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Organizational Schizophrenia – Impact on Customer Service Quality

 

Organisational Schizophrenia: Impact On Customer Service Quality is the outcome of targeted empirical research undertaken by the author to explore why even well meaning, highly regarded companies fail to deliver the intended quality of customer care.  The book unfolds many areas of operations which provide fertile grounds for creating disconnects between policy and practice. The book makes out a spirited case for the business leaders and managers at various levels of hierarchy to sit up and consciously exercise the rigour of disciplined thought and action across the organisation. A culture of discipline alone can help in filling the widening gaps between promise and performance; between intent and execution.

The book assumes its unique character because:

• Unlike most other books on customer satisfaction, this one focuses on the gaps arising primarily, out of human and organisational dynamics within a company.
• The research focuses on the extent to which the sociological functions of management and leadership are being performed at the work place. These functions, involving intense communication and understanding of people, promote mutual trust amongst the members of a team, encourage passionate discussions, mutual accountability and nurture a culture of discipline.
• The substance of the book is derived from the VOICES of the very people who form part of the delivery chain designed to carry out faithful execution of explicit and implicit commitments made by the company.
• The VOICES belong to various people in different functions and at different levels of the company hierarchy. Hence they provide a composite picture of the perceptions at play across an organisation.
• Learning from Organisational Schizophrenia is fairly wide-ranging in nature and hence the book becomes relevant for the executives across the company, right from the top management to the front-line customer contact personnel.

 

 

A Spirited Message for Business Leaders
 
“Gopal Gureja’s well-researched book is well-timed as much as it is well-intentioned. He bemoans the striking gap between intent and execution when it comes to Customer Service Quality—and he is not referring to the situation in unknown, fly-by-night companies.
 
Gopal Gureja’s research has been with real companies, and done among real people. His case studies are the stuff of which your company and my company are made. He does not lament the situation (gap between policy and practice) but offers his suggestions about what leaders can do about it”.
Full Text : Foreword
 
Dr. R. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Tata Sons Ltd

Going Beyond Policy and Processes
 
“Gopal Gureja does not advance customer care theories but sets out on in-depth empirical research to grapple with an intriguing problem—why even with the best of intentions, companies fail to fully meet customers’ expectations. In a competitive scenario where every company talks about “customer delight” why do practices at the operating level drift away from the declared intention?
He comes up with many possible reasons steeped in cultural schizophrenia caused by the human and organizational dynamics within a company. Further, he asserts that this phenomenon transcends the sectorial boundaries and, in large measure, applies to services as much as to manufactured products.”
 
Anu Aga, MP, Former Chairperson, Thermax Ltd

Eye-opener Insights for CEOs, and Managers at all levels
 
The author has also provided meaningful prescriptions for a more disciplined commitment to the core values, objecting to the wrong-doings and respecting customer-centricity at all levels of the organizational working. The book should be an eye opener for all those organizations as well managers who are not able to win customer loyalty despite what they think to have put their best efforts. The book contains some very important messages about what can be done to improve customer service. It has been written in an effective manner and has succeeded in arousing sufficient interest in the reader, which motivated me to read it almost from cover to cover. It is full of insights that would be of great help to the CEOs and senior managers from HR and marketing in resolving the issues of behaviour expected by the customer. It will also help in promoting a better alignment of people strategy with business strategy. It would be of as much interest to HR professionals as it would be to marketing and sales managers and practitioners.. Full Text
 
VISION: The Journal of Business Perspective

Hearing voices to Analyse Policy-Practice Gaps with Remarkable Results
 
Listen to the people—the real people who are touched by the policies you follow. This is a tenet that Gopal K Gureja knows well, having spent a lifetime in customer service management, especially in people-centric organisations.
 
