ABSTRACT
The approach of management to what is, in its most clinical terms, an information problem is to provide clear information and to reduce the amount of information needed by the customer. One approach is to make employees good communicators . However, the environment can be more complex than any one individual can express . Furthermore, the product is partially intangible which makes it even harder to express. In a very real sense, the staff are part of the product. An alternative is if management simplify the environment by reducing choice to a small number of clear alternatives, reduce services, cut out rituals and generally make everything more tangible - then the customer has an easier task and the risk of frustration is reduced . There are, however, two possible dangers here: firstly, the chance of making something special into something mundane and, secondly, if everything is specified then the social interaction between customers and staff is similarly likely to be simplified into a businesslike exchange .
