TABLE OF CONTENTS What's in This Chapter?
Understanding motivation
Customer loyalty
The Fantastic Service Equation
This chapter introduces the Fantastic Service Equation, the foundation for the customer service training programme presented in this workbook.
What motivates people to provide good service? How do employees view customers? Do they see customers as uncooperative and unhelpful in the problem-solving process, or do they see them as active participants when presented with the right information and a positive attitude?
We might ask similar questions about staff. Do staff members believe that most of their colleagues are uncooperative, cynical and don't want to give good customer service, or do they believe that, given the right tools, people will practice excellent customer service?
These questions might be answered by looking at motivational theory. In The Human Side of Enterprise (1960), psychologist Douglas McGregor described how different sets of assumptions, or theories, lead to two types of management styles. He labelled those two sets of assumptions Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X is the view that people will not work up to capacity unless they are directed, persuaded, punished or controlled by an authority figure. Basically, it assumes that people are lazy and resistant, and that they won't work unless they are coerced.
Theory Y does not assume people are naturally passive or resistant to organizational needs. Rather, the theory is that people become idle and stagnant because of their experiences in organizations, not because they are inherently lazy. Proponents of Theory Y...
