1home.att.ne.jp/green/sangenkai/MasterCourse/Dissertation... · Web viewTherefore, from table 4-4a, the end users of Site 1 are the most satisfied (4.2), then Site 3 (3.9) following

European Master Facility Management May 2001The model of communication Between Facility Manager and End Users for getting real satisfaction Hitoshi Kumagai

CHAPTER 1. CHAPTER 1.

IntroductionIntroduction

1-1. Quality of facility management

Recently, The position of facility managers in organisations has got clearer than ever before, as an

expert who supports core-business. Facility management was originally a function inside

organisations. Now a day, organisations have tended to distinguish their core-business and non-

core functions from restructuring or reengineering aspect. Support functions, including facility

management, had had to clarify their role how they can contribute to core-business. On the other

hands, in the very hard competitive situation, the role of facility management has become

important. Alexander1 said, “In this climate of change, quality of life and environmental issues are involved

which together with issue of heritage and of conservation become part of the business agenda. Facilities

Management is at the heart of this process.” The workers are suffers hard time, therefore, the work

environment should be more comfortable and helpful. To develop the environment is exactly the

job of facility managers.

Thus, the relationship between core-function and facility manager has become the one between

customers and services providers. It means facility manager is expected to provide better services

to their customers. Furthermore, total facility management contractors have emerged; such as,

Johnson Control IFM and SI-CBX. They earn money by providing services on behalf of inhouse

facility manager. They have to guarantee good quality of services.

What is good quality of service? Unfortunately, there is no absolute quality measurement of

1 Alexander, 1996, p xviv

Chapter 1 Introduction 1


services themselves. Barrett2 says “There is never any objective measurement of a professional

services.” Then, what direction should facility managers aim to? Friday and Cotts3 said at the

beginning of their book, “Only the customer will define whether you are performing the right services.”

How customer perceives the services proved to them defines the quality of services. Cook4 also

said, “The customer’s perception is their reality. Customer service is about perception.” Quality is defined

by customers.

1-2. User satisfaction

How should facility manager measure the quality of services. Friday and Cotts5 said, “a measure of

quality for the customer is how close we come to their expectations about service and their perception of the

way we perform.” Customers, then. express their perception through expressing their level of

satisfaction. Friday and Cotts6 also said, “If the perception matches the expectation, you have satisfied

customers.” The quality can be measured by the satisfaction of customers. Therefore, how to get

the customer satisfaction is important aspect of facility managers to guarantee their performance.

Who is the customer? How the customer is identified? There are several aspects of identifying the

customer. Friday and Cotts7 categorized customer into,　organization unit, building unit, business unit,

staff of the facility organisation, top management, external clients and visitors, external vendors to the facility

organization, external tenants of building, and the facilities themselves. Those can be figured as Fig 1-1.

However, the research focuses on each “end user.” Even an FM organisation makes a Services

Level Agreement (SLA) with “Top management” or “Business units,” primarily the end users

perceive services and express their satisfaction. Level of satisfaction of “End users” is often a

condition in SLA which FM organisation have to evaluate and achieve the level. Therefore, to get

2 Barrett, 1995, p453 Friday and Cotts,1995 , p34 Cook, 2000, p115 Friday and Cotts,1995 , p126 Friday and Cotts,1995 , p137 Friday and Cotts,1995 ,pp10-11



end users satisfaction is important.

On the other hand, the paper regards a whole FM organisation as “Facility Manager.” It does not


Business unit

Client Company

SLASLA

EndUsers

E

nd

U

se

r

Fig 1-1 Category of Customers in Facility Management and The focus of this research(Figured from [Friday and Cotts, 1995, p10-11])

Organisation unit

Top management

FM organisationStaff

Seniormanager

Vendors

Visitors

External tenants

Categoryof customer

“Facility Manager”

=FM

organisation

Building A Building B

Perc

eptio

nSa

tisfa

ctio

n

ContractSLA

Organisation

Category of Customers in Facility Management

The focus of this research

Perc

eptio

nSa

tisfa

ctio

n


matter for End User that who of FM staff provides services, their satisfaction express to

anonymously the whole FM organisation. It is important that the whole organisation gets end

users’ satisfaction.

1-3. Communication in facility management

How can a facility manager provide a service that meets end users’ expectation? It seems just

facility manager knows the requirements of end users and provides a service that meets the

requirements. However, facility managers cannot always achieve it, because resources for services

have limitation. In addition, end users’ expectation is subjective. Then, what should facility

managers do? Cook8 says, “customers’ expectation can often be conditioned by the service providers

themselves…in Disney attractions, the published waiting time is always 5 minutes more than the actual

waiting time.” Some information conditions customers’ expectation. For another example, Van der

Sluis9, the facility manager of Schiphol Group said, he explains the service level, which is agreed

with the manager of an end user, who and when requires much higher grade services than the SLA

of his/her department, and the user almost every time can understand his explanation. Informing or

explaining, here a word ‘communication’ is used for them, helps to fill the gap between

expectation and perception. In other words, communication with customer is important to get

satisfaction.

1-3-1. How does communication support getting users’ satisfaction?

The example of Disney attractions, above mentioned, might show the communication can control

customers’ expectation before they perceive the services. And they would consequently satisfy

after finding the service is better than their expectation. The example of Schiphol Group may show

the communication can adjust customers’ expectation after they perceive the services. And they

8 Cook, 2000, p129 Van del Sluis, personal communication, 1st November 2000



would consequently satisfy after knowing the services level is rational. Is it true or is there any

other communication? Facility manager should know relationship between communication and

satisfaction.

1-3-2. What ways of communication exist between facility manager and end users?

Kokuryo10, a Japanese professor at Keio Business School, categorises the communication

generally in seller and customer into three types (Fig 1-2):

-One way S-to-C: one-way from seller to customers

such as, providing product feature and availability

-Interactive S-to-C: interacting between seller and customers

such as help desks, and third

-Interactive C-to-C: interacting among customers

such as reputation and forum on the Internet.

If the model is applied into facility manger and his/her users, what kind of communication may

exits in each type, or how can each type of communication be characterised according to getting

satisfaction? Facility manager should know the structure of communication with end users.

10 Kokuryo, Online. Internet. 29 Nov 2000.


Fig 1-2. Type of communication between seller and customer[Kokuryo, Online. Internet. 29 Nov 2000]

One way S-to-C

seller

customer

Interactive S-to-C

seller

customer

Interactive C-to-C

seller

customer


What tools are effective for each communication?

The resource of communication also has limitation. Recently, there have been many IT systems for

supporting communication with customers. The most popular system is web-site on the Internet or

intranets. For instance, facility management department of Schiphol Group developed a web

catalogue of their services on the company’s intranet. In addition, many IT industry companies

provide some systems, called Customer Relation Management System. The most typical system of

this is customer front office solution (see section 2-1). The system manages the process of ordering

of services, and it support for the claim from customer. It also can record those claims, and it

consequently gives data for analysing services quality. Furthermore, Kokuryo shows a platform on

computer network that manages interactive C-to-C7. For instance, The Internet auction or user’s

forum of some product are regarded. Kokuryo said that if some rules and common words are

defined, C-to-C can be accelerated

Can the ideas of systems be specified and applied into the communication of facility management?

Facility manger should implement efficient communication support system.

1-4. Customer Relationship Management

There is an interesting business concept and research field of it, named “Customer Relationship

Management (CRM).” The first emergence of the concept is said an article, “Zero Defections:

Quality Comes to services.” The article explained the cost of losing customer is high, and insisted

the importance of aiming ‘Zero Defection’ (to lose customer). The article 11 said, zero defection,

“Requires mechanisms to find customers who have ended their relationship with the company – or are about

to end it.” In the research field, recently, it have been insisted organisations should shift from

product-oriented marketing to customer-oriented marketing, and maintain relationship with

customers. Now, it is discussed how companies can provide ‘personalised’ services to individual

11 Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p5



through maintaining and cultivating relationship, and using IT tools.

Requirements of customers (= end users) of facility management are various, and the end users

only define the quality of services mentioned above. Therefore, facility management is highly

customer-oriented business. the concept of CRM must be able to be used for improving facility

management. Especially, there are plenty of ideas that using IT in CRM. They seem to be useful

for facility management. CRM is more explored in next chapter.

1-5. Objectives of the research

The objective of the research in general is to find a model of communication between facility

manager and end users to improving the end users’ satisfaction. To achieve the objective, the

research divides into follows sub-objectives,

Defining what types of communication exist between facility manager and end users:

occasion, contents, and interactivity (one-way, two-way).

Finding how each type of communication increases satisfaction of end users.

Defining the policy for the information system which supports the communication.

1-6. Hypotheses

Proactive communication from facility manager to users (one way S-to-C) increases end

users’ perception of services level and accelerates interactive communication.

Interactive S-to-C communication between facility manger and users (Interactive S-to-C)

increases end users’ satisfaction.

Interactive communication among users (Interactive C-to-C) reveals the potential

expectation of end users.



1-7. Study design

The research is carried out by the way of literature search, experiment and benchmarking

approach.

First of all, the research explores literatures in mainly the field of ‘Customer Relationship

Management (CRM),’ and defines the model for facility management communication. The field of

CRM has been well researched since an article12, “Zero Defection-Quality Comes to Services,”

was issued. It supposes to be easier to set a possible model than observing real facility

management jobs.

Then, the model is examined by an experiment. The model applies into a real set of end users and

facility manager. The limitation of resources of the research, it is difficult to apply some

treatments (= to change communication way) to real stage. Therefore, the study will be examined

by a the comparative experiment design.13 The study will be carried out by following steps (Fig 1-

3),

12 Reichheld & Sasser, 199013 Kumar, 1996, p94


Case A(Site A)Communication

character ofA

Case B(Site B)Communication

character ofB

Case C(Site C)Communication

character ofC

SatisfactionA

SatisfactionB

SatisfactionC

Properties of the model

Satisfaction, Expectation…

The modelOne way S-CInteractive S-CInteractive C-C

Fig 1-3 comparative experiment design

Case A

Case BCase C


Selecting several groups of facility manager and end users in an company. Sites (places) are

regarded as the set.

Characterizing each facility manager’s communication according to the model.

Collecting data of satisfaction, perception, expectation, and communication experience of

each site of end users.

Finding the relation between the each case and the collected date of end users.

Define ideal character of the model of communication

The difference among the communication character: perception, expectation and behaviour of the

sites are regarded as treatments applied on each site, and the level of satisfaction of each site is

regarded as results of each treatment. Then, the study analyses the treatment and the results to find

the relationship between them.

Finally, the paper　 to seek best communication support system using benchmarking approach.

The benchmarking is carried out by literature and market information. Through comparing with

the model of communication and CRM solution system, a policy that facilities managers should

have when implement this kind of system will be defined.

1-8. Setting

The study is researched in office facility services, where the services are provided for mainly

‘people’ who have feelings of satisfaction. The data will be collected in a company where facility

services are wholly outsourced to a main contractor. Because the quality guarantee seems serious

in the cases, it supposes to be easy to find the well-developed communication. To find appropriate

model, the data will gathered in the UK where the outsourcing business is well developed.




