Customer Service Standards Research Articles

Empirical Study of Level of Customer Service at Commercial Banks

In the contemporary customer centric scenario, the main driver of banks’ success and endurance is satisfying the ever increasing demands and expectations of the customers. To assess the customer service standards in banks, this paper is a study of the level of customer service attained by scheduled commercial banks with respect to the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The objective is to find the key challenges and gaps in fulfilling the customer needs based on a comparison of initiatives taken by the public sector, private sector and foreign banks. Keeping in view the banker-customer interface on a regular basis, the authors have studied the customer (bank) attributes of satisfaction vis-à-vis the guidelines given by the regulator. Samples have been collected through questionnaires with respect to 16 attributes and the data has been interpolated in variant terms.

Board 164 - Program Innovations Abstract Using Simulation to Teach Customer Service Standards in Orientation (Submission #934)

Introduction/Background Patient Satisfaction - that is, a measurement designed to obtain reports or ratings from patients about services received from an organization - is an important factor for safe and effective healthcare.1 Often, individuals perceive the quality of customer service/patient satisfaction differently despite their direct relationship. As quality of customer service increases, patient satisfaction is likely to increase as well. It is an effective indicator and measure of quality of care from timeliness and patient-centered care, to affecting clinical outcomes, patient retention, and medical malpractice claims.1,2,3 Additionally,accreditation agencies (i.e. The Joint Commission, etc.) focus on quality service issues. Despite the importance to clinical practice, it remains an area that is infrequently taught or reinforced with staff.4 Bridging the gap between education and quality service could effectively create a culture for improved quality of care leading to more patient satisfaction.4,5,6 Methods As a result, the Ohio Health Learning team proposed including an educational component using simulation during the new RN orientation held over a five day period. All new staff RN’s to the hospital are trained over a one week time period (new RN orientation) prior to starting on the unit. Each RN is briefed on the Customer Service Standards of the organization on Day 1. On Days 2-5, each RN is using the verbiage and best practices in simulations (i.e. scenarios, skill stations). Debrief occurs after each simulation6 with the other orientees and an RN lead educator. The customer service training included understanding the customer’s needs and their responsibility in prioritizing and meeting those needs through mindful- and training in communication skills to achieve patient and relationship centeredness.5 The organizations high level of patient satisfaction is now shared amongst all new RNs. Focus groups of managers, educators and preceptors have identified that the new RNs are coming to the unit with more applicable skills regarding customer service. With a better understanding of the customer service standards, as well as continued practice during the first week of orientation, the orientees confirmed more confidence in regards to customer service standards. Results: Conclusion This training was successful in demonstrating the usefulness of simulation in customer service education. More research and deeper analysis should be done to provide evidence of potential significant findings by identifying metrics and potential scores (Safety and Quality, SAQ, HCAHPS) across the units. Additionally, further analysis is needed to identify the potential benefit of increased trust as a result of training between the new RN, their patients, as well as their preceptor and manager.1

Board 151 - Program Innovations Abstract Facing the Challenges of Maintaining Relevant Content in a Simulation Based Nursing Orientation Program (Submission #595)

