Page 126 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

112 I n t e g r a t e d P l a n n i n g U n d e r s t a n d i n g C u s t o m e r E x p e c t a t i o n s a n d N e e d s 113

• Clustered preferences represent natural market segments. When distinct
preference clusters exist, we predict that competing products would
be dissimilar between clusters, and similar within the clusters. An
example would be luxury, economy, and sporty automobiles.

Collecting Data on Customer Expectations and Needs
Since an organization exists to serve its customers, it is essential that the
organization continually evaluate its ability to serve the customers. As dis-
cussed, different customers are likely to have different expectations, partly
due to market differences, as well as their perceptions of expected quality.
Since these factors are likely to change over time, as shown in the Kano
model, it is essential the organization develop and maintain systems to
acquire this data, and use it for strategic planning.
The primary objective of this data collection is the evaluation of the
customers’ perception of the firm’s product and service quality and its
impact on customer satisfaction. To be effective, the communication will
provide sufficient detail to help the firm determine how they could
improve quality and satisfaction, as part of their continuous improvement
efforts.
There are several primary strategies commonly used to obtain information
from or about customers: customer service and support, surveys, case studies,
and field experiments.
Data is collected for sample surveys from a sample of a universe to
estimate the characteristics of the universe, such as their range or disper-
sion, the frequency of occurrence of events, or the expected values of
important universe parameters. A given survey is applied to one or more
statistical populations, and results analyzed using the enumerative statis-
tical tools described in Chap. 9. When survey results are collected at regu-
lar intervals, the results can be analyzed using the analytical tools of
statistical process control, as described in Chap. 9 to obtain information
on the underlying process. There is inherent benefit to the analytical
approach, as small, routine, periodic surveys can provide more relevant
and timely data than infrequent enumerative studies. Without the infor-
mation available from time-ordered series of data, it will not be possible
to learn about processes that produce changes in customer satisfaction
or perceptions of quality.
A case study is an analytic description of the properties, processes,
conditions, or variable relationships of either single or multiple units
under study. Sample surveys and case studies are usually used to answer
descriptive questions (“How do things look?”) and normative questions
(“How well do things compare with our requirements?”). A field exper-
iment seeks the answer to a cause-and-effect question (“Did the change
result in the desired outcome?”). Complaint and suggestion systems

06_Pyzdek_Ch06_p105-128.indd 113 11/9/12 5:09 PM