Customer Relationship Management (CRM)Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

2-1. The Concept of CRM

The ides of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is high potential to adopt it into facility

management. Only customer (again using the ‘customer’ instead of ‘end user’ here, because CRM

discusses various industries and customers) defines the quality of facility management. Therefore

there must be some hint to improve the quality of facility management, especially through

communication between customer and services providers, because the relation in CRM is based on

the communication. In this chapter, the paper explores the study field of CRM and finds the

relation between CRM and facility management.

2-1-1. Why is customer relationship important?

There is an article14, which is thought of the trigger of CRM study, “Zero Defections: Quality

Comes to services.” At the time when the main actor of industry was changing from

manufacturing to services, the article tried to define the quality revolution of services industry.

Reichleld and Sasser15, the authors of the article, placed a hint of the revolution from

manufacturing industry,

When manufacturers began to unravel the costs and implications of scrap heaps, rework, and jammed

machinery, they realized that “ quality” was not just and invigorating slogan but the most profitable way

to run a business. They made “zero defects” their guiding light, and the quality movement took off.

14 Reichheld & Sasser., 199015 Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p1

Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management 10


Then, they16 defined the defection in service companies as “customers who will not come back.” They

revealed, “Customers generate increasingly more profits each year they stay with a company,”

such as shown in Fig 2-1. If customers leave the company, they17 said, “They take all that profit-

making potential with them.”

Therefore, they insisted it was important to retain customers. They recommended to manage

defections as follows,

To find customers who have ended their relationship with the company or are about to end it.18

To learn from defectors why they left the company and to use that information to improve the

business.19

16 Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p117 Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p318 Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p519 Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p6


0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7YearCustomer

Acquisitioncost

Profit from price premium

Profit from referrals

Profit from reducedoperating cost

Profit from increasedpurchases and higherbalance

Base Profit

Com

pany

pro

fit

Fig 2-1. Why Customers Are More Profitable over time[Reichheld & Sasser., 1990, p4]


The article led vast study about the relationship, and later study found more positive relationship

than to just avoid defection, it is said ‘Loyal customers’. Cook20 said, “Some customers for example

may only have a relationship once with the company at one extreme; at other, customers will use the

organisation’s products or services on a regular basis,” and showed the levels of loyalty of customer as

Fig 2-2.

Now, many companies, especially retailers, adopt customer loyalty programmes. According to

Cook21, “During the last 10 years, more than 150 loyalty programmes have been established in the UK,

issuing over 50 million cards and costing over £3 billion in rewards.”

2-1-2. How are customers satisfied through communication

According to an article22, there are three types of communication with customers, the courteous,

the manipulative, and the personalized communication. The article showed an simple example of

them, a lemonade stand, as follows,

20 Cook, 2000, p721 Cook, 2000, p722 HMCL1, 2000, p3


Fig 2-2. Loyalty Ladder [Cook, 2000, p7, Figure 1.2]

One-offPurchasers

OccasionalUsers

Regularcustomers

Advocates


There are three of them (lemonade stands), run by Jane, Jessica, and Judy.

When you approach Jane for lemonade, she greets you with a friendly smile and chats about the

weather and other low-involvement topics as she fills your order. Jane follows the model of the

Courteous Communication.

Jessica, on the other hand, greets you with prepared patter. “how can I help you? You’d like some

lemonade? Great. Are you aware of our Frequent Buyers’ Program? For the low price of 75 cents a

month, you can have lemonade every day the temperature exceeds 80°. Can I sign you up?” Jessica

follows the Manipulative mode.

Finally, Judy greets you with a real hello. She talks to you about your dietary needs. What would be

best for you, the sugared or the sugar-free lemonade? Perhaps you’re diabetic, or you’re trying to lose

weight? Judy has an appropriate, personalized program just for you. You leave feeling that you may

have told your lemonade seller more than you wanted to, but that she really understands your specific

lemonade needs. Judy is purveyor of the Personalized Communication Model.

The CRM concept is manly focusing on Judy’s the Personalized Communication Model. The

concept is more than the Manipulate communication, which unfortunately seems to be adopted in

many loyalty programs. An article23 defined the basic process of CRM in four, “Identify your

customers,” “Differentiate them, ” “interact with them,” and “customize.” Let the process adopt into

Judy’s example.

Identify your customersJudy knows who you are. She treats you as an particular individual. She must know your name or

she must remember you when you will come next time.

Differentiate themShe tries to find your dietary needs, such as you are diabetic, or on a diet.

23 Harvard Management Update, 2000, p3



Interact with themShe make a conversation with you to find your needs and solution. If you are on diet she

recommends sugar-free, but she may ask your favourite taste, et cetera.

CustomizeFinally, she offers an appropriate lemonade. She must offer same lemonade or find better one

when you will come next time.

2-1-3. CRM is a quality improvement cycle

CRM studies have discussed not only what is the good communication at the moment of

conversation, but also how to use the information from conversation. Swift24 defined the process in

more adoptable for whole organisation and in cyclic process rather than one time project, as

follows and Fig 2-3. The cycle is similar to the traditional cycle in TQM of Plan-Do-Check-

Action.

Knowledge DiscoveryThe process of analysing customer information to identify specific market opportunities and investment

strategies. This is done through a process of customer identification, customer segmentation, and customer

24 Swift, 2001, pp39-41


KnowledgeDiscovery

MarketPlanning

Analysis &Refinement

CustomerInteraction

Learning

Action

Fig 2-3. The CRM process cycle [Swift, 2001, p40 Figure 2-2.]


prediction.

Market PlanningThis process group defines specific customer offers, delivery channels, schedules, and dependencies.

Customer InteractionThe key action phase of executing and managing customer/prospect communications with relevant, timely

information and offers using a variety interaction channels.

Analysis and RefinementThe process phase of continuous learning from customer dialogs by capturing and analysing data from

customer interactions and refining messages, communications, prices, volumes, locations, approaches, and

timings, and understanding specific responses to your customer stimulus.

The paper has discussed the communication between end users and facility manager, and reached a

Concept, CRM. However, The CRM concept is beyond the communication, it is improvement

process of quality of services. Swift25 defined CRM as follows,

Customer Relationship Management is an enterprise approach to understanding and influencing

customer behavior through meaningful communications in order to improve customer acquisition,

customer retention, customer loyalty, and customer profitability.

2-1-4. Tools and systems of CRM

There is a misunderstand that “CRM” is a category of computer systems. The misunderstand tells

that there are plenty of systems for CRM. If there were not recent development of IT (Information

Technology), the concept of CRM would not exists. Payne26 said, “In considering how CRM should be

implemented, information technology has a pivotal role to play in enabling companies to maximize profitability

through more precise targeting of market segments and the micro segments within them.” To organize each

25 Swift, 2001, p1226 Payne, 2000, Online Internet, 10th April 2001



communication into customer knowledge and proactive action that customize customer needs, IT

systems assist to acquire and store the communication into data base, and find and analyze it.

Here, the category of CRM systems are explained. All the definition are quoted from “ESSC

GLOSSARY.27”

Front Office Solution - An application designed to assist corporations with management of their

'front office' tasks, such as sales, marketing and customer support.

Data Warehouse - single database containing an organisation’s entire customer records in compiled,

unified format

Data Migrating - The process of translating data from one format to another or moving data from one

storage site to another. Most common when a new system is implemented in place of a legacy one or

after an acquisition of a company or its data using another format.

Data Mining - The function of database applications that probe for hidden or undiscovered patterns in

given collections of data. These applications use pattern recognition technologies as well as statistical

and mathematical techniques and can have a key impact on the return on investment (ROI) for a

technology expenditure upon discovering marketing or customer service data about one's clients. Data

mining is not simple, and most companies have not yet actively mined their data, though nearly all have

plans to do so in the future.

2-2. CRM in Facility Management

Can the concept, equal process of CRM be applied to facility management? Peppers and Rogers 28

analyses suitability of CRM in businesses using two axes, ‘customer valuations’ and ‘customer

need,’ and dividing into quadrants as Fig 2-4. The horizontal axis expresses the diversity of

27 ESSC, GLOSSARY, online Internet, 10th April 200128 Peppers and Rogers, quoted by IBM NUMA-Q, 1999, p4



customer needs. A business that is placed righter in this axis, the customer needs of it are diverse

and vice versa; for example, gas stations are placed in left because the customers can choose one

from only few products. On the other hand, the customers of bookstores can choose thousands of

books. On the other hand, the vertical expresses the differentiation in customer valuation. A

business is placed the higher of this axis, the value that its customers give the company is the more

different; for instance, in Airlines, business travellers much more profitable for them than the

others. Thus, pharmacies and Computer systems are placed in quadrants IV. Peppers and Rogers29

said, a business placed righter and the higher in this chart will benefit from CRM.

Where facility management is placed in this chart? The services which are proved to customers

(=end users) are diverse, such as space management, cleaning, catering, security, copy services, et

cetera. Some customer use much more services, more space, more security, or more copy services,

29 Peppers and Rogers, quoted by Harvard Management Update, 2000, p4


Fig 2-4. Suitability of CRMadapted from [Peppers and Rogers, quoted by IBM NUMA-Q, 1999, p4]

CUST

OM

ER V

ALUA

TIO

NS

High

lydi

ffere

ntia

ted

Unifo

rm

UniformCUSTOMER NEED

Highlydifferentiated

Ⅲ Ⅳ

Ⅰ Ⅱ

AirlinesPackaged goods mfrs.

Gas station

PharmaciesComputer systems

Bookstores

Facility Management


and the others do not often use facility services. Thus, facility management is placed quadrant Ⅳ.

Therefore, facility management must benefit from CRM.

There must be some criticisms that indicate the difference of facility management and the other

businesses. The one is that the population of customer (end users) is finite in facility management.

The customer (end users) seem not to be able to leave the facility services, because usually there is

no choice facility manager in an organisation. And also a facility manager seems not to be able to

acquire new customers. However, if a customer (end user) become a situation where h/she almost

wants to leave the facility manager, his/her satisfaction would be the worst. The outsourced facility

manager could not be going to renew his/her contract. In contrast, if a facility manager succeeds to

make his/her customers be loyal, it means they are very satisfied, which is the quality goal of

facility management. Thus, CRM can be applied to closed market, such as facility management.

There must be also another criticism “Has the paper assumed a limitation to customise facility

services?” Indeed, facility manager cannot customise for each users, and to avoid confusion of

which level of various services is provided, SLA exists. SLA usually defines the detail of service

level of each service. Therefore, someone may say, “if there is SLA between customers and a

facility manager, the facility manager cannot perform CRM process, because he/she cannot

customise their services.” The statement may true in short-term. However, SLA is not eternal, in

some period, it is revised to fit the expectation of users. Therefore, CRM process can be used for

improve SLA. In addition, if facility manager can offer options within his/her resource and cost,

he/she can customise somewhat. Furthermore, the perception of customers are based on various

experience of them; it is based on not only the level of services, but also the attitude or the effort

of facility manager, et cetera, et cetera. Therefore, CRM can be useful for facility managers who

really wants to satisfy their customers (=end users).




Communication ModelCommunication Model

Let the paper bring back to communication. The aim of the research is to find good way of

communication between und users and facility manager. This chapter, firstly, the structure of

communication in facility management is defined. Then, the model is characterized by CRM

aspects and is made into possible model of communication.

3-1. Structure of the communication

What sorts of communication exist between end users and facility manager? Here, the paper try to

list up the type communication along to the model of Kokuryo, and then list up the way of

communication.

3-1-1. Type of communication

One way S-to-CThe type of communication is convey information that facility managers want end users to know.

