TERM -Paper- Ali Chauhan-fall-2014-SSM

Ali Chauhan Roll Number : 13005051020 6 November2022

Service Culture in Higher Education Institute

Purpose: Educational institutions are esteemed entities regardedas cathedrals of learning and knowledge creation. This paper isan attempt to explore existing systems and suggest new designs,with practical suggestions for introducing a service culture in aHigher Education Institution (HEI). It is clearly stated thatService Dominant Logic (SDL) and Service Science (SS) provide theoverall cover for the whole process. The culture constitutes ofmany elements and factors, for the purpose of this paper we willfocus on creative service culture for satisfying customers(students and industry) of a higher educational institute androle of human resource management in cocreating a serviceexperience. It is important for an institute that its employeesdevelop a service culture and how HRM policies/guidance helps increating a service culture within an HEI cocreating a serviceexperience. The service system interactions between students,professors, and university are critical for value co-creation asa central concept generally applicable to service scienceconcepts. We attempt to look at students as part of the humanresource of a university. We cannot look upon our customer in aservice culture environment as an external entity. Management ofuniversity must work to establish practices that enhance theconcept of students (customers) as part of the human resource ofan HEI – meaning although they are not on the payroll, but theydo bank roll the payroll...Emphasis is on the interaction amongthe students, customer contact employees (professors, registrar,admissions, examination etc) and the management of university(policy makers) in an HEI. We identify the resources that need tobe integrated to co-create value for all the actors involved. Forthis paper a local university’s existing practices are discussed,analyzed as an example. Many universities in region are stillconsidering students as customers and we try to establish that adynamic change in the perspective must happen for universities toprovide an environment for value co-creation in the 21st centuryand provide a service experiences. A suggestion to launch a modelprogram is proposed as an example in the end that can be astarting point for any HEI to embark on a journey towards

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creating new service culture allows for sharing and exchange ofmemorable experiences with its customers. S-D Logic concepts andfundamental premises are utilized to show how SDL can be of useand create opportunities for students, professors and universitymanagement to co-create value by enhancing methods of evaluationand teaching methodology and prepare for the future.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a review ofthe latest developments in Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, serviceexperiences concept and service culture concept (Service systems,value co-creation concept are the basis for any exchange withinthe service science management domain). It is a conceptual paper,which highlights the importance of service culture creation andareas for cocreating a service cultural environment in a highereducation institute (HEI)

Research limitation/implications: As this is a conceptual paper,it’s mostly based on literature review and readings. A propersurvey of the university students, professors, employees andculture will further enable us to determine which factors areprominent and whether the conclusions drawn in this paper areapplicable.

Practical implications: Students must be made part of the valuecreation, service culture creation and service experiences. HR ofuniversities must incorporate in a university domain students asservice systems that co-create the value of education, designpractices that allow us to manage customers (students) asresources because they too are very much involved in the serviceexperience provided by the university. Professors and studentsalong with university and corporate sector can create realenvironment for value co-creation between the customer andservice proposer.

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Keywords: Service culture, service experiences, service science,value co-creation, service systems, S-D Logic, service culturalenvironment, global perspective

Paper type: Conceptual Paper

1. Introduction

“Change is the only constant in life (Heraclitus, NA). We learnthrough a series of different systematic and random acts over aperiod of time and moments. The culture we live in affects theway we behave and interact with people and in situations. Diversesituations help us learn through interaction and observation. Ourexperience is the fundamental source of reference in our life.This purely humanistic trait is essential when we explore ourdealings/service exchanges with customers of our serviceorganization in a service economy.

It is easier to understand if we look upon the inter-dependencyof entities (humans, firms, organizations, governments, etc.) forour survival in this universe. No single entity is able tosurvive on its own and neither can it grow in isolation. The newway of normal is to compete and coexist through collaborativemethods with resources- people- from around the world. (Chauhan,2015). Human element is the most crucial element in this world,without it nothing will have meaning or function as planned.Likewise in the business environment it is essential for allinvolved entities not to lose sight of the human element withinthe organization and understand the way it affects almost everyaspects of our business environment.

This complex concept of organizations developing through learningand experiencing is made easier and possible throughtechnological advancements. The world is virtually in the palm ofour hand due to the technological leaps of networking andcomputer science. Ability to influence and interact enables us to

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alter the working dynamics of interactions and experiences. Justthe scope of this statement is huge, let alone to be absorbed inthought. Complexity of operational correlations in the businessand non-business environment, are extremely intricate. (Chauhan,2015). Therefore it is essential to relook at the managementconcepts in the service science lens. This new perspective allowsus to go look at all activities within an organization in a newmanner.

