Do you like to travel? Some people love it and others hate it. I happen to be in the former category—if I get to fly to my destination. Although traveling in general, and flying in particular, can be a hassle, I enjoy it. Sometimes I have not yet left for one trip before I’m planning the next. Air travel gives you an excellent opportunity to people watch, something that social scientists and lay persons alike find entertaining. One of the things I’ve noticed in my observations during air travel are all the preparations made for takeoff. First, I look out the window and notice the airport personnel scurrying about, hurriedly getting carts loaded with baggage to the airplanes. On board, airline employees are also making preparations. For example, the flight attendants close the overhead bins and check passengers to make sure seat belts are fastened. The passengers are also making preparations—some are trying to stuff bags under seats or into bins, others are getting ready for naps by adjusting travel pillows and covering up with blankets, and many are preparing to entertain themselves by getting out books, magazines, MP3 players, etc.

Finally, after all preparations have been made we begin to slowly move away from the gate and head for a runway where we wait our turn for takeoff. Once our turn comes and the pilots receive clearance from the tower, it is only a matter of seconds before we lift off and find ourselves in the air, looking down at the shrinking people, buildings, and vehicles below. It can be an exhilarating feeling. It reminds me of the exhilaration felt by business owners and executives when their businesses really takeoff; when sales soar and profits increase it is a wonderful feeling. But, just as an airplane does not leave the tarmac without a lot of preparation, a business cannot takeoff without preparation and hard work.

Have you ever witnessed someone having difficulty determining the answer to a puzzle? There are a number of different types of puzzles that people use to challenge and entertain themselves—jigsaw puzzles, crossword, and Sudoku puzzles, to name a few. People approach puzzles differently. With jigsaw puzzles, some people begin by sorting the pieces into two piles—pieces that go on the perimeter and those that go on the inside. Once this task is accomplished the person may try to get all of the perimeter pieces in place before filling in the rest of the puzzle. Other people may begin by trying to locate and connect pieces for a focal object in the picture. Individuals also take different approaches to solving crossword puzzles. Do you begin with the items going down or across? Do you take each hint in order, refusing to move on to the next until you’ve solved it, or do you skip over the challenging ones and go back to them at the end? There is no right or wrong way to proceed as long as you ultimately reach your objective—solving the puzzle.

Human behavior can also be a puzzle of sorts and a very fascinating one at that. Everyone plays amateur psychologist from time-to-time, trying to figure out why people behave the way they do, especially when they behave in ways that we do not expect. Social scientists spend their entire careers trying to better understand behavior. Like other types of puzzles, it can be challenging to try to solve the puzzle of human behavior and also very rewarding. In business, human beings (both customers and employees) are crucial to our success and solving the human factor puzzle can have a positive impact on our bottom line—profits.

Q: But how do you go about solving the human factor puzzle to increase profits?

A: The answer is simple—scientific surveys.

Every two years athletes from all over the world gather to compete in either the summer or winter Olympic Games. They all come with the same goal in mind—to beat the competition and win a medal, preferably a gold one. As spectators watch the games in person or on television, they are seeing the end result of a process that involved years of preparation. It reminds me of the process that those of us in business experience as we use customer and employee surveys and strive to improve our businesses to achieve “best in class” standing. In this paper I will describe the similarities in the processes of “going for the gold” in the competitive environments of the Olympic Games and business.

First, what is a process? A process involves taking inputs and converting them into outputs. An Olympic athlete exercises and practices various movements and then puts these movements together to create a performance. An organization repetitively takes its resources and uses them in a reliable, consistent way to achieve its business goals. Many of the most successful organizations engage in business process management (BPM), a structured approach to analyze and continually improve fundamental activities and major elements of a company’s operation. According to Mohamed Zairi, author of “Business Process Management: A Boundaryless Approach to Modern Competitiveness,” an article published in the Business Process Management Journal, BPM is an approach to competitiveness that involves a continuous focus on customers, quality improvement, and striving for best in class standing. Utilizing BPM can help an organization go for the gold and achieve business success.

I know some people who often repeat phrases such as “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” and “Ignorance is bliss.” I understand why some people believe these statements. We read or watch the news and sometimes feel overwhelmed and/or depressed by all the things happening around the world and even in our own back yards. I actually know some people who avoid the news; stating that it is always bad and they are better off not knowing.

But are they really better off? While the news is full of bad reports, I think of all the good that often comes out of knowing. When the news reports how many people have been adversely impacted by a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a hurricane, many people respond by sending aid. Local tragedies often bring people together as well. Recently in my area people came together to help a charity that had been burglarized by replacing the items that had been stolen. On another occasion, people in our community contributed to an account to help a widow raise her children after her husband was killed in the line of duty.

Sometimes business executives, like the people who do not watch the news, feel inclined to “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” when it comes to what is going on with their employees and/or customers. They choose to bury their heads in the sand and hope for the best. But while this may feel comfortable in the short run, it can have disastrous effects. The trouble with this approach is that problems may exist that, if they are not addressed, can grow until they have the potential to ruin your business. I have a close friend who never developed the habit of going to the doctor for regular checkups. A little over a year ago he began experiencing some pain and for some time he chose to ignore it. Finally, he decided to take the time to get it checked out. Sadly, not only did he have cancer but it had already begun to spread and was in stage four, only one stage away from end stage cancer. That cancer has now spread all over his body and this man has just weeks to live.

