Les Mills International - Service Case Study Part 1

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to basic service management terminology through using the example of Les Mills International, a New Zealand-based international group-fitness company. This article features links to Wikipedia and other knowledge and information bases as further reference to  key service management terms, and also provides key readings.This article also links to publicly available videos of Les Mills activities and other web sites of interest. The source of these videos is mainly Les Mills International Youtube Channel. I also draw on interviews I conducted in 2005 with group fitness workers, notes on a presentation given by Phillip Mills at the Go Global Conference in 2005 (now no longer available on the web) and a paper prepared for a conference.

This article focuses on explaining general terminology to serve as an introduction to service management 'jargon'.

Introduction to Les Mills International 

You can see a brief video introducing Les Mills history and programmes here on the Les Mills main site.

Facts about Les Mills:

• Les Mills is a famous NZ Olympian and founded  Les Mills World of Fitness chain of gyms in Auckland, New Zealand and also Les Mills International. 
• At present Les Mills (LM) operates in about 14,000 gyms and health clubs in 75 countries. 
• There are an estimated 70, 000 Les Mills Instructors worldwide.
• About 5 million participants participate in a LM class every week.

Les Mill's son Phillip Mills was largely responsible for developing a series of exercise-to-music programmes, including BODYATTACK®, BODYFLOW® , BODYCOMBAT®, BODYJAM®, BODYPUMP®, BODYSTEP®, BODYVIVE®, CXWORX® and SH'BAM® (all fiercely protected registered trademarks).

Les Mills International Wikipedia page says "In 2004, Phillip Mills was Ernst & Young's New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year, and the following year he competed in Monaco as a finalist for Ernst & Young's World Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2005, Les Mills International was named New Zealand Services Exporter of the Year by NZ Trade and Enterprise and, in 2007, he and wife Jackie Mills co-authored the book 'Fighting Globesity - A Practical Guide to Personal Health and Global Sustainability'" (see Part 2 for more on this). If you are unfamilar with Les MIlls then have a look at a few of the videos featured in this article, or go here to see their webpage and an introductory video.

Outside-In Perspective

Within service management it is now common to argue that all service industries, in fact, all businesses, should take an outside-in perspective. That is, service managers should learn to look at all aspects of their processes from a customer's viewpoint (see Note 1 below).

One useful way to do this is to conduct a walk-through or an emotional audit from a customer's perspective. The following provides an example of a narrative of a customer attending a group fitness session. It illustrates both the feelings and processes that a customer engages with as she participates in a group fitness routine.  The video below shows the 'release' of a new BODYSTEP® routine (release number 84) to help you visualize the narrative.

Outside-In Perspective 

Getting to the session is the first challenge. I am tired and grumpy and don’t really feel like going, but experience has taught me that if I at least get to the session then the music will carry me through the session. ‘Classes’ are timetabled. 9.00 am in the morning is a good time for me. I have dropped the kids off at school and make my way just in time to fill up my water bottle, pay my fee, and dig my towel out of the bottom of my bag. I collect my Step, place my card in the instructor’s receptacle and take up my place behind the Step.

The music begins with the first of 12 tracks that make up the session. The first track is ‘Venus’, by Bananarama. People quickly move to their chosen area. They have placed before the stage already what they need to conduct their ritual: water bottle, towel, and Step. The arrangement of the room is all face-forward towards the stage. The session is to last fifty-five minutes as other activities are scheduled before and after.

The instructors remind us of safety – this is usually on their minds at the beginning of the session. Today there are two instructors, slim and toned, with coordinated clothing, tanned and with wide smiles.

The lyrics to the ‘Venus’ track say: 'Goddess on the mountain top, burning like a silver flame, the summit of beauty and love, and Venus was her name. She’s got it. Yeah, baby she’s got it. I’m your Venus. I’m your fire. At your desire’. We start to warm up, moving around the Step, walking at a clipping pace. The music provides the impetus. We move straight into the second track, ‘Get Down On it’, by Peter Andre. The song is a direct challenge to dance. The pace picks up and we start walking up onto the Step, with some squats included. The ‘butt and thighs’ start to be worked now that the muscle groups are warmed up. This is a vigorous track and most people quickly take on some water at this point. At this point the energy of the dance and movement starts to be felt. The movements start to come easy. Once the rhythm is entered into then the 1-2-3-4 time is relatively easy to keep with, and when the movements are learnt they can be reproduced without much thought. The basic movements are all learnt: the simple step, over-the-top, grape-vine, turn-step, walk-over, and the stomp are a few of them. The steps can be related to particular genres of music too: a recent favorite has been the cha-cha, which involves a skip step.

Track 3 is ‘Born to be alive’ by Voyager, and an affirmation of life. The lyrics are less important now,  but the beat is relentless and loud. I am starting to perspire. I concentrate on keeping up and getting the moves right. I am now completely focused on myself and watching the instructor. I cannot see others around me. I get out of rhythm at one point, feel embarrassed, but quickly find it again. We are reminded to keep the noise of our feet down. This is a safety reminder. 

Track 4 is ‘Absolutely Not’ by Deborah Cox. It is a stroppy track reflecting issues of self-esteem at work. ‘Should I wear my hair in a ponytail? Should I dress myself up in Chanel? Do I measure me by what you think? Absolutely not, absolutely not’. I enjoy this track. The movements are fluid and simple and involve a move at the peak of the track where the participants mime pulling a person towards them and then kneeing them . The male instructors joke in  good nature when the women enthusiastically participate in this track.  

Track 5, ‘The Wreckoning’ [sic] by Boomkat is a mixed strength track where the aim is to work on the ‘butt and thighs’ after a high aerobic work rate track. The pace is slower for squats and lunges — strenuous exercises that work the big muscle groups of the legs. The song is ostensibly about a relationship break-up; a play on the word reckoning with ‘wreckoning’ (the wreck of the relationship). The other reckoning is to face the toughness and pain of the physical lunge and squat and have a reckoning with your body about its ‘true’ state of being. The time is nigh in other words to face the truth. I always feel good about this track. By this time in the session I am feeling extremely virtuous. I feel great. 