Marketing has caught on to the SDL logic and we see aconsiderable progress in the service science areas. However, themanagement scholars are yet to take a serious interest in thefield of SDL and service science concepts from managementperspective (Ford & Bowen 2008). We find in literature thatcompanies are investing in the marketing side of service s andservice dominant logic is the theory behind this enhancement.However, very few show sign of really working on serviceexperience and service culture, angle to the same picture.

The interacting entities, (individuals, firms, organization,governments etc.), tend to give and take service to/from eachother in everyday life. All customers demand thatproviders/proposers meet the needs, aspirations and wants throughproviding solutions to fulfill demands. The service which each ofthese interrelated entities provide is a way to fulfill customerrequirements, and enhance their exchange experience. Theseinteractions also affect the overall culture of an organizationand its dealing with outside entities, along with internalentities. Service Culture is a concept that basically pointstowards the reality that, any organization is made of humans andit acts as a social entity when conducting transaction,internally – with employees or externally with other companies orcustomers. Service science is a concept that allows for us tomanage our resources in a more efficient an effective manner,without treating them as commodities or lifeless people.

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How can we create a service culture in HEI and make a proposalfor a service experience for the stakeholders? This is the mainquestion that we try to explore in this conceptual paper. It is apreliminary work in this area for Pakistan and also for anyinstitution. An institution, University of Management andTechnology is used as an example and for the purpose of creatingsome baseline deductions. The domain of the research is SDL andService Science, with an emphasis on organizational behavior areaof culture and human resource processes. The education system ofour schools and universities is undergoing tremendous change forthe past decade. The impact of information technology andinternet has created immense pressure on the educationalinstitutions to create new courses and update their curriculum inaccordance with the technological advancements of the past twodecades in the world.

It is essential here to mention that Service Science is a newconcept and field that is not yet known in the region we havechosen. It is easy to confuse the services (plural) with service(singular) concept whenever we are trying to analyze existingsystems in any organization. Our main focus is to explore thepossibility of creating a culture that nurtures the concept ofintangible service experiences for all systems interacting witheach other in a service organization – in this case a HEI. Tofurther narrow it down an attempt is being made to create aprogram for a master’s degree that uses the concept of servicescience as its foundational paradigm and launches a completeprogram that will create service culture in a business school andprovide the service experiences to all its stakeholders. Tocreate a program that will allow for true value co-creation forthe university, faculty, students, university services andindustry interacting as service systems identified in theacademic domain. Emphasis is on an organizational culture thatnurtures the concept of inspiration and motivation to customersand employees alike.

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2. Concepts and Literature

Concepts

Service is a term described in numerous ways; often to refer tothe value of actions, experience or assumptions rather than thevalue of physical things we utilize (Spohrer & Kwan, 2008).Service Dominant Logic (SDL) introduced by Vargo and Luschdefines service as the application of competencies (knowledge,expertise, resources relationships) for the benefit of anotherentity (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Although they developed this SDLfor the marketing perspective, however it is emerging as newparadigmatic approach to look at all types of economic exchangesthat occur around us. Researchers changing focus from operandresources to operant resources. This approach is grounded on theResource advantage theory and consistent with the core competencytheory (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Service Dominant Logic (SDL)focuses on value co-creation among entities through exchange(Maglio et al, 2009).

Service is a term described in numerous ways; often to refer tothe value of actions, experience or assumptions rather than thevalue of physical things we utilize (Spohrer & Kwan, 2008).Service Dominant Logic (SDL) introduced by Vargo and Luschdefines service as the application of competencies (knowledge,expertise, resources relationships) for the benefit of anotherentity (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Service can be defined as theapplication of competences for the benefit of another (Lusch &Vargo, 2006), meaning it is an action, a show of performance, ora promise that is exchanged for value. Service performances aredone in close contact with a client, and the more knowledgeintensive and customized the service, the more the serviceprocess depends critically on client participation and input,whether through clients providing labor, property, or information(Sampson & Froehle, 2006).Although they developed this SDL forthe marketing perspective, however it is emerging as new

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paradigmatic approach to look at all types of economic exchangesthat occur around us. Researchers changing focus from operandresources to operant resources. This approach is grounded on theResource advantage theory and consistent with the core competencytheory (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Service Dominant Logic (SDL)focuses on value co-creation among entities through exchange(Maglio et al, 2009).

