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.

In Irving, Texas on April 7, 2010, Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys for 38 seasons, was destroyed. Over 20,000 people came to watch the implosion that demolished the stadium. Many more watched on television and online. The Cowboys moved to their new state-of-the-art facility in Arlington, Texas after the 2008 season. After their move, Irving officials decided that the land the stadium sat on was more valuable than the stadium itself and the decision was made to tear Texas Stadium down. While many fans were saddened by its demise, the fact was that the stadium no longer met the needs of consumers so it was destroyed and the fans, like the players, have moved on.
 
Moving on is a part of life. Every day people discard and destroy objects that are no longer meeting their needs; things that have outlived their usefulness. Our possessions are not the only things vulnerable to being discarded or destroyed; businesses are at risk as well. If enough of our customers perceive that the products or services we provide are not meeting their needs, they will turn elsewhere and we can find ourselves in an inescapable position. Of course, this is something we all want to avoid and the good news is that it is not difficult to determine whether our customers believe we are adequately meeting their needs. Through customer surveys, we can gain information about what our customers want and also discover the key drivers of their behavior.

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.

I live in an area of the country that rarely sees snow. As I am writing this it is the early part of winter and the holidays are only a few weeks behind us. For quite some time before Christmas, a chief meteorologist on a major network kept saying “There is absolutely no way we will have a white Christmas.” The odds were in his favor. There had been no white Christmas in the area in 83 years. Since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1898, there had never been measurable snow here on Christmas Eve—flurries that amounted to a trace of snow—yes, but never any measurable snow. The National Weather Service defines a white Christmas as any December 25th with at least an inch of snow on the ground. It had been seven years since we had even seen a snowflake on Christmas Eve and prior to that, brief flurries had occurred only two other times on December 24th. So, when the chief meteorologist said that a white Christmas was impossible, I believed him.

We were both wrong.

Have you ever watched a baby take its first steps? It is quite a sight to see. The baby may wobble back and forth as she or he tries to stand upright and maintain balance. Then a parent coaxes the child to step forward. The child, often while gazing intently at the parent, takes that first tentative step...and then another...and another. The child precariously spans the divide between self and parent. For other children, only one step is taken before falling on their diapered bottoms. Even this minimal success may be followed by cheers from the parent and squeals of delight from the baby. But before long children master the art of walking and the parents face a new challenge...how to keep the child walking in the right direction. Toward the sofa...toward mom or dad—Good! Toward the street—Bad!

It is crucial to move in the right direction. Failure to do so can have tragic, even fatal, results. On a recent morning I was watching the news and learned that overnight three fatal car accidents had occurred in my metropolitan area overnight. Two were the result of vehicles going the wrong way on the highway. It is likely that at the moment these vehicles moved into the lane that took them onto the highway, they believed they were headed in the right direction. It was late, dark, and there was not a lot of traffic on the highway. But it probably did not take too long for the error to be realized as the drivers looked up and saw one or more vehicles headed toward them with headlights blaring in the darkness. Unfortunately, sometimes businesses make changes they think will take them in the right direction. However, what makes sense intuitively sometimes takes us in the wrong direction. The good news? This can easily be avoided. The only way to know for sure what direction to go in is to be well informed. You need to be aware of internal and external forces that may impact the success of your business. One sure means of empowerment is to gain knowledge of the right direction by conducting employee and customer surveys.

Most weekday mornings I get up around 5:00 A.M. to get ready for my work day. Part of my morning routine involves turning on the television to catch the weather forecast. I live in a climate where the weather can be quite variable. In the morning people may be wearing layered clothing and jackets and by the middle of the afternoon they are wearing shorts and T-shirts. Or some days it is just the opposite; you start out in short sleeves and before the day is over the temperature has dropped 20 or 30 degrees and you are grabbing for your jacket. Precipitation here also varies considerably. One moment there is not a cloud in the sky and a few minutes later it is dark and raining so hard you can barely see to drive.

I watch the weather forecast in the mornings in order to be prepared for these temperature and precipitation changes. I feel more prepared for leaving the house if I know what to expect. The forecast enables me to know whether to wear a sweater, jacket, or raincoat, or if I need to take such items with me for use later in the day. Knowledge of the forecast also helps me make an informed decision regarding footwear – Is it okay to wear leather shoes or do I need to wear shoes that are waterproof? Do I need to take an umbrella?