Introduction/Background As current healthcare integrates new evidence-based practices and evolving technologies, educational programs are at a high risk of becoming outdated and irrelevant. Nursing orientation programs should be continually evaluated to develop new strategies to increase competencies through innovative approaches that are effective (i.e. simulation).1 Failure to continually evaluate training programs Results in missed opportunities to provide quality education and skills training that will impact patient care and outcomes.2 Additionally, inadequate orientation has been found to lead to high turnover rates for new graduates.3 Furthermore, significant cost savings can be saved through program design that eliminates ineffective educational Methods and/or repetitive information. To create competent, effective and pertinent orientation programs, educators must be innovative and current in their approach, integrating adult learning theories and experiential learning.4 Specific to RN orientation in a hospital setting, developers should consider current practices, policies, orienting staff roles (i.e. preceptors), opportunities to enhance learning through simulation,4,5communication, critical thinking and devise an assessment/evaluation plan for both orientees and the orientation program.3 Methods Educators for a local hospital were charged with the responsibility to redesign the RN orientation program for new hires. Previous orientation had little change in format and content over the last two decades and had continually increased in length and time, more than doubling the cost of orientation. Educators were thoughtful throughout the development of the new simulation based nursing program, working with content experts to eliminate redundant and extraneous information (i.e. LMS, online learning) to maximize time and quality of the learning experience. Additionally, continual evaluation has become a common practice to ensure that the orientation does not become outdated and continually improvement. The orientation program occurs during the first week of each new hire’s RN orientation. Formerly, courses were taught through lecture (i.e. PowerPoint) and online (LMS) format. Educators worked together with clinical nursing staff to create a more experience based training using current equipment and supplies as their hired location. The training was created to include nine skill stations and nine patient simulated scenario,s using both high fidelity simulation and standardized patients. Each skill station and scenario incorporates detailed nursing practice information. Education coordinators were purposeful to include practicing bedside nurses in the development of the program. Preceptors were chosen from various levels of care and nursing specialties to assist with the design of the program and also to serve as an instructor. The inclusion of a rotating preceptor in each course has had a considerable impact in keeping the information updated and is an actual reflection of bedside nursing.6 The program has also incorporated unit based assessments which are completed on the RN’s assigned unit at two crucial times during their orientation. The first is completed as a midpoint assessment and the second is an end-point assessment. Results: Conclusion New RNs need practical, hands on, specific education. This education must be continually updated at the same rate that policies, equipment and products are updated within the hospital system. The midpoint and endpoint assessments have made a positive contribution to keep the nursing orientation program relevant. As instructors leave the simulation center and gain quality time assessing RNs in the inpatient units, they are able to bring back valuable information. This information has been used to evaluate the program and make changes to keep the course content current. Course instructors are also mindful to stay connected to important multidisciplinary teams. It is crucial to be informed of new safety initiatives, updated customer service standards and important nursing outcome related data. Collaboration with various internal stakeholders has proven valuable resource. Such groups include: Patient Safety, Product Value Analysis, Nursing and Infection Prevention Outcome Managers and Policy and Procedure Review Committees.

SRS Document Proposal Analysis on the Design of Management Information Systems According to IEEE STD 830-1998

A software development process generally consists of several stages ranging from analysis to implementation, which will result in need (requirement) of software. Results of analysis for different applications in a similar problem domain will usually produce similar definition needs. In the field of software engineering, especially in object- oriented software development, requirements for different problem domain have been developed. This research is to obtain a similarity (commonality) of the software requirements specifications, here in after in short-SRS. Management Information System (MIS) has been chosen due to several years has developed into concepts that are essential both in the scope of major agencies as well as small and medium scale. SRS is the identification of commonality for the MIS application which is focused on the function of customer service standards, particularly for the Management Information System. From this research it also can be concluded that the SRS commonality can be generated by capturing best practices from existing business processes.

Revisiting the Urban Electoral Processes

With increasing urbanization in India, citizens’ expectations and demands regarding the quality of democratic institutions are likely to increase. Consequently, democratic institutions are under pressure to evaluate and improve the quality of services. One of the key institutions that determine the future of urban India is the electoral system and its processes. Given this context, this study attempts to discuss the two key electoral processes: registration and balloting. The objective is to analyze these processes and argue for developing an Electoral System Index (ESI) as a tool to identify areas of concern and make recommendations to reform municipal election processes for the city of Bangalore. This study endeavours to address the above-stated problem through the theoretical perspective of the Dreze-Sen model of democracy and the conceptual framework of applying customer service standards to public institutions (responsiveness). The study, based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods and through sampled wards, demonstrates that citizens’ experiences with certain aspects of the electoral processes were not uniform, thereby validating the need for ESI to make data-driven recommendations for future reforms.

