proof of the beauty and complexity that our African-American culture had contributed to the world. So it is a little awe-inspiring to me that some thirty years later, an element of my ethnic heritage, jazz improvisation, informs the theory that I use in my doctoral research. The jazz I listened to as a child has traversed a network of meaning and contexts to illuminate the way I can understand the dynamic of designing experience. In those moments with my dad, he was taking me along a path of experiencing meaning, exposing me to a meaning-making process that I continue to enjoy and to deconstruct. It is a path that I now explore in new terms when it comes to understanding the design of experiential services. Experience is crucial to constructing an understanding about the world and about meaning-making. Throughout this study I have been involved in a continuous process of evaluating and monitoring my present actions, shaping and transforming unanticipated ideas that come to me. The jazz improvisation that my dad exposed to me is present in my life again in a new iteration. vi CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................................... iv Note to the Reader......................................................................................................................................... v Preface ............................................................................................................................................................ vi List of Diagrams ............................................................................................................................................ ix List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................................ x Chapter 1 - Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction to Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Research Origins .................................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2 - Literature Review ..................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction to Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Endowing Services with Meaning ....................................................................................................................... 11 The Design of Experiential Services .................................................................................................................. 17 Service Design ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 Experience Design................................................................................................................................................ 27 Organizational Improvisation ............................................................................................................................... 33 The Jazz Metaphor Applied to Organizational Improvisation ......................................................................... 46 Limitations to the Improvisational Lens ............................................................................................................. 48 Chapter 3 - Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 52 Introduction to Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 52 Data Collection Method ........................................................................................................................................ 54 The Improvisational Lens as Methodology ......................................................................................................
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