Track 6 ‘I’m flying’ is one that I hate. I face my un-coordination in this track and always do it at the lowest options. I have fallen off my Step twice doing this track as I try and follow the instructor’s movements. We mimic a bird flying in the sky while we do an ‘Over-the-top’ move across the length of the Step box. The technique means we raise our arms, increasing blood flow around the body. This raises the heart rate, making the body work harder. I suffer it in silence and can’t wait for it to be over. I keep my arms down and focus on not falling over. The instructors seem to like it.

‘Situation’ (7) by Tom Jones and then ‘Disco Inferno’ (8) by Tina Turner are classic high peak tracks. Tom Jones’ voice has visceral power — deep and powerful — perfect for lunges. So, I think, I am a house-wife pretending to be Tom Jones. In the next track I am being a black woman — Tina Turner — even better. I always wanted to be born black — black people seem cooler, looser. They’re not so uptight. What would it feel like to be born a man, or black, or both? ‘Situation’ provides a strong pulsing rhythm to which we do squats which drives the heart rate up. This is another ironically named recovery track. ‘Disco Inferno’ is a faster song with the mood encouraged being ‘out-of-control’, with an flurry of physical movement to Disco moves. You have to be fit to have fun with this track. Other people work really hard, and I aspire to do the same. But, to be honest I never feel completely conscripted into the process or fit enough to lose myself in the moves. I am getting tired and slightly depressed with my inadequacies. I try to turn off my thoughts and push my body back into the music. 

Patti La Belle’s gospel standard ‘Ready for a Miracle’ (9) and then Eye of the Tiger (10) are the final peak tracks. By this time we are getting near the end of the session and I really do need a miracle to get through. The instructor yells at us now, ‘Get up! Get down! Rise up! Look at me!’ She is never silent, and as she demonstrates the moves, always having to think slightly ahead of her audience (and doing everything, like Ginger Rodgers to Fred Astair, backwards), gives previews of changes in moves, demonstrating the ideal movements. The noise from feet pounding on the floor and on the step, in time, is loud, rhythmic and hypnotic. From time to time the instructor calls out to the class asking them to tell her they are OK. ‘Have you got there yet?’ ‘Is it a miracle?!!’ The pace is absolutely frenetic. At the peak of the track we all wave our hands in the air mimicking the ecstatic body movements of revelation at the height of a Pentecostal revivalist meeting. At several points during this track a few class participants yell back to the instructor, whooping to show their enjoyment of the track. The Eye of the Tiger is a novelty track and a bit of fun. The mood starts to loosen, but the beat of the track is aimed at pushing us to a final sprint towards the finish line, eking out the last spurt of energy, leaving me completely spent. 

My favorite part of the session is next – the press-up and sit-up track. I have come to love press-ups — I really don’t know why as my arms are as weak as a kittens’. I push myself really hard. I try and ignore the instructor — she is background noise. I don’t have to look at her any more and I settle into my own rhythm to the music. The song is ‘My Time’ by Dutch. The lyrics say, ‘Been a long time since I saw my own mind … I was moving in the shadows, always looking at the past … Always, always, put my faith in new days ... I dancing and I’m feeling fine … This is my time, this is my time’.

The final stretch track is ‘Cruisin’ sung by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. The song is melodic. It is about surrender and release. ‘Let the music take your mind’ it says, ‘Just release and you will find … , You're gonna fly (away), Yeah, I'm glad you're going my way'.... The stretches are genuinely relaxing. The instructors pose like statues on the stage, moving from one fluid position to the next. I am sometimes reluctant to leave one stretch for the next. As the last stretch is completed and the music fades, we pat ourselves on our backs. This move of self-congratulation is part of the choreography. Everyone puts their things away and some move off to the shower. I stop and talk quickly with another regular attendee. I feel pretty good and am glad I made the effort to come. Then we all hurry off to get on with our day, appointments and work. 

Understanding Service as Intangible involving a Transition, and the Service Concept

A service delivers an intangible product. A service is something that has no physical or material presence (although it can be attached to material products in a service bundle). According to Phillip Mills "Everything we do is just about invisible”. LM tangibilises experience (makes the intangible tangible) through video, training DVDs with choreography, notes, and other educational material, fashion and a vigorous branding platform. 

Les Mills International delivers group exercise experiences. During the course of a customer's experience journey with Les Mills they will go through transitions in their whole selves - emotionally (their feelings), physically (their bodies), aesthetically (how they look), and spiritually (their sense of completeness and one-ness with the world). This is not an exaggeration - see the narrative above as all these aspects of these transformations are experienced during the participant's journey and are symbolically communicated through the group fitness system (which will be explained in more detail shortly).

This transition is illustrated below:

The service concept in general is explained below:

Phillip Mills himself explains the core of what the service concept is in a Les Mills group fitness class: results and motivation, and the ways that they have built a focused understanding of the value proposition of their business. The video is aimed at potential licensees of Les Mills. As explained above, Les Mills International are using a type of franchise model to expand, which is common with service businesses. Phillip Mills is 'selling' the brand to other business, a type of Business to Business (or 2B2) communication, because other businesses are Les Mills International major customers. Despite being an 'infomercial' the following video provides some insights into how Les Mills International works, and what their priorities are. 

This article is continues in Les Mills International Part 2

Notes

Note 1: Of course the logic of the outside-in  perspective leads to a strengthening of the already powerful notion that the 'Customer is King' (or Queen). This is one reason for the need to for us to understand our obligations as consumers (I prefer to remember that consumer is a subset of the word citizen). One of my favorite sayings is "Your wish is my command" from the musical 'Annie'. This saying is a reminder of the reciprocal obligations between service organisations and citizen-consumers to provide services and products responsibly; that consumers have a mutual responsibility in other words and their desire (for things and services) does not preclude ethical behaviour.

References


Johnston, R., & Clark, G. (2008). Service operations management: Imporving service delivery. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Managing People - Air New Zealand Cabin Crew and Branding

This presentation provides a visual introduction to the relationship between branding and managing staff. I have used the example of Air New Zealand, and the idea is to show how the over-arching branding impacts on the management of staff behavior and appearance.

National airline brands are useful to look at to demonstrate this activity (linking branding to staff management) as they so routinely do it. This activity is so routine that it has been the focus of a rather hilarious Hale and Pace TV comedy skit. Go here for this skit and an explanation of how to use it to explain this principle. 

Service Script - Pharmacy

The following post is an example of an essay written by Lynda Low, a student in my Managing Services (Albany) class in 2011. Lynda has given her permission for her essay to be published on the web, so please make sure if you use her essay you give her proper attribution. 