Developing a questionnaire seems easy, right? Decide what you need to know, write a bunch of questions and get people to answer them. What you need to know, is that the responses people give are affected by the way you word each item or question. Many problems arise and much information is rendered useless because of inattention to the way items are worded during questionnaire design.

Item writing is affected by item wording (the term item is used because not all items on a questionnaire are questions). Questionnaire designers must consider the following: Does the item elicit information related to the topic of interest? Is wording clear and unambiguous? Will the item mean the same thing to everyone?

Does the item demand knowledge and information the respondent has (or not)? Does the item contain personal or potentially threatening issues the respondent might resist? Are items loaded with social (un)desirability? Often the approach to items and questions will differ depending on how the survey is administered.

Survey means ‘to look at in a comprehensive way’. There are numerous ways to look at issues in the world of survey research, including in-person and telephone interviews, mailed and online questionnaires.

In-Person Interviews

Getting information in person may be the most personal approach and most effective way of gaining trust and cooperation from the respondent. It is easier to react to puzzled facial expressions, answer questions, probe for clarification or redirect responses. Face to face contact is particularly useful to detect respondent discomfort when discussing sensitive issues or attempts to respond in a socially desirable way.

The in-person interview is usually more costly than any other method. Interviewers must be trained and flown to geographic areas or found and trained within the area of study. It may be unrealistic to send interviewers into areas of high density housing or high crime which may result in an important demographic left out of the study.

Colleagues in the exhibition department at a local museum met to review the list of traveling exhibitions available for rent in the next three years. After a rousing discussion, they decided to seek input from museum members, finding out what traveling exhibition topics were of interest to them. Staff put together a short checklist of known exhibitions, asking members to identify those they would pay a separate admission fee to come see, and added two open-ended questions. Once complete, the exhibits director gave the questionnaire to the membership department for distribution to members in an upcoming member survey.

As the membership coordinator looked at the questions, she thought, as long as we’re asking for member feedback, let me add several questions on issues of interest to the membership. She printed a draft and left for a meeting. As a manager of education was making copies of a program handout, he noticed the questionnaire in the copier. What a great opportunity to get member input on educational program planning, he thought! So, he generated seven questions and added them to the questionnaire.

Needless to say, when member feedback was collated and reviewed, the exhibits director was not only surprised by the inclusion of information related to membership and education, but disappointed by the lackluster responses to the questionnaire; few meaningful responses were obtained to any of the questions.

A friend’s elderly mother purchased a new car. She opened the owner’s manual to figure out how to set her favorite radio stations before driving home. Imagine her surprise to find that the sales person had already programmed the radio stations in the new car from her old one! A friend stopped on her way home from a manicure, saying she just had to tell someone about the experience she had with her manicurist, who not only walked her to her car and opened the door but put the key in the ignition and started the car so my friend wouldn’t muss up her nail polish.

Did my friends talk about the new car and the fabulous manicure or the value added service they received? Certainly both, but the value added services led the conversation in every telling!

We feel satisfied when we get something that we need or want because our desires are fulfilled. We know that a customer can be anyone who receives something they perceive to be of value, a product or a service, from an individual or organization. Customers are both internal and external to the organization, each with his or her needs, wants and desires.

Customer service standards are on the rise. When customers deal with you, they compare you to anyone else from whom they’ve received (great) service, not just someone from the same industry.

Social media provides users with information via blogs, podcasts, and webinars. Users write reviews or create forums, wikis, and videos. Users connect with each other and providers through virtual worlds and social network communities.

“Social networking has caused a fundamental and transformational shift in the way that people are connecting, knowledge is being shared and information is flowing,” says Charles B. Kreitzberg, Ph.D., CEO of Cognetics, a firm dealing with the human aspects of computer technology.

About 50% of large companies and 75% of small ones (fewer than 500 employees) are using social media of all types. Of those, it is estimated that 40-60% have their own social network. Microsoft has the Town Square, IBM the Blue Pages, and Best Buy the Blue Shirt Nation.

“Engage me, inform me, and entertain me,” says Bernie Borges, author of Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap Between Seller and Buyer on the Social Web. “But don’t make me read an ad; don’t send me email news. Companies are made up of people; be social with your existing and prospective customers.”

Addison, TX - March 12, 2009:

Time, labor, and security manufacturer, Lathem has selected NBRI to conduct a customer satisfaction survey.  With a wide variety of products ranging from door locks to digital time clocks and employee tracking software, Lathem seeks to improve their customer’s experience with direct feedback.

NBRI, the National Business Research Institute, a leading research firm in the area of organizational psychology will conduct the study in 2009.  By studying the foundations of customer satisfaction, the NBRI survey and analyses will identify action items enabling Lathem to increase its customers’ satisfaction and intent to return.