(The book) describes the conflict of self-interest between a company’s keenness to maximise both customer satisfaction and shareholder value at the same time. This, he writes, affects employee emotional engagement in their jobs. The author draws this conclusion from research with ‘real companies and among real people. He has documented the views of nearly 200 respondents to explore the ‘why’ of arbitrary responsiveness and mission statements becoming mere posters—the gap between policy and practice.
 
So, how can an organisation avoid this schizophrenia? By all levels of management standing up to wrong-doing and taking a stand for the customer. The book is, therefore, dedicated to all those who….. have the power to meet and exceed customers’ expectations for superior customer service: customer-facing employees willing to walk the extra mile, internal service providers who empower them and top management who believe that actions speak louder than written words.Full Text
 
Business India, 9 Dec., 2013

Empirical Research Triggered by first-hand Experience of Poor Service
 
Gureja details some first-hand experiences of the breakdown of customer services in reputed companies, as a trigger to talk about the “misalignment in customer policy and practice”. He has worked in a policy formulation role, where his mandate included evolving and implementing customer care policies. Gureja asserts (As a result of his own experience supported by the findings of empirical research involving 200 customer service professional as respondents) that:
 
“Every decision that a company makes – whether it relates to change of policy or operating practices, whether it relates to organisational structure or product design, whether it applies throughout the company or to the part of an organisation – it works its way through one or more drivers of employee engagement to either enhance or dent the level of engagement of the affected employees. The same is true of the management’s day to day actions in dealing with the work situations or customer issues”. Full Text 
 
The Mint, April 14, 2013.

New Paradigms
 
Shri. Gopal Gureja has given several examples in support of the need for rebuilding new principles of marketing. He has enumerated several marketing challenges which our country is facing at the moment.
In this process, he has rediscovered several new concepts regarding customer service.
I am happy to state that this book would be useful not only to senior marketing managers in industry and business but also to the students of business management, with special reference to Marketing Management. Full Text
 
Dr. P.C. Shejwalkar, Professor Emeritus, University of Pune

You can Spot the Symptoms of Organizational Schizophrenia 
 
Mr G K Gureja’s new book “Organizational Schizophrenia” is an excellent treatise on customer service.  Being a veteran top industry professional, he has used his vast experience to analyze the subject and offer solutions that can truly transform any ambitious business enterprise.
 
Lucid and contemporary, “Organizational Schizophrenia” is seriously recommended to be read and internalized by the senior and middle management of every business enterprise that wishes to hold its head high in the commercial world.  To each of them, the book will not just reveal the gaps between their intended service quality and what they actually deliver, but in so doing the book shall also provide clues as to how an enterprise can grow through devotion to customer.
 
The Chapter titled “The Genesis of Cultural Schizophrenia” needs special mention because it lists out attributes which can help determine whether an organization is already suffering from this particular malady.  The book offers extensive solutions to the ailment!
 
The book can also be effectively converted into a two day workshop on “Winning Customers through Transparency in Service Delivery” within medium and large organizations.
 
R V Krishnan, Chairman, Business Development Bureau (India) Pvt. Ltd

Powerful Narrative
 
The Author’s style of experiential and conversational writing takes readers to a “familiar” environment and it is for this style of prose that the book becomes very readable. Developing the central thought through continued journey of four organizations and even sharing their vulnerabilities during the journey in an open and candid style gives the book its character of solidity even as the reality helps retain its fluidity.
 
The book strongly draws upon real life and while author has attempted to provide linkages to theoretical world the real world narrative is overwhelmingly powerful. Full Text
 
Shishir Joshipura, MD & Country Manager, SKF India

Reflections of an Evangelist
 
Gopal K. Gureja has gone a step further and deeper to explain the dissonance between what companies promise and what they deliver. His new book titled Organizational Schizophrenia – Impact on Customer Service Quality, Gureja laments how the big gap between intent and execution, policy-practice dissonance – which he calls organizational
schizophrenia are seriously harming the employee well-being and how they diminish their ability to perform.
 