Assessment criteria for the sustainable competitive advantage of the national merchant fleet from a resource-based view

To determine the competitive advantage of the national merchant fleet, based on the resource-based view, we collect competitive advantage assessment factors from literature, and use the analytic hierarchy process methodology to compare the importance of assessment dimensions and variables. The article's conclusions include a recommendation that the government review the current allocation of resources and implement measures to reinforce the national merchant fleet. This study's findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Criteria dimensions are ranked in the order of competitive strength, organizational capability, tangible assets, and intangible assets. (2) Criteria variables can be ranked in the order of freight revenue, cargo loading ratio, accuracy of shipping schedule, dead weight tonnage, number of vessels, standard of customer service, reputation of shipping company, cargo transportation volume, gross tonnage, sailing frequency, shipping knowledge, fleet specialization, number of crewmen, and fleet technological level. (3) The government should review existing maritime regulations and measures in order to formulate specific and transparent policies, and seek to adopt optimal alternatives from other countries concerning such issues as tonnage tax, bilateral income tax reduction or exemption agreements, second-registration mechanisms and shipbuilding basis, etc.

Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept Compensation for Changes in Urban Water Customer Service Standards

In this paper, we explore the use of choice modelling for obtaining implicit prices for attributes associated with changes in the reliability of household water services. While not often estimated in practice, the collection of information about willingness to accept compensation is relevant for utilities as customers often have implicit or explicit property rights for particular levels of customer service. Given ageing infrastructure in many cities, maintaining customer service standards requires large capital expenditures. It may be more economically efficient to allow standards to decline in some areas and compensate consumers. Therefore it is useful to understand the value of attributes of water service provision using willingness to accept and how this differs from willingness to pay. We therefore estimate both willingness to accept and willingness to pay measures, and find that respondents value a larger range of attributes using the willingness to accept approach.

The Use of Acceptable Customer Waiting Times for Capacity Management in a Multistage Restaurant

This study took an integrated approach to restaurant capacity management by capturing major types of capacity and multiple stages of service and incorporating customers’ expectations. A simulation was used to measure the current restaurant’s performance in meeting the waiting time standards and to identify the threshold requirements of resources to meet the different levels of customer expectations of waiting times. The results showed that the current restaurant needed to adjust capacity levels to meet the customer service standards, and more than one combination of multiresource thresholds existed because the threshold level of each resource varied with the other types of resources.

Strategic Asset Management of Water Supply and Wastewater Infrastructures

Water and Wastewater companies operating all around the world have faced rising asset management and replacement costs, often to levels that are financially unsustainable. Management of investment needs, while meeting regulatory and other goals, has required: These papers developed from LESAM 2007 for inclusion in Strategic Asset Management of Water Supply and Wastewater Infrastructures are focused on the techniques, technologies and management approaches aiming at optimising the investment in infrastructure while achieving demanded customer service standards, and they provide an opportunity to gain access to the latest discussion and developments at the leading-edge in this field. This book will be essential reading for utility operators and managers, regulators and consultants. ISBN: 9781843391869 (Print) ISBN: 9781780401720 (eBook)

A Marketer’s Point of Views: Strategy of Developing and Reinforcing Brand Loyalty In The 1990’s

The rapid change in competition and technology results in decrease in brand loyalty and business decline. This means that keeping customer loyalty is a very challenging effort today because brand loyalty is very important to acquire, maintain, and develop market share. To keep customer loyal to a certain brand or to keep a brand valuable in front of the customers’ eye, marketer must be able to reduce marketing cost, to maintain trade leverage, to attract new customers, and to provide time to respond to competitive trade. Strategies that support to gain and retain the loyalty of today’s consumers are understanding the customers, keeping brand image consistent, running promotion that develop loyalty, maintaining high standards of customer service, and soliciting retailer participation. Nevertheless, even for the company who has strong brand, reinforcing brand loyalty is still needed. There are seven factors that will relate to build brand loyalty reinforcement.Key words: customer or brand loyalty.

