Customer Friendly: The Organizational Architecture of Service

The need for customer friendly organizations exists across fields and industries. Corporate leaders have long known the value of customer support. Even public agency leaders increasingly recognize the need to offer better service to citizens. This book presents the organizational architecture of customer friendly organizations. How do some private companies and public agencies become customer friendly-by accident or design? Academics and practicing managers know that organizational design affects behavior.

This book helps us understand how we develop high performance organizations-in this case, organizations that consistently deliver high quality service. It builds on the theory and application of ＂systems thinking＂ to organization design and behavior by showing how products, structure, psychological climate, culture, and leadership work together to produce customer friendly experiences. Beginning with the architectural model, the book offers a series of cases to illustrate the application: hospital, auto manufacturer, airline, hotel, bank, university, and library.

James T. Ziegenfuss, Jr., Ph.D., (Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Management & Health Care Systems in the graduate programs in health and public administration, Pennsylvania State University. Professor Ziegenfuss has written over one hundred articles for journals and conferences and authored eleven books on health care, management, strategic planning, and administration.