A brief summary is as follows: Scripting is an important technique to understand, both for mangers and for employees. Drawing from the author's experience and knowledge gained in the course of employment in three pharmacies, she explores the concept of scripts and how scripting is used in the retail pharmacy setting. The author applies two scripts used in pharmacies: advice on cough, cold and flu, and the emergency contraceptive pill consultation. She discusses the advantages and disadvantages of scripts throughout the essay, and illustrates it with two scripts.

Essay: Scripting in Pharmacy Setting (2000 words)

Scripting is an important technique for managing service people and the processes they deliver. Drawing from my experience and knowledge gained in the course of employment in three pharmacies, I will aim to explore the concept of scripts and how scripting is used in the retail pharmacy setting, through applying two scripts used in pharmacies: advice on cough, cold and flu, and the emergency contraceptive pill consultation. I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of scripts throughout this essay, illustrated by the two scripts.

The concept of scripts is to a large extent consistent and complementary in literature. A script can be defined as a structure that describes the sequence of actions and behaviour patterns appropriate for a particular context; the crux of scripts being role expectations and role-playing (Hyvärinen, Tanskanen, Katajavuori & Isotalus, 2008; Johnston & Clark, 2008; Kleinaltenkamp, Van Stiphout & Eichentopf, 2010; Lovelock & Wright, 1999; Mohr & Bitner, 1991). A point of contention however, is the approach by authors from different perspectives: the customer, the employee, or both positions. In this essay the focus will be on the role of scripts in service delivery by the employee.

Oxford defines pharmacy as “a store where medicinal drugs are dispensed and sold” (2005). Today pharmacies have expanded their operations into the retail industry, offering products and services commonly including over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, vitamins and supplements, beauty and fragrance, first aid, sports support, weight management, pregnancy and babies etc. In retail pharmacies core sales of medication have shifted from prescription medication to OTC medicines. The implication is increased responsibility placed on pharmacy assistants due to the importance of correct and optimal service delivery as in any involving healthcare (The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand (PSNZ), 2001).

Harris, Harris and Baron define functional script as “a precise specification of actions to be taken by service staff in particular situations” and refer to instructions contained in scripts (2003, p. 186). This suggests that Harris et al. favour a position towards a more literal meaning of “written text”. Díez, Delgado and Bautista (2006) argue that scripts are cognitive structures which generate expectations; similarly Lovelock and Wright (1999) emphasise the implicitness of scripts and learning through experience, education, and communication with others. Since pharmacies provide training on-the-job and pharmaceutical companies offer short training courses, most pharmacy assistants are not professional or technically qualified (PSNZ, 2001). Pharmacies primarily prefer learning through observation and participation rather than studying material. While pharmacists are university-educated, majority of their skills are learnt on-the-job, with an internship as a prerequisite for graduation. Hence the latter definitions are more relevant to the pharmacy service provider.

I propose that for most general service providers, Harris et al.’s (2003) theatrical script and the traditional script are less relevant in our increasingly consumerist society. This is due to the familiarity bred through frequent repetition of typical service encounters in a person’s life, e.g., dining in a restaurant or shopping in a retail setting (Schank & Abelson, 1977). Strong, standardised and well-rehearsed scripts are formed between retail staff and customers dealing with each other, e.g., “Can I help you?” “No thanks, just browsing”; thus excepting unique experiences most retailers do not wholly require nor provide specific scripts for general customer interaction. In the duration of employment in nine retail companies, I have never been provided training or education on customer service; it is a skill that employers presume employees possess. In addition, the fact that retail employees personalise their customer service interaction conflicts with “precise specification” and “particular situations” in Harris et al.’s definition of a script (2003, p. 186). Therefore this aspect will not be included in this discussion of retail pharmacy scripts.

I have attempted to depict in a visual model, a pharmacy assistant’s mental script of advising a customer on cough, cold and flu in Appendix 1, which I have agreed with a sample of 5 retail pharmacy assistants. Holdford (2006) suggests that script structure consists of decision trees. Using a decision tree simplifies and overcomes some of the weaknesses of a traditional play script including lengthy “if…, then” directions, subscripts, and rigid and extensive dialogue and instructions, e.g., from a service script in Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons (2000), “smile and act friendly”.

In receiving medical advice, customers expect consistency in the industry - between pharmacies and through time - which is crucial in commodity processes. Advising on cough, cold and flu is deemed a “runner”, which is a standard high-volume activity; this enables efficiency to be achieved through “tight process control or automation” (Johnston & Clark, p. 195). Similarly Lovelock and Wright (1999) advise that to reduce variability a script must be highly structured and facilitate efficient performance. However we must consider if customer experience or employee enjoyment of their work will be sacrificed for efficiency. This script while containing structured directions is also sufficiently high-level to allow pharmacy assistants to provide a personal touch, adding to the customer experience and service outcome to build customer relationships and foster customer loyalty, which is paramount in an industry where core products and services are identical. This may help overcome a common disadvantage of scripts, that customers may form impressions of ‘robot-like behaviour’ of employees (Johnston & Clark, 2008). In addition, a number of central tasks for commodity processes can be achieved: consistency is maintained between service encounters, yet the standard service is presented in a manner that communicates he or she is a unique customer. Simultaneously staff productivity is managed through high-level scripting containing optional aspects which address the perishable property of services: service encounters can be shortened during peak times to reduce customer wait-time, while extending the service experience when employees have idle time.

Scripts should be designed in a way that allows appropriate levels of employee discretion if the employer is concerned with employees’ enjoyment of work, involvement, job satisfaction, staff commitment and retention etc. (Johnston & Clark, 2008). Johnston and Clark identify a number of characteristics of high-volume/low-variety service operations (compliant organisations): low-cost labour, high staff turnover, and employees with lack of experience or motivation (2008). Although pharmacies qualify as compliance organisations, pharmacy assistants usually have prior experience as they are loyal to the industry, and the pharmacy culture encourages pharmacy assistants to stay with a pharmacy and their customers long-term. Due to the standard nature of the cough, cold and flu script, the most appropriate level of employee discretion is routine discretion: the employee has direction relating to how rather than what activity is conducted. Thus the discretion over how pharmacy assistants interact with customers in conjunction with which medicines or supplements are recommended, contribute to employees’ perceived personal discretion and ownership of service which may enhance customer experience and employee satisfaction.

