service quality – The OM Blog by Heizer, Render, & Munson

Teaching Tip: Building a p-Chart Using Airline Frequent Flier Award Data

Today’s Wall Street Journal (May 12, 2016) has an article that you can turn into a teaching exercise, on a topic your students will all have opinions about, namely airline travel award redemption. Of the 25 airlines studied, the Journal found a wide discrepancy in ease of booking a coach seat using frequent flyer miles.

Best among the US carriers: Southwest, which had award seats available for 100% of queries, and Jet Blue, which offered seats 92.9% of the time. Among the worst US carriers: American, which did not have seats for 43.6% of requests.

The overall average of 76.6% (which was better than I expected) for the carriers shown can be used as the center line in a p-bar chart. Using Excel, Excel OM, or POM for Windows, your students can compute 3-sigma upper and lower limits and draw conclusions about which carriers are “out of control.”

This should lead to a nice discussion about service quality (Ch.6).

OM in the News: Wal-Mart Tries to Skill Up

Until recently, very few retailers bothered to train entry-level service workers

Wal-Mart, famous for keeping costs down (including employee-related costs), is testing a new approach: investing in workers through higher wages and training, on the theory that this will pay off all around—for customers, the company and employees. The firm plans to roll out the new training program to all of its 4,500 U.S. stores by early 2016. And by then, Wal-Mart hires will earn at least $10 an hour.

Wal-Mart isn’t alone in its new focus on training front-line workers, reports The Wall Street Journal (Sept.5-6, 2015). The trend, known as “upskilling,” is rippling across the retail and service industries. McDonald’s, Starbucks, Gap, CVS Health, Kaiser Permanente, and UPS are moving in the same direction. It’s a big change, even for companies with a reputation for taking care of employees. Many firms train college-educated workers and managers, but few focus on front-line workers.

Employee turnover costs money— $5,000 per front-line worker, or 20-30% of an entry-level salary. Standard turnover in retail is 50% in the first 6 months. If Wal-Mart can reduce this churn, persuading people to stay at least 12-18 months, it will save tens of millions of dollars a year. Wal-Mart also hopes that the new training will result in better customer service and happier shoppers.

Front-line employees—cashiers, cart pushers and sales associates—will now spend their first months in a supervised on-the-job training program. In the past, they sat through a few days of orientation and safety drills. The only real job training happened in the store—knowledge passed on by more experienced employees. The new program, called “Pathways,” delivers instruction in gamelike computer modules—each just 2-3-minutes long. New employees spend their first six months practicing what they’ve learned from the games and drills, watched over closely by managers and preparing for a “gateway” assessment that can earn them a dollar-an-hour raise and sometimes more.

Classroom discussion questions:

What are the advantages of these training programs?
Why has it taken so long to see such changes?

OM in the News: Human-Centered Operations Management

Ton's recent book is called The Good Jobs Strategy — Ton’s recent book is called The Good Jobs Strategy

A big theme in 2015 is jobs, writes The New York Times (July 7, 2015). How will America close the skills gap? Where will the good middle-class jobs come from? Will infrastructure or energy create jobs? Innovation? MIT Prof. Zeynep Ton believes that companies that provide employees a decent living, which includes not just pay but also a sense of purpose and empowerment at work, can be as profitable (or more) as companies that keep their labor costs low by paying the minimum wage with no benefits. Ton believes a “human-centered operation strategy” is needed.

Her thesis comes from studying supply chain and inventory management in the retail industry. What she discovered is that while most companies were very good at getting products from China to their stores, it was a different story once the merchandise arrived. Sometimes a product stayed in the back room instead of making it to a shelf. Or it was in the wrong place. Special in-store promotions weren’t being executed a surprisingly high percentage of the time. She saw this pattern in company after company. Ton realized that the problem was that these companies viewed their employees “as a cost that they tried to minimize.” Workers were not just poorly paid, but poorly trained. They often didn’t know their schedule until the last moment. Morale was low and turnover was high. Customer service was largely nonexistent.

Unconvinced that this was the only approach, Ton decided to search for retail companies — the same kind of companies that needed low prices to succeed — that did things differently. She found some, like QuikTrip, an $11 billion company with 722 stores. Paying employees middle-class wages allows the company to get the most out of them. Employees are cross-trained so they can do different jobs. They can solve problems by themselves. They make merchandising decisions for their own stores. The ultimate result of the higher wages QuikTrip pays is that costs everywhere else in the operation go down. At QuikTrip, says Ton, products don’t remain in the back room, and in-store promotions always take place, as they’re supposed to.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. What did Ton find was the biggest problem at retailers?

