Recently, American Airlines announced that it would charge for all checked bags. This is a good example of negative perception quality. Even though American Airlines is using shared risk communication to explain this new charge, the impact will be negative quality.
In addition to a potential increased cost, there is the message that the company is hurting, and must take away one of the features that you have come to expect. This is similar to the software that 'unbundles' features and ask customers to pay for those features, when they had initially been free.
In the same way that customers with buggy software often find workarounds, customers will find more and more ways to stuff their carry on luggage, thereby potentially irritating existing customers who would not ordinarily check bags. This will lead to increased stress on the workers, who will already be more concerned for their jobs, in the same way that the focus on software companies ongoing cost-cutting efforts impact developers and quality staff. And staff focused on the security of their jobs are more likely to make mistakes and be less focused on quality for their customers.
Perception quality applies not only to customers, but to staff as well. It impacts the quality of what is developed, and the value of what is produced. And negative perception quality can have long term impact even if there is a remedy or reversal relatively soon after the blunder.
No comments:
Post a Comment