An
abundance of recent research at the work-unit level of analysis
has provided a greater understanding of the relationships
between employee attitudes, customer satisfaction and organizational
performance. Prior to unit-level analyses, individual-level
analyses between employee attitudes and job performance were
attempted, but did not identify significant relationships.
Although it seems to make intuitive sense that satisfied individuals
are productive individuals, research did not support this
relationship.
The fact
that an individual’s job satisfaction is not always related
to that individual’s job performance is not all that surprising
and should not be a large concern for organizations. This
is because it is arguable whether or not individual performance
should be a main focus of management’s attention. For one
thing, a number of other variables affect an individual’s
performance, such as personal characteristics (e.g., intelligence
and conscientiousness) and organizational processes and structure
(e.g., enabling vs. disabling work structures and processes).
Second of all, organizations are often very interested in
bottom-line indices of organizational health, such as revenues
generated and profitability, at pertinent aggregated units
(e.g., branches of a bank). Of course, there is a place in
every organization for individual-level developmental interventions
to enhance an employee’s skill-set. However, if a company’s
primary interest is on bottom-line figures at aggregated units,
then examining how the attitudes and contributions of groups
of employees within those units affect these bottom-line figures
seems most appropriate. The upshot of this research is that
managers can focus on activities that will most enhance employee
attitudes and business performance.
In addition
to profitability, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
have received extensive coverage in organizational research.
Most companies realize it is more difficult to attract and
obtain new customers than it is to keep current customers
satisfied. Additionally, dissatisfied customers can spread
bad news about a company to other existing and potential customers.
Therefore, ensuring customers are satisfied and loyal is vital
to the success of a business. Linkage research can identify
which aspects of customer satisfaction are most important
for achieving financial performance and which aspects of employee
satisfaction are most important for achieving customer satisfaction.
Stanard’s
linkage research approach depends upon whether existing employee
and customer data are being used for the study or the employee
and customer measurement tools must be developed prior to
the linkage analysis. If the measurement tools must be developed
prior to the linkage analysis, the study is limited to a cross-sectional
research design, and it is not possible to draw conclusions
regarding the lagged effects of variables. If years of historical
data are available, conclusions regarding lagged effects of
variables may be possible. Contact Stanard
& Associates, Inc. if you want more information on
its ability to provide linkage analyses.