Following are included this type

Services catalogue: Explaining what kind of services are provided and what levels they are;

such as quality, frequency, or price(cost) all services and level of each services.

Campaign: Trying to make end users do some actions in a certain period. For instance,

accelerating to use new services just after it has launched.

Notice (routine): Taking attention for some rules, safety, security and others. E.g. the rules of

disposal, the place of fire exits, attention to ware ID et cetera.

Chapter 3 Communication Model 19


Notice (occasional): Informing end users some changes and inconvenience at the occasion.

For example, stopping some equipment for maintenance, changing place or delivery time of

a services.

FAQ (Frequent Asked Question): Informing the answer of frequently asked question from

users.

Interactive S-to-CThe type of communication exchange information each other. The type can be categorised into two

types; the one is that facility managers initiates it (here it is called outbound), another is that end

users initiate it. (called inbound).

Arrangement (outbound) : Facility manager initiates it for arranging his/her job; such as

arranging space allocation, maintenance schedule, or others.

Answer to question (inbound) : End user asks a question about of services; such as the

details of a services, the status of his/her order, or others.

Requirement (inbound): End user requires some arrangement for a services. For instance,

requiring about space allocation, air condition, delivery schedule of a services.

Answer to complain (inbound): Literally, complaining about the services; such as wrong or

miss delivery of a service, the quality of a service, or the attitude of staff.

Interactive C-to-CThe type of communication takes place without facility manager. End user may ask his/her

colleagues for the detail of services, or he/she may make a rumour about the services or the facility

manager or the staff.

Exchange (asking and teaching) information: An end users asks about services to

colleagues not to facility services staff.



Rumour: End users talk about bad reputation of facility services.

3-1-2. Way of communication

The communications, which are listed above, can take place following way,

Paper(letter, poster) : The way is used for distribution information, or sending a message

(One way S-to-C). The way is rather formal.

Web-site : The way is used for distribution information widely in the organisation (One way

S-to-C). The way is easy to access for end users, but technical skill or support is needed to

use it for facility manager.

Face to Face (informal) : The way is the most interactive and close relationship.

(Interactive S-to-C). The communication takes place in unscheduled.

Meeting (formal Face to Face) : The way is used for discussion and making decision

between end users and facility manager (Interactive S-to-C). Or, sometime facility manager

distributes information for particular group of users (One way S-to-C, including interactive;

such as Q&A).The communication is rather formal, and scheduled.

Telephone : The way is the easiest to make interactive communication (Interactive S-to-C).

However, it may be a little difficult when the end user and the facility manager do not know

each other well.

E-mail : The way is easy to use both distributing information and interactive

communication. (One way S-to-C, Interactive S-to-C). There might be some time lag. It may

also easy even when end the user and the facility manager do not know each other.



3-2. Character of the types of communication

According to the studies of CRM, interactive communication makes customers’ satisfaction better,

and the more the communication is personalized for each customer, the more satisfaction the

services provider can get. Especially, Swift30 said, “Inbound,” and “Interactive” communication

strategy get good sales (see Fig 3-1). Therefore, it is considered Interactive, personalized, and end

user initiated communication make satisfaction higher. The ideal situation of CRM is “customised

services for each.” However, even a facility manager cannot customise perfectly for each user’s

need, it is considered that he/she can satisfy a end user if the end user is satisfied by the facility

manager’s solution (or explanation).

While interactive communication is considered the most important, facility manager cannot ignore

one way communication. Cook31 insists importance of informing customer charters and service

guarantees, such as “all correspondence will be actioned with 48 hours of your enquiry.” The one way

communication is considered to make end users aware (perceive) to the services. It is consider to

trigger interactive communication. In addition, if the one way communication is often updated, it

can support interactive communication, such as FAQ. Peppers, Rogers and Dorf32 said, “A company

30 Swift, 2001, pp33-3431 Cook, 2000, p16032 Peppers, Rogers, & Dorf, 1998, p6


Fig 3-1. Marketing communication strategy adapted from [Swift, 2001, p34 Figure 1.7]

Company Initiated(Outbound)

Customer Initiated(Inbound)

Interactive

Passive

DifferentialMarketing

Success rate 6-15%

Relationship (1:1) Marketing

Success rate 18-30%

TraditionalMarketing

Success rate 2-5%

InformationalMarketing

Success rate 1-3%


that provides helpful, up-to-date information at its Web site won’t need to spend as much as it once did

supporting a more expensive call center.”

In addition, another interesting phenomenon is Interactive C-to-C communication. Kokuryo33

suggests the existence of this type and communication as above mentioned, the other book34 also

indicates of occurring of the type of communication, as “If the customer can’t get the information from

the car company itself, she can start talking to other people who have had similar experiences.” Therefore,

it is considered that Interactive C-to-C communications often take place among end users when a

facility manager does not make enough communication with end users.

All the aspects of those character of each type of communication are examined in an experiment.

The paper discuss the experiment in next chapter.

In short, following hypotheses come,

Proactive communication from facility manager to users (one way S-to-C) increases users’

perception of services level and accelerate interactive communication.

Interactive S-to-C communication between facility manger and users (Interactive S-to-C)

increases users’ satisfaction.

Interactive communication among users (Interactive C-to-C) reveals the potential

expectation of users.

33 Kokuryo, Online. Internet. 29 Nov 2000.34 The Cluetrain Manifest, quoted by HMCL2, 2000, p4




Evaluation of the ModelsEvaluation of the Models

4-1.　Experiment Design

4-1-1. The Aims of the Experiment

To evaluate the model of communication, the research carries out an experiment. The experiment

is finding out how communication between facility manager and end users affects satisfaction of

end user; perception and expectation of end users of that satisfaction consists.

The experiment has mainly two part. The one is to examine how end user is satisfied with the

services that the facility managers provide to them. The examination is being carried out by a

questionnaire for the end users. The questionnaire asks them not only their satisfaction with

facility services but also their perception level of services, expectation, and experience of

communication with facility manager. Those questions will describe the character of

communication. The questionnaire aims to describe the correlativity among satisfaction,

perception, expectation and communication.

Another is to characterize communication that facility managers have everyday. The characters are

described along the flame of communication, mentioned previous chapter. In practice, some

facility managers are interviewed for the communication.

It is difficult to identify the relation directly between the characters of communication and the end

users’ satisfaction. Therefore, the experiment adopts the comparative experiment design. The

experiment deduces the relation from a comparison of several sets of communication characters

and end users’ satisfaction (Fig 4-1.). It is also difficult to apply some treatments to real field, it

Chapter 4 Evaluation of the Models 24


means to change communication ways of facility manager. Therefore, the communication

character of each set is regarded as a treatment, and the end users’ satisfaction is regarded as the

result of each treatment. The other conditions of each set; e.g. the services which is provided for

the sets, the culture surrounding the satisfaction et cetera, are needed to be same. Therefore, the

experiment selects a big company that has several sites, in all of which the facility services are

provided a FM organisation. Each site in the company is regarded as the set of the experiment.

(Fig-4-2.)

4-1-2. Study Population

The experiment selects Xerox Ltd. as the study population to fulfill the conditions of comparative

experiment design. Xerox has many sites in the UK, and some of them are occupied by more than

250 people. An FM outsourcing firm, SI-CBX, provides facility services in one contract which

covers whole Xerox Ltd. SI-CBX situates an account manager and his/her team on each site to

look after the end users. Therefore, each site, a set of an account manager and occupants of site,

can be regarded as comparative set of the experiment. In addition, it is possible to assume that all

of the employees of Xerox Ltd. has same culture that influences their satisfaction, and also same


Set A(Site A)

Communication Character

A

Set B(Site B)


B

Set C(Site C)


C

SatisfactionA

SatisfactionB

Satisfaction

C

Fig 4-1. comparative experiment designComparing

Regarding as treatment

Results

ByQuestionnaire

andInterview

ByQuestionnaire


services are provided for the employees.

4-1-3. Design of the questionnaire

The questionnaire is designed for examining the satisfaction of end users and characterising their

communication. The sheets is attached as Appendix 1.

The primary aim of the questionnaire is to find how end user is satisfied with the facility services.

Q1: <<Satisfaction>>

Overall, which one of the following

statements best describes your

feeling about the facilities services?

Possible answer (choose one)

Very satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied

Somewhat Dissatisfied


Set ASet A Set A

Fig 4-2. Actual sets of study population

A Company

Team A Team B Team C

Site AEnd users

Site BEnd users

Site CEnd users

A FM organisation


Very Dissatisfied

However, the satisfaction is considered to be composed from various element, such as perception

of services, expectation, and experience of communication. Therefore, the questionnaire asks

supplementary questions as follows. The questionnaire try to find out the correlativity among

satisfaction, perception, expectation and experience of communication. The relations among the

questions are showed in Fig 4-3, .

Q2 <<Perception>>

Do you know what kinds of

services are provided?

Possible answer (choose only one)

I know almost all services.

I know some services.

I know how to find the services.

I don't know well what services are provided.

I don't know at all what is facilities service.

Q3 <<experience1>>

How did you or do you know the

services?

Possible answer (multiple choice)

I have read the Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Services catalogues (hardcopy)

Website services catalogues

Notice board

Induction process

I asked or ask the Help Desk

I asked or ask the facilities services staff

Q4 <<expectation>>

Overall, how do you think about

absolute quality of services?


Much more than　My Expectation

More than　My Expectation

Almost Equal to　My Expectation

Less than　My Expectation

Much less than 　My Expectation

Q5 <<experience2>>

Have you ever contacted the facilities

services staff in this six months?


No, I have never contacted

Yes, I have contacted.

>> How many?



Q6 <<experience3>>

Why haven't you contacted?


The services were clear and always satisfied me, I

have never thought to make a contact.

The services didn't satisfy me sometime, but it not

too unclear to ask nor too bad to complain.

I didn't feel anything about the services

The services didn't satisfy me, but I though it was

in vain to complain, nothing would change.

The services didn't satisfy me, but I don't know to

whom or how I contact.

Q7 <<experience4>>

Why did you contacted the facilities

services staff?


I asked about the details of a service.

I asked about the status of my order.

I asked about the other question.

I required some arrangement for a service.

I complained because a service was different from

my order.

I complained because the quality of a service was

not good.

I complained because the attitude of service

person was not appropriate

I complained because of the other reasons

Q8 <<satisfaction2>>

How satisfied are you with the

solution of the facilities services staff

to your problem of above(Q7)?


Very Satisfied

Somewhat Satisfied

Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied

Somewhat Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

Q9 <<experience5>>

Have you ever talked about the

services with your colleagues?


I asked or taught colleagues about the details of a

service.

I talked a rumour of the facilities services with my

colleagues.

I have never talked about the services with my



colleagues

4-2. Collected Data

4-2-1. Outline of experimented sites

The sheets of questionnaire were distributed to three sites of the company surrounding London.

The sites are looked after by three teams of facility managers. The approximate number of

occupants and the provided services are showed in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1. Outline of experimented sitesSite1 Site2 Site3

Approximate number of occupants

1200 1000 280

The provided services Almost same services are provides for each site; e.g. Space management (including conference room booking), cleaning, security, catering

4-2-2. Profile of Collected data

The sheets of questionnaire were distributed randomly selected occupants in each site. The number


Q6:experience3

why not

Q8:satisfaction2Q7:experience4Q5:experience2

Q9:experience5

Having contacted ?(interactive S-to-C)

NO

YES Question?