2. Discuss the concept she proposes.

OM in the News: Coach Gets More Crowded

“Skinny is all the rage on the runway right now,” writes The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 29, 2014). Delta, United, American, Southwest and other airlines around the world have installed seats with trim metal frames and ultrathin cushions, squeezing rows closer together to pack more people on each flight. Three-quarters of Delta’s domestic fleet and 1/4 of United’s now have the new slim-line seating. The lightweight seats—and even some new, skinnier bathrooms—improve airlines’ bottom line, with less fuel burned per passenger and more tickets sold per flight. (The new seats weigh just 24 pounds per passenger, or 30% less than traditional models). But passengers can feel the pinch: Some complain about stiff padding and knee-knocking issues, and liken flying in the new seat to squeezing next to strangers on a crowded park bench.

Each row of coach seats used to have 32 or 33 inches of space front to back for a seated passenger between seat backs—a measurement called seat pitch. But now many big airlines are down to 31 inches of seat pitch. United goes as tight as 30 inches on some of its Boeing 737s. And it’s going to get worse. Boeing just announced the launch of new, denser seating on 737s called 737 MAX 200, aimed at low-cost airlines. The new MAX 200 version will be fitted with 200 seats. The current version of the same plane typically has 160 seats. Seat pitch on the new version will be as tight as 28 inches.

A survey by TripAdvisor of travelers who had tried the new seats found 83% said they were less comfortable than traditional seats. United, Delta and others say other coach improvements such as video on-demand and Wi-Fi help compensate for tighter seating. “Seats need to be comfortable. But other aspects are important, too, including entertainment, appearance and service,” says Delta.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. From an OM perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the new seats?

2. Why are passengers concerned about the thinner seats?

OM in the News: Wal-Mart’s “Checkout Promise” to Speed Queues

Wal-Mart's "check-out promise" aims to alleviate chronic long lines — Wal-Mart’s “check-out promise” aims to alleviate chronic long lines

My mother-in-law recently commented that she won’t shop at Wal-Mart anymore, primarily because the checkout lines are too long. It turns out she is not alone. The Wall Street Journal (Aug.15, 2014) writes that “to lure more customers this holiday season, Wal-Mart is promising to staff each of its cash registers from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas during peak shopping times.” The move, called the “checkout promise,” is aimed at addressing my mother-in-law’s very complaint.

“Taking the possibility of waiting in long lines off the table will attract more people into stores,” says the chief merchandising officer. The move comes as Wal-Mart has struggled to win back U.S. shoppers after 7 straight quarters of falling traffic. Many customers have ditched the chain in favor of quicker trips to smaller rivals. The company also has battled with complaints about too many out of stock items and empty shelves. Refilling shelves alone could bring back $3 billion in sales.

Wal-Mart’s supercenters typically have about 30 traditional checkout lanes—giving it more than 100,000 across the U.S.—but the number that are staffed varies throughout the day. It has made aggressive use of technology to cut back on labor costs and more precisely schedule checkout lanes based on real-time demand. But the drop in traffic and customer complaints have forced it to reassess the economics of that approach. After increasing the number of self-checkout systems across its 4,000 U.S. stores, longer lines began forming at its staffed checkouts to deal with customers with more complicated and time-consuming transactions, such as shoppers who use coupons.

The company also recently nixed “Scan & Go,” a program which allowed shoppers to use their mobile phones to scan items as they walked through stores and pay at self-service kiosks, skipping the cashiers’ lines. Wal-Mart said the process was too complicated for customers.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. How has technology complicated Wal-Mart’s queues?

2. What other approaches could the company try to speed up lines?

OM in the News: Improving the Airline Baggage Claim Process

In 2007, airlines world-wide mishandled 47 million bags, or 19 per 1,000 passengers. Lost baggage was costing the airline industry $4 billion a year. Returning delayed or lost luggage to passengers cost an average of $100 per bag, and there had been a steady increase in the frequency of mishandled baggage. But airlines last year mishandled only 22 million bags, or 7 per 1,000 passengers, reports The Wall Street Journal (June 5, 2014). Why the dramatic change?