Benchmarking service quality in UK electricity distribution networks

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the evolution and development of customer service performance measures in the electricity sector since privatization in 1989, and then examine the impact of a specific recent energy regulatory requirement (known as information and incentives project (IIP)) on the organizational management of an exemplar electricity distribution company. Also discussed is how the sector has tried to learn from benchmarks from a number of such literary disciplines as economics, marketing service quality, and total quality management.Design/methodology/approachThe research first presents a survey of the historical development of performance standards based on archival documentation. It is then augmented by the employment of a longitudinal “tracer study”, involving the isolation and firsthand real time qualitative observations of a company's key strategic and operational activities, to understand how they related to the other organizational phenomena at large. This process spanned an investigative period of two years.FindingsThe paper finds that much of the early standards used in electricity immediately after the sector's privatization rested much on those in the water and gas safety sectors, which themselves were then admittedly inadequate in UK. The IIP, a complementary set of service quality standards, worked on these early problems, but the implementation of the new scheme proved problematic and warranted major organizational reengineering, as shown in the exemplar company, ElectriCo. IIP has impacted on organizational management mostly in the areas of: higher‐level strategic change, causing noticeable internal confusion during strategic transitions, building a performance management system, improvements in performance data, and establishing more effective ways for management.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the case example used in the research is a regional monopoly and is a good representation of the context in which the service standards operate, the findings are limited to the one company. It is a UK specific context without international comparison.Originality/valueThe research has combined archival research with an innovative firsthand methodological approach (tracer studies). Its value is in how the story of service standards in electricity (and specifically distribution) has been augmented from the early customer service standards to the most recent IIP considerations. It also looks from within the company, which has been missing in longstanding research in the more traditional disciplines such as economics.

The Global Indian Manager: Developing The Global DNA

Many of the Indian organizations are flexing their muscles in the global economy after becoming convinced of their ability to compete globally. The Indian companies have announced more than 661 foreign acquisitions in 2007. Continuing this trend, more and more Indian organisations are shopping abroad for their suppliers of technology, materials, talent, capital etc. In the current Indian economy, private as well as public sectors are becoming more and more aggressive in acquiring foreign customers and markets. As more and more Indian managements are setting out to create global footprints, Indian managers and CEOs are coming under the scanner. Does their Indian DNA allow them to perform effectively in an alien culture? Can they blend Indian management practices and Indian values seamlessly with European, American and Eastern practices? Fierce competition is forcing Indian companies in India also to work to global standards of efficiency, productivity and customer service. But is the Indian manager equipped? The paper therefore, attempts to look closer at the human dynamics of the Indian journey addressing various strategic dimensions related to the globalisation journey being undertaken by Indian organisations.

Service sells: Exploring connections between customer service strategy and the psychological contract

AbstractDrawing on detailed qualitative case study evidence from four retail banking organisations, this article highlights the connections between customer relations strategy, the psychological contract and employee behaviour. The purpose of the research is to extend our understanding of the links between employees and customers by showing how this relationship evolves over time and by highlighting that a front-line employee's service orientation needs to be understood within the broader context of the employee's service experience. It is suggested that a better understanding of these connections could facilitate improved customer service standards and enhance the experiences of those working in service industries.

Service sells: Exploring connections between customer service strategy and the psychological contract

AbstractDrawing on detailed qualitative case study evidence from four retail banking organisations, this article highlights the connections between customer relations strategy, the psychological contract and employee behaviour. The purpose of the research is to extend our understanding of the links between employees and customers by showing how this relationship evolves over time and by highlighting that a front-line employee's service orientation needs to be understood within the broader context of the employee's service experience. It is suggested that a better understanding of these connections could facilitate improved customer service standards and enhance the experiences of those working in service industries.

Global Brand Expansion

When hotel firms expand internationally, they must determine the ownership strategy and the management strategy that will best maintain the firm’s competitive advantage. Those decisions are made separately from each other and depend on the expanding company’s own strengths and the strengths found in the local market. That interplay between the company’s strengths and local resources drives the type of partnership or affiliation arrangement that the company uses to enter the foreign market. The decision regarding who controls management and marketing, for instance, depends to a large extent on whether the expanding company can rely on local interests to maintain the firm’s customer service standards. If the firm does not use customer service as a competitive advantage, it can make more use of third-party interests to operate the hotel. If the hotel facility is itself a point of competitive advantage, the decision on the extent of equity investment by the firm rests on whether local interests have sufficient resources to build and maintain the property.