Complained?

Having talked with colleagues? (interactive C-to-C)

NOYES: ask or teach

Satisfaction for the response

YES: make a rumour

Q1:satisfaction1

Overall Satisfaction for the services

Q2:perception

Know services?

NO

YES

Q3: experience1

How having known?(One way S-to C)

Q4: expectation

The service quality is more or less than expectation?

Fig 4-3. Structure of the questionnaire


of distributed and collected sheets of questionnaire are showed in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2. Profile of Collected dataSite1 Site2 Site3 Total

Distributed(Approximates)

100 50 100 250

Collected30 8 35 73

Collect rate per distribution

30% 16% 35% 29%

Collect rate per occupants

2.5% 3.2% 3.5% 3.0%

4-2-3. Outline of interviews

Interviews took place with not only the three team leaders of each site, but also a leader of the

other site. The interview also took place with the senior manager who supervise those teams.

Followings are asked,

Type of communication often happening

How Identifying end-users

Whether differentiating end-users or not

Effective way of communication

Customizing and improvement of the services

Tip and policy of communication

Feeling for the job

4-2-4. Modified the for analysis

QuestionnaireBefore analysing the data, it is supplemented for analysis. To calculate the means, the numbers, 5

to 1, are applied to each answer, as Table 4-3. If an single choice question is not answered, it is

also applied the most neutral answer as follows, and the mean is used for the answer which is



ticked two or more answer in single choice question. In addition, even though the respondents who

answer “don’t know well” and “don’t know at all” were not asked Q3, it can be regarded that they

do not know how to know. Therefore “0” is applied to every question in Q3 for those respondents.

In the same way, for the respondents who “have not contacted with staff” in Q5, “0” is applied to

every question in Q7. All of the data is attached as appendix 2.

Table 4-3. Modified the answer for analysis(Greyed cells are the used for no answer)

Applied number

Applied question5 4 3 2 1 0

Q1 Overall Satisfaction

Very

satisfied

Somewhat

satisfied

Neither

satisfied nor

dissatisfied

Somewhat

dissatisfied

Very

dissatisfied-

Q2 PerceptionKnow

almost all

services

Know some

services

Know how

to find

Don’t know

well

Don’t know

at all-

Q3 how to know1. SLA - - - - Ticked Not ticked

2. Service Catalogue - Ticked Not ticked

3. Website - - - - Ticked Not ticked

4. Notice board - - - - Ticked Not ticked

5. Induction process - - - - Ticked Not ticked

6. Help desk - - - - Ticked Not ticked

7. Ask staff - - - - Ticked Not ticked

Q4 ExpectationMuch more

than

expectation

More than

expectation

Equal to

expectation

Less than

expectation

Much less

than

expectation

Q5 Have contacted with staff?

Yes No

2. How many?Filled in number is used No

Q6 Why didn’t contact

Always

satisfiedNot bad

Nothing to

feelIn Vain

Don’t know

how to-



Q7 Why contacted1. asked the detail of

a servicesTicked Not ticked

2. asked the status of order

TickedNot ticked

3. asked othersTicked

Not ticked

4. required arrangement

TickedNot ticked

5. complained mistake

TickedNot ticked

6. complained quality Ticked

Not ticked

7. complained attitude

TickedNot ticked

8. complained othersTicked

Not ticked

Q8 Satisfaction of solution

Very

satisfied

Somewhat

satisfied

Neither

satisfied nor

dissatisfied

Somewhat

dissatisfied

Very

dissatisfied-

Q9 Talked with colleagues

NeverAsked or

Taught

Talked

rumour-

4-2-5. Summary of the result <questionnaire>

Table 4-4 shows the summary of each answer in the questionnaire. The ways of summarising are

follows. The process of editing of data is attached as appendix. 3

The single choice questions; Q1, Q2, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q8, and Q9:

The frequency of each answer are showed in percentage. Grey scale is used for levelling the

frequency.

The means are showed in the last row of each questions’ tables.



The multiple choice questions; Q3 and Q7:

Each frequency against the number of respondents are showed in percentage. Grey scale is

also used for the levelling the frequency.

In addition to each result of the items of Q7, the items are merged into three: Asking,

Requiring, and Complaining, and the frequency are showed.

The numerical answer: Q5 sub question ‘how many’

The frequency of certain ranges are showed in percentage, and grey scale is also used.

The means are showed in the last row of the question’s table.

Table 4-4a. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q1Overall satisfaction Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

5 37% 13% 29% 30% 62% and more

4 50% 50% 40% 45% 38 - 62% (less)

3 10% 13% 20% 15% 24-38% (less)

2 3% 25% 11% 10% 7-24% (less)

1 0% 0% 0% 0% -7% less

The mean 4.2 3.5 3.9 4.0 The satisfaction levels of all sites are high, the peak is on Level 4: ‘somewhat satisfied’

Table 4-4b. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q2Perception of Service Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

5 57% 38% 26% 40% 62% and more

4 27% 63% 51% 42% 38 - 62% (less)

3 13% 0% 9% 10% 24-38% (less)

2 3% 0% 14% 8% 7-24% (less)

1 0% 0% 0% 0% -7% less

The mean 4.37 4.38 3.9 4.1 More than 80% percent of end users in each site know the services. Even though the means are

almost same between Site 1 and Site 2, the percentage (57%) of Level 5: knowing almost all

service at Site 1 is a remarkable result.



Table 4-4c. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q3How to know Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

SLA 3% 0% 3% 3% 62% and more

Catalogue (hardcopy) 7% 13% 0% 4% 38 - 62% (less)

Web-site 27% 0% 0% 11% 24-38% (less)

Notice board 27% 0% 14% 18% 7-24% (less)

Induction process 13% 13% 20% 16% -7% less

Help desk 43% 50% 37% 41% Ask staff 70% 88% 57% 66%The number of res 30 8 35 73In every site, interactive ways (Help desk, Ask staff) often happen to perceive the service level.

At Site 1, one way communication also seems to be used often for perception.

Table 4-4d. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q4Expectation of quality Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

5 3% 0% 3% 3% 62% and more

4 37% 25% 29% 32% 38 - 62% (less)

3 57% 50% 66% 60% 24-38% (less)

2 3% 25% 3% 5% 7-24% (less)

1 0% 0% 0% 0% -7% less

The mean 3.4 3.0 3.3 3.3 Many end user feel the quality is no more and no less than their expectation. At Site 1 and

Site_3, the services is perceived rather high than the end users expectation.

Table 4-4e. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q5Have contacted to staff Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

0 3% 13% 17% 11% 62% and more

1 97% 88% 83% 89% 7-24% (less)

Most of people have some experience of contacting facility staff. -7% less



Table 4-4f. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q5’ How manyThe range of times Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

0 time 3% 13% 17% 12% 62% and more

1- 2 times 17% 50% 40% 33% 38 - 62% (less)

3- 9 times 23% 13% 20% 22% 24-38% (less)

10-19 times 33% 13% 6% 17% 7-24% (less)

20-29 times 10% 0% 9% 3% -7% less

30 and more times 13% 13% 9% 13%The mean 15.4 6.9 9.9 11.8 The number of contacted times seems difference between Site 1 and the others. The end users

at Site 1 seems to have contacted more often than the others

Table 4-4g. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q6Why didn't Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

5 0% 0% 67% 50% 62% and more

4 0% 100% 0% 13% 38 - 62% (less)

3 100% 0% 33% 38% 24-38% (less)

2 0 0 0 0 7-24% (less)

1 0 0 0 0 -7% less

The mean 3.0 4.0 4.3 4.1 It is too few to analyse the data.

Table 4-4h. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q7Why contacted? Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

Ask service 53% 13% 31% 38% 62% and more

Ask status of order 17% 25% 26% 22% 38 - 62% (less)

Ask others 23% 25% 11% 18% 24-38% (less)

Requirement 80% 38% 46% 59% 7-24% (less)

Complain wrong 3% 0% 6% 4% -7% less

Complain quality 7% 25% 11% 11% Complain attitude 0% 0% 0% 0% Complain others 13% 13% 0% 7%The number of res 30 8 35 73The average of ‘Requirement’ at Site 1 is remarkable.



Table 4-4i. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q7' summarisedWhy contacted? summarised Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

Asking 70% 63% 54% 62% 62% and more

Requiring 80% 38% 46% 59% 38 - 62% (less)

Complaining 23% 38% 17% 22% 24-38% (less)

the number of res 30 8 35 73 7-24% (less)

The end users of site 1 have contacted with the facility management staff

remarkably often, especially for requiring

-7% less

Table 4-4j. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q8Satisfaction for solution Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

5 50% 25% 34% 40% 62% and more

4 30% 38% 37% 34% 38 - 62% (less)

3 20% 13% 26% 22% 24-38% (less)

2 0% 25% 3% 4% 7-24% (less)

1 0% 0% 0% 0% -7% less

The mean 4.3 3.6 4.0 4.1 The satisfaction at Site 1 seems higher than the others.

Table 4-4k. Summary of the result of questionnaire Q9Talk with colleagues Site1 Site2 Site3 All sites Grey scale

3 27% 13% 31% 27% 62% and more

2 63% 50% 60% 60% 38 - 62% (less)

1 10% 38% 9% 12% 24-38% (less)

The mean 2.17 1.8 2.23 2.2 7-24% (less)

Many people (70% or more) have some experience of talking about the

services with their colleagues. Interactive C-to-C communication happens

very often.

-7% less



4-2-6. Summary of the result of interviews

In general, there were not big difference among them. In the interviews, Followings are the

summary of them and each record are attached as Appendix 4.

Type of communication often happeningAll of the team leaders said that the most frequently happened communication is ‘instruction,’

which means explanation of services and, provide specific information. The second is

arrangement, for instance moving space and booking conference room. The arrangement meant

that combining several services into one, for instance, when an end user wants to held a

conference, he/she require to book a room, order catering, and equipment for the conference

needs.

The communication of instruction tends to be one time go-and-return, the one of arrangement and

answering the complain tend to be several times interactive conversation.

Most of them are often walking around the sites, and seeking communication with end users.

How Identifying end-usersA question: “do you remember the name and face of end users?,” was asked to them. All of them

answered, ”Not all, but some key persons.” The key persons includes, head of the departments,

secretaries and administrators. A team

leader estimated 10% of occupants are the

key persons, and also indicated

communications tends to come through

the key-persons (Fig 4-4.)

Whether differentiating end-users or not At first of the question, they are asked “Is there any special person, such as frequent complainer?”


Key person The other End users

Facility manager

Fig 4-4. Key person in end users


Some of the leaders said yes, and there were only one or two in a site. However, the said no special

services are provided for the persons. In addition, there are some persons who are not complainer

but needed to look after a little more carefully giving information and arrangement.

Effective way of communicationThere are two answers in the interviews. The first one is the effectiveness of email. Using email,

they said, they can easily, record, copy & paste, and forwarding the information. They recognized

email is useful tool for communication. On the other hand, most of the team leaders said the most

effective way of the communication is face-to-face. A conversation that needs careful treatment,

they use face-to-face. However, one problem of face-to-face is to be difficult to record the

information within the conversation. A team leader added a useful suggestion, “If it is need to record

the conversation, I always send a email to feedback the content.”

