Professional services are rendered by our doctor, lawyer, accountant,
architect, librarian, teacher, engineer, consultant, musician, computer
programmer, reporter, and so on. Service jobs include those of a
waiter, receptionist, sales clerk, IT help desk, plumber, electrician,
carpenter, mason, repairman, office assistant, cashier, translator, tour guide,
caterer, cook, window cleaner, beauty salon operator—the list is long.
Then there are the retail and wholesale services that sell us their wares in
shopping malls, department stores, boutiques, grocery stores, and online.
Real estate agents give us the services that allow us to buy, rent, and sell
property. And food services offered by restaurants, cafeterias, fast food chains,
and stores give us pleasure and satisfaction in our work or leisure time.
Business services such as professional services, financial services, and
transportation exist to facilitate other businesses.
There are a myriad of hospitality and leisure services such as travel
services, hotels, restaurants, spas, ski resorts, sports clubs, fitness centers,
museums, parks, campgrounds, and cinemas. Leisure and recreational
services have grown into a multibillion dollar business worldwide as people
have more time and more means to enjoy time that is not spent at work.
And not to forget Nature, and the gifts that she provides, read this
little verse,To a Child,Written in Her Album,byWilliam Wordsworth:
“Small service is true service while it lasts:
Of humblest friends, bright Creature! scorn not one;
The Daisy, by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dew drop from the Sun.”
SERVICE DEFINED
There has been a revision of the standard definition of service in the last
20 years because different disciplines have given their own definitions,
including economics, marketing, operations, industrial and systems
engineering, and computer science.
Here are a few examples of definitions of service in the literature over
the years:
Activities, benefits, and satisfactions which are offered for sale or are provided in
connection with the sale of goods(The American Marketing Association,
1960).
A service is a change in the condition of a person, or a good belonging to some
economic entity, brought about as the result of the activity of some other
economic entity, with the approval of the first person or economic entity
(Hill, 1977).
2 Service Science and the Information Professional