Service science represents (SSMED – Service Science SystemsManagement Engineering and Design) – is defined as theapplication of scientific, management, and engineeringdisciplines to tasks that one organization beneficially performsfor and with another (i.e., “service”). (Spohrer et al , 2007).It combines’ organizational culture, and human understanding withbusiness and technological understanding to define and identifyservice systems (Maglio et al, 2008). The idea is to create ascientific understanding and develop further in roads tounderstand service systems. Service science is an emergingdiscipline concerned with evolution, interactions, reciprocalreaction of value generation among service systems – which arecomplex dynamic configuration of resources – people, technology,knowledge and processes – the objective that actors are capableof providing benefit to other entities and themselves (Maglio etal, 2008).

“Service systems are value-co-creation configurations of people,technology, value propositions connecting internal and externalservice systems, and shared information (e.g., language, laws,measures, and methods)” (Maglio & Spohrer, 2008). It is thebelief of the authors of SDL that it provides the rightperspective and vocabulary on which to build a theory of servicesystems. We can look at SDL as the philosophical foundation/domain for the concept of service science and the servicesystems can be looked at the theoretical constructs (Maglio &Spohrer, 2008). This new concept shall help explain the ways in

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which service systems interact and evolve to co-create value andservice culture though service experiences.

Value co-creation concept is not necessarily a dyadicrelationship between just two actors. It can be an interactionbetween three actors a triadic relationship, which interact tocreate value for all, involved in the integration within a valueco creation system. All actors are involved in the co-creation ofthe unique value offering. Value co-creation is hard to ignorebecause, under the right conditions, it helps companies buildvalue and reduce risk, in areas including strategy, innovationand new product development.

Ten fundamental premises that are the foundation for the overallS-D logic.

Service is the basis for all exchange (FP1); Indirect exchange masks the fundamental basis of exchange (FP2); Goods are a distribution mechanism for service (FP3); Operant resources are the fundamental source of competitiveadvantage (FP4); All economies are the service economies (FP5); Customer is always a co-creator of value (FP6); The enterprise cannot deliver value but only offer valuepropositions (FP7); Service centered view is inherently customer oriented andrelational (FP8); All social and economic actors are resource integrators (FP9); Value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined by thebeneficiary (FP10).

There are fundamental axioms that are imperative and foundationalfor a service scientist to understand and utilize when creatingnew service systems that enable them to generate a serviceculture that in return provides service experiences to customer –FP1, FP6, FP9 & FP10 – Axioms of SD logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2008)

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In SD logic the value is created through the application ofcompetence (knowledge and skill)-operant resources- which isbeneficial to all actors in one form or another, based on thecontext of each actor (Vargo& Lusch, 2004). Organizations applytheir operant resources on operand resources to propose value;another entity uses its resources knowledge and skill integratedwith their resources (money, effort etc.) to do their part of theservice. Thus, Value co-created by this basic exchange betweenservice systems (Vargo et al). Individuals considered as thesmallest service systems because they interact with each other indifferent environments. The largest service system is the globaleconomy itself. Cities, city departments, businesses,Institutions, business departments, nations, and governmentagencies are all service systems. (Maglio & Spohrer, 2008)

Literature

The SDL was initially focused on marketing but as with any newevolutionary concept it had to have a broader impact on thebroadly accepted logics in other domains within the culture of anorganization.

SD logic is designed to capture and converge seemingly diverse thinking has changed the dominant logic of marketing and economicthought away from a primary concern with tangible resources and static frequency, output in the form of the goods and transactions. Aims to often intangible, dynamic input of resources for co-created value and relational, economic and social processes. SD logic represents an evolution rather than a revolution. The central principle of SD logic is that mutual service, which is defined as the application of skills for the benefit of another party, is the foundation of economic exchange.That is, service is exchanged for service. S-D logic is structured around ten FPs which are explained and elaborated earlier (Vargo &Lusch, 2008).

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The launch of the initiative of service science by IBM servicesalso played an important role in for this logic. There is anaffinity between the SDL and SS – SDL emerged from academia andSS from an organization. This coincidence however has played infavor of both as the SDL is not the foundational philosophy ofservice science by IBM. The service science is focused towardsbinging together the knowledge from business schools togetherwith technology and ots application of in the real world.