One big factor was that airlines realized when they started charging fees for baggage, customer expectations would rise. Airlines typically spent as little as possible on baggage handling before fees because it didn’t drive revenue. Now baggage was bringing in money and new equipment was easier to justify. Bag fees also reduced the volume of checked baggage, as passengers carried more on board. Airports got more involved and some invested in new innovations to move bags faster from the curb to the airplane belly. TSA sped up the process by moving baggage screening from terminal lobbies to machines built into conveyor-belt systems that can check bags faster.

Airlines also focused attention on the problem by sending teams of baggage experts to 80 airports world-wide and evaluating root causes of lost bags. One of the biggest issues they found: Airlines did a poor job communicating with each other and their own employees about bags. Baggage handlers often didn’t know when a bag was coming from another carrier or when a quick transfer had to be made. Another simple fix: Keeping tag printers clean and well-maintained so bar codes print crisply for machine-reading.

Airlines say the effort coincided with availability of cheaper technology for scanning bag tags and tracking bags. Key infrastructure such as airport Wi-Fi that could be used by hand-held scanners and computers mounted in baggage vehicles also made a difference. Finally, with more data available, airlines can tell baggage handlers when to shuttle connecting bags from plane to plane directly, and when there’s enough time to put bags into the airport’s sorting system so they can go out to their next flight with other luggage.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. Why did airlines decide to improve baggage handling processes?

2. What tools in Chapter 7 can be used to analyze this process?

OM in the News: Big Mickey Is Watching

Disney's bands track user patterns — Disney’s bands track user patterns

The couple tapped their lunch orders onto a touchscreen at the entrance to the restaurant at Disney World and were told to take any open seat. Moments later, a food server appeared at their table with their sandwiches. “How did they know where we were sitting,” asked the guest. The answer, writes BusinessWeek (March 10-16, 2014), was on the electronic bands the couple wore on their wrists.

That’s the magic of the MyMagic+, Walt Disney’s $1 billion experiment in crowd control, data collection, and wearable technology that could change the way people play—and spend–at Disney. If the system works, it could be copied not only by other theme parks but also by museums, zoos, airports, and malls. Change is always tricky for Disney, where introducing a new brand of coffee can spark a revolt by fans. And MyMagic+ promises far more radical change. It’s a sweeping reservation and ride planning system that allows for bookings months in advance on a website or smartphone app. Bracelets called MagicBands, which link electronically to a database of visitor information, serve as admission tickets, hotel keys, and credit or debit cards; a tap against a sensor pays for food or trinkets. The bands have RFID chips—which critics derisively call spychips.

The goal is to offer people what Disney calls “a more immersive, more seamless, and more personal experience”—allowing Disney employees to address a child by name, for example, or wish someone a happy birthday. Moreover, visitors with full Disney World schedules mapped out in advance on the MyMagic+ system will be less likely to jump spontaneously to one of the dozens of other attractions here in Central Florida, including Universal, SeaWorld, and Legoland. And, of course, the MagicBands make it so easy to spend. The new system also helped the Magic Kingdom park accommodate 3,000 additional daily guests during the Christmas holiday season by reducing congestion around the most popular attractions.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. What other examples of RFID use in services exist? (Hint: see Table 7.4)

2. Why is this an important OM issue at Disney?

OM in the News: The Capacity Dilemma at Apple Stores

Apple's store on London's Regent Street — Apple’s store on London’s Regent Street

“It’s only a 2-hour wait,” writes The Guardian (Oct.18, 2013). “An ordinary Thursday afternoon at Apple’s flagship London store and a long line of customers snakes across the first floor.” The technology brand is used to queues for the launch of its latest must-have product, but these people have come carrying faulty iPhones and malfunctioning laptops, desperate for help from one of Apple’s increasingly hard to reach “Genius” experts.

When it opened in Virginia in 2001, the first Apple store was hailed as a retail revolution, allowing shoppers to play with expensive technology without any sales pressure. The emphasis on service, with blue shirted Geniuses on hand to answer queries and fix broken products, has become almost as important to the Apple brand as the aesthetic appeal of its products. But the whole experience is under pressure as a relatively small number of shops struggle to cope with rapidly growing customer numbers. Apple stores–there are only 415 worldwide–have a turnover of $19 billion and the highest sales per square foot of any retail chain.

