Anu Aga, MP, Former Chairperson, Thermax Ltd
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.”
Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective
The contemporary business environment at the global level is witnessing an era of supremacy of customer, customer delight, customer-centricity, customer as the king, customer as God, etc. Some others talk of Employee first, Customer second. But that too is an attempt to focus on customer satisfaction through employee involvement and engagement. Almost all organizational vision and mission statements swear customer service in different senses. However, it is important to ask whether allegiance to customer focus is a mere rhetoric or a reality. In other words, where does the customer stand in comparison with the stakeholders’ interest?
Click here to read full review: Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective
Review – by Dr. P. C. Shejwalkar
The title of the book itself is novel and wonderful. It is an excellenttreatise on how satisfactory customer service depends on thepsychological understanding of the people in general. The way Mr.Gopal Gureja has handled the subject, by giving different examples, andvarious case-studies, is something which has no parallel.
I read this book carefully, and with keen interest, and was deeplyoverwhelmed to find great efforts, taken by the noted author, on thesubject of customer service in marketing management. The author has a long experience of working in business houses. He was on the board of Directors of Thermax, which is known for understanding human values.
Click to read full review:Review – by Dr. P. C. ShejwalkarManagementNext Benedict Paramanand, in the Cover Story.
Today, Indian customers would like to think they are the nawabs and rajas on whom companies shower all kinds of goodies. The way they get pampered is making them feel they never had it this good. That’s until the sale happens. Ask the same customers six months later the story is usually different. It’s unfortunate that most Indian customers don’t expect post sales customer service to be as good as pre sales service.
Customers also wonder why and how most well-meaning companies that are so dynamic and friendly while marketing and selling, look out of sorts, and inept, about customer service quality.
Click here to read full review: ManagementNext Benedict Paramanand, in the Cover Story.
Prajnan: Journal of National Institute of Bank Management
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, idiosyncrasies at workplace and the boss. The message he sends out to readers is that if the frontline is not well developed in knowledge, skill 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.
Dr. Y. Malini Reddy, Institute of Management & Technology, Hyderabad
The book falls under the overall theme of customer satisfaction. It is a compilation of author’s experiences as well as interaction with several individuals and businesses. 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. The book is logically organized. Revisiting of companies in different phases (parts) ensures a good continuity within sections. The book is a compilation of experiences which are well recounted. There are no apparent omissions.
The treatment is up-to-date, logical and complete. The lack of comfort with theoretical underpinnings is apparent wherever concepts are outlined. However this does not impact the quality of the content negatively as the focus of the book is on practical experiences and not theoretical discussions. 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.
ASCI Journal of Management
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.
Click here to read full review: ASCI Journal of Management
Global Business Review
The watershed economic reforms of 1991 resulted in improved competitiveness in all its manifestations, including improved customer care and focus on creating customer delight. Though there were various customer-centric initiatives already existent in the Indian market, the proverb ‘customer is king’ gained momentum especially after economic reforms. In the present competitive world, where all companies are focusing on creating delighted customers, this book attempts to examine the key question—why does practice at the operating level glide away from the declared vision and mission of creating ‘customer delight’. On the basis of primary and secondary research, the author has identified major reasons for disconnect between policies and practices—labelled as ‘organizational schizophrenia’—that are even prevalent in customer-centric companies. The book brings out the fact that the reasons for disconnect between policy and practice is due to contradictory communication, inappropriate leadership style, erroneous review processes and lack of employee engagement. In this book, the author also elaborates the critical relationship between human factors and organizational dynamics. It is already a proven fact that the customer’s perception about the quality of service delivered is always built on the quality of interaction with the customer-contact executives. Therefore, the present book also provides the reader an insight into the dynamic interplay between employee engagement in frontline executives and customer experience. This book is based on primary research and data was collected from approximately 200 employees working in 12 different companies. A larger proportion of respondents were frontline customer-contact executives and they have been interviewed by the author himself. Other respondents include employees belonging to different levels of hierarchy in organizations, channel associates and customers. Secondary data was collected from the documents and presentations of respective companies.
Click here to read full review: Global Business Review
Raghavan Neelakantan, Director, Elgi Equipment Ltd
I consider this book to be a practical handbook to business sustainability. A business becomes sustainable only when the customers decide so. The customers decide so, when they are convinced that the business or the firm offers a product that is useful to them (the customers) and the experience of dealing with the firm is very pleasant.
Many a times businesses focus on achieving big leaps in technology development, expanding market reach and global presence etc. All these are glitzy and glamorous, and help the top management to rave about them in every possible occasion! However, despite working on all these, many a business’s fold up and vanish without trace, because of one fundamental reason – losing touch with customers, and the reality surrounding it!
Mr. Gureja has succinctly captured this in this book. Mr. Gureja’s credentials are impeccable! Having risen from the ranks – from the field service to the top floor of an ivory tower is no mean feat to achieve, as a professional. Not many ‘service’ professionals in a product manufacturing (& marketing) companies do so easily!
Click here to read full review : Raghavan Neelakantan, Director, Elgi Equipment Ltd
Mahesh Desai, CEO, Virgo Engineers Ltd.
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.
The author started his career in Sales of Industrial products at a time when Indian companies were benefited by monopolies created by governmental regulations and where customer delight was not a priority. In those days, when there were `waiting lists’ for cars, scooters and even televisions, and the customer delight was not an essential ingredient for success.
From those days to the current times has been a long journey for Indian businesses and I hope they will benefit from the author’s experience and writing.
The book covers case studies from Virgo Engineers limited, Pune, company I co-founded in 1986. With opportunities being few and far, capital scares, we only had our resumes and `customer understanding’ going for us. At that early stage in development, we decided to lay stress on two key areas, business ethics and customer delight. The strategy paid rich dividends and Virgo has grown 1200 times its revenues in 1991. The author’s sharp eye for strategic detail has done justice to Virgo’s dramatic growth without sacrificing cornerstones of our business plan.
With the growth in services sector, the distance between customer and the service provider has in fact increased. The author, through examples has shown how indiscriminate hiring, poor training and outsourcing customer service can do dis-service to customers and businesses.
I have read the book with great interest and have made this 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’.
Mahesh desai
Dr. Neeta Soni, MD
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 behavior.
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.