Customer Satisfaction: What Impact Does Your Culture Have?
- 1. Volume 3, Issue 3, 2009
researchnotes
Customer Satisfaction: What Impact Does Your Culture Have?
“When companies come up with simple, manage their financial resources, while at the
low cost ways to trim costs while improving life same time providing the best experience for their
for customers, they’re likely to win in good times customers, are the organizations that will be fit for
and bad,” writes Jena McGregor, Management survival in the long-run. But how can organizations
Department Editor of BusinessWeek (2009, March). accomplish this? What stays and what goes
A special issue of BusinessWeek magazine, when the economy shrinks and consumers have
dedicated to customer service, profiled the top withdrawn from the market? Although there are
25 organizations that, even in a tough economy, many avenues for improving customer satisfaction
have managed to still make customers their top or managing customer loyalty, we sought to explore
priority. With the economy in a downturn, it has the role that organizational culture can play in
rapidly become a consumers market. It is corporate satisfying the ever-important customer.
Darwinism at its best. Companies that effectively
Figure 1: Customer Satisfaction in Home Building Markets
Home Builder
Bottom Five Markets Top Five Markets
Bottom Five Markets Top Five Markets
External Focus External Focus
This comparison shows the difference
in scores on the Denison Organization
76 94 95
70
79 94 92
Culture Survey in the bottom five and top
64
five performing markets in a large Fortune
44
Beliefs and
77 83
Beliefs and
95
500 Home Building Company. There
Flexible Stable Flexible Stable
61
Assumptions
69
Assumptions
were statistically significant correlations
90 95
73
between culture and customer
67 73
76 96 96
satisfaction in all 12 of the Denison
94 94
indexes.
Internal Focus Internal Focus
Dealership Overall Customer464
N = Satisfaction N = 286
Figure 2: Customer Satisfaction in Automotive Dealerships
Bottom25%
Bottom
25% Top 25%
Top 25%
External Focus External Focus
This comparison shows the difference
in scores on the Denison Organization
76
59 54
89
75 Culture Survey for dealerships in the
74
NA NA
53
NA NA
75
bottom 25% of customer satisfaction
67
NA
NA
Beliefs and NA
NA
74 79 NA
NA
Beliefs and NA
NA 87
ratings vs those in the top 25% of
Flexible Stable Flexible Stable
53
NA
Assumptions
NA NA
Assumptions
NA
customer satisfaction ratings. These
NA NA 76 76 NA NA 91
38
NA NA
70 66
NA NA
included both the sales and service
43
57 69
87
components of the customer satisfaction
78
questions.
Internal Focus Internal Focus
N = 36 N = 36
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- 2. A stream of research conducted by Denison marketplace. Organizations with a strong Mission
Consulting and our research partners, explored have defined a meaningful vision, and a long-term
the relationship between organizational culture and strategy with short-term goals to achieve that
customer satisfaction. Dr. Michael Gillespie and vision. Highly Adaptable organizations are aware
colleagues used customer satisfaction and Denison of the demands of the marketplace, learn from
Organizational Culture Survey data collected from them, and change to meet those demands. Both
automotive dealerships and regional home building of these culture traits have logical and theory-based
markets. Additionally, Dr. Scott Nier, a psychologist relationships with the customer.
with the United States Government, explored culture
and customer satisfaction within a government Emerging research suggests that the lower half
agency for his doctoral dissertation at Walden (internal side) of the Denison Model, made up of
University. Involvement and Consistency, is also important
to customer satisfaction. If Involvement is high in
Previous theoretical research on organizational an organization, employees are empowered, they
effectiveness would suggest that the external side have the right skills to do their job and they work
of the Denison model (Adaptability and Mission) effectively as a team. This allows them to create
would have the strongest relationships with and deliver good customer experiences. Likewise,
customer satisfaction. Mission and Adaptability organizations high in Consistency are able to
assess the organization’s orientation to the external provide the same experience on a repeated basis
to every customer and can coordinate activities
Table 1: Correlations between Denison and resources to effectively meet the needs of the
Organizational Culture Survey and Customer customer.
Satisfaction for Home-Building Markets and
Automotive Dealerships Studying Customer Satisfaction
Trait/Index Home-Building Automobile The relationship between organizational culture and
Markets Dealerships
(N=32) (N=148) customer satisfaction was explored in two studies,
across three different environments. In the first
Mission .47** .23**
study researchers collected customer satisfaction
Strategic Direction & .50** .24**
Intent data from 1) people who had just purchased/leased
Goals & Objectives .36* .22**
a new vehicle or had a vehicle serviced from a car
dealership or 2) had recently contracted to have a
Vision .50** .20*
home built through a home-building company. The
Adaptability .50** .24** relationship between the Customer Satisfaction data
Creating Change .38* .16* and Organizational Culture data was analyzed. In
Customer Focus .59** .32** the second study, culture and customer satisfaction
Organizational .47** .21* data was examined for a large government agency.
Learning
People who received goods or services from the
Involvement .42* .26** government agency were asked to rate the quality
Empowerment .45* .26** of the goods or service received and the reliability
Team Orientation .41* .23** and efficiency of the government department they
Capability .36* .27** interacted with.
Development
Consistency .33^ .30** Beginning with the first study conducted by Dr.