Once I leave home and begin my commute to work, I begin to notice other people on their way to work or school. Observing them, I sometimes come to the conclusion that many of them either did not watch a weather forecast before leaving home that morning or, did so but ignored it. I decide this because I will see people out in short sleeves with no jackets with their arms crossed over, shivering in the 49 degree morning. On other occasions I see people trying to cover their heads with a newspaper or anything else they can find as the rain pours down on them and they have neither a raincoat nor an umbrella.

Unfortunately, I observe the same lack of preparedness in some companies who do not affectively anticipate the behavior of consumers. Some businesses try to be successful by looking to other companies as models of excellence. In an article on factors affecting success in business, written by research professor Spyros Makridakis and published in the European Management Journal, this approach of looking for prescriptions from past success stories is discouraged. Makridakis argues that management theories and tools are like the fashion industry in that they have their moment of glory and die. He observes that very few survive and sometimes their passing leaves extensive corporate damage. When reviewing the large number of theories that have briefly blossomed from the 1960s onwards, he suggests we avoid extrapolating from those past success stories.

My spouse and I enjoy cooking and entertaining and we make a great team in the kitchen. When we have family or friends over for dinner it is not just a meal, it is an event. We want the occasion to be a very positive and memorable experience for our guests so we do not do anything half way. Most dishes are made completely from scratch. When we entertain, our typical dinner involves five courses. The meal begins upstairs in our library. Here we serve appetizers. Depending on the type of cuisine we are featuring that evening, our appetizer may be fresh bruschetta, spinach rolls made with a puff pastry, or chicken potstickers. After a time of socializing and nibbling on appetizers we move back to the first floor to the formal dining room. Here we partake of three candlelit courses: soup, salad, and the main course; each accompanied by homemade bread. After the main course, we retire to the living room to continue conversing and allowing the previous courses to digest. Finally, the evening is topped off with dessert. This often involves my favorite ingredient – chocolate...perhaps homemade chocolate mousse, cheesecake, traditional steamed English pudding, or molten lava cakes. No one leaves our home hungry.

What really motivates employees to be productive? Is it money? Recognition? Job satisfaction? Benefits? Opportunities? Employees are recognized as the most crucial asset of today’s organizations by both practitioners and academics. Employee satisfaction is stressed as one of the most important drivers of continuous improvement and satisfied customers in most classical total quality management (TQM) literature. But what really motivates employees to be productive in their jobs? Two often mentioned motivators are money and job satisfaction. We hear that better pay motivates employees to be more productive. We also hear that “happy employees are productive employees.”

But is there any truth to these sayings or are they just fictional beliefs? Anyone who has ever taken a course in social science has discovered that common sense beliefs are not always validated by scientific research. In some cases, common sense beliefs are just plain wrong. Take “opposites attract,” for example. This is not true. An overwhelming amount of research indicates that we tend to be attracted to people who are similar to ourselves. Thus, “birds of a feather flock together” is true; but “opposites attract” is false. The only way to know if money and job satisfaction really influence productivity is to look at the results of scientific studies. Let’s begin with what researchers have discovered about money.

Have you ever been in a conversation in which you had to ask someone to repeat information or a question, not because you did not hear the person, but because you simply were not paying attention? Have you ever finished reading a page in a book only to realize that you have no idea what you had just read because your mind had wandered off? In both of these instances we are trying to divide our attention between two tasks and it is just not effective - we are not fully engaged in either task. Such cases remind me of the CEO who was asked how many people work in his company. His reply...”About half of them.”

In today’s difficult economic climate, many corporate executives are looking to cut unnecessary expenses and to avoid wasting resources. Our employees are a very valuable, but also costly, resource. Unfortunately, employees vary widely in their level of engagement in our companies.

Q: What exactly is meant by employee engagement?

A: An employee who is engaged is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, the work that he or she is doing.

Tim Rutledge, author of Getting Engaged: The New Workplace Loyalty, describes an engaged employee as one who is committed to, fascinated by, and attracted to the work. When employees are engaged they care about the company’s future and are willing to go beyond the call of duty in order to help their organization exceed. Both practitioners and academics agree that engaged employees are cognitively vigilant and connected to the organization. That all sounds well and good but...