The Regent Street outlet, for example, employs 120 Geniuses. Each sees up to 30 customers a day but it is impossible to book an appointment less than a week in advance. If the problem is urgent you can turn up and queue, but it could be a very long wait. The problem is not limited to London. In Apple’s Paris flagship store, there were no appointments available for 10 days. There are even reports of scalpers selling Genius Bar reservations in China. Some argue that Apple needs to take itself further upmarket, so it can serve fewer customers more effectively. Or, to cope with growing demand, should Apple open more shops and come up with clever ways of tackling overcrowding?

Classroom discussion questions:

1. What OM options does Apple have to deal with the capacity constraints?

2. To what extent should Apple handle walk-ins?

OM in the News: Air Berlin’s Service Implosion

How could a passenger plane take off without a single piece of luggage? That’s the question from 200 Air Berlin passengers on flight AB 8109, whose bags were left sitting at the airport when their flight took off, and then apparently vanished. Nearly a month later the airline still doesn’t know where all the bags are, reports Slate.com (Sept.4, 2013).

Passengers’ inquiries were met with endless redirects. One email to Air Berlin reads: “ NONE of the checked luggage was loaded on the airplane—almost 200 missing pieces missing among the passengers. We filled out forms and were given baggage service numbers to call, but the phone line has no answer. Days later, still no information whatsoever, nobody to call, not sure what to do. Baggage company says to contact airline; airline says to contact baggage company. Why did the captain decide to take off before any pieces of luggage were loaded? We need support from Air Berlin. This isn’t one lost bag, it’s a whole plane of lost bags!”

And, in a separate event, here is twitter bot over a 2-day period earlier this month between a frustrated passenger and the airline:

@5Foot1: “Arrived in Dusseldorf without my bag. @airberlin are useless. No apology, no idea. What happened to German efficiency?”

@airberlin: “We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused. Did you contact the Lost & Found?”

@5Foot1: “Of course. Bag left in LDN. No assurance it will be on the next flight. I’m here for business meetings with no clothes.”

@airberlin: “We understand how annoying this is and apologise! Unfortunately we can’t help you right now. Lost & Found will contact you.”

@5Foot1: “Do you have a number I can call and speak to a human being. The tracking number is giving me no information.”

@airberlin: “Unfortunately there is no number I can give you. Lost & Found will get in touch as soon as they found your bag.”

Concludes Slate: “Air Berlin’s total inability to transport a suitcase from point A to point B can’t be a good sign”.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. In Chapter 6, Managing Quality, we list the 10 Determinants of Service Quality (see Table 6.5). On which of the 10 service determinants did Air Berlin fail?

2. Why did the pilot of AB 8109 leave without any baggage?

OM in the News: Wal-Mart’s Disappearing Inventory

Margaret Hancock has long considered the local Wal-Mart superstore her 1-stop shopping destination, writes BusinessWeek (April 1-7, 2013). No longer. During recent visits, the Delaware accountant says she failed to find more than a dozen basic items, including certain types of face cream, cold medicine, bandages, mouthwash, hangers, lamps and fabrics. The cosmetics section “looked like someone raided it,” said Hancock. “If it’s not on the shelf, I can’t buy it.”

Tim White, a California attorney, added that while long checkout lines irritated him, “the number-one reason we gave up on Wal-Mart was its prolonged, horrible, maddening inability to keep items in stock. The store would go weeks without products he wanted to buy, such as men’s dress shirts, which he found only in very large or small sizes and unpopular colors.”

It’s not as though the merchandise isn’t there. It’s piling up in aisles and in the back of stores because Wal-Mart doesn’t have enough bodies to restock the shelves. In the past 5 years, the retailer added 455 U.S. stores, a 13% increase, but its employee count dropped by about 20,000, or 1.4% to 1.4 million workers. A thinly spread workforce has other consequences: longer check-out lines, less help for shoppers and more disorganized stores. Last month, Wal-Mart placed last in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, the sixth year in a row the company had taken the last spot–and Bloomberg News reported that the company was “getting worse” at stocking shelves. Retailers consider labor — usually their largest controllable expense — an easy cost-cutting target. But eventually, customer service and customer satisfaction deteriorate.

Years ago, Wal-Mart supervisors drilled a message into employees’ heads: “In the door and to the floor.” That mantra now seems impossible to execute as the firm has become entangled in what one expert calls a “vicious cycle” of under-staffing. Too few workers leads to operational problems. Those problems lead to poor store sales, which lead to lower labor budgets.

