By Nikki Tait
Three years ago, American Freight-ways, an Arkansas haulage company, had a little wooden
"suggestions box". Its 13,300 staff dropped in about one offering a month. But things have changed. It now has a contract with an out-sourced, telephone-based employee feedback service - and receives 200 calls a month from its workforce. Suggestions have ranged from how to maintain equipment to the best way to bid for work on certain routes. "All people have to do is pick up a phone - it has been very beneficial," says Mr John Sherman, rice-president for "people management". The person behind In Touch is Feter Lilienthal, a Minneapolis businessman. The concept is simplicity itself vet clients as varied as Pillsbury, Chase Manhattan, Arthur Andersen Consulting and Coca-Cola have nothing but praise.
In Touch provides a freecall number, which the client"s employees can dial at any time. Messages are then transcribed verbatim and forwarded to the company"s executives within one
working day. For companies with 5,000 employees or more, In Touch is will provide a monthly breakdown of calls, highlighting areas of concern, and so on. It can also provide some foreign language services - Spanish, for example. It is successful, says Mr Lilienthal, partly because the service is independent and, unlike typical in-house communication systems, callers can remain anonymous.
Having watched tens of companies implement the system, Mr Lilienthal says it is almost impossible to predict what the response will be. But he notes that there is often a quiet interval at the out-
set; while employees wait to see whether messages will he taken seriously. That is followed by a
period when minor, bottled-up grievances emerge. Finally, once the system is established, the number of calls typically falls away, and their value increases. This, too, is confirmed by clients. Pillsbury, which began using the service in the early 1990s, shortly after it was acquired by Britain"s
Grand Metropolitan, says it still receives about 50 calls a month.
Mr Lilienthal has a couple of tips for anyone introducing the system. First, make sure the service is relatively unrestricted, and not advertised as a "complaint" line. Second, convince workers that calls will be taken seriously. American Freightways, for example, promises to get back to all
employees who leave their name within ten days. Executives to whom the messages are forwarded
are given five days to respond. Pillsbury makes a point of publicising the most relevant messages, together with responses, via its in-house newspaper or internal e-mail system.
from the Financial Times
1. Look through the whole article and put these paragraph headings into the correct order.
a) Typical response patterns after the system is introduced
b) How the system works
c) Hints on how to introduce the system
d) A new system for employee suggestions
2. True or false?
a) American Freightways is based in Arkansas.
b) Before, the suggestions scheme received no suggestions at all.
c) The new suggestions scheme is run in-house.
d) Employees make suggestions by e-mail.
e) The system is hard to use.
f) American Freightways" vice-president for people management thinks that the system has been very useful.
g) On the whole, other clients for the system have been satisfied, but they have made some criticisms.
3. Find expressions that mean the same as those in italics.
a) In Touch gives a number that people can call without paying.
b) What the callers say is then written down word for word.
c) They are sent to the company"s managers.
d) In Touch will give details of the numbers of different calls.
e) In Touch will give details of the things that a company"s employees are particularly worried about or interested in.
f) Callers do not have to give their names.
4. Put these phases for the system into the order they may typically occur.
a) a phase with a moderate number of calls
b) a phase with a high number of calls
c) a phase with a low number of calls
5. Now match each phase in Question 4 to typical employee reactions for those phases.
a) The system settles down, and people call less often, but what they have to say is more useful to the company.
b) Employees hesitate to use the system because they don"t know if it will work.
c) Employees call more frequently, often to complain about things that have annoyed them for a long time.
6. Which of these hints to managers for making the system successful is not mentioned?
a) Don"t say that the system is mainly for making complaints.
b) Make the system relatively open for anyone to use.
c) You should promise not to try to find the people who call without giving their names.
d) You should respond to messages within a particular time.
e) Publicise the most important messages and their responses.
f) Where relevant, you should get the appropriate manager to respond to messages.
Date: 2014-12-29 ; view: 1108
| | | next page ==> | |
A suggestion box is a great way for management to learn more about ways to improve their office and their business. Many businesses have them, but implementing the suggestion box appropriately can be a little tricky. To make sure that you get good feedback through the suggestion box, there are a few steps that can be taken.
