How to Improve Service Quality and Satisfaction

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 11:04:17 -0500
From: "Faulhaber, Gerald" <faulhabe () wharton upenn edu>
Subject: FW: How to Improve Service Quality and Satisfaction
To: dave () farber net

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 () wharton upenn edu; fac-associated () wharton upenn edu
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 () wharton upenn edu.


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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