The second script referred to in this discussion is a pharmacist consultation for the emergency contraceptive pill (ECP). Information on pharmacist’s perspective in this script was collected through an interview with a pharmacist (S. Sewdarsen, personal communication, September 4, 2011). This service activity is less frequent or routine than that of cough, cold and flu - Lucas Industries (in Johnston & Clark, 2008) labelled the nature of this service as “repeaters” (p. 195). Johnston and Clark state that repeaters consume more resources than runners because lower volumes do not warrant process automation (2008). To address this issue, the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (2009) issues an “emergency pill contraceptive pill consultation record” form to be completed by the customer requiring the medication (refer Appendix 2). In contrast with the previous script, this information supporting a script is explicit and formal which may convey assurance and legitimise organisational actions to the customer. A further advantage is that it may buffer or exacerbate role conflict that may arise from customers’ reluctance or lack of knowledge regarding the process (Johnston & Clark, 2008). This contrasts with the opinion of Kleinaltenkamp et al. that “familiarity with the situation is the crucial element” (2010, p. 8); in fact it guides the customer into the service process and controls the customer in what may be a potentially emotional situation.

The pharmacist subsequently assesses their responses in deciding whether the prescription is appropriate for that customer; the reverse of the form provides an advice checklist for the pharmacist’s decision-making process. In addition, the pharmacist is legally bound to disclose the information in Appendix 3 (CMPMedica (NZ) Ltd, 2011). Pharmacists generally have access to a wide range of resources and information to ensure that not only is the accurate advice provided, all relevant information must be disclosed to customers. These resources are provided to ensure accurate information is always provided but since most of the information are internalised through experience, they may be considered as supplements to scripts.

In conjunction with the first script, this script illustrates many of advantages offered by scripts. The first step, asking for the patient’s symptoms allows the pharmacy assistant to identify their real needs; e.g., ensuring the customer in fact has a cough, cold or flu to avoid misdiagnosis. By taking the customers through the steps the employee can control the customer with minimal disruption (Johnston & Clark, 2008). Through asking straightforward questions the pharmacy assistant or pharmacist is able to extract the necessary information; the benefits are twofold: the employee can avoid being distracted by trivial details, and the duration of service delivery can be shortened which may increase customer satisfaction for unwell customers. From repeated service encounters the customer develops expectations and predictions about the role they play and the role of the service employee even as they play out their respective roles (Bitner, Booms & Mohr, 1994; Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2008). Through reducing asymmetric information, transaction costs are decreased, e.g., the customer becomes familiar with the information required and will disclose it even if the employee fails to ask the questions (Kleinaltenkamp et al., 2010).

The servicescape or physical environment also assists in the performance of the script by influencing customer behaviour (Johnston & Clark, 2008). Every pharmacy must have a private consultation room for sensitive or confidential communications such as for the ECP. Furthermore the décor and atmosphere of the room is similar to a doctor’s office to affect the customer’s experience by putting her at ease, and influence customer behaviour to perform her role efficiently and effectively. Servicescape also influences employees to effectively implement the script; e.g., referring to Appendix 1, cough, cold and flu medications are organised on the same shelves to ease the process of prescription in step 3, and vitamins and supplements in the vicinity for natural progression from steps 3 to 4 to 5.

A disadvantage of scripts is that they cannot provide for every possible situation due to the co-production and heterogeneity characteristics of services. This is of particular consequence in a sensitive situation as the pharmacist is required to exercise his or her own professional judgement from the first point of contact. Is the customer the patient, is she her mother, or is he purchasing it for pre-use which may lead to sexual abuse? Is she of an adult age? Is it her first time or is she a repeat offender? Is she confident, nonchalant, scared, worried, ashamed or vulnerable? A script cannot impose upon employees’ own values or ethics. Should the customer satisfy or will likely satisfy all criteria on the form the pharmacist nonetheless has authority to refuse sale or decline consultation on what they believe is valid grounds, such as anti-abortion or anti-contraception based on personal or religious beliefs. Is this in the best interests of the customer or patient?

While scripts cannot provide for every eventuality, an advantage of scripts is that they can include broad contingency plans for eventualities of different actions, e.g., if the pharmacist does not approve the sale, he or she nevertheless cannot refuse medical treatment as a universal human right to “medical care and necessary social services” (United Nations, n.d., Article 25). He or she is required to refer the customer to the nearest pharmacist or doctor, and apply professional judgement as to whether to refer her for counselling or to family planning etc. In any situation, should the pharmacy assistant reach a point beyond their skills or knowledge, there is a provision in all scripts to refer the customer to a pharmacist as they are not expected to possess unlimited knowledge thus reducing the pressure and helping avoid the problem of mindlessly relying on a scripted response to avoid a difficult situation.

An inherent limitation of scripts is the inability to dictate the subtleties of interpersonal communication or compensate for a lack of ‘people skills’. PSNZ lists the personal qualities that pharmacy assistants “need to be”, including caring, a good listener, able to communicate easily with a wide range of people and trustworthy (2001, para. 5). These skills are essential not only to performance of scripts and transactions but also to form relationships with customers, due to the heterogeneous nature of customers as compared with (arguably) relatively homogenous customers in fast food restaurants. Hasan (2008) identified that the reason for variance among pharmacists’ ability to influence prescribing lies in their ability to persuade and communicate rather than clinical competence; this is more important now than ever due to the New Zealand trend of pharmacists progressively moving into a patient-centered and information-sharing role rather than prescribing role (Dunlop & Shaw, 2002; Worley, Schommer, Brown, Hadsall, Ranelli, Stratton & Uden, 2007). This indicates that in a pharmacy environment, regardless of how structured or detailed a script, employees’ movements, words, demeanour, attitudes and self-presentation cannot be controlled, contrary to the norm with McDonald’s and other fast food enterprises (Leidner, 1993).

A significant benefit of the use of scripts in retail pharmacies is their transferability between pharmacies. As pharmacies are largely homogenised, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants are able to bring their learnt scripts and knowledge from historical encounters with customers to their new employer thus minimising training costs. This also presents another key advantage for the industry: customers’ need for consistency must be met to preserve customer trust and confidence, and the credibility of the profession or industry.