Every human being is unique. Just like no two snowflakes are identical , no two people are alike. Each of us has a multitude of traits. These traits are polygenic (affected by many genes) as well as multifactorial (influenced by many factors). Thus, each of us is a product of the unique combination of genes we inherit from our parents and our unique experiences. In addition, according to epigenetic theory, our genes interact with the environment. This explains why in a set of identical twins, one may develop schizophrenia and the other may not. Let's say a set of identical twins inherited a susceptibility to schizophrenia. In adulthood, one of these twins becomes a police officer in Detroit. The second twin runs a bed and breakfast (B & B) in Vermont. Guess which one is more likely to develop symptoms of schizophrenia? If you guessed the police officer, you are correct. Environmental stress is often a precipitating factor in mental illness. Assuming that working as a police officer in Detroit is much more stressful than running a B & B in Vermont, it is logical to assume that the twin working as a police officer is more likely to develop symptoms of schizophrenia, even though both twins have the same genetic predisposition.

Genome refers to the full set of genes that serve as the instructions to make an individual member of a certain species. For years an international group of scientists working on the Human Genome Project sought to map the human genome. The effort was completed in 2001 but their analysis continues. These researchers have found that humans have about 25,000 genes and that 99% of these are present in other creatures as well.

Just as physical scientists have mapped the human genome, organizational scientists have mapped the genetic code for business growth and success. Genetic codes provide the means by which organisms can grow successfully in their environments. An organism's genetic code is the key to its life and this code is stored in its DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). In a study published in the SA Journal of Human Resource Management, J. H. Vermeulen and colleagues used qualitative and quantitative data to identify a genetic code for business. Vermeulen and his team argue that a genetic business code can be developed and serve as a crucial enabler of business growth and success. Their study revealed that the code is composed of three strands: a Leadership Strand, Organizational Architecture Strand, and an Internal Orientation Strand.

Several years ago my spouse and I built our second new home. It is a process that we greatly enjoy in spite of the fact that it can be more than a little stressful. When building a new home there are a lot of decisions to be made. These decisions include selecting a builder, a floor plan, the type of exterior you want (brick, siding, stucco, for example), selecting your flooring, fixtures, and lighting, and on and on it goes. Some people prefer to buy an existing home because they find this plethora of decisions overwhelming. However, my spouse and I prefer making these decisions ourselves so that we can get exactly what we want and so we can watch our empty lot be transformed into a home.

One of the advantages to building your own home is that you can directly and easily observe the quality going into it. Our first area of concern is the foundation. After our foundation is poured we look at it to assess whether it looks level and is free of any defects. We all know that a good foundation is critical. Without it, the quality of the rest of the construction can be irrelevant. Once we have a good foundation in place, we continue to monitor the construction. We take note of the quality of the materials being used as well as quality of the framing job, plumbing, drywall, etc. Once the construction is completed and the buyers move into the house, the builder's job is finished but the homeowner's job is really just beginning because the house has to be maintained.

I wear multiple 'hats'. I am an organizational consultant, a professor, and a student working on a second Ph.D. As I am writing this paper it is a special month for me as a professor and a student. It is the time of year when universities typically have their recognition ceremonies, honoring their students who have excelled in academics and community service. I am doubly honored to be able to see some of my own students receive recognition this month and to be receiving awards myself. Both experiences are the result of hard work and sacrifice.

The students who are recognized by their universities with special certificates and invitations to honor societies are certainly a minority of the student population. Why is that? Some may attribute it to lack of motivation or even a lack of ability. Certainly these are factors. However, I think for many the problem is lack of knowledge; knowledge of how to succeed. Many students simply do not know the steps to follow in order to succeed in the academic environment. Without this knowledge, most students' performance will be mediocre at best.

Numerous students have asked me how to succeed in their classes. This is a question I can easily answer. The path to academic success is not a secret. The same holds true for business. As an organizational consultant I have often been asked: "How do I take my company to the 'Best in Class' level?". Once again, this is a question I can answer. The path to business success is not a secret. In fact, I can answer the question with just one word...

I grew up in a cold climate in the northern United States. Winter consisted of months of grey days, freezing temperatures, snow, and ice. I learned to drive in snowy and icy conditions. My parents were cognizant of the importance of teaching me what to do if my vehicle began to slide on the ice and how to regain control. They taught me to be cautious whenever the weather conditions were untenable. Thus, I was well prepared to drive in threatening conditions and always proceeded carefully in order to avoid an accident.

Unfortunately, we are not always aware when threatening conditions exist. One example of a hidden threat on the roads during the winter season is black ice; a transparent layer of ice that freezes with few, if any, air bubbles trapped inside making it virtually invisible. Its’ imperceptibility has caused many accidents because unsuspecting drivers proceeded to drive on it with a "business as usual" approach, often with disastrous results.