Core Values .15 .26** Gillespie and colleagues, customers who recently
Agreement .35^ .25** bought houses from the home-building company
Coordination & .44* .34** completed a customer satisfaction survey that
Integration was administered by an independent 3rd party.
^p<.10; * p<.05; **p<.01 Customers were asked: “Thinking back to your
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- 3. overall experience with XYZ home-building Both questions used a four-point response scale,
company, how much of your experience was with options ranging from “Not at all Satisfied” to
positive?” Responses were made on an eleven “Completely Satisfied.” The researchers reported
point response scale ranging from 0% to 100% in results using a combined score that averaged
increments of 10. (Table 1) Correlations between the responses of both survey items. The results
the Denison traits and indexes and customers’ showed that the two indexes from the Denison
satisfaction with their home-building experience Culture Model with the strongest correlation
reveal an interesting pattern. At the trait level, the to customers’ satisfaction with regard to car
strongest correlation with customer satisfaction purchase or service experience were Coordination
was with Adaptability, followed by Mission and & Integration, an index within Consistency, and
then Involvement. Although Consistency, as a trait, Customer Focus, an index within Adaptability.
was not significantly correlated with customer (Table 1)
satisfaction, a deeper-dive at the index level of
Consistency reveals that Coordination & Integration Moving to the government sample, a customer
is highly correlated with customer satisfaction. satisfaction survey was sent to all people who had
received goods or services from the government
The pattern of correlations was slightly different agency. The survey included 13 questions that
in the automobile dealerships but there were also asked about the timeliness of receiving services or
similarities to the home-building market. For the goods, resolution of their problem, the availability
automobile dealerships, customer satisfaction of products, and the quality of interaction with
ratings were obtained using a national customer government agency personnel. Responses were
satisfaction survey administered by an independent made on a 5-point scale from “Strongly Disagree”
research firm. Two different surveys were to “Strongly Agree.” The 13 items were averaged
administered, and we used the overall satisfaction together to create an overall customer satisfaction
question from each questionnaire. The first survey score. In this study, Dr. Scott Nier, the researcher,
focused on the sales and delivery experience, conducted a t-test on the Denison Culture Traits
and the question read: “Based on your overall between the divisions with the most satisfied
purchase/lease and delivery experience, how customers and the least satisfied customers. A
satisfied are you with XYZ Dealership?” The second T-test is a way for determining if the difference
item focused on service: “Based on this service visit between two numbers is statistically significant,
overall, how satisfied are you with XYZ Dealership?” and therefore, meaningful. T-test results indicated
Figure 3: Customer Satisfaction in Government Agency Divisions
Using T-tests, we were
able to examine the
relationship between
customer satisfaction and
Denison Organizational
Culture Survey results at a
government agency. The
research found that at the
Trait level, higher culture
scores corresponded
with higher customer
satisfaction in each trait
but most significantly
in Consistency and
Adaptability.
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- 4. that the divisions with highly satisfied customers reasonable amount of time, the restaurant was clean
had higher culture scores across all traits but were and presentable, and that your food was prepared
significantly higher in Consistency and Adaptability to order and met your overall expectations. It is
(Figure 3). important that all employees of an organization
understand their role in providing the best customer
Making Culture Work for Your Customers experience and what they can do to support their
fellow employees to meet the customers’ needs.
So what does this research mean for you and your
Coordinated and integrated effort among employees
organization? First, and logically, creating a strong
will ensure that no customer falls through the
Customer Focus is important for being able to
cracks and that each component of the customer
increase customer satisfaction. The best way to
experience meets or exceeds expectations.
ensure your employees provide the best experience
for your customer is to make sure that employees
Lastly, although the traits of Adaptability and
understand the needs of the customer, consider the
Consistency with emphasis on Customer Focus and
interest of the customer when making decisions,
Coordination & Integration were strongly correlated
and interact directly with customers on a regular
with customer satisfaction in these studies,
basis.
significant relationships were also found between
customer satisfaction and other indexes of the
Further, this research also suggests that
Denison Organizational Culture Model. For example,
Coordination & Integration is important for providing
clearly communicating the Vision of the organization
customers with a satisfying experience. Providing
and fostering Empowerment among employees
customer service is rarely only the responsibility
are also important for providing the best customer
of the customer-facing employee but, rather,
experience. It might be tempting to focus your
requires a team effort from employees throughout
customer satisfaction efforts solely on Customer
an organization. Coordination & Integration,
Focus or Coordination & Integration, however
captured within the Consistency trait of the Denison
previous research suggests that a strong, balanced
model, has to do with whether employees share
culture is important for achieving optimal customer
a common perspective and how well they work
service as well as performance across a number of
across organizational boundaries. What makes for
other important business metrics.
a great dining experience at your favorite restaurant,
for example, isn’t just that your server was friendly.
It might also require that you were seated in a
Related Resources
Gillespie, M. A., Denison, D. R., Haaland, S., Smerek, Nier, S. L. (2008). The relationship between
R., & Neale, W. S. (2008). Linking organizational culture organizational culture and organizational performance in a
and customer satisfaction: Results from two companies large federal government agency. Unpublished doctoral
in different industries. European Journal of Work and dissertation, Walden University.
Organizational Psychology, 17, 112-132.
McGregor, J., McConnon, A., & Kiley, D. (2009, March).
When Service Means Survival. Business Week, 4121, 26.
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