The author has found how people lose their minds when they are subject to contradictory orders. You can know if a company is suffering schizophrenia by looking at messages employees get – both implicit and explicit. One way to know this is to ask how congruent are the messages they get from various bosses. Business leaders may think their messages are consistent but don’t make an effort to know how their messages are interpreted. Full Text
 
ManagementNext Benedict Paramanand, in the Cover Story.

Compulsory Reading!
 
I really enjoyed reading Mr. Gureja’s lucid writing about striving for customer delight. The author starts the book with a comment about economic reforms in India in 1991 and changes the Indian industry had to recognize and adapt. His style of storytelling is unique and makes for compelling reading.
I have made (the book) available to all members of my top management. Mr. Gureja, by focusing on customer service, has provided guidance and new motivation to my peers in the industry. I recommend this book to all those who believe `customer is god’. Full Text
 
Mahesh Desai, CEO, Virgo Engineers LtdPosted on April 3, 2013 at Amazon

Learning for all Executives
 
The third part (of the book) titled Cultural Schizophrenia comes out with the crux of the issue in business, i.e. looking at the policy framework-implementation gaps.
 
Finally, the author highlights the issue of organisational core values by narrating events, experiences and outcome. Author has added humour to the text by adding cartoons with visual slogans…The message he sends to readers is that if the front-line is not well developed in knowledge, skills and attitude, discouraged by the back office staff and ignored by management then for these obvious reasons customer delight will be left in the back burner.
The book makes it an interesting reading and above all a learning for all executives. Full Text
 
Prajnan: Journal of National Institute of Bank Management

Good for B2B, Good for B2C
 
Why, even with the best of intentions, do companies fail to fully meet customers’ expectations?
The author has conducted extensive research and is written with great simplicity to help organizations understand this problem and suggest solutions.
This book is full of insights that will help the reader become aware of issues that drive employee behaviour. It is lucid and contemporary and is a must read for any one in management and applies to service based organizations as much as manufactured products.
 
Dr. Neeta SoniPosted on March 24, 2013 at Amazon

Free Flowing Narrative; Recommended Reading for all Managers/Business Owners
 
As a practicing business leader I find this book useful from many different points of view – to begin with, it gives a complete frame work of customer service and its central importance in business sustainability, and more importantly the book clearly talks about the phenomenon of drift – as the business tastes success, what could possibly go wrong with ‘systems & processes’ that moves the business away from its customers!
All of these have been captured through – “Voices”! I find this quite interesting. I also know that while analyzing the hard data, Mr. Gureja has personally spoken to scores of men and women on both sides – the service providers and the customers! Hence his analysis brings to play the human and practical elements of customer service.
The free flowing narrative is very helpful in navigating through the book!
Overall, I consider “Organizational Schizophrenia” to be an important text book that needs to be, not on the book shelf, but on the table and in the travel attache of every top manager and business owner that is interested in sustaining her/his business through retaining customers! Full Text
 
Raghavan Neelakantan, Director, Elgi Equipment LtdPosted on, December 12, 2013 at Amazon

Unique Treatment to the Topic; Valuable for Academia and Buisiness alike.
 
The rich account of information and insights from different contexts help the reader in moving from the thinking to knowing to doing mode of achieving customer satisfaction. The author’s language is clear and writing crisp. It holds the interest of the reader and uses appropriate words to convey the message effectively. The leaning towards a conversational style of writing makes the book an interesting read that sounds honest and ensures reader participation.
 
There are several books written on customer experience and satisfaction. However the treatment given by the author to the topic is unique: Detailed examples/ case studies set in the Indian business context organized in a manner that permits comparison between case studies. The appreciation of differences in the companies and their approaches is valuable for academia and business alike. Full Text
 
Associate Professor(Adjunct), Y. Malini Reddy, Institute of Management and Technology, Hyderabad

The Book Fills a Conspicuous Gap in the Existing Body of Knowledge.
 