I live in an area of the country that compared to some regions, experiences fairly mild winters. Our winters are mild, not nonexistent. We experience below freezing temperatures and lawns, trees, and other outdoor plants go dormant. I happen to love roses and enjoy the long blooming season here. My roses usually begin blooming in March and continue to bloom until early December. As I am writing this paper it is winter. The thermometer has already dipped below the freezing mark and all plant life is dormant...almost. Recently I was in my yard and I happened to glance at one of my rose bushes expecting to see nothing but dead leaves and spent blooms. Instead, much to my surprise, I saw life...several clusters of tiny new leaves were growing on that rose bush...in the winter! That rose bush has overcome the odds. In spite of cold temperatures and a lack of any attention from me, it is growing.

How are you today? This seems like such a simple question; one that we have all answered thousands of times. But have you ever thought about how you are able to answer this question? When we answer the question "How are you today?" we rely on information stored in our memory about how we were yesterday, last week, and perhaps, even last month or last year. We compare how we were in the past with how we perceive ourselves in the present and we answer the question to a large degree by making this comparison. Thus, if someone were to ask me how I am today and last week I had the flu, I might say "I'm still a little weak but I am doing better."

Recently there has been a lot of talk in the business community about Net Promoter which, according to the official website for the product is "a discipline by which companies profitably grow by focusing on their customers." The Net Promoter is the subject of a book titled The Ultimate Question by Frederick F. Reichheld. In this book, Reichheld claims that the ultimate question for businesses to ask their customers is "would you recommend us to a friend/relative?" He also purports that if you ask this "ultimate question" in a regular, systematic, and timely fashion, and then track and publicize the answers and put the information to work right away, you will be on "the only path to prosperity and true growth."

So, should you use Net Promoter? Is it the answer to business success? Is it a revolutionary tool or just a fad? To answer these questions, let's start with the "ultimate question." Reichheld states that all we need to ask our customers is whether or not they would recommend us to a friend or relative. I will agree that this is a good and important question. Getting customers to recommend us to others is a great, inexpensive way to build our businesses. People tend to trust recommendations from friends and family more than information they obtain from advertisements. However, the issue is not whether "Would you recommend us?" is a good question, the issue is "Is it the only question we need to ask?"

Have you ever worn a “one size fits all” garment? Perhaps you have and know from personal experience that they do not really “fit” all. Or perhaps you have avoided such garments all together because you knew they would not provide the kind of fit you prefer. For some individuals such garments merely hang on them with what seems to be yards of excess fabric, making the occupant look lost. For others such garments are too tight and do not provide adequate room for movement. I assume this is why some have modified these tags to say “one size fits most.”

Have you ever been lost or unsure of which direction to take? In today's technologically savvy world, we are less likely to find ourselves in this situation. We have cellular phones on which we can call and ask for directions or log on to the Internet and look up our destination on a map. Many vehicles are now equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) that takes the guesswork out of finding our destination. We simply enter the address of the place we want to go and follow the verbal prompts of the computer. If we fail to obey the prompts, the system will announce "recalculating" and begin to give us new directions. The only way it could get any easier is if the GPS would drive the vehicle for us.

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Most of us do not take our temperature on a regular basis and in fact, some people never take their temperature. Why would we? We just assume that if we are feeling fine that our temperature must be within the normal range. Although we may not feel the need to monitor our temperature, it is one of the first measurements taken during a visit to the doctor. Why? Because an abnormal reading is a quick indicator that something is wrong. This is true for humans and for their pets. Recently, for example, I noticed some changes in my cat. First, she lost some weight. This seemed like a good thing to me since, like many indoor cats, she was overweight anyway. Then I began to notice she was meowing more loudly and frequently. Well, she has always seemed fond of the sound of her own voice so… But then she lost more weight and our family decided a trip to the veterinarian was a good idea.

What do you think was the first thing the doctor’s office did to my cat? That’s right, they took her temperature. Immediately they knew something was wrong as it was quite a bit higher than normal for a cat. The doctor soon discovered that my cat had an infection.

At this point you may be wondering “what does this have to do with my company?” A lot. Just like I want my pet to be healthy, we all want our companies to be healthy. But in determining whether our companies are healthy we don’t always gather enough information or focus on the right information. I initially made this mistake with my cat. I thought, “She doesn’t act sick.” She was still grooming herself and demanding a lot of attention. But I was focusing on the wrong information. I did not take notice of the fact that she was shedding a lot more than usual, for example. In like fashion, we may focus on our companies profits for the last three or four quarters but not look at other indicators of business health. Peter F. Drucker, in his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century, stated that success “comes to those who know themselves - their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.” This is true for both individuals and companies.