Customizing and improvement of the servicesSpecifically, one by one customizing arrangement are sometimes taken place. In addition, at a site

where the team was registered as ISO9001, all requests come to helpdesk are recorded and

analyzed every month. The analysis is mainly done on the tracking the request; such as, the

number of request that is finished until the dead line, and if not, analyzing why not, and so on.

Tip and policy of communicationThe tip of treatment for complain, they said, can be summarized as follows,

1st Listen, and specify the problem, what is happening,

2nd Categorize into two types of problem, one is misunderstanding the service levels, another is

something really wrong being happened.

3rd For the first one, they explains the service level and why the service level are set like those;

for instance, cause of the cost et cetera.

For the second, it is the most important that admitting the guilt at first, then promise the date until



when they will settle down the problem. it does not matter the length, sometimes they say until

next week, and sometimes they say within a half an year. Then, the promise should be followed

up at the deadline promised, even though, the problem is not settled down, it is important to

report the status.

Feeling for the jobAll of the team leaders said they were enjoying their jobs. They said, complain was much often

happen than compliment. However, they agreed it is a great pleasure if they can solve a problem

and satisfy the end user.

However, a team leader also said that he sometime felt a pressure for not to be able to fix the

problem in the dead line.” He said some back-up support are needed, for instance writing a formal

letter instead of him, because he was often out of office and it was difficult to make a time for

writing.

OthersEscalation process : if a problem can not be settled down at a staff level the problem brings up to

the team leaders, and then the senior manager. The escalation up to the senior manager has not

often happened, the manager said “very few.”

Policy or motto: There are no special policy of the teams, the senior manager said. Instead, the

company has shared values: Integrity, Progressive, Open, and Supportive. The senior manager

said, “Communication is the key success factor,” and it is taken place according to the values.

4-3. Analysis of the Date

4-3-1. The methods for analysis

Here, the statistical methods: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi-square (χ2) test and



regression analysis used for analysis are explained. A reader, who is familiar with those methods,

should skip to the next section

At first, the research examines whether the sites are different or not. The paper uses a method,

“Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).” The method is applied to Q1, Q2, Q4, Q5 How many, Q8 and

Q9 of questionnaire. Actually, using the method, each mean of samples (the results of site-groups)

are examined that they are different or not.　

Then, for ‘yes-no’ and ‘true-false’ question, such as Q3, and Q7, the “Chi-square (χ2) test” is

applied to test the differentiation.

Q5 Have contacted and Q6 are not analysed because the respondents who answered ‘no’ in Q5

Have contacted are too few to analyse the data (1 in Site 1, 1 in Site 2, 4 in Site 3), and also the

same reason is not Q6 analysed.

On the other hand, to examine the relation between satisfaction and communication way

examination is done through “Regression analysis,” and investigates hypotheses of the research.

First, the data of questionnaire is examined about the relation among them, and try to find how the

user’s satisfaction is come out from the other factor, such as expectation, or some experience.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Analysis of Variance is a statistical method which examine the difference of populations. Here, the

method is explained briefly step by step for analysis of Q1.

It is examined whether the ‘Over all satisfactions’ of sites are different or not. This is whether the

sample means of sites, here expressed as , , and , are different because of difference of in

the underlying population means μ1, μ2, and μ3, or these differences in ’s may be reasonably



attributed to chance fluctuations alone35. The examination are done by testing a statistical

hypothesis of “no different” in population means, called null hypothesis,

H0: μ1 = μ2 = μ3

The test of this hypothesis is done to test whether the variance of is large relative to the

variance of each site-group. Here, the sample sizes of each site-group are different, therefore, the

variance of , MSA, is given as follows,

MSA =

SSA/(a-1)

a: the number of site-group

ni: sample size of site-groupi

: grand average of all data

SSA =

On the other hands, The pooled variance of each site-group, MSE, is given as follows,

MSE =

SSE/

SSE =

Then, it is known that the value of (MSA / MSE) follows F distribution36. If H0 is not true the F

ratio will tend to be larger. The larger is F, the less credible is the null hypothesis. The credibility

is showed by F’s p-value. For example p-value = 0.05 means there is 5% chance that H0 is true. In

other words, the less p-value, the more different in satisfactions of each site-group. The p-value

can be calculated by most of spread-sheet PC software, such as Microsoft Excel, or by a table that

attached most of statistical book, such as “Appendix Table VI” of Wonnacott & Wonnacott37. Here,

35 Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, p32536 Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, p32837 Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, pp673-674


(4-1)

(4-2)

(4-3)

(4-4)


the paper calculates the p-value by a function, FDIST, of Microsoft Excel. Table 4-5 shows the

summary of those value, and the scheme is used for analysis the other questions.

Table4-5. ANOVA Table for Unequal Sample Sizes(adapted from [Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, p334, Table 10-5])

Source Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value

FACTER-Adifferences

between site-

group means

SSA = d.f.A=(a-1)

MSA =

SSA/(a-1)F=

FDIST(F, d.f.A,

d.f.E)

RESIDUAL(ERROE):

differences

between

observations

and

means

SSE = d.f.E=

MSE =

SSE/

d.f.: degree of freedoma: the number of site-group, ni: sample size of site-groupi ,

Chi-square ( χ 2) test “Chi-square (χ2) test provides a simple test based on the difference between observed and

expected frequency,” Wonnacott & Wonnacott38 explained. In the other word, the test can examine

whether the frequency of ‘yes’ in ‘yes-no’ or ‘true’ in ‘true-false’ question in each site is different

from each other, or not. The test is also used null hypothesis, H0: there is no different among the

sites. For instance, it can be tested that the frequency of ‘yes’ in Q5: ‘Have contacted with staff’ of

each site-group is different from the others. If the H0 is true, each site-group frequency is expected

to be same probability of whole observation (Table 4-6, row 3). The sum of deviation squared and

38 Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, p549



weighted (Table 4-6, row 6) shows the deviation from H039. The sum of them, called chi-square

(χ2), is know to follow χ2 distribution of d.f. (degree of freedom) = r-1 (r: the number of sites) .

Therefore, the p-value of the value of χ2 shows the probability of H0; the lower the p-value is, the

higher H0 can be rejected, and it means the frequency of each site can be said to be different from

the others. The p-value can be calculated by a function in spread-sheet software, here a function,

CHDIST, in Microsoft Excel, is used.

Table 4-6 chi-square (χ2) calculations(Adapted from [Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, p551 Table 17-1]

Site-group Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Total1. total number of

observed datat1 t2 t3 t=Σti

2. Observed frequency of ‘yes’ O

o1 o2 o3 o=Σni

3. Probability (if H0 true)p

p1= t1/t p2= t2/t p3= t3/t

4. expected frequency(ei= o*pi)

e1= o*p1 e2= o*p2 e3= o*p3

5. Deviation (di=ni- e1) d1=o1- e1 d2=o2- e2 d3=o3- e3

6. Deviation squared and weighted (c2i=di2/ei)

c21=d12/e1 c22=d22/e2 c23=d32/e3 χ2=Σc2i

Regression AnalysisTo find the relation between over all satisfaction and the other factors, the research uses regression

analysis. The analysis determines a formula, like follows, from the observed data.

Q1 = a + bQ2+ cQ3… 　（Q1: Over all satisfaction, Q2: Perception, and so on）



(4-5)


In the other word, only regarding about the Q1 and Q2, the analysis find a line that may fit the

plotted data in a graph, such as Fig 4-5a. It can expand into more variables, such as Fig 4-5b

For instance, if a result:[Q1 = 1+ 4*Q2-3*Q3…], is given, it can be said that Q2 is positively

related with Q1, and Q3 is negatively related with Q1. In the other word, the higher Q2 is, the

higher Q1 becomes, and the higher Q3, the lower Q1 becomes.

The line or plane (coefficients of the formula) can be calculated by a criterion that is called

Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)40, as follow,

Minimize Σdi2 : di is the deviations between the observed data and the

estimated line (see Fig 4-5a).

Most of spread sheet software, such as Microsoft Excel has a function that calculates the

coefficients. The research calculates them by a function, LINEST, of Microsoft Excel. In addition,

each standard error (SE) of coefficient is given by the function. Using the SE, the credibility of

each coefficients can be showed, as follows. For instance, explaining the credibility of a

coefficient: b In the result formula, Q1 = a + bQ2+ cQ3, using SE of b.



Fig 4-5. Regression analysis; Fitting line or plane for data(adapted from [Wonnacott & Wonnacott, 1990, p359 Figure 11-2] and [p401 Figure 13-3])

Q1

Q2

Q1 =a+bQ2

Q1

Q2

Q3(Q21,Q31)Q

3

cb

d1

q1

a. single variable b. multi variables


If there is no relation between Q1 and Q2, the real value of b (here used β)would be 0.

Therefore, the credibility of b can be showed through testing a null hypothesis H0: β=0.

The real value of b (here (100-p)% (for instance, 95% p=5) confident interval is given as

follow41,.

here t is the value of t distribution of d.f. (degree of freedom) =n-k-1

(n: the number of data, k: the number of coefficients, except a).

Now : β=0 is assumed, therefore, must be within . In the other word, if is

outside of , H0 is rejected, and it means the credibility of b is (100-p)%.

On the other hand, p-value (p/100) of t distribution can be given by a computer soft, such as

a function: TDIST in Microsoft. Therefore p-value of shows the credibility of b (the less

p-value is, the more credible b is)

The relation between Q1 and others can be examined two way of regression analysis. The one,

called simple regression, is find the relation one by one, using only one variable in the formula 4-

5. The result can be showed by matrix, like Fig. 4-6. On the other hand, a variable, such as Q1, can

be described by multiple variables, called multiple regression. In multiple regression, each

coefficient explain purely the relation between

the regressee and a regressor. On the other

hand, in simple regression, the coefficient

includes indirect effects of the regressor. For

instance, suppose two formula are given, as



(4-6)

Q1 1Qm= a+bmiQi

b12 b13

Q1 Q2 Q3

Q2 b21=b12 1 b23

Q3 b31=b13 b32=b23 1

Fig 4-6. Correlation matrix


follows,

Q1 = 1 + 4Q2 + 3Q3

Q3 = 3Q2

The pure effect of Q2 is ‘2,’ when Q2 increases 1 point, then Q1 increases 2 point. However, Q2

also affects Q3, increasing 1 point cause 3 point increase of Q3. Therefore, the formula of simple

regression becomes follows,

Q1 = 1 + 4Q2 + 3*3Q2 = 1 + 13Q2

Formula 4-8 includes indirect effect of Q2.

The research uses multiple regression analysis for describe main regressee Q1, to examine

carefully the effects of each variable. The relation among the other variable are examined by

simple regression (correlation matrix).

4-3-2. Analyses of data

ANOVA on QuestionnaireHere, each ANOVA table of Q1, Q2, Q4, Q5;How many, Q8 and Q9 are calculated.