Organizational Schizophrenia embodies an interesting discourse on the widening gap between intent and execution, promise and performance, in organizations with reference to customer service quality. It appears to be an attempt to explore the reasons why operating practices in a company tend to drift away from the declared policy, particularly with reference to customer care, and to investigate the phenomenon of ‘cultural schizophrenia’ even in well-meaning companies. Recent years have witnessed a diverse and wide ranging set of publications pertaining to customer service. The book under review appears to fill a conspicuous gap in the existing body of knowledge.
The distinctive aspect of Organizational Schizophrenia is its focus on the gaps and organizational dynamics within a company. The voices of various employees in different functions at several levels of the organizational hierarchy are also neatly captured, which is an appreciable effort.
 
On the one hand, India has witnessed tremendous growth in the services sector. On the other hand, it has been documented that the distance between the service provider and the customer is steadily widening. In this context, Organizational Schizophrenia is timely, the first of its kind publication in India, and should serve as an eye-opener to executives across the company—right from the front-line customer contact personnel to the top management. In a rare exercise, Gureja has experimented with blending the perspectives of the theoretician and the practitioner, which adds value to the work. Organizations in the country will certainly benefit from the author’s experience, which the book attempts to capture. All those who believe that the ‘customer is king’ may want to read this title. Full Text 
 
ASCI Journal of Management

Comic Illustrations add to the Impact of the Book
 
This (deep-rooted obsession with the goal of short-term profit maximization beneath the veneer of cultivated concern for the consumer) seems to be the central theme of Gureja’s book which provides a stimulating analysis of the pronouncements of consumer satisfaction policies by the corporates, the systems put in place by them to operationalize such policies, the gap between policies and practice and the possible reasons for such divorce between what is promised and what is provided.
 
In Chapter 7 of the book, the author outlines a number of symptoms that forebode the onset of the disease (i.e. cultural schizophrenia). His arguments are based on his rich experience and an extensive analysis of his interviews with executives of various in manufacturing companies, financial institutions, airlines etc. Being the result of a study of practical situations, the author’s theorization rings true.
 
The book is an interesting read and the reader can connect with the cases from his or her own life experiences. The comic illustrations are like a feather in the cap and add to the impact of the book making it a visual retreat. Full Text
 
Manpower  Journal

A Brilliant Collection of Voices and Analysis; a Must Read for Delivering Customer Delight
 
Part III (of the book), ‘The Cultural Schizophrenia’, is devoted to identify the prominent reasons of disengagement between customer-services-oriented policies and actual practices in companies. This section deals with the findings of primary research conducted by the author, specifically it discreetly identifies the areas of disconnect between policy and practice, which eventually leads to a schizophrenic culture in an organization.
A culture of discipline that is based around the idea of freedom and responsibility is not evident in many customer-centric companies. Overall, the factors discussed above make it clearly apparent that, even with the best of technology and well-established operating processes, organizations can invite cultural chaos, leading to a disconnect between policy and practice.
The significance of primal values, genuine concern for the customers and a positive impact on employee engagement is extensively explicated in this section (Part IV) of the book.
This book presents a holistic approach to examining the impact of organizational schizophrenia on customer service quality and it is equally valuable for business and academia alike. Overall, detailed examples, case studies, brilliant collection of VOICES and pertinent use of comic illustrations make this book a must-read to appreciate the intricacies of delivering ‘customer delight’ in the Indian setting. Full Text
 
Global Business Review

Unique and Valuable: Professionals Need to Internalize; Academia to Propound!
 
The First edition of Organisational Schizophrenia by Gopal K. Gureja is excellent work on customer service. Being a top industry professional, he has used his vast experience to analyze the subject and offer solutions that can really transform any business enterprise.
 
This book is unique and valuable for academia and business alike. It is recommended to be read and internalized by academicians and senior and middle managers of every business enterprise.Full Text
 
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