Discussion questions:

1. Why can’t Wal-Mart keep its shelves fully stocked?

2. What suggestions do you have for dealing with this OM problem?

OM in the News: Service Quality at MGM Grand–the World’s Largest Hotel

The Wall Street Journal’s (Sept.22, 2011) headline, “When 12,000 Guests Spend the Night”, makes a great lead-in for teaching quality in Chapter 6. With 5,043 guest rooms in towers overlooking the famous Las Vegas strip and an occupancy rate of 96.8%, how can such a mega property counter perceptions that it’s just too big to give good service? The strategy, at every point–from parking lots to check-ins to housekeeping–is to make its operations feel small. It’s not easy to do with a driveway entrance that’s 14 lanes wide, where the lobby has 100’s of people waiting to check-in,where 70,000 people enter the doors every day (for the hotel, casino, restaurants, shows, meetings)–all in an aging 18 year-old hotel building.

One of MGM’s techniques for service quality is to judge execs on how well their staff meet quality standards. Room service must be delivered within 30 minutes of an order (and there are 1,000 orders/day!), maintenance calls must be answered in 15 minutes (by a staff of 186 engineering employees with mobile carts), a car must be retrieved by a valet in 8 minutes (not easy when the parking lot holds 9,487 cars!), and the 370 housekeepers must clean each room in 30 minutes.

To cut the perception that check-in queues are too long (for years guests stood in 2 long snaking lines), the MGM now has 36 small lines, one in front of each front-desk worker. “There’s the perception”, says the front desk manager,” that they’re going to get through quickly”. This makes a nice teaching point in Module D (Waiting Line Models), since it contradicts the mathematics of a single queue with multiple servers.

To cut lines further, lobby greeters with iPads abound, giving directions and doing check-outs. New ID scanners download names and addresses from drivers licenses and passports so employees don’t have to type in the data–shaving time off each check-in.

Discussion questions:

1. How does the hotel help a guest who can’t find his car in the parking lot?

2. What other technologies can be used to make the MGM operations more efficient?

OM in the News: Disney Service Quality Spreads to Medicine

Disney has been long respected for excellent customer service and for treating its “guests” with the personal touch that improves the theme park visit. Disney’s “on-stage” and “off-stage” approach to separating public and private areas is well-known, with “cast members” (employees) always maintaining a magic image to the public. The Orlando Sentinel (July 16, 2011) now reports that Disney has designed a program for health-care professionals to assure that patients are as satisfied with a trip to the hospital or doctor’s office as they are with a trip to the theme park.

For $3,500 each, health-care workers spend 3 1/2 days at Disney, learning to pay closer attention to the patient experience. “Oftentimes in health care, the patient in the bed is almost secondary”, says a consultant. “Everyone comes in looking at their task instead of the patient”.

When Disney worked with Florida Hospital to open a new children’s pavilion a few months ago, the plan includes simplified name tags, new uniforms, a ban on cell phones, greeting patients with a smile, and kneeling down to talk to children at eye level. (Our Table 6.5 in the Managing Quality chapter relates to these “determinants of service quality”).

“By exceeding expectations, doctors can attract new clients through referrals from satisfied patients”, says Dr. Chris Smith, a S. Carolina family doctor who attended the Disney program. At Smith’s office, the receptionist is now a “greeter”. And he has established off-stage private break rooms for staff to relax, vent, or do things a patient should not see. Just like other industries, doctors are learning that every service activity matters.

Discussion questions:

1. Ask students to describe a positive and a negative medical service experience.

2. What other quality tools can medical professionals employ from non-medical fields?

OM in the News: Service Quality and The Four Seasons

When we talk about service quality at hotels, the first brand that usually comes to mind is the Ritz Carlton. As a matter of fact, we have a video case study in Ch.6 that highlights how the Ritz earned its Baldrige Award. But every bit as superb in quality standards is the Four Seasons, which just this week opened its latest hotel, the London Park Lane. And by coincidence, Fortune magazine this week ranked the Four Seasons #53 in its “Best 100 Companies to Work For” (Feb.7, 2011), making it the top hotel chain on the list. ( Marriott was the only other to made the grade).

An article in today’s issue of Four Seasons Magazine provides several insights. “We’ve identified that our key competitive difference is our people”‘ says the London manager. “We spend a great deal of time finding the right people”. First, most management positions were filled by Four Seasons managers from existing hotels—a tactic to infuse the company’s culture.

