[IP] How to Improve Service Quality and Satisfaction
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 11:04:17 -0500
From: "Faulhaber, Gerald" <faulhabe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: FW: How to Improve Service Quality and Satisfaction
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Dave--
I don't know if this is IP material, but I think academics would find it of
great interest. It relates to the validity of customer satisfaction
surveys, in particular student evaluations of instructors in universities.
Gerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Armstrong, J. Scott
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 5:55 PM
To: fac-stand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; fac-associated@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: How to Improve Service Quality and Satisfaction
To Wharton Faculty:
The following essay discusses an issue that is relevant to others as well
as to us. I have circulated it among marketing faculty around the world.
Could you send me suggestions on email lists in your area that might be
interested? Or could you pass it along to other lists?
Thanks,
Scott Armstrong
"How to Improve Service Quality and Satisfaction"
or
"My boss wants you to like my essays,
so please give this a good rating"
J. Scott Armstrong
March 13, 2004
Imagine that you are the CEO of a business that provides services to
customers. Many years ago, in an effort to produce higher quality service
and higher customer satisfaction, you instituted a satisfaction survey that
is given to all customers. You let customers know that they will be
surveyed to see if they are satisfied.
One day, a professor friend tells you that studies show that when customers
expect to receive a satisfaction survey, they are less satisfied with the
services. Ofir & Simonson (2001) obtained these results in a series of
cleverly designed field experiments across a number of industries: these
included a computer company, an electric utility, a supermarket, an
electronic equipment company, and a magazine. The experimenters let some
people know that they would be asked about their satisfaction (after
receiving services), while others were not notified. All were contacted
after receiving the services to assess their satisfaction. The experiments
were all conducted on large samples of actual business transactions. The
findings were clear: customers who were told they would be asked about
their satisfaction reported less satisfaction than those who did not
realize they would be asked for their opinions.
In addition, your friend tells you that pre-announced satisfaction surveys
are expected to be detrimental to employee morale (e.g., Gray & Bergman
2003). She further points to evidence that the actual quality of customer
services is expected to be reduced as a result of this approach (e.g.,
Armstrong 1998; Bjork 1994). Finally, your friend says that she has been
unable to find evidence of ANY benefits for pre-announced full-population
consumer satisfaction surveys. As you are already aware, the collection
and analysis of such surveys consumes time and money.
Almost all other firms in your industry use similar satisfaction surveys.
They believe this to be an effective approach for improving service quality.
What would you do as the CEO? Mark with an X:
___ A. Censor academic materials from circulating in your organization (you
might call it peer review). Advise your employees that they should not read
unapproved academic studies on company time because it creates strife
within the organization. You are looking for team players.
___ B. Call a meeting and encourage your employees to discuss the issue.
Then explain why nothing will be done.
___ C. Form a committee to address the issue.
___ D. Nothing (i.e., keep current system). Research by professors is
hopelessly impractical for running a business or making any real decisions.
___ E. Encourage your employees to experiment with other approaches.
___ F. Discard your satisfaction survey, perhaps replacing it by
unannounced small-scale sample satisfaction surveys.
___ G. Assess actual quality (e.g., what percentage of the patients died?),
not perceived quality (did the families like the doctors?)
Now step out of your assumed CEO role. Put an * next to the decision that
your boss would make, given this information.
My Opinions About Pre-announced Satisfaction Surveys
Recently, after I purchased an auto from Acura, the salesman told me that I
would be getting a satisfaction questionnaire. He then asked me if I would
give him a good rating. He had done an excellent job by avoiding the
car-seller games, but this was a painful moment for both of us.
Like Acura, my organization forces me to use satisfaction surveys for all
customers. (In my industry, they are called "teacher evaluations.") What
would you do if you believed the professor and were forced to administer
such surveys?
Your Opinions About the Service that I Have Provided to You
Did you like my essay? 0 = hated it, to 10 = loved it! _________
Please be kind. I will share these with my boss. And remember, I really
worked hard on this essay. I received peer review from 17 people and it
went through 26 versions.
Note: If you are aware of any organizations that have abandoned
pre-announced satisfaction surveys in favor of alternative approaches (E, F
or G above), please send a description of the changes to
armstrong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
References
Armstrong, J. Scott (1998), "Are Student Ratings of Instruction Useful?"
American Psychologist, 53 (November), 1223-1224 (see full text at
http://jscottarmstrong.com).
Bjork, R.A. (1994). Memory and Metamemory Considerations in the Training
of Human Beings. In J. Metcalfe and A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition:
Knowing about knowing (pp.185-205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gray, Mary & Barbara R. Bergmann (2003), "Student Teaching Evaluation:
Inaccurate, Demeaning, Misused," Academe, (September-October), 44-46.
Ofir, Chezy & Itamar Simonson (2001), "In Search of Negative Customer
Feedback: The Effect of Expecting to Evaluate on Satisfaction Evaluations,"
Journal of Marketing Research, 38, 170-182.
J. Scott Armstrong
Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School, U. of PA, Phila, PA 19104
http://www.jscottarmstrong.com
home phone 610 622 6480
Home address: 645 Harper Ave., Drexel Hill, PA 19026
Fax at school: 215 898 2534
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