Choose a box to be used as the suggestion box. Some businesses simply cut a slit into a shoebox, but something a little more lasting is recommended. A locking metal box with a narrow opening is a good choice.
Choose a good place for the box, such as a high-traffic area that is not formally monitored. Also think about whether you want to make the suggestion box available to the public as well as your employees.
Label the box using markers. You also can cover the box with paper and then label it for a more friendly look.
Related Articles
Announce the suggestion box. Though everyone knows what a suggestion box is, and how it is used, formally announcing it will help your employees start to think about it.
Ensure anonymity. Tell your employees that their suggestions will be held in strictest confidence and that no one is going to try to figure out who said what. This can help more nervous employees who are worried that they are making unpopular suggestions.
Promise that all suggestions will be read by at least two managers. No one is going to submit ideas to a suggestion box that they feel is ignored.
Reward good suggestions. If someone signs a suggestion and it is implemented, give them a bonus or a prize. It might not be a major prize, but it shows that the company appreciates the ideas that are being offered.
Post the suggestions where others can see them. If your company sends out a newsletter, sending out a list of received suggestions, whether they are amusing or serious, can be fun. It can create a feeling of community among your employees and it can promote discussion.
Tip
You also might choose to incorporate an online suggestion box that is available to both employees and customers.
Odds are, your office or business serves customers on a regular basis. Having the interaction between you and the customer more pleasant can make the difference between a miserable day and a great one. If you don"t know how to make your interactions with others more pleasant, try adding a suggestion box to your business.
Prepare your suggestion box. If you are using a physical box, cut a hole in the box large enough to drop in slips of paper, but not large enough to take them back out with any amount of ease. Make sure the box fits in whatever area you intend to place it. If you are using virtual suggestion box software, configure it to send you emails when users send suggestions.
Place a sign prominently at your office letting customers know you want suggestions to improve your service. Make sure the sign is large enough to be easily seen by the customers.
Place slips of paper and pencils beside or on top of the suggestion box, if you are using a physical suggestion box. Make sure users have everything they need to make suggestions. If you are using virtual suggestion box software, provide your web or email address on slips of paper for users to take with them.
Set up a schedule to regularly check your suggestion box, then leave it alone. The idea of a suggestion box is not to consume all your time as you obsess over its contents. Simply let it do its job. Check on it at the end of the week.
Resist the urge to become defensive when you read the suggestions. If your customers think you take too long to provide service, even if you are moving as fast as you can, take the customer suggestion into consideration. Consider what the customer is telling you about his experience, don"t focus on the negative words he uses.
Follow up with the customer to discuss the problem further, if the customer left a name and phone number or email address on his suggestion. After you have implemented changes to address his suggestions, let the customer know. This goes a long way toward customers feeling free to leave suggestions.
Tip
Do not create a suggestion box if you have no intention of listening to the suggestions. You are likely to create ill will from customers and cause yourself frustration-all toward no positive goal.
About the Author
This article was written by a professional writer, copy edited and fact checked through a multi-point auditing system, in efforts to ensure our readers only receive the best information. To submit your questions or ideas, or to simply learn more, see our about us page: link below.
HTML5 - следующая большая переделка HTML (и XHTML), и разрабатывается совместно группами WHATWG и W3C HTML WG (работа еще не завершена, но в этой статье мы будем называть её просто HTML5). Я уже описывал начала HTML-форм и возможные улучшения с помощью HTML5 в моей предыдущей статье , поэтому сейчас рассмотрю некоторые более сложные аспекты полей ввода в HTML5, и завершу примером, демонстрирующим простоту создания автодополняющегося поля ввода - коротким серверным скриптом и несколькими строчками разметки.Обсуждаемые в этой статье инструменты являются частью спецификации Web Forms 2 , которая будет интегрирована в черновик HTML5 . (Вам нужно использовать последнюю версию Opera, предпочтительно 9.5 , чтобы увидеть примеры в действии. К сожалению, на переднем крае технологий нам нужно делать оговорки касательно браузера.)