The service sector includes government, education, medical andhealthcare, banking and insurance, consulting, informationtechnology services, retail and wholesale, tourism andhospitality, entertainment, transportation and logistics, andlegal among others –and it accounts for most of the world’seconomic activity, but is the least studied and least understoodpart of the economy (Spohrer et al, 2007)

The service economy means the services performed in the servicesectors of the industrialized economies of the world and othersectors. Education is one of the many service industries thatshow growth in knowledge intensity and knowledge creation. Overthe last 20 years, services have grown to be the largest part ofthe economies of most industrialized nations. Yet despite suchsignificant growth of the service economy, there is no widelyaccepted definition of service, and service productivity,quality, compliance, and innovation all remain hard to measure.(Spohrer et al , 2007). There are many reason but the one mainis that relatively little attention has been paid to educatingstudents about service, creating programs that teach them inservice and researchers have not studies the concept of service ,especially in the field of management as it pertains to thispaper. The concept of service is interdisciplinary and littleattention has been paid to this by scholars ( Ford & Bowen, 2008).

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From an industrial GDL perspective, companies have always viewed their relations with universities primarily as a source of human resource capital that can be utilized by them for, future employees and, secondarily, as a source of knowledge useful to the firm. (Etzkowitzr - 1998). “The first academic revolution, taking off in the late nineteenth century in the U.S., made research an academic function in addition to the traditional taskof teaching…..This revolution is by no means finished. But in themost advanced segments of the worldwide university system, a ‘second revolution’ takes off. The entrepreneurial university integrates economic development into the university as an academic function along with teaching and research. It is this ‘capitalization of knowledge’ that is the heart of a new mission for the university, linking universities to users of knowledge more tightly and establishing the university as an economic actorin its own right.” . (Etzkowitzr - 1998)

The dialogue surrounding service phenomena brings us to a point where we need to questions where it stands and how it applies to other disciplines, of management and economics. If the SD logic is valid, also led to an understanding of all marketing and management is seen as the basis of the economy and society as fundamentally about the service exchanged. So at some point you would not expect implicitly understood something of services marketing and management service, but marketing and management with a service focus.(Gummesson et al, 2010). A lot has been said on research and education n and it does have a direct bearing on practice as well. Not only professors but also businessmen have a responsibility to listen, reflect, allocate time, and think long-term beyond the short-term bottom line.

Industry leaders and organizations claim that they have and prefer human resource that is exposed to hands-on and understands reality, actually are more often victims of old philosophy that implicitly controls their thinking. With the service science program initiated by IBM as a role model,

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( Maglio et al 2008) more companies could also take initiatives to support the thought process of rethinking of service in industry. Organizations are run statistically under the by the 300-year-old goods/service and supplier/customer divides from a goods-centered, industrial logic - which is the Good Dominant Logic (GDL). They give a false impression of the service sector growing. Business managers, governments, and politicians need to refocus on service and value and transition from the supplier, goods, and cost centric worldview.

Another important fact, that the world economy is fast becoming aknowledge-based economy is putting pressure on higher educationprovider organization – Universities and Colleges- in countriesaround the world. Higher education now increasingly viewed ascentral to national strategies for creating opportunities toacquire shares of global markets. The role and value of highereducation regarded important and as a contributor towards thedevelopment of social and economic service systems, which give acompetitive edge to a country.

At least so far, S-D logic seems to have had relatively littleimpact on textbooks, even those editions published in the lastfew years. Even though S-D logic is heavily cited in academicjournals, the vast majority of textbooks on general marketing,service marketing, B2B marketing, relationship marketing and CRM,do not mention it at all. Rather, these books seem to sustainwhat might be called their own “textbook theory,” in some casesbased on a rather encyclopedic and fragmented list of traditionalconcepts, models, theories, cases, and conclusions that lag yearsbehind academic publications. (Gummesson et al, 2010)

As competition intensifies, it is essential that higher educationproviders endeavor to develop and offer high quality,satisfaction-creating service experiences. This requires acomprehensive understanding of the factors that lead to positiveperceptions of the institutions services. Current perspectives

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suggest that the students engaged as an active co-producer of theuniversity experience shall co-create value for all entitiesinvolved in the exchange between the university, student andresource persons.

