About This Book

EVALUATION 335
profit is not the only indicator of the real bottom line (for example, Kaplan &
Norton, 1996). For non-profit organizations, consider cash flow as a measure
that replaces profitability for a for-profit organization.
There are other measures, along with profit, that provide a more balanced
approach to assessing the bottom line. That is why the word performance is
used in place of bottom line. In addition to profit, there are internal and external
performance measures, such as customer retention, organizational learning,
new products developed, and many more.
Measurement Dimension 2—Morale
Measures of morale are soft by nature. That is, asking the employees or customers
their opinions regarding a variety of issues assesses each measure. Measures
of morale address attitudes and intentions from both the employee and
customer perspective. An attitude is a bi-polar affect regarding some target (for
example, I like it or I don’t like it). Attitudes focus on such things as job satisfaction
for employees and product/service satisfaction for customers. Intentions
are cognitive choices made with regard to pending action or lack of action (for
example, I will do this or I will do that or I will do nothing). Intentions focus
on such things as intention-to-leave a job or intention-to-return to buy a product/
service again. As mentioned earlier, these measures tend to focus on a degree
of agreement or disagreement on a Likert scale.
Measurement Dimension 3—Emotion
Emotions are similar yet distinct from morale. Emotions encompass glad, sad,
mad, afraid, and ashamed. There are also the emotions of excited, peace, and
numb. These emotions tend to be related to discrete events and are reactionary
in nature. The reason that they are considered similar to morale is that they are
known to influence morale directly. For example, a failed performance by an
employee (for example, a lost sale) can lead to anger and guilt. These emotions
can subsequently lead to an exaggerated low level of job satisfaction and a
heightened level of intention-to-leave. Over time, these levels of satisfaction and
intention-to-leave can return to the original levels prior to the failed performance.
That is, emotions generally have a temporary influence on morale, not
a permanent one.
Measurement Dimension 4—
Critical Customer Service Behaviors
Customers have certain expectations when receiving products and services.
There are all sorts of support required and questions to be asked. In the process,
the customer can define a set of employees’ behaviors that add value to the
product or service. These behaviors are applicable across industries, yet must