Комбо-боксы (input list)
Давайте сначала рассмотрим, как HTML5 работает с комбо-боксами.В старых браузерах эта разметка деградирует в простое текстовое поле ввода. В новых агентах, поддерживающих HTML5, вы сможете выбрать одно из предопределенных значений (в дополнение к возможности ввести произвольный текст). Эта функциональность очень похожа, например, на предлагаемую почтовыми клиентами или адресной строкой браузера. Если вам нужно именно это, но ещё вы хотите видеть в старых браузерах обычный выпадающий список (select) с вариантами, можете использовать такую разметку (в пример добавлен контекст):
Браузеры с поддержкой атрибута list и элемента datalist из HTML5 не будут отображать элемент datalist со всем его содержимым. Вместо этого они будут использовать содержимое элементов option для заполнения комбо-бокса. Старые браузеры отобразят содержимое элемента datalist и позволят пользователю использовать либо текстовое поле, либо выпадающий список.
Внешний источник для datalist
Другая интересная особенность заключается в том, что подсказки могут быть взяты из внешнего XML-файла. Он должен отдаваться с медиа-типом application/xml и выглядеть приблизительно так:Содержимое этого элемента select заменит содержимое любого элемента datalist, ссылающегося на файл, за исключением случая, когда у select атрибут type имеет значение incremental - тогда его содержимое будет не заменять существующие варианты, а дополнять их. Вы можете подключить внешний файл foo вот так:
(Кстати, у элемента select в HTML5 тоже есть атрибут data.)
Динамический комбо-бокс
Мы рассмотрели комбо-боксы и способ заполнять их, используя внешний файл. Все, что нам теперь осталось до эмуляции Google Suggest в HTML5 - это ожидать события в комбо-боксе, и обращаться к маленькому серверному скрипту для динамического создания файла, который будет источником данных для элемента datalist. Чтобы сделать это обычными методами, вам нужно было бы создать свое собственное «выпадающее меню» со списком вариантов, использовать XMLHttpRequest для получения внешних данных, написать код, заполняющий этими данными меню - немалый труд, согласитесь.Так какое событие мы можем использовать? В Web Forms 2 появилось новое событие input, которое уже поддерживается несколькими браузерами, включая Opera. Событие запускается после того, как пользователь вводит текст с клавиатуры. Если он быстро печатает много символов, запускается только одно событие. Подключение обработчика к комбо-боксу слегка усложняет код:
oninput=«list.data = "?w=" + encodeURIComponent(value)»>
Легко видеть, что обработчик события input изменяет list.data. Атрибут list поля ввода ссылается на элемент datalist по id, поэтому данные берутся именно из этого datalist. Все, что нам осталось сделать, чтобы загрузить данные с нужного адреса - это изменить атрибут data. Новый адрес - это строка?w плюс строка, введенная пользователем, которую мы кодируем для использования в URI при помощи глобальной функции encodeURIComponent. Так что, если пользователь введёт foo, запрос будет отправлен по адресу?w=foo (этот URI работает относительно страницы, на которой выполняется скрипт). Серверный скрипт получит этот URI, найдет текстовый файл с возможными вариантами для введенной строки, и потом вернет для заполнения комбо-бокса XML-файл, содержащий эти варианты. Всё это происходит динамически, поэтому как только вы измените искомый текст в текстовом поле, серверный скрипт обработает новые данные и отправит новый XML-файл, изменяя содержимое элемента datalist.
Я сделал рабочий пример этого для того, чтобы вы могли попробовать самостоятельно: загрузите файлы , или проверьте готовый пример в действии .
Файлы для этого примера:
- список подсказок, разделенных переводами строки, в файле suggest.txt - он будет читаться серверным скриптом в поисках подходящих вариантов;
- Python-скрипт article-example-suggest.py, который ищет в текстовом файле введенную пользователем строку, и потом возвращает XML с результатами поиска; также в этом файле описаны элементы input и datalist, которые мы обсуждали выше.
import os
qs = os.environ["QUERY_STRING"]
# The page as shown by default
main="""Content-Type:texthtml;charset=UTF-8\n
"""
If qs=="":
print main
else:
# If a query string was provided we need to provide an XML file with
# options filtered using the user input
import sys
print "Content-type: application/xml"
print "Cache-control: no-cache"
print ""
sys.stdout.write("")
