Exhibit 6.2 The service-profit chain. Two voices — voice of the
employee, voice of the customer (Source: Adapted from James L. Heskett, W.
Earl Sasser and Leonard A. Schlesinger, The Service Profit Chain,
1997).
Understanding what drives
customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer value, empowers leaders to
direct their organization’s efforts to better serve the needs of their
customers. Their strategies however can best be realized through a team that is
highly motivated.
The service-profit chain,
depicted in (Exhibit 6.2), is a road map for leaders of service organizations
that emphasizes the importance of each employee and each customer in driving
shareholder value. It is essentially the commonsensical notion that customer
satisfaction strategies begin with employee satisfaction — by winning their
hearts and minds, companies can motivate their employees to improve performance
and productivity, for the benefit of customers.
Employee satisfaction is a long debated subject. Numerous
theories abound on the nature of human motivation, and many practices prevail
within organizations to boost and sustain employee satisfaction. Overwhelming
evidence, however, suggests that the challenge of winning the hearts of
employees is not an easy one.
The reward and recognition programmes and the
“carrot and stick” policies that prevail tend to focus on the individual’s need
for self-esteem. The negative impact of these policies which drive employees to
compete for rewards was emphasized by Kohn in 1993. Earlier in 1989 Stephen
Covey described how we are deeply scripted in the win/lose mentality, from the
days we compete for grades and medals, to the days we compete for promotions
and bonuses. Teams, however, are part of an interdependent reality where
success hinges more on cooperation than competition. Perhaps more should be
done by way of support to help employees fulfil their need for belonging and
self-actualization.