3. Discussion

IT is important that we utilize educational institutions tointroduce and implement the core concepts of SD logic and servicescience. Knowledge is created, shared and imparted inuniversities and it is essential for the purpose of furtherresearch and practical use that we implement SDL logic along withService Science, to cultivate a service culture whichaccommodates for the exchange of skills and competencies betweenthe students and the customer-contact employees – may it be themanagement staff or the professors. Students bring the knowledgethey acquire form universities to the actual and practical world.They also might work with influential people in their positionsand affect the decision making logics of the executives and otherpower brokers in the services economy of today. This can create apositive shift from the services management to service economy,which enhances human resource capabilities to actively interactwith customers in a positive, manner to create memorableexperiences instead of focusing on the exchange of good/services.We will introduce the concept of service scientist and define itas a person who has knowledge and understanding of servicescience concepts and SDL. Culture is - in the words of E.B. Tylor, "that complex wholewhich includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, andany other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member ofsociety." (Tylor 1871:1) – the learned behavior portrayed withinthe environment created all around. Using these descriptions anattempt is made to make positive suggestions for amalgamatingcurrent educational experiences of the HEI and students, tocreate a service culture providing memorable experiences.

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Value is not only transmission of technical knowledge tostudents, but something more: a value for the money they havepaid. According to this definition, students holding ascholarship cannot demand any quality standards since they havenot paid for the service, and thus, anything would be more thanwhat they have paid for.(Mendez & Gummesson, 2012). Figure 1(Maglio et al, 2006) shows a relationship between the entitiesthat interact within a HEI or any other triadic organization

Education is a fundamental right for all in any society, may it be of HEI or technical nature. We try to transform people througheducation and positive experiences in life, for a better future. HEI education creates young individual to work in the

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A Service Provider- individual- organization- technology ownedor operated by A

C. Service Target: The reality to be transformed or operated on by A, for the sake of B- people, dimensions of- business, dimensions of- products, environment - information,coded knowledge

B Service Client- individual- organization- public or private

Forms ofResponsibility relationship(A for C)

Forms ofOwnership relationship(B for C)

Forms of valuecoproduction(A with B)

Forms of Servicerelationship (A with

B)

Forms of ServiceInterventions (A on C,

B on C)



professional world and become knowledge workers. Over the past few decades we have seen a vivid shift in the educational methodologies, especially in the developing countries. More focushas been in the fields of services sector and educational institutions have been trying to meet the requirements of the customers, by providing more courses and programs in the relevantfields to educate workers that can work in services economy.

Pakistan has seen a growth in the service sector and the increasein the growth rate of the service sector shall provide stability to the overall growth process. The growth rate in commodity producing sector has seen a decrease or is stagnant with employment opportunities, whereas the services sector is showing more potential and is creating more opportunities for future workers-especially knowledge workers. (Ahmad and Ahsan, 2011) In context with the services sector information technology is used to fill the gaps of infrastructure effectively. Pakistan is trying to increase its literacy rate and many endeavors are in action to alleviate the level of education in the country. There is a need to create programs that allow allows students to learn the ways of the future. They need to be made part of the overall learning process. More emphasis needs to be on cutting edge of fields like human resource development, financial management, entrepreneurship, management, and marketing along with other areas. The information technology fields need to be at the core of the educational programs, as the future knowledge workers musthave extensive know how about technology.

Universities apply the market principles of GDL – Goods DominantLogic. Students are referred to as the product of ourinstitutions and the methods to secure the admissions are purelymarketing based. Students are the customers and universities mustcompete in this commercialized environment to get a bigger marketshare (Jones, 2010). This approach is very much in line with theG-D logic concepts. When you acquire customer, determine theirneeds, and then create the product to meet their wants and needs,

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then what kind of value are you creating? What kind ofenvironment are the HEIs providing? What type of culture is beingdeveloped? What are we leaving with the students after theygraduate? Is it the golden memories of youth or lifelongimpacting learning experiences that our cultural environmentprovides? The question posed here shall be crucial forunderstanding and creating a paradigmatically differenteducational l experience for the students, faculty and theuniversity management.

