2010 Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2010), "2010 Awards for Excellence", Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 11 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/pmm.2010.27911caa.002

2010 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: 2010 Awards for Excellence From: Performance Measurement and Metrics, Volume 11, Issue 3

The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award for Performance Measurement and Metrics

"Bridging the gap between service provision and customer expectations''

Susan McKnightNottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to serve as a reminder to all managers that they must understand their customers, from the customers' perspective, and not make assumptions about customer needs.Design/methodology/approach - Customer value discovery workshops are held with undergraduate on-campus students and academic staff at Nottingham Trent University to identify customer values and irritations. Library staff participate in the workshops and vote as they expect their customers to vote. The gaps identified between staff assumptions of customer perceptions of service importance and performance serve as a catalyst for staff engagement in the change process that is necessary to deliver on the value propositions and reduce customer irritations.Findings - Library staff assumptions of customer perceptions are not always accurate. The gaps identified help to engage staff in the change process that is necessary to improve perceptions of value and to reduce irritations. By explicitly addressing the value propositions with the aims of adding value and reducing irritation, student satisfaction with library services, as measured by two independent satisfaction surveys, improves considerably.Research limitations/implications - The research is based on two customer segments of one university library. The research should be repeated after a gap of three-four years to check if the value propositions and irritations have changed in that time. If so, the goals of the library's operational plan would have to change to reflect the new value propositions.Practical implications - A comparison of the Customer Value Discovery methodology with LibQUAL+TM, which is used internationally, and the Rodski Research Group's method, used in Australia and New Zealand, is given.Originality/value - The Customer Value Discovery methodology is most often used in the commercial sector. This paper explores its potential in the not-for-profit sector in the context of a university library service.

Keywords Customer satisfaction, Customer service management, Performance measures, University libraries

www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14678040911005428

This article originally appeared in Volume 24 Number 4, 2009, pp. 79-93, Performance Measurement and Metrics

The following articles were selected for this year's Highly Commended Award

What is impact assessment and why is it important?''

David StreatfieldSharon Markless

This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 2, 2009, Performance Measurement and Metrics

Structuration and social identity theories: qualitative methodologies for determining skills and competencies for the information profession in the 21st century''

Judith Broady-Preston

This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 3, 2009, Performance Measurement and Metrics

``Measuring Croatian public and academic library culture: interviews with library directors''

Kornelija Petr Balog

This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 3, 2009, Performance Measurement and Metrics