Improving Train Maintenance Through Process Modelling and Component-Based System Design and Implementation

Improving the UK train services has been the subject of many debates in the last few years particularly after the privatization of the rail network in 1993. Within the network's complex structure, the train maintenance industry plays a major role in keeping trains in safe condition with a high standard of customer service. The results of a research work carried out by Loughborough University to investigate ways of improving the current practice in this industry through the application of business process modelling and component-based system design approaches are documented in the present paper. The method that has been adopted to enable a formal representation of a typical train maintenance process is discussed in detail and a case study based around a major maintenance supplier on the South West Trains network in the UK is described.

Customer Service and the Dilemma of Product Warranty

Responding to economic liberalization and realizing the great market potential, a number of multinational enterprises (MNEs) based in developed countries are expanding their operations to the developing world, either through foreign direct investment or through joint ventures. These MNEs are trying to translocate product quality standards as well as customer service standards from their home countries to host countries. In the process, customer expectations from these MNEs in the developing countries have risen very high, but the MNEs are struggling to meet them, especially with respect to the customer service aspect. They are facing many constraints; the major ones have to do with the archaic outlook and traditional mode of doing business by their dealerships. This case summarizes some such problems being faced by one multi-national automobile giant in India—FastTrack Motors India Limited. The case has a strong essence of customer satisfaction and deals with different stages of customer reaction.

Strategic management of the Tokyo taxi cab industry: an exploratory study

AbstractTaxicabs are an indispensable means of transportation in Tokyo, as they provide a 24/7 door‐to‐door service for a daily average of 1.3 million people. In 2002, legislation was introduced to abolish restrictions on the number of taxicabs on the road. This relaxation of regulation, together with the corresponding recession, raised new issues such as increasing cab numbers and reducing drivers' wages.The wide variety of stakeholders involved within the taxicab industry have conflicting positions, resulting in little agreement on the possible way forward. An exploratory study was therefore undertaken in order to investigate the management of Tokyo's taxicab operations in order to formulate strategies for improving the service. Two related papers report on the study.This paper starts by providing an understanding of the current situation, examining the roles of the major stakeholders and outlining day‐to‐day operations.Academic frameworks, for example PEST, Critical Success Factors and the Cultural Web, from the strategic management literature, are used to identify the structure of the industry and analyse the environment in which it operates.The results found that Tokyo's taxicab industry is highly efficient operationally, due to the high standard of customer service, effective driver's learning scheme and active use of IT. However, a paradoxical situation has been identified where the demand for cabs has decreased even though the available vehicles have increased. Finally, a uniform method to measure the level of taxicab service is recommended. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Changing an Organization's Culture: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry's TigerCare Program

Studies have shown that the culture of an organization could be the difference between success and failure in achieving its overall corporate goals and mission. Although some aspects of an organization's culture are visible and tangible, such as the physical structure or overall cleanliness of the facility, other aspects are less tangible but just as apparent, like the helpfulness of the staff and the overall "attitude" of the organization. Private industry discovered many years ago that the key to creating a friendly and productive culture lies in the hands of the employees. TigerCare is a program that engages the civil service employees and provides them with the knowledge and motivation necessary to excel in their jobs and deliver the highest standard of customer service and job performance. It has helped the LSUHSC School of Dentistry develop employees who deliver excellent customer care. This article reports on the specific steps taken to improve the customer service culture and describes the results of the program after two years of implementation.

USING A CHOICE MODELLING APPROACH FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS IN URBAN WATER

ABSTRACT: A series of reforms in the water industry in Australia has created a demand from the industry and regulators for objective methodologies to evaluate incremental changes in the customer service standards. In this paper, the use of choice modeling for estimating implicit prices associated with urban water supply attributes is explored. Results from multinomial logit (MNL) and random parameters logit (RPL) models show that increases in annual water bills and the frequency of future interruptions were the most important attributes. Implicit price confidence intervals based on the best models suggest that people are willing to pay positive amounts to achieve a water supply that is less frequently interrupted. The provision of alternative water supplies during an interruption and notification of the interruption were found to be unimportant to respondents. Choice modeling proved to be a useful technique and provided the industry and regulators with additional information for standard setting.