This questions are pertinent in the current educationalenvironment in the world and especially in Pakistan. With thistype of environment in place, SDL provides us with a neworientation for thought. In order to meet the requirements of theactors involved in the transaction, we must understand the actorsand the factors that influence upon them. Borrowing a table froma case study done by a Spanish researcher, Montserrat Díaz-Méndez(2012), we are able to identify a few service systems interactingwithin the university environment. The discussion is also usingthe format laid out in the case study as a basic structure.

Actors Factors

- Professor/Resource Person- Students - University - Service staff - Local and nationalauthorities - Societies (local andregional ) - Private/publicinstitutions - Unions Etc.

- Knowledge , Universityeconomic resources - Experiences, Laws andregulations- Cultures and environment- Universities managementstyle - Student selection methods- Lecturers recruitmentsystems - Universities reputation - Etc.

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The table shows the complexity that resides in a universityservice system. In depth, research and studies are needed for athorough understanding of all the service systems interactions.For our purposes, we will only look at the resource person,students and university management within the scope of thispaper.

This triadic relationship between a professor, student and theuniversity is a central relationship within the universityenvironment and this is where the true learning and value co-creation happens. It is widely accepted that we live in aninterconnected world where all relationships are multi-party.This idea was conceptualized and developed by Gummesson's many-to-many marketing (Gummesson, 2006). His concept was that one to onerelationships fail and no individual is in fact single, there arenumerous entities and systems connected with an individual.Therefore on must conceptualize the fact that we are alwaysdealing with networks within networks, hence the concept of manyto many networking. His concepts are coherent with what we aredealing with in SDL, service systems (a configuration ofresources, information, measures and technology) and servicescience - that interact with each other to co-create value forall parties involved. We can look upon the basic relationshipbetween a teacher and student as dyadic, but in fact it is partof a bigger network of service systems that are creating ServiceCulture - service cultural environment is the responsibility ofthe HEIs .

The relationship between the institution, professor and Student is unique. Though the professor represents the institution, stillthe professor itself is a service system, with its own needs and aspirations. Students are desirous to receive education by the university and work with the professor within the university system to learn and acquire knowledge. Our students receive lectures and somehow judge the quality of the learning through

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quality of lectures. What constitutes as value for a student? It could be good grades in classes. Understanding and experiencing the knowledge given through lectures and class exercises are the only means for value creation or we can use other methodologies also. The way professor gauge the student’s performance is through multiple tools that are judging the understanding and memorizing of facts. (Bowden & Allessandro, 2011) The quality of learning is not gauged in the manner that is in cohesion with theservice systems interacting to co-create value. Students pay the university for education. They enroll in a particular area or degree. Provided by the university an environment that is friendly for learning and technology is used to fulfill the gaps that are prevalent in the learning systems.

Students interact with the university through multiple means butprimarily through paying the tuition fee, expecting that alongwith the knowledge that they will receive the university willprovide them an environment suitable and facilitative forlearning – a learning culture. The student feedback is anessential tool utilized by many universities to gauge theirsatisfaction with the core competency of the university-knowledgedissemination via professors. This tool tells the university whatis the level of their customer satisfaction. This is pretty mucha G-D logic thinking and functionality.

Professor and student are service systems and we must look intoeach to find out what is going to satisfy each, with theinteraction that is happening in the classroom and outside of theclassroom within the environment that is created by theuniversity to establish a specific culture that in line with itsvision and mission as a higher education institute.

Student evaluation of the experiences can be short lived; as theyare making decisions on the spot and within the context of thesituation, they find themselves in at a particular time andplace. Student interaction with the professor and in the

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university can be very circumstantial, event oriented. Take forexample a few students are strictly reprimanded for theirbehavior, and they take a disliking towards the professor. Theirinvolvement in class goes down; their disruptive behavior affectsother entities within the environment. The service provided bythe university is not capitalized upon through value creation.Now they might not be getting any value form the situation as wecan see that in an ISPAR model if two entities are not workingfor the benefit of each other they are not considered servicesystems. (Maglio &Spohrer 2008) Therefore, we can say thatstudents can obtain value and co-create value through theirinteractions with the other service systems.

Other factors also affect the students in their value creation,such as the education level, gender, background, intellect, age,maturity and responsibility sense. (Dias-Mendez, 2012). We takestudent feedbacks in universities very seriously, but how do wecorrelate it to value creation and satisfaction of students frombeing part of this value co-creation process. Interestingly ifstudents are asked whether he/she be more satisfied by knowledgethey receive or will they feel more empowered if they are able toutilize and perform well in a job in the actual world. Aquestions to be surveyed for suture study.