Then a “mass hire” day was held in London 3 months before opening. A lucky 1,000 people were interviewed, each by up to four company execs, including the London GM. Questions focused on essential Golden Rule character attributes, seeking individuals who are warm, caring, ethical, and well-intended. Existing staff from other locations moved to London for several weeks to train and assist in opening.

Like the Ritz, the stories of the Four Seasons staff are legendary: loaning a guest a pair of jeans, flying to another city to deliver forgotten documents, bringing chicken soup at the mere mention of a cold, sewing on a missing button, bringing a child a teddy bear, and always memorizing guest names. The goal of staff is to also anticipate any possible requests.

Discussion questions:

1. Why would staff rate the Four Seasons so highly as a place to work?

2. What are the major components of service quality and how does this chain address them?

OM in the News: If You Don’t Get Your Bag in 20 Minutes, You Get $20!

We have seen it in the ERs…”we guarantee you will be seen in 30 min. or….”. But did we ever think we would see it in airports as we wait for our checked bags? After decades of mishandled and delayed suitcases arriving to the carousel (which costs the airlines $2.5 billion a year), the quality of service is finally improving dramatically—all because of OM efforts.

The Wall Street Journal (Dec.2,2010) reports that Alaska Airlines has just implemented a 20 min. guarantee. If a customer’s bag does not arrive at the claim area within 20 min. of arrival, fliers get a $20 voucher or 2,000 frequent-flier miles. Alaska has improved its misdirected baggage claims by 52% in the past 2 years. For all airlines the lost luggage figures are down by a whopping 38%. “If you are going to charge for bags, you better be really reliable”, says US Airways’ COO.

How did OM impact the change? New technology and revised processes (both in Ch.7) are the keys. Airlines have ramped up use of bar-code scanners to track bags along their journey–something cargo shippers and supermarkets have been doing for years. Delta invested $100 million in its Atlanta operations alone. It gutted the entire infrastructure under Terminal B to make room for an automated baggage system. Belt time is 7-10 min., vs. the old system of driving bags on carts, which took 15-30 min. Payback comes from less mishandled bags, which average $100 each.

Alaska Airlines has changed its processes and a new strict adherence to timeliness. Within 10 min. of arrival, all bags must be offloaded. And instead of measuring when the 1st bag hit the carousel, Alaska tracks when the last bag is delivered, posting scorecards for employees. “It is measuring and setting goals that are very specific”, says the airline.

Discussion questions:

1. Why and how did airlines improve so quickly?

2. What technology drives the changes?

3. What do students think of the 20 min. guarantee? Will other carriers be forced to match it?

Video Tip: Arnold Palmer Hospital’s Culture of Quality

A few weeks ago, I visited my neighbor Artie while he was in the hospital. It was a typical large facility, with long hallways, nice private rooms…some of which had great views of the lake. But when I entered his room, the first thing I noticed was that the trash can was not only filled, it was overflowing! As I left, I stopped at the nurses’ station to report this “defect”. The response: “Maybe you should call management to let them know”.

I can say that at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Women and Children (APH) this would never have happened. When you show this 10 minute video in class, you will see why. The culture of quality is ingrained deep at APH.

Let me give you a little off-the -record background about our filming experience, which was a fantastic learning exercise that resulted in 7 APH video cases in the text. I first sat through the new employee orientation period. One of the 1st cultures I learned was that hospital employees always keep a positive face in all public spaces. No one may be heard talking about how bad their day is, problems at home, or troubling patients. The hospital has private staff corridors that parallel the public ones. Only there can staff speak openly. Second, all top administrators at APH are former nurses, who worked their way up. Kathy Swanson, the director, has an MBA, and others also have business training. I believe they have a culture of caring about patients above all else. Note in the film how they each take calls from patients 24/7.

We have 2 videos dealing with service TQM in Ch.6, the other being Quality at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (7.5 min.). I prefer to show the APH film because the hospital incorporates several Ritz concepts, including empowering any staff member (even janitors) to hand up to $200 in gift cards to any patient with a complaint. My friend Artie could have gotten rich if his hospital had such an attitude!

Jay and I are especially proud of this APH video as it took 1st place in the annual Addy video competition in 2005. Out of 13,000 entries, it won the highest award, the Silver Telly.