In conclusion, the use of scripts in a retail pharmacy environment is to a large extent an implicit process, some that are supplemented by explicit information or resources. Various advantages include controlling the customer, identifying their real needs, maintaining consistency, reducing the effects of service perishability, allowing employee discretion, legitimising organisational actions, buffering role conflict, and reducing transaction costs. They also overcome common script disadvantages of ‘robot-like behaviour’ by encouraging employees to provide a ‘personal touch’, and inflexibility by providing broad contingency plans. On the other hand, among the disadvantages are that they cannot provide for every eventuality, overcome employees’ negative values, or provide instructions for interpersonal skills.

References

Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Mohr, L. A. (1994). Critical service encounters: The employee’s viewpoint. The Journal of Marketing, 58(4), 95-106.

CMPMedica (NZ) Ltd. (2011). Postinor.

Díez, B.S., Delgado, C. F., & Bautista, R. (2006). Failure and recovery on satisfaction: An approach from script theory. Latin American Advances in Consumer Research, 1, 21-22.

Dunlop, J. A., & Shaw, J. P. (2002). Community pharmacists’ perspectives on pharmaceutical care implementation in New Zealand. Pharmacy World & Science, 24(6), 224-230.

Fitzsimmons, J. A., & Fitzsimmons, M. J. (2008). Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Fitzsimmons, J. A., & Fitzsimmons, M. J. (2000). New Service Development: Creating Memorable Experiences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Harris, R., Harris. K., & Baron, S. (2003). Theatrical service experiences: Dramatic script development with employees. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 14(2), 184-199.

Hasan, S. (2008). A tool to teach communication skills to pharmacy students. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 72(3), 67.

Holdford, D. (2006). Service script: A tool for teaching pharmacy students how to handle common practice situations. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 70(1), 1-7.

Hyvärinen, M. L., Tanskanen, P., Katajavuori, N., & Isotalus, P. (2008). Feedback in patient counselling training—Pharmacy students’ opinion. Patient Education and Counselling, 70, 363-369.

Johnston, R., & Clark, G. (2008). Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery. Essex, England: Pearson.

Kleinaltenkamp, M., Van Stiphout, J., Eichentopf, T. (2010). The customer script as a model of customer process activities in interactive value creation. Retrieved from http://eur.academia.edu/ThomasEichentopf/Papers/244385/The_customer_script_as_a_model_of_customer_process_activities_in_interactive_value_creation

Leidner, R. (1993) Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Lovelock, C, & Wright, L. (1999). Principles of Service Marketing and Management. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Mohr, L. A., Bitner, M. J. (1991). Mutual understanding between customer and employees in service encounters. Advances in Consumer Research, 18, 611-617.

Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand. (2001). Pharmacy Assistants. Retrieved from http://www.psnz.org.nz/public/home/careers/pharmacy%20assistants.aspx

Pharmacy. (2005). In New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford.

Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand. (2009). Emergency Contraceptive Pill Consultation Record.

Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R. P. (1977). Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding: An Inquiry Into Human Knowledge Structures. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons.

United Nations. (n.d.) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Worley, M. M., Schommer, J. C., Brown, L. M., Hadsall, R. S., Ranelli, P. L., Stratton, T. P., & Uden, D. L. (2007). Pharmacists’ and patients’ roles in the pharmacist-patient relationship: Are pharmacists and patients reading from the same relationship script? Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 3, 47-69.

Appendices

In Conversation with … Professor Robert Chia

Posted by Janet Sayers

Friday 11 November 2011Massey University Albany Campus. Conversation with Staff and Students of the School of Management (Albany). Organised by Associate Professor Wendelin Kupers. 

Professor Robert Chia, Currently at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

About Professor Chia 

Robert is an elected Fellow (by invitation) of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce, (FRSA) United Kingdom as well as an invited member of the Society for the Advancement of Management Studies (SAMS), UK.

Robert has published extensively in top international management and organization journals. He is the author/editor of five books including, Strategy without Design: The Silent Efficacy of Indirect Action (with Robin Holt). His current research interests revolve around a variety of the issues including: process organization studies; strategy practice, sensemaking and emergence; scenarios, foresight and peripheral awareness; the educational role of university business schools; knowledge and practical wisdom; and the significance of contrasting East-West mentalities and their implications for business practice.

Prior to entering academia, Robert worked for 16 years in aircraft maintenance engineering, manufacturing management and human resource management for a large multinational corporation based in the Asia Pacific. Robert has consulted extensively with well-known international organizations and institutions. More about Robert can be found here.

Some of his publications, found using Google scholar are here

Robert in Conversation

The following is a summary of my understanding of Robert’s talk. Some of what I mention below is what I have followed up since he spoke, because I was captivated by his various metaphorical allusions (to writer and drawer Rushkin, poet TS Elliot, painter Rene Magriette, Zen philosophy, and Japanese management) as well as his ability to connect these ideas to his practical experience as a manager of a tin can plant producing millions and millions of units per day, and his other work experiences, and his management education philosophies.

My notes below are idiosyncratic, and if you want to add your thoughts as an attendee or just out of interest, add them below in the comments section …

Robert began by stating that managers (and us all) must comprehend the large concepts and the little tiniest details. It is the tiny little things that matter, as well as the big picture. Robert impressed upon us all the need to attend to the minute-est details in all practice, and for PhD students, especially in their writing. Many academics in the audience nodded sagely and in agreement with this advice :o).  

At another point Robert related this need to understand detail to the work of John Rushkin. John Rushkin illustrated his observations of the natural world with beautiful drawings and also wrote some inspiring text about how learning to draw can help people observe. If you want to start learning to draw, go to Project Gutenberg and download Ruskin’s book The elements of drawing, for free. I recently read Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel and recommend it for an engaging introduction to Rushkin.

What is the university for? Education - not skills training. Training skills is not what universities should be for, and this applied to business education also. Universities should be places where people can learn to think differently, or learn how to think counter-intuitively. Go to a consultant if you want a solution. Come to the university if you want space and time to think and learn to do this critically.