Einstein said, “Education is not memorizing of facts, buttraining of mind to think” and that should be the goal and visionof any higher education institution.

Students together with professors in the environment provided bythe HEI, play principal roles in the Value Co-creationEnvironment (VCE) by means of integrating resources. Resourceintegration is not a unidirectional process from customer tocompany, instead it is multidirectional in a many-to-many view(Gummesson, 2006). Professors must understand what the studentsneed and get involved with them to provide them the value theydesire. The concept of teaching quality remains difficult to

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accurately define in the environment where there are no clearmeasure to determine the value created. As Diaz Mendez andGummesson (2012) posit, the value students expect and obtain fromtheir university experience is not based solely upon the qualityof education received along with their ability to learn, based ontheir own capabilities.

S-D Logic premises FP6, FP7, FP9 and FP10 are used here to createa proposed model here {Customer is always a co-creator of value (FP6); Theenterprise cannot deliver value but only offer value propositions (FP7); All social andeconomic actors are resource integrators (FP9); Value is always uniquely andphenomenologically determined by the beneficiary (FP10).}

For the purpose of this paper, we change the FP6 to state – allservice systems/entities are always co-creators of value -students, professor and university are all playing their role toco-create value for each other and in return get value forthemselves. University and professor cannot guarantee learningand knowledge enhancement for all students, however, proceduresand pedagogies should be incorporated that enhance and increasethe leaning capabilities of students and interacting ability ofprofessors and students in and outside of classrooms. No one canforce another entity to create value; it is a voluntary actiondone to satisfy one’s own need indirectly.

Each service system in the service culture created within theservice environment provided by the university possesses aresource set of its own. Students poses intelligence, habits,technology know how formal education level and sense ofresponsibility, what they learn from the environment shall dependon the way they incorporate and integrate their resources withother actors within the environment to create value. Professors’poses a set of resources, such as knowledge, intelligence,experience, teaching ability, personality and perspective, theymust utilize and integrate these resources in the environmentwith resources of other service systems operational in the domain

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to co-create value for others and overall environment. Universityposes infrastructure, financial resources, defines rules andregulations for the operations and internal procedures for HRM.Here we need to bring in the concept that HR must also look uponthe students as part of the human resource needed to enhance theprofitability of the institution, through inclusive policies thatattend to the needs of the students.

Student resources include intelligence, study habits, sense ofresponsibility, personality and critical thinking. Lecturerresources include those of knowledge, teaching ability, socialability and personality. In the VCE to create a culture for co-creation of value, true partnership must be nurtured (McWilliam,2008). Value Co-creation activities between service systems aretermed service interactions. There are three main activities thatmake up the service interaction: Proposing a value co-creationinteraction to another service system (proposal), agreeing to theproposed interaction (agreement), and realizing the proposal(realization), (Spohrer et al, 2008). Proposing, agreeing andthen realizing is what we have been discussing between the actorsof the university environment to create a VCE within theuniversity domain.

University proposes good environment, excellent accreditation tojustify its claim and provide secure, safe and location foreducating students. Also proposes a unique experience forlearning, through marketing its competitive advantage, it couldbe excellent and superior faculty or its exposure opportunitiesetc. Professors are also attracted to the university based on itsreputation, of course money and accreditation. Students andprofessors are also proposing to each other and to theuniversity. Once an agreement is made, it will be agreed upon andrealization comes on value co-creation stage and referring toFP10, it is the customer or the entity that determines the realvalue based on how it benefits the entity.

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A fundamental shift in thinking is needed, away from this conceptof students as customers to that of students as co-creators ofvalue and part of the university environment. After all, studentsplay a significant role in their learning experience; it is not aone-sided affair. The value students expect, and obtain, fromuniversity results from not only from the quality of teachinginputs, but from also their own learning capabilities andresources. Value is a self-perception; it is not located inwithin the actual service itself (Vargo and Lusch, 2008) arguethat. It implies that the university and professor does notprovide value to individuals; they actively participate in ajoint process of creation. An interaction between theuniversities - through curriculum development. The main actor arestudents and professors are integrating resources to co-createvalue that enriches the university environment and hencefacilitates creation of a service cultural environment.

