Re: REQUEST: Measure of service quality in social service

[Myron Tribus <mtribus@home.com>]

David:
I would like to expand a bit on the good list of measures suggested 
by Doug Thomas.

Whenever you make a measurement, first ask yourself, "What  will I do 
when I have the result?"   This question serves two purposes:

1. If you cannot answer it, why are you making the measurement?  Some 
people like to measure what I call "3M Measurements".  They are 
merely "Mood Modulating Measurements".  They make you feel good or 
bad but don't help you otherwise.

2. When you think about what you will do, it can modify how you take 
the measurements.

For example, if you merely take measurements of the AVERAGE time to 
answer the phone (number of rings before picking up the receiver) you 
will miss an opportunity to improve.  Instead make a run chart and 
see if the process is stable.  

Let me give you an example I picked up 
about 19 years ago at the Komatsu Tractor Company.  The telephone 
operators were trying to improve responsiveness.  The noted that they 
were picking up the phone after about two rings, on average. 
However, they found there were some outliers (points way off the 
average) so they asked "Why?".  The found that there were some 
emergencies that they were attempting to solve.  They then found that 
these were cases in which someone was trying to reach a visitor to 
the plant in an urgent situation.  They had to hunt all over the 
plant to find that person.  They then instituted a system where 
whenever a person visited the plant the card that was signed was 
copied and sent to the telephone center.  This reduced the number of 
outliers.  

But they kept taking data and found that there were still 
some cases, so they asked "Why?" again.  This time they found that 
the person whom they were calling (where the visitor was supposed to 
be) was on the phone and they could not get through.  They did not 
know where the nearest phone might be because phone numbers are not 
assigned that way.  They then arranged to have a map constructed and 
hung in their office.  This map shows the locations of phones and the 
nearest ones.  That way they could reduce the time.

The AIM really matters.

Myron Tribus,  350 Britto Terrace,  Fremont, CA 94539
Ph:510 651 3641  Fax: 510 656 9875   e-mail: mtribus@home.com
There is no limit to the amount of good you can do in the World, if 
you do not try to take the credit (Benjamin Franklin)