Table4-8a. ANOVA Table for Q1 Overall SatisfactionSource Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value

FACTER-ASSA = 3.79 d.f.A=2 MSA = 1.90 F=2.32 P= 0.11

RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE = 57.09 d.fE=70 MSE = 0.82


(4-7)

(4-8)

(4-8)


Table4-8b. ANOVA Table for Q2 PerceptionSource Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value

FACTER-ASSA = 4.25 d.f.A=2 MSA = 2.12 F=2.73 P=0.07

RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE = 54.38 d.fE=70 MSE = 0.78

Table4-8c. ANOVA Table for Q4 ExpectationSource Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value

FACTER-ASSA =1.01 d.f.A=2 MSA =0.51 F=1.32 P=0.27

RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE =26.74 d.fE=70 MSE =0.38

Table4-8d. ANOVA Table for Q5 How many times contactedSource Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value


RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE = 32852.88 d.fE=70 MSE = 469.33

Table4-8e. ANOVA Table for Q5 How many times contacted (inter-quartile-range)Source Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value


RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE = 250.24 d.fE=70 MSE = 6.95

Table4-8f. ANOVA Table for Q8 Satisfaction for solutionSource Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value


RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE = 53.15 d.fE=70 MSE = 0.76



Table4-8g. ANOVA Table for Q9 Talk with colleaguesSource Sum of Squares, SS d.f. Mean Square, MS F Ratio P-value


RESIDUAL(ERROE):

SSE = 25.84 d.fE=70 MSE = 0.37

Usually in statistical conventions of ANOVA, the null hypothesis H0 is rejected ( = the mean of

groups are different) when its p-value is less than 0.05 (5%). According to the convention, all

above p-value is more than 0.05, then it is difficult to declare each site is different from the others.

However, it is not also proved the sites are same. Here, even though the statistical risk is increased,

the paper says the sites are different from the others, if a p-value is less than 0.15 (15%).

According to the rule, each question is analyzed as follows,

Q1 Overall satisfaction: It can be said there are some difference among the means of the answer.

Therefore, from table 4-4a, the end users of Site 1 are the most satisfied (4.2), then Site 3 (3.9)

following by Site 2(3.5).

Q2 Perception of the service : The mean of each answer can be said different, but Site 2 (4.38)

and Site 1 (4.37) are almost same. It shows the end users know the services well, and then Site 3

(3.9) follows.

Q4 Expectation of quality: Even though expanding the criteria into 0.15, it is hard to say there are

some difference among the expectation of sites. The expectation seems vary even in a same site.

Q5 How many have contacted: According to table 4-8e, It is hardly said there are some difference

among the frequencies of contact with facility manager. However, from table 4-4f, the

distributions of sites seem different. The numbers seem too vary (each variance is rather large) to

reject the null hypothesis. Therefore, ANOVA is done on inter quartile range (Table 4-8f). In the



inter quartile range, the quarter of the respondents are eliminate from the analysis from both side

(too few and too many), only middle two quarters are used for analysis. It can emphasis the

character of samples42.

The inter quartile data shows clearly the difference, therefore, the end users of Site 1 communicate

with facility manager the most (the whole sample mean: 15.4 times), then, Site 3 (9.9 times), and

followed by Site 2 (6.9 times).

Q8 Satisfaction for the solution: It can be said that the satisfactions for the solution among the

sites are different. It shows the end users of Site 1 is the most satisfied (4.3 point: more than ‘some

what satisfied’) , then, Site 3 (4.0 point), followed by Site 2 (3.6 point).

Q9 Have talked with colleagues: It also can be said there are some difference among the

experience of talking with colleagues about the services. The end users of Site 2 more often talked

negative things about the services (1.8 point), then Site 1 (2.17 point) and followed by Site 3 (2.23

point).

Chi-square ( χ 2) test on questionnaire To examine the differentiation of ‘Yes – No’ and ‘True – false’ question, chi-square (χ2) test is

applied on Q3 and Q7. The result of them are showed in table 4-9.




Table 4-9 Deviation squared and weighted and Chi-square (χ2) testa. Q3 How to know

　Deviation squared and

weighted Site1 Site2 Site3 chi_square p-value SLA 0.04 0.22 0.00 0.26 0.88 Catalogue (hardcopy) 0.48 1.37 1.44 3.29 0.19 Web-site 6.75 0.88 3.84 11.47 0.00 Notice board 1.32 1.42 0.24 2.99 0.22 Induction process 0.18 0.08 0.27 0.52 0.77 Help desk 0.04 0.15 0.13 0.32 0.85 Ask staff 0.08 0.58 0.39 1.05 0.59 b. Q7 Why contacted?


weighted Site1 Site2 Site3 chi_square p-value Ask service 1.75 1.39 0.44 3.59 0.17 Ask status of order 0.38 0.03 0.23 0.64 0.73 Ask others 0.51 0.23 0.80 1.55 0.46 Requirement 2.27 0.62 1.03 3.92 0.14 Complain wrong 0.04 0.33 0.22 0.59 0.74 Complain quality 0.50 1.44 0.01 1.95 0.38 Complain attitude N.A because No one answered N.A Complain others 1.84 0.37 2.40 4.61 0.10 c. Q7 Why contacted (summarised)


weighted Site1 Site2 Site3 chi_square p-value Asking 0.34 0.00 0.31 0.65 0.72 Requiring 2.27 0.62 1.03 3.92 0.14 Complaining 0.03 0.89 0.36 1.28 0.53

According to the test, if the criteria is expanded into 0.15 (15%), it can be said there are some

difference among the sites only in Q3 Web-site, Q7 requirement, and Q7 Complain others.

Web-site catalogue is provided only at Site 1, therefore the difference is necessary. On the other

aspect, the difference shows if the web-site catalogue is provided, it can be often used.

‘Complain others’ is different among the sites. The written answer of the question, most of the end



user of Site 1 complained about the air-condition. It seems some problem with the air condition.

However, just comparing the experiment of complain (Q7 summarised), it is hard to say there are

some difference among the sites.

The most remarkable difference is the experience of ‘Requirement’ It can be said there are some

differences among the site, it happened quite often at Site 1. 80% is absolutely high average. It

seems the facility manager of Site 1 encourage the end users to require some arranges.

Regression analysis for questionnaireAt first of the analysis, Q1 is described by multiple regression. For clarifying the effect upon Q1:

Overall satisfaction, the answer of Q3: How to know the services is too detail, then is not

included in the analysis. And also, the answers of Q7: Why contacted can be merged into three

kinds: Q71;asked, Q72;required, and Q73;complained. In addition, only few respondents (only 6

in 73 respondents) answered Q5:no (= have not contacted), therefore, Q6: Why didn’t contact is

excluded from the analysis. To investigate the difference among the sites, two following dummy

variable are added,

S2: if a respondent is Site 2; then S2 = 1; otherwise 0.

S3: if a respondent is Site 3: then S3 = 1; otherwise 0

If the coefficient of those variable is more than 0, then the site has more positive relation to

Overall satisfaction than Site1.

Thus, the following regression formula is calculated.

Q1 = a + bQ2+cQ4+d1Q5+d2Q52 +e1Q71+e2Q72+e3Q73+fQ9+vS1+wS2

The results are showed as follows,



Table 4-10 the result of R1

Ove

rall

satis

fact

ion

inte

rcep

t

Perc

eptio

n of

Se

rvice

Expe

ctat

ion

of

qual

ityHa

ve

cont

acte

d to

Ho

w m

any

times

Aski

ng

Requ

iring

Com

plai

ning

Satis

fact

ion

for

solu

tion

Talk

with

co

lleag

ues

Site

2

Site

3

Q1= a bQ2 cQ3 d1Q5 d2Q52 e1Q7 e2Q7 e3Q7 fQ8 gQ9 vS1 wS2

Coefficient

0.19 0.27 0.43 -0.49 -0.00 -0.22 -0.04 -0.13 0.30 0.36 -0.26 -0.24

P-value 0.82 0.03 0.18 0.21 0.86 0.28 0.85 0.55 0.04 0.03 0.44 0.25

The formula (table 4-10, row ‘coefficient’) shows, following relation between overall satisfaction

and the others,

Q2: Perception of services has positive relation. It means the more an end user know the

services, the more satisfied the person is. The relation is strong in statistics aspect (p-value <

0.05)

Q8: Satisfaction for solution has positive relation. In other word, The more an end user is

satisfied for solution, the more the person is satisfied overall. The strong in statistics aspect

(p-value < 0.05)

Q9: Talk with colleagues has positive relation. The less point of Q9 means the more

negative talking about services. Therefore, it can be said that the less an end user was

satisfied the more negative thing the person have talked with colleagues. The relation is also

statistically strong (p-value < 0.05).

The influence of the site is statistically not strong, however, the coefficients (v and w) show

both Site2 and Site3 affect the overall satisfaction (Q1) lower. The Site 2 affects it more than

Site 3. The result is consistent with the ANOVA of Q1

Even though statistical credibility is not strong (p-value = 0.18 > 0.15), Q3: Expectation of

quality has positive relation. It says the more the service is than a end user’s expectation, the

higher overall satisfaction of the person is.



The formula can hardly say some relation between Q1 Overall satisfaction and interactive

communication (Q5 have contacted, Q5 How many, and Q7 Why contacted: asking;

requiring; and complaining). But, it can neither say there is no relation between them.

Then, the relation between among question except Q1 are examined by regression matrix, as table

4-11. For Q3 How to know the services, only relation between Q2 Perception of services.

From table 4-11, here, the relations that are more than 0.20 are picked up, and explained.

The experience of contacting staff (Q5) makes the perception of the services (Q2) higher,

the frequency of contacts (Q5’) and the experience of asking (Q71) also make the

perception of the services (Q3) higher. it seems natural behaviour.

Not strong but there are positive relation between the perception of the services (Q2) and

both the experience of requiring (Q72) (0.15) and the experience of complaining (Q73). It

shows if an end user’s perception become higher, it accelerates interactive communication.

The perception of the services (Q2) has positive relation with the experience of talk with

colleagues (Q9). It can be said that the less an end user know the services, the more negative

the person tend to talk with colleagues.

Table 4-11 Correlation matrix (except Q1 overall satisfaction)

Q2:P

erce

ptio

n of

Ser

vice

Q4:E

xpec

tatio

n of

qua

lity

Q5:H

ave

cont

acte

d to

Q5

’:How

man

y tim

esQ7

1:Ask

Q72R

equi

re

Q73:C

ompl

ain

Q8:S

atisf

actio

n fo

r sol

utio

nQ9

:Talk

with

co

lleag

ues

Q2:Perception of Service 1.00 0.07 0.49 0.22 0.23 0.15 0.13 -0.08 0.24

Q3:1SLA 0.07

2Catalogue(hardcopy) 0.49 3Web-site 0.22



4Notice board 0.15 5Induction process 0.13 6Help desk -0.08 7Ask staff 0.24

Q4:Expectation of quality 1.00 -0.03 0.02 -0.19 0.25 -0.06 0.48 0.09

Q5:Have contacted to staff 1.00 0.19 0.08 0.06 -0.03 0.44 -0.06

Q5’:How many times 1.00 0.21 0.16 -0.04 0.10 -0.06 Q71: Ask 1.00 -0.09 0.01 -0.07 -0.04 Q72: Require 1.00 0.04 0.31 0.25 Q73:Complain 1.00 -0.10 0.14 Q8:Satisfaction for

solution 1.00 0.00

Q9:Talk with colleagues 1.00

The experience of contacting staff (Q5) also makes satisfaction for solution (Q8) higher. It

can show the treatment of the staff satisfy their request.

The experience of requirement (Q72) and expectation of quality (Q3) has positive relation.

It can be said that quality of services including the treatment of custom requirement.