In other words, Robert serenely suggests that business schools should not be about learning instrumental approaches to business problems, but to think counter-intuitively about practices. That is, we should not be helping students to rote learn copious amounts of management texts/information about how to do things, or manipulate financial data, but to reflect ‘differently’ and critically on how things are done. Then when we each return into our ‘normal’ roles in life we can look at what we do and who we are in relation to our fields of practice differently. In explaining this Robert used the analogy of travelling. When you are in your own country it is very hard to see your own culture. Paradoxically, it is not until you are outside your own culture that you can reflect upon it, see it clearly, and think about it critically. This does not mean emotionally distancing oneself from it either – people that live overseas are often the ones that defend their country of origin the most passionately. But it does involve critical distancing in terms of thinking. Robert quotes TS Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Robert suggests that when managers come into the classroom (and he is talking about experienced manager training here) they should be told categorically to leave their management problems behind. Tell them, Robert advises, “we are not here to give you the solutions to your problems, but to help you learn to reflect on them differently”.

One strong theme to come across to me during the talk was the old chestnut about space and place. Robert is interested in sense-making and the phenomenological experience (along with colleague Wendelin Kupers who arranged Robert’s visit). A theme that came across to me in Robert’s talk was the tensions between place and space in management thinking and this being the source of almost all management problems. What is meant by this?

Robert related the following example from his own experience. At one point when he was working manufacturing cans, a customer rang complaining that a % of the cans Robert was supplying were leaking. The customer’s order was for millions of cans. The customer insisted that Robert do a 100% quality check of all cans before they left the factory or he would take his order somewhere else. Robert was somewhat stumped by this as they did quality checks already of course, but not of all cans. Robert talked with some of the workers on the factory floor about the problem and they came up with the solution. They could already predict a fault by the sound it made if it was struck by another piece of metal. Apparently they often amused themselves by banging the metal sheets and the cans. From this bit of information, which could only be understood by people actually working with the materials and by their sound sense, a simple ‘bang test’ process was introduced as the new 100% quality check of cans.

Relating this incident helped Robert illustrate several points he has learnt. The first was the attention to detail that he stressed from the start. The second point was the central and continuing importance of the simple and effective principle of management by wandering around (MBWA), a principle first popularised by Tom Peters. See below for Tom Peters himself relating the incident when he realized  this principle, and why it is still resonant for him (and others).

Tom Peters talking about MBWA

The third point relates to a sculpture by Rene Magritte, called ‘The White Race’. Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist. You can find out more about him and his work here.  One rendition of this famous work is below.

 Rene Magritte - The White Race

The painting represents a hierarchy of senses with the eye, or the optical or vision sense, at the epitome, with the nose at the bottom, of the pyramid but as you can see doubled and at the base. With relation to power and especially the power of visual culture this image represents what Western senses are based on. That is, the visual sense is very much related to fields of power relations.

In relation to the importance of space and place, we talked about the recent ‘occupations’ of Wall Street around the world and including in NZ, and the implications of these types of protests in the contexts of technology and opposition to aspects of globalisation that citizens find troublesome. Robert mentioned the Gutenberg Press as an invention that changed the world and caused revolutionary movements also, and drew parallels with the development of the internet and its potential also to enlighten but also radically change the world. 

I was interested to ask if there is such a thing as a wise business leader? Robert’s take on this was that the title of ‘wise’ is conferred on you by others in retrospect and is not a resource that can be developed as a tool in the business sense. He referred to Zen philosophy and to a Japanese leader who argued that the best businesses are always those that arise from serving others, not from reasons like just making money. Businesses should be driven in their actions to create through something deep, personal and presumably un-selfish. I personally see something problematic in management technologies of wisdom that are currently evolving and so it was welcoming to see this key point about wisdom so clearly and simply stated.   

Robert suggested that naivety is the type of paradoxical state of mind that we should aim for in business education; the emptying out of the mind that one seeks in Zen so that one innocently sees the world anew in each moment. I exited from the session with Robert feeling very serene and calm; like I had just been enlightened by someone who is intelligent, kind, sensible, open and practical. I can see why his services are much in demand with senior business leaders.  

Auckland: City of Volcanoes Part 3 – Place, identity and memory

Written and Posted by Janet Sayers - please acknowledge

“The spirit of a place is a strange thing. Our mechanical age tries to override it. But it does not succeed. In the end, the strange sinister spirit of place, so diverse and adverse in differing places, will smash our mechanical oneness into smithereens, and all that we think the real thing will go off with a pop, and we shall be left staring” (D.H. Lawrence, 1956)

Rangitoto from East Auckland - On Wikimedia

This entry, the third so far, introduces some theory about place and its relationship to identity in the context of the city.

Part 1: Visual Representations of Auckland to 1987 (Historical Maps and other Images)

Part 2:  Visual representations of Auckland  - Now 

Part 3:  Place, identity and memory 

This entry is the most theoretically dense to date, but its purpose is to argue that the history and landscape of Auckland is centrally important to its collective sense of itself. In further posts I will link this argument  to Auckland’s business development, Auckland City’s volcanic landscape art, and to tangata whenua.

City identity and place

Modern cities have been argued to encompass characteristics of liquid modernity (Bauman, 2000; Connerton, 2009). Connerton uses the work of Frances Yates (1966) who views memory as being dependent on stability (also see Halbwachs, 1950). Contemporary city life is characterised by change and movement and so Connerton concludes that 'forgetting' is characteristic of modern cities. Five factors contribute to this forgetting, all of which relate to cities’ time and spatial characteristics. 

Forgetting in cities occurs because of:

1. the speed at which people live their lives (Jacoby, 1975);
2. the enormous size of cities which make them incomprehensible and literally un-memorable, so that is impossible now, as it was in medieval times, to ascend a tall building (a city cathedral, or a local mount) and see the entire city from one vantage point;
3. consumerism which is disconnected from the labour process, making production all but invisible, and making cities primarily commodity-exchange cultures with no memory;
4. the short life-span of urban architecture which makes forgetting easier;
5. social relationships are less clearly defined as they are in smaller slower communities, which can be cemented more firmly in place by the stability of place and architecture.

These factors, according to Connerton, erode the foundations on which modern city subjects can build and share memories and creates a conundrum for cities in building and sustaining a sense of identity.

Matukutureia or McLaughlin Hill - On Wikipedia Commons

Although this argument resonates, it is contestable and others have argued that actually city dwellers do weave identity and memory through their everyday place-practices. Citizens create their individual identities in their everyday embodied memory practices through their being-in-the-city. Human life is always inextricably interwoven with place because place is related to culture, especially in the way we symbolise it through stories and art for example “Memory needs a place, a context.  Its place, if it finds one that lives beyond a single generation, is to be found in the stories we tell” (Kenny, 1999, p. 421). Kenny describes this phenomenon as the ‘metaphorical landscape of memory’. Extraordinary events create firmer bonds due to the greater clarity that destructive forces can wend, a point that is particularly salient and poignant considering the recent series of earthquakes in Christchurch (Halbwachs, 1950).  