A service scientist (SS) (Maglio et al 2006) analyzes the currentoperational processes prevalent in an organization and in timecreates new systems and processes to augment the prevalentsystems inclusive of the core concepts of SDL and service science– which are discussed in the previous section. This paper,attempts to include an HEI and a launch of a new program as anexample to suggest ways for creation of a service culture andexchange of service experiences. How might we approach the issueof creating service innovations and improving the educationalservice system that create the service culture? Initially, it isthrough sound observation and imperial data collection. SS usessurvey tool, conduct a survey to identify the issues that thethree stakeholders are having. Identify the boundaries of each inthe prevalent culture. Determine the limitations and highlightthe opportunities for each - Student, University and Professors.After analyzing the results SS can create a model for a newservice culture. The model must not be based on the old ideologyof GDL that looks upon human resources as machines, but more asintegral parts of the organization. The Culture as defined before

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is not something that we just make up. It has many elementsaffecting it, and the people and their exposure is as importantas anything else. Gender, educational background, language,exposure, freedom of speech, etc., all play an impacting role incultural environment a higher education institute. Theinfrastructure that is an essential part of the university,impacts the perceptions of all service systems operational withinthe service culture. (Maglio et al, 2006)

For example, if a new program for master’s in business administration (MBA) is launched with an emphasis on creating totally new service science based culture, in which the program will evolve. Utilize the four axioms of SDL to create new processes, starting from the first contact with the potential customer (students) to the final awarding of the degree. The admissions office (university) is creates a special area that deals with applicants of this program. The applicants are explained the role that they shall have in the educational endeavor over the specified time, of degree. This creates an opportunity for professors to develop new introduction paragraphsfor each course in the program which explains to the student how he/she shall be engaged as an active co-producer of the university experience. Interactive classroom technologies may enhance the student experience by encouraging participation. (Bowden & Allessandro, 2011)

Service scientists, shall integrate those older processes andpolicies that are in line with the SDL and service scienceconcepts and meet the requirements of the fundamental axiom (FP6,FP7, FP9, and FP10). Drastic change is not recommended, however,one should try to create a progressive step by step plan tocreate a new interactive system that over time shall develop aservice culture that provides memorable service experiences tothe stakeholders in the overall service cultural environment. Weimprove the original system to create a new one by attaching newservice systems, which result in better augmented service norms

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and values that develop and strengthen the service culture thatin the intent of this program . It motivates employees,management, professors and students to easily adapt to newservice cultural environment. Service scientist undermine the challenges that lay ahead will bea folly in this case. “Change is the only constant in life” iseasily comprehended though many will frivolously use it in day today conversation. Questions remain – what incentives can the HEIprovide for service systems such as management and professors andstudents to work together? How will the change management behandled in this service culture? What will be the motivationalelements for all professors to put in more effort plus time withstudents; use new techniques and technology for creating acomprehensive learning environment? How shall the students beinvolved constructively in the course determination and courseselection? What will be the extent to which students caninfluence the course outlines of the program?

4. Conclusion

In this term paper we attempted to get a clear picture about the concepts of service experiences, service culture and service cultural environment (a combination of tangible and intangible). It is an attempt to examine the available opportunities for an HEI to create and develop a service culture – cultural environment. Establish means and method for ensuring positive andmemorable experiences within the institution. (Gummesson & Vargo,2010) During the past ten years an immense pressure has been on scholars and practitioners to focus on creating opportunities formanaging the student experience and increasing student participation and co-creation in higher education. Recently research has attempted to address the role of technology in facilitating this processes and the extent technology positively impacts upon the student (Bowden & Allessandro, 2011)

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How the service culture environment can facilitate interactionamong the service systems we have discussed in this paper –student, professor and university. What are the ways in whichthey can interact to create value that is beneficial for allinteracting entities? The purpose of this paper was to examinewhat can enable a university to create an environment for valueco-creation, within its domain. The answer is that servicesystems must interact with each other in a productive environmentand create value for each other. A key point of success is toinclude students as partners, as key service systems, with otherservice system –professors, university service, and industry- toco create value within the environment.

Further research is needed through surveys of students and otherin this system to identify and analyze the restrictions anddevelopments needed. Some further research questions/areas arementioned below for an in depth study of the university servicesystem. What are the aspirations of students? What will satisfy astudent? What will be the points that will enable a professor tocontribute more effectively? How can industry be involved in theeducational process at the university? What factors are creatinga hindrance in creating an environment for value co-creation atthe university? How can we address these factors?

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