The experience of requirement (Q72) has positive relation with both satisfaction for

solution (Q8) and the experience of talk with colleagues (Q9). It shows, if an end user

requires something, the facility manager can satisfy them. On the other hand, an end user

who does not require tend to make negative talking with his/her colleagues.

Catalogue (hardcopy) (Q32) and Web-site (Q33) has positive relation with the perception of

the services (Q2) has positive relation as well as the way to asking the staff about the

services (Q37). It can be interpreted that proactive informing (one-way) makes perception

higher, and also encourage end users to ask the staff about the services.



4-3-3. Considering the relation between the satisfaction and communication way

Here, the paper try to summarise the analysis. The overall satisfaction of Site 1 is higher than the

others, then, how the satisfaction can be increased at Site 1 is explained.

(1) Perception: The more an end user knows the service, the higher the overall satisfaction

becomes. The perception is increased by proactive one-way S-to-C; such as, catalogue and

web-site, especially web-site is effective. Interactive S-to-C (ask and answer) is also increase

the perception. In addition, the more an end user knows the services, the more they tend to

requires and complain. Perception brings end users to more frequent interactive

communication with the staff.

(2) Satisfaction for the solution: The more an end user is satisfied on the solution for his/her

contact to staff, the higher the his/her overall satisfaction becomes. In the sample sites (not

only Site 1), the facility mangers positively struggle with the request and behave faithfully

against problems, and getting satisfaction for the solution..

(3) Expected Quality: If an end user feels that the quality is more than his/her expectation,

his/her overall satisfaction becomes higher. If a facility manager can cope with an end user ’s

request well, the facility manager can make the end user’s feeling about quality higher. It can

be said that interactive S-to-C that provide personalised solution is a part of quality of facility

services. Therefore, it can be said the good result of interactive S-to-C increasing the overall

satisfaction

(4) Interactive C-to-C: If some end users are not satisfied on the services, they tend to talk

negative things with their colleagues. Bad reputation of services is spread beyond the facility

manager.



Above those can be described as Fig 4-7.

Thus, the hypotheses are proved to be true.

True : Interactive S-to-C communication between facility manger and users (Interactive S-

to-C) increases users’ satisfaction.

True : Proactive communication from facility manager to users (one way S-to-C) increases

users’ perception of services level and accelerate interactive communication.

True : Interactive communication among users (Interactive C-to-C) reveals the potential

expectation of users.




Dissatisfaction

Satisfaction

PerceptionOf service

Satisfactionfor solution

Quality

Meet to Requirement

Web-siteCatalogue

Rumour

Fig 4-7. How Overall Satisfaction is creased

One-way S-to-C

Interactive S-to-C

Interactive C-to-C



CCommunication ommunication SSupport upport Information SInformation Systemystem

Until previous chapter, the paper has discussed how communication between facility manager and

end users can increase the satisfaction of end users. Here the paper try to find some solutions that

make the communication better. Especially, the paper focus on information system. Even though,

it is true that many organisations have failed to adopt Information System, because, Barrett43 said,

“System had been bought on the strength of their technical specifications rather than on the ability to support

an information system which satisfied organizational needs,” however, recent Information Technology

has strongly supported many kinds of processes, and sometimes it has brought innovation.

The paper tries to set a policy that shows facility managers how to develop communication support

system. The paper wants to avoid a failure that falls into only technical aspect. Therefore a policy

is set here rather than technical aspects. The paper carries out to set a policy through

benchmarking technique, which sometimes brings superior performance goal rather than

improvement of current process.

5-1. Strategic role of Information System

Before discussing the policy of communication support system, the paper verifies the role of

information system in organisational context. There have been some Information System that

brought significant change in an organisations. Laudon & Laudon44 call it “Strategic Information

Systems,” and explain it as, “Computer systems at any level of the organisation that change, goals,

operation, products, services, or environmental relationships to help the organisation gain a competitive

43 Barrett, 1995, p15444 Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p51

Chapter 5 Communication Support System 58


advantage.” Laudon & Laudon45 said, in order to use Information System as Strategic Information

System, at first the organisation must understand where strategic opportunities for business are

found. They46 explain it using Porter’s competitive forces model. Even though, the method is

proved to be incorrect (choosing only one option of Porter’s strategies is not enough), thinking of

each strategy and mixture of them are still valid (See porter’s model at appendix 5). Here, the

paper explores those opportunities in, Product Differentiation, Focused Differentiation, Developing

Tight Linkages to Customers and Suppliers and Becoming the Low-Cost Producer

Product Differentiation Laudons47 said that one of strategic thinking is to create “Unique new products and services that can

easily be distinguished from those of competitors, and that existing competitors or potential new competitors

can’t duplicate.” It meant to provide different product or service from competitors. In 1970’s ATMs

(Automatic Teller Machines) were the example of it, Laudon & Laudon47 said. The inventor,

CitiBank, had become the largest bank in the USA.

Focused Differentiation The other strategic thinking is to identify a specific target for a product or service that it can serve

in a superior manner. Data Mining systems support an organisation to find a specific target. The

system48 finds patterns in large pool of data and infers rules from them that can be used to guide

decision-making.

Developing Tight Linkages to Customers and Suppliers: Though the idea strayed from Porter’s strategy, Laudon & Laudon49 insisted the importance of

“lock” customers the firm’s products and that tie suppliers into a delivery timetable and price

structure. The concept is included in CRM. Laudon & Laudon49 regarded CRM systems as

45 Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p5146 Those ideas are quoted from Laudon & Laudon, 1999, pp52-5747 Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p5248 Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p5349 Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p54



Strategic Information System that changed business process from product-oriented to customer-

oriented.

Becoming the Low-Cost Producer: The easiest understood strategic thinking is to become the low-cost producer. Information systems

can help organisations to achieve significant lower costs. Wal-Mart’s50, the leading retail business

in the USA, replenishment system is the example. The system, triggered by POS (Point of Sale),

sends orders for new merchandise directly to suppliers as soon as consumers pay for their

purchases at the cash register. The system allows Wal-Mart to relieve from to spend much money

on maintaining large inventories of goods in its own warehouse.

5-2.Benchmarking

5-2-1. What and Why benchmarking?

How can an organisation find Strategic Information System? One of the tools for it is

benchmarking. There are several kinds of benchmarking (see appendix 6). Although The term of

benchmarking had been used in computer field for long time which means to compare hardware or

software performance among several products, and the benchmarking is now categorised as

performance benchmarking. The paper uses “benchmarking” as “Strategic Benchmarking” and

“External Benchmarking” (see appendix 6). that can be a tool for seeking Strategic Information

System.

Camp51, the pioneer of benchmarking, defined it as, “Benchmarking is the search for industry best

practices that lead to superior performance.” In addition, Codling52 said, “Benchmarking against best

practice requires seeking out the undisputed leader in the process that is critical to business success –

regardless of sector location.” An organisation can place significant improvement goal of a process

50 Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p5351 Camp, 1989, p1252 Codling, 1992, p11



through benchmarking that seeking best practice beyond industries and place. One of legendary

example53 is that Xerox, big photocopier manufacturer benchmarked L.L. bean about its logistics

operation, which was done by Camp. Xerox found the productivity of L.L. Bean, mail order retail

company in the USA, was three times of Xerox . Xerox analysed the gap and set a new goal of the

operation. After the practice, Xerox introduced benchmarking into whole company processes as a

tool of TQM.

The paper follows benchmarking steps, which Camp54 described (fig 5-1.). Limitation of the

53 Camp, 1989, all part of the book, the example is explained.54 Camp, 1989, p17


1. IDENTIFY WHAT IS TO BE BENCHMARKED

2. IDENTIFY COMPARATIVE COMPANIES

3. DETERMINE DATA COLLECTION METHOD AND COLLECT DATA

4. DETERMINE CURRENT PERFORMANCE “GAP”

5. PROJECT FUTURE PERFORMANCE LEVELS

6. COMMUNICATE BENCHMARK FINDINGS AND GAIN ACCEPTANCE

7. ESTABLISH FUNCTIONAL GAOLS

8. DEVELOP ACTION PLANS

9. IMPLEMENT SPECIFIC ACTIONS AND MONITER PROGRESS

10. RECALIBRATE BENCHMARKS

LEADERSHIP POSITION ATTAINEDPRACTICES FULLY INTEGRATED INTO PROCESSES

ANALYSIS

PLANNING

INTEGRATION

ACTION

MATURITY

Fig. 5-1. Bench marking process Steps [Camp, 1989, p17]


research the benchmark is carried out through literature resources, and is done until step 7

“Establish functional goal.” The goal can be the policy of the communication support system.

5-2-2. Benchmarking Steps

1. What to be benchmarkedCamp55 said, the step is, “Often one the most difficult steps in the process.” It means the step is one of

the most important steps. In this benchmarking, final aim is to find the policy of communication

support system. However, the system will be for the process of communication. Therefore, the

communication process should be benchmarked. The aim of communication is to get end users ’

satisfaction, and from the previous experiment, following processes can increase the satisfaction.

Increasing perception process

Meeting with requirement process

Involving user-to-user communication process

Through the benchmarking, the paper describes the structure of information that is transported by

the communication.

2. Comparative process and system and 3. Data Collection Method According to the context of the paper, here also some processes of CRM are selected for

benchmarking. The data is collected from articles. The paper selects three articles,

Communicating with Your Customers on the web56

mySAP.com Customer Relationship Management57

The cluetrain manifesto58

55 Camp, 1989, p4156 HMCL2, 200057 SAP, Online. Internet. 30th April 200158 Levine, Locke , Searls & Weinberger, 2000



The first one is used for benchmarking a process that provide information to end users. The second

one is used for describing the flow and structure of the communication, from the article it will be

found how to manipulate interactive communication. The third one is used for how to involve

interactive C-to-C.

4. Current GAP<<A. Increasing perception process>>

In the experiment, it is recognized that to provide information proactively is effective for

increasing end users’ perception, especially the web-site. The first article59 showed how to use the

web, much more purposefully than technically. The article60 said four aspect: “Define your value

proposition,” “Focus on behavioural – not demographic – segmentation, “ “Design for effortless navigation,”

and “Consider your site complementary to – not independent of – your existing offline channels.” Here, the

paper considers those aspect in facility management process one by one.

1) Define your value proposition: the article61 insisted an importance to answer following

question before designing a web-site: “Why will customers come here? What do I want them to do?

Why would they come back?” End users of a facility may visit the web-site to seek particular

information of a service, may not just browse general information. When an end user visits

the web-site, facility manager has to provide the information of service level precisely. A

team leader who was interviewed said sometime misunderstanding of service level brought

an end user to having complain. If an end user has got useful information, which has been

needed for the end user’s action, he/she would come back to seek another information when

he/she wants to seek it another occasion. The research has not investigate deeply any example

of the web-site, in general, it might be said that the web-site tend to be comprehensive, like

what are the all services provided. However, end users want to seek particular services. Each

59 HMCL2, 200060 HMCL2. 2000, pp3-561 HMCL2, 2000, p3



service has to be found easily from end users.

2) Focus on behavioural – not demographic – segmentation: The article62 said demographic

segmentation; such as, male, female, old, young, is worthless on the Internet (or an intranet)

because there was no way to know who was visiting the web-site. However, end users come

to the web-site for a reason, and a behaviour brings them there. To interpret the aspect into

facility services, facility manager should segment the service into several behaviours of end

users rather than end user’s department or job. For instance, an end user comes to the web-

site just wanting to know a services, or wanting to require further arrangements and so on.