Tim Ingold has written extensively about place practices and how they relate to identity and suggests that people perceive their environment, not in static frames, but through constant movement (1993, 2010). Connerton echoes these sentiments:

A sense of place depends upon a complex interplay of visual, auditory and olfactory memories ... These are acoustic, visual and other sensory experiences; familiar places are appropriated by my lived body that does not give us a position in objective space, but a sense of emplacement through their incorporation into the corporeal life of my habitual movements … (p. 32-33)

The most obvious ‘sense’ used in these placement activities is the visual. People orient themselves in relation to ‘seen’ objects within space. This argument about the relationship of memory to image will be developed soon as it is vital to attempts to visually symbolise Auckland. Place is used to remember as orientation to spatial features is essential in memorising practices; this practice creates strong empathetic emotional connections to place. The use of place to cement memory is an art-form, and is explained here as the ‘Method of loci’.

Place and Politics

So far I have introduced several ideas about the relationship of city identity to place and memory practices.  I live in NZ so I’ll be plain about the next point: place is political. Place is not and never has been neutral.

Nature is always interpreted through human culture and so place is fundamentally ideological. Culture is not static but constantly being created. Consequently culture is connected to action; what happens in a place is active and purposeful (Carter, 1987). Recent work by anthropologists shows that it is a peculiar notion of Western culture/s to see nature as passive, and relates to the modernist and colonial frame of reference for seeing. For many cultures, and this is especially obvious in Australian Aborigine culture,  visual representations of landscape are at one and the same time “a topographical map, a cosmological exegesis, a ‘clan-scape’, a ritual and a political landscape” (Bender, 2002). In other places, the lived experience of a place can be so overlaid with ideas about them, e.g. Jerusalem, that the actual place is almost completely obscured (Said, 2000).

These questions of the relationship between people, identity and place are recognised in wider geographical and post-colonial literary theory.  Osborne notes that a self-aware ‘geography of identity’ presupposes an ‘a-where-ness’ that “nation states occupy imaged terrains that serve as mnemonic devices” (Osborne, 2001).  Said has also been influential is raising the spectre of memory and imagery in relation to national identity building. He commented:

 “Memory and its representations touch very significantly upon questions of identity, of nationalism, of power and authority. Far from being a neutral exercise in facts and basic truths, the study of history, which of course is the underpinning of memory, both its schools and university, is to some considerable extent a nationalist effort premised on the need to construct a desirable loyalty to and insider’s understanding of one’s country, tradition and faith” (Said, 2000, p. 176)

Even further, Said argues that memory is not only a social, political and historical exercise, but a matter of ‘invention’. Rulers ‘invent’ memories of the past as a way of creating a new sense of identity for ruler and ruled: “The invention of tradition is a method for using collective memory selectively by manipulating certain bits of the national past, suppressing others, elevating still others in an entirely functional way” (p. 179).  Some memories are banished, especially those that the dominant hegemony feels the need to suppress.

In the post-colonial world, memory and identity is always ideologically related to colonialism; and with regard to landscapes with the way they are framed as ‘territories’ through mapping practices. Imperialists in history have shown a strong attachment to the visual, to maps, landscape art, and repeatable facts, which help the emplacement of person to memory-culture in certain ways.

Landscape features, city-scape skylines, maps, and brands are significant to citizen orientation as they are static elements of the seen environment and consequently people from diverse backgrounds can share their iconography. Landscape and environment provide the common shared tropes through which multiple subjects from diverse backgrounds can form memories and identities. In further posts I will link this argument back to Auckland’s business development, Auckland City’s volcanic landscape art, and to tangata whenua.

References

Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge: Polity.

Bender, B. (2002). Landscape, Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology (pp. 4): Taylor and Francis.

Carter, P. (1987). The road to Botany Bay: An exploration of landscape and history London: University of Minnesota Press.

Connerton, P. (2009). How modernity forgets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Halbwachs, M. (1950). The collective memory (L. Coser, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago.

Harley, J. B. (1988). Maps, knowledge and power. In D. Cosgrave & S. Daniels (Eds.), The iconography of landscape: Essays on the symbolic representation, design and use of past environments (pp. 277—312). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ingold, T. (1993). The temporality of the landscape. World Archaeology, 25(2), 152—174.

Ingold, T. (2010). The textility of making. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34 (1), 91—102.

Jacoby, R. (1975). Social amnesia: A critique of conformist psychology from Adler to Laing Boston: Beacon Press.

Kenny, M. (1999). The place for memory: The interface between individual and collective history. Comparative Studies In Society And History, 41(3), 420—437.

Lawrence, D. H. (1956). Sea and Sardinia. London: William Heinemann.

Osborne, B. S. (2001). Landscapes, memory, monuments, and commemoration: Putting identity in its place Canadian Ethnic Studies, XXXIII(3), 39—77.

Said, E. W. (2000). Invention, memory and place. Critical Inquiry, 26(2), 175—192.

Yates, F. (1966). The art of memory. London: Routledge Paul

To reference this work:

Sayers, J. (2011). Auckland: City of Volcanoes Part 3 – Place, identity and memory. On Managing Services Blogspot, at http://managingservicesblogspot.blogspot.com/2011/10/auckland-city-of-volcanoes-part-3-place.html, Downloaded xx/xx/xxx.

Managing Services Blog by Janet Sayers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at managingservicesblogspot.blogspot.com.

Auckland - City of Volcanoes - Part 1: Visual Representations of Auckland to 1987 (Historical Maps and Other Images)

Written and Posted by Janet Sayers


The main point of this series (ongoing)  is to argue there would be real benefit to Auckland and New Zealand for Auckland to embrace itself as a ‘City of Volcanoes'. As this series develops I will elaborate upon this argument.


Part 1: Visual Representations of Auckland to 1987 (Historical Maps and other Images) 

Part 2:  Visual Representations of Auckland  - Now 

Part 3:  Place and Identity: The Theory


In Part 1 I provide an eclectic historical tour through some images of Auckland and relate them to Auckland’s significance as a developing global city.  I provide a series of images of Auckland, with some commentary to provide some historical context on how Auckland has been symbolized and mapped since the early 1800s.


