Feb. 10, 1999
Personnel evaluation can be irritating or irrelevant. A "satisfactory" evaluation in a service environment depends on an agreement between employer and employee about what the service relationship should be.
People are most crucial element in a service organization. The employer has a right to expect that employees will perform to the standards of the job description. The employee has a right to expect fair treatment, that is, equitable treatment compared to comparable work/salary/benefits that others have.
A job should be realistic, that is, one that can be performed satisfactorily with a reasonable amount of effort and with a reasonable chance of success. If job can't be completed, saying "do the best you can" is meaningless. Redesign job so that it can be completed through reducation in input, modification of technique, reduction of standards, or the like.
Subordinates want to be evaluated and they understand the need to be evaluated. The following five points are good management practice in respect to supervising staff:
Management must evaluate the needs of subordinates against the needs of the organization we are responsible for and look for ways to make the two fit or agree that they don't. ... As good managers,
- we give people doable jobs.
- make sure they understand them.
- leave them alone to do them.
- help them if they ask us.
- evaluate what they did.
- seek correction and direction.
- reward and punish.
- seek ways to balance organization needs against personal needs.
A useful equation to bear in mind is:
Schneider and Bowen (Winning the Service Game. HBS Press, 1995) say that there are four ways organizations fail to use reward effectively.PERFORMANCE = MOTIVATION X ABILITY
People are directed by pursuing goals that yield reward that gratify needs.
People persist in behaviors that regularly yield rewards that gratify needs.
Seven tests of an effective reward are as follows:
Quality Dimension | Samples of questions to ask |
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Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, printed and visual materials |
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Reliability: Ability to perform promised service dependably and accurately |
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Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers to provide prompt service |
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Competence: Possession of required skill and knowledge to perform servide |
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Courtesy: Politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of contact personnel |
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Credibility: Trustworthiness, believability, honesty of the service provider |
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Security: Freedom from danger, risk, or doubt |
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Access: Approachability and ease of contact. |
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Communication: Listening to customers and acknowledging their comments; Keeping customers informed in a language they can understand. |
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Understanding the Customer: Making the effort to know customers and their needs. |
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Adapted from SERVQUAL, an instrument for measuring quality service developed by Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry and described in their book, Delivering Quality Service; Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, Free Press, 1990.