Chapter 10: Research and Tools

Terminology

·  Affinity diagram: A process that sorts ideas into categories for further interpretation.

·  Baseline measurements: “Before” measurements that describe a situation or condition prior to intervention.

·  Benchmarking: A comparison of best practice methods.

·  Brainstorming: Free-form thinking to generate ideas.

·  Check sheets: Tabulation list of frequency for repeated data.

·  Control chart: Graph that measures deviations of processes over a period of time. Other name: statistical process control (SPC).

·  Cost–benefit analysis: Used to decide whether an idea or project is worthy of spending money on it.

·  Cost of error: The total amount of costs associated with a customer service mistake or losing the customer.

·  Diamond rating: AAA rating system of 1 to 5 diamonds scoring hotels, restaurants, and campgrounds. The largest guide of its kind.

·  Fishbone diagram: Identifies potential causes for a problem in categories. Other names: Ishikawa diagram, cause-and effect diagram.

·  Flow chart diagram: A graphic account of sequential steps in a process.

·  Focus group: Qualitative (verbal) research in which a group (usually 4 to 10 people) are surveyed about their ideas and opinion about a certain product, company, or field.

·  Force-field analysis: A technique for analyzing the forces that help and hurt a decision.

·  Gantt chart: A project-planning tool that clarifies who does what and by when.

·  Multi-voting: Technique that prioritizes and narrows a large number of decisions to reflect the general favor of a group. Other name: nominal prioritization.

·  Pareto chart: A bar graph that displays frequency of time, errors, or money.

·  Poka-Yoke: A system that helps to self-correct itself. Poka-Yokes are everywhere that you look. We take most of them for granted. They are engineered fail-safe systems.

·  Process reengineering: A dramatic redesign of a system, process, or business.

·  Pros–cons sheet: A technique that compares the benefits and drawbacks of a given idea or solution.

·  Quality assessment tools and techniques: A research instrument used to target, analyze, develop, or evaluate a service system.

·  Root-cause analysis: Determining the underlying reasons why something happens.

·  Scatter diagram: A graphing of pairs of numerical data. Other names: scatter plot; X–Y graph.

·  Secret shopper: Evaluators who pose as customers and report findings to the management and owners.

·  SERVQUAL: Measures five dimensions and assesses five different types of gaps in service organizations: reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness (RATER).

·  Six Sigma: Quality program aimed at reducing defects to less than 3.4 in 1 million. Define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC).

·  Star-rating: Forbes Mobil Guide rating system of 1 to 5 stars. Unannounced inspectors rate hotels, restaurants, and spas, assessing over 550 standard aspects for its 4- and 5-star applicants.

·  Survey: A poll of a group. Can be formal or informal. Works well with small to large groups.