The first image below of Auckland in 2002 is a satellite map. The impact of the city on the volcanic landscape is remarkable, especially when you compare this image with the Fernindad von Hochstetter’s 1859 map of the Auckland isthmus below it.

  

Landsat image of Auckland (2002)  http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/archive/c0012.html

The next map is by early cartographer Von Hochstetler and is an evocative reference point for understanding Auckland’s volcanic landscape in 1859. The nascent CBD of Auckland can be seen clinging to its coastal port. 

Fernindad von Hochstetter’s 1859 map of the Auckland isthmus

See http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/virt-exhib/hochstetter/auckland.html

The image in settlers’ minds of Auckland in this period was of a little England. 

The greater part of the land on this isthmus, which divides the two harbours, is now in a high state of cultivation. Solid stone walls and quickset hedges are generally taking the place of temporary wooden fences of posts and rails. At Epsom, and in the Tamaki district, there are grass and clover paddocks, as large, as rich, as well laid down, and as substantially fenced, as any grass land in England. There is a good macadamized road across the isthmus from Auckland to Onehunga, on the Manukau Harbour; and the country around is studded with picturesque farms, cottages, and wayside houses. (Angas, 1866, p. 107)

Another useful interesting historical  map of Auckland is provided on the Auckland City Council's website; The 1908 City of Auckland Map. It is described  thus: 

"The  1908 map is a significant and unique record of Auckland City's history and early infrastructure. The map portrays an exciting period in the city's development and documents the progress of a growing city. As such, it is one of Auckland City Council archives' most treasured and valuable assets; it is referred to regularly by family and property researchers, local historians, students, archaeologists and contractors working for council."

Other interesting visual representations of Auckland are 'advertising images' and images designed to communicate the essence of Auckland to visitors to the city, and thus to ourselves. Auckland’s first major visual identity was conferred by Great Britain.  The Coat of Arms, given below on 23 October 1911 symbolized the characteristics and traditions of the region in New Zealand where the city is situated. It is made up of a number of heraldic elements which suggest progress built upon Auckland’s natural features:  the port and a ship;  a shovel and a pick as a reminder of early mining activities; arms placed inside the shield with cornucopia representing Auckland as a cup of plenty with agricultural and natural richness; native flax in flower; and two rampant kiwi as the primary symbols of New Zealand; all textually anchored by the word ‘Advance’ ("The Auckland city coat of arms," 2011).  This first official visual representation was therefore a conferred one by the colonial power, which saw Auckland as a seat of colonial administration, and as a resource-base whose primary identity was commercial. This identity was seen from the outside as being closely tied to its natural environment, and its commercial exploitation as a primary resource.

Auckland's Coat of Arms  - 1911

Other early representations of Auckland were focused outwards in an attempt to attract settlers, investors and visitors to the region to stimulate economic growth. The free 1934 ‘The gateway official guide to Auckland’ (see below) features strong Māori figuration with its representation of two Māori, a man and a woman, in ‘traditional costume’ framed by green whakairo (carving). The green probably represents valuable pouanamu (jade) for which there was a vigorous early trade. Whakairo represent ancestors, and this symbology is directly related to natural features of the land through the cultural practice of whakapapa. The gateway symbol refers to traditional Māori welcoming practices, where visitors are formally welcomed on to a marae (meeting house) through the tomokanga (gateway) (Te Ahukaramū, 2011).

The Gateway Official Guide to Auckland 1934

This booklet was published to promote Auckland by a conglomerate of civil and business authorities. Māori symbols were yoked to lever advantage for Auckland settlers with little cultural understanding of the irony in their use of ‘displaced’ Māori in this fashion. 

Auckland began to develop its civic structures, and with the advent of the motor vehicle, arterial roads and motorways became the defining feature of the urban landscape. Auckland grew rapidly and spread out. The uptake of the car led to further massive expansion that has resulted in the growth of associated urban areas like the North Shore, especially after the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge finished in 1959.  Advertisements during this period reinforced Auckland as a thriving city full of opportunities for the visitor and emphasised it still as a gateway to New Zealand. As time has progressed representations have become more abstract; in the image below Auckland is like a framed painting, with the city fore-grounded. The harbour is depicted as a busy port, and the volcanic cones of Rangitoto and North-head are in the background.

1930 Auckland The Gateway to New Zealand

The next image below is from the period after the harbour bridge was built, and is entirely abstract in its representation, probably following stylistic fashions of the time. This image has dominated the city collective imaginary as the ‘City of Sails’ until now.  The image symbols are framed by a port-hole like circle emphasising an insider-outsider spilt characteristic of the 'imperial gaze' (see part 3 of this series). The four icons within are: the harbour, the bridge, Rangitoto and two sails.  The sails dominate the harbour, overpowering nature. The harbour bridge overarches all of nature, symbolically representing technology and flow. This symbol was used for the Auckland City Council for a number of years.

Auckland Visitors Guide 1986/87

In the next part of this article Part 2: 'Visual Representations of Auckland - Now' I'll discuss Auckland's current visual identity. In Part  3 I provide a rationale for Auckland being the 'City of volcanoes' based on some pointy-headed theory about place, identity and memory. In further postings I hope to explore  Auckland in visual art (and a little bit of literature) and why this should all matter to businesses in Auckland.


References 


Angas, G. F. (1866). Polynesia. A popular description of the physical features, inhabitants, natural history, and productions of the islands of the Pacific. With an account of their discovery, and the progress of civilisation and Christianity amongst them. Retrieved 3 July 2010, from http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-AngPoly-t1-body-d5.html

The Auckland city coat of arms. (2011).   Retrieved 1 May 2011, 2011, from http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/introduction/coatarms/default.asp

Maling, P. (Cartographer). (1999). Historic charts and maps of NZ 1642-1875. Reed: Wellington. .

Te Ahukaramū, C. R. (2011, 1 March 2009). Te Waonui a Tāne – forest mythology. Rituals of the marae. Te Ara - the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand   Retrieved 6 June, 2011, from http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/te-waonui-a-tane-forest-mythology/2

Managing Services Blog by Janet Sayers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at managingservicesblogspot.blogspot.com.