3) Design for effortless navigation: The article63 insisted the importance of the easiness of

finding content as well as the content itself. The easiness is achieved through same

navigation, using end users’ ‘language,’ and legibleness. First, all transaction way on which

an end user order certain services should be same. It should be same with the other services in

an organisation, and follow common sense in the Internet world, because end users do not

want to memorise special manner for each transaction. It should be reconsidered not only the

user interface but also transaction itself. Second, it should be avoided to use technical terms.

On the other hand, special dialect of the organisation makes the contents easier to understand.

Thirdly, it should be simple rather than too much informative. End users do not want to spend

much time to understand it.

4) Consider your site complementary to – not independent of – your existing offline

channels: The article64 said the importance of integration the web site into offline channel.

The staff of observed facility services team often walk around the sites and pick up end users’

request. In the web-site, an end user must be able to see ‘the same type of conversation with

62 HMCL2, 2000, p363 HMCL2, 2000, p364 HMCL2, 2000, p4



the one the staff do.

<< B. Meeting with requirement process >>

From the experiment, it was found that to meet end users’ requirement, which is expected as a

kind of quality, increases overall satisfaction. According to the CRM studies, which is discussed in

Chapter 2 (see pp14-15), the process consists: Identify end users, differentiate them, interact with

them, and customize. And to make the process into organisation-wide activities, the CRM concept

recommend an organisation to adopt cyclic improvement process: knowledge discovery, market

planning, customer interaction, and analysis/refinement. There are many IT solution for those

process. Here a solution, mySAP.com Customer Relationship Management65 (after here, SAP-

CRM is used for it), is picked up and examined how it supports those process.

1) Casts: In SAP-CRM, there are three kinds of casts on the stage: customers, service

representatives (service reps), and marketers. In facility services, customers can be interpreted

as end users, service rep as facility service staff, and marketers as the person who analyses and

plans a solution for requirement.

2) Three types of information (knowledge): SAP-CRM allows all casts to play on consolidated

information. The information consists three type of knowledge. First one is scenarios that

describes how each cast makes action and uses the other knowledge. Second one is

information of services itself, such as price and configuration, which is often brought from

another enterprise database. Third one is the information of customer, such as who used a

services, how the end user was satisfied, et cetera.

3) Interface : SAP-CRM provides several ways to access the information. First one is web-

browser that is used by all casts. Second one is mobile access, which is similar to first one, but

the connecting time to the information is shorter than first one. Service reps use the access

65 SAP, Online. Internet. 30th April 2001



point via PC or Personal Data Assistance (PDA). Third one is email and telephone. Not only

customers but also service reps can use this access point in SAP-CRM.

4) The structure : To actualise above activities, SAP-CRM66 consisits by several components, as

Fig 5-2. The function of each component is follows,

Index server: To allow all user to access faster from web-browser, the component gathers

information in advance.

ITS (Internet Transaction Server): The component stores the scenarios how customers and

service reps act (use the other information) at their browser access.

IPC (Internet Pricing & Configurator): The component provides the information about the

price and configuration of services.

CTI (Computer Telephony Integration): The component is an interface that interpret voice

data into computer handy data.

Communication Server: The component provides a pack of information to mobile devise

(PC, PDA), which is treatable local environment of the devise offline.

Web projector: The component gathers information from CRM database according to the

request of customer, service rep and marketer, and makes the information into web-visible

format.

my.SAP.com workplace: The component is portal interface that allows each marketer to use

all of CRM information from the other components as he/she likes way.

66 SAP, Online. Internet. 30th April 2001 ,p6



my.SAP.com workplace server: The component store a scenario how marketers act (use

information), and the scenarios are used by my.SAP.com workplace.

Thus, SAP-CRM unifies all ways of communication and information. In interviews, most of the

team leader insisted ‘face-to-face’ is the most effective way to interact with end users. On the

other hand, they also indicated the weakness of ‘face-to-face’ as it was difficult to record the

communication. Various interfaces in SAP-CRM allows the team leader (as services reps) to


TelephoneAccess

MobileAccess

BrowserAccess

from the Internet

BrowserAccess

from intranet

ITS IPCIndex server

WebProjector

CRMDatabase

CRMServer

MySAP.com Workplace

server

MySAP.com Workplace

EmailAccess

Communication Sever

CTIServer

Customer Servicerep

marketer

Interface

Scenarioprovider

Knowledgedatabase

The otherEnterprisecomponent

S

C&S

C: Customer infoS: Service info

C&S

Fig 5-2. Structure of SAP-CRMAdopted from [SAP, Online. Internet. 30th April 2001, p6]


record and handle the communication. In addition, as a team leader said, the more they spend time

on the conversation with end users, the less they can spend time on back-office jobs (such as

writing official letters). If they can make some scenarios of those back-up jobs and save into

my.SAP.com workplace server, the jobs can be done almost automatically. Even though in a thin

connection to computer networks, they can access it through communication server.

<<C. Involving user-to-user communication process>>

From the experiment, it was found that negative interactive C-to-C communication occurs when

end users are not satisfied. A book67 said the Internet has accelerated the conversation much faster.

How facility manager should involve the conversation into his/her process. The book68 said service

providers should be rather involved the conversation. The book69 introduce two contrastive

example; the one is Intel, another is United Airline, both was happened in online forum. In the

case of Intel, the company did not enter the conversation, during the people, who design and work

with computer chips, was talking with a bug of a chip of the company in an online forum. The

conversation had escalated and after all the company got huge damage from the reputation. On the

other hand, a sequence of conversation was also happened, which was taking about the bad

services of Shuttle by United Airline. In the case, one employee of United Airline joined

personally, and he showed appreciation of those voices. He encourage the participants to talk about

the bug. Finally, the company joined the conversation officially, consequently bad reputation of the

Shuttle has been disappeared.

How the facility manager should be involved the conversation. Both cases above are rather good

situation, because the conversation can be seen. Therefore, at first, the facility manager should

offer the place of conversation, such as on-line forum. Then, the book70 recommends, “Only choice

67 Levine, Locke , Searls & Weinberger, 2000, p5268 Levine, Locke , Searls & Weinberger, 2000, p7169 Levine, Locke , Searls & Weinberger, 2000, pp108-11070 Levine, Locke , Searls & Weinberger, 2000, p71



is to start encouraging employees to talk to customers –and empowering them to act on what they hear,”

and when a staff joins the conversation the book71 said, “Join it as a person with a name, a point of

view, a sense of humour, and passion.” The staff should be involved as a person, and too formal

attitude should be avoided.

5. Future Performance LevelIn the near future, Information Technology will unify the casts and information more no matter

what ways of communication are used. E-commerce market, which is the main field of CRM

concept, would develop much more. However, as the interviewees said that face-to-face

communication is the most important, facility services provider should consider how they should

bring the human-warm conversation into systematic, they should not change the communication

into machine-cold one. Therefore, the processes should be the organisational activities that include

not only the developing the information system, but also education and human developing, and the

second is more important than first one..

6. Establish Goals ‘ A policy of communication support system ’ From the discussion in this chapter, it can be summarised as follows, and these can be the policy of

the communication support system.

End users should be centric in the system: to make scenarios what they want to know,

and want to do, how they behave on the stage.

All sorts of ways of communication: face-to-face, telephone, email, web-site et cetera,

should be unified into a consolidated information. The communication should includes

the stage of interactive C-to-C.

71 Levine, Locke , Searls & Weinberger, 2000, p110



Clarify the scenarios of the staff: what should do, and what jobs are their back-office

jobs, and so on. Then, the scenarios should develop to not only the information system,

but also the program of human resource development.




ConclusionConclusion

One of the objectives of the research is to define the types of communication between end users and

facility managers. The assumed communication type from literatures in the early part of the paper was

one-way S-to-C, Interactive S-to-C, and Interactive C-to-C. All of those type of communication were

recognized in the experiment that was taken place in a real set of end users and facility managers.

-One-way S-to-C; such as catalogue (hard copy) and web-site were used for increasing the perception

for services of end users.

-Interactive S-to-C communication was used for all kinds of occations that had assumed: asking

about the services, requiring some arrangement, and complaining. Especially, in a Site (Site 1), where

the services marked the highest score of overall satisfaction, the communication of requirement

occurred very often. According to the CRM concept, to customise services brings high satisfaction,

however, before taking place the experiment, it had been wondered that ‘requirement’ would happen

so often or not, because, facility services had seemed difficult to customise. The frequency of

requirement was a kind of a discovery of the research. The customise can happen as a combination of

several services.

-Interactive C-to-C was also recognised in the population. 70% of end users have some experience to

talk with their colleagues.

The second objective of the research is to find how each type of communication increases

satisfaction of end users. After exploring main in CRM studies, three hypotheses had been thought:

1)_Proactive one-way S-to-C communication increases end users’ perception of services level and

Chapter 6 Conclusion 71


accelerates interactive communication. 2)_Interactive S-to-C increasing users satisfaction, and

3)_Interactive C-to-C communication reveals the potential expectation of end user. From the

experiment, it was recognised that proactive one-way communication increased end users perception

of the services, and accelerated interactive communication. In addition, it was recognised the

perception level had positive correlation directly with overall satisfaction. It was found that one of the

ways to get end users satisfaction is to increase the perception of the services.

In statistical aspect, direct correlation between interactive S-to-C and overall satisfaction could not

proved. However, it was recognised facility managers’ good solution for requirement increased the

level of feeling for quality, and the solution were often provided through interactive S-to-C ‘requiring.

Therefore, it can be said that interactive S-to-C, especially solving the requirement, which could be

said customise in CRM concept, increases overall satisfaction.

Furthermore, the correlation between overall dissatisfaction and negative interactive C-to-C

communication is recognised in the most statistically strong. Many articles said the existence of this

communication, and it is also found in facility services. If a facility manager can find those kind of

interactive C-to-C conversation, he/she would find the potential expectation for the services. Many of

CRM solution package can implement those aspects.

The third objective of the research is to define the policy for communication support information

system. The aims of the system should be: to increase perception, to meet with requirement, and to

be involved interactive C-to-C communication. To achieve the aims, firstly end users should be

centric in the system, and the system should be designed according to the behaviour of them.

Secondly, all sort of ways of communication; such as face-to-face, telephone, email and also so on,

should be unified. The stage of interactive C-to-C; such as online forum, should be included. In

addition, those communication must be connected to consolidate information, which includes user



information, the knowledge of transaction (scenarios), and service information. Finally, it must be

considered the scenarios of facility staff, and be implemented the scenario into the system. It is much

more important that the scenarios should be developed inside the staff themselves.

The CRM concept is more than the way of communication. It is rather whole organisational quality

improvement cycle. in the research, it could not be investigated how to improve the services quality

from the communication. The processes of CRM besides customer interaction: knowledge discovery,

market planning, and analysis & refinement (see chapter 2, p15) deserve to study, for instance,

exploring into the meaning of each conversation itself. Therefore, one of possible future studies is

improvement process of services quality through communication. Especially in practice, how to

develop SLA and improve it from the processes seems interesting. The way of quality improvement

must be found from the study.


Documents

1home.att.ne.jp/green/sangenkai/MasterCourse/Dissertation... · Web viewTherefore, from table 4-4a, the end users of Site 1 are the most satisfied (4.2), then Site 3 (3.9) following