A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators

A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators

“The case of De Unie’s Online union”

Name: Ferdinand Kieboom

Number: 283241

Department: Marketing Management

Coach: Prof. Dr. F.M. Go

Co-Reader: Dr. D.M. Halemane

RSM Erasmus University Rotterdam

December, 2007


ii

Preface

The author declares that the text and work presented in this Master thesis is original and that no

sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating the

Master thesis.

The copyright of the Master thesis rests with the author. The author is responsible for its contents.

RSM Erasmus University is only responsible for the educational coaching and beyond that cannot be

held responsible for the content.

Ferdinand F. Kieboom

Department of Marketing Management

RSM Erasmus University Rotterdam

November, 2007


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Foreword

“The metropolis setting makes it possible and necessary for an individual to preserve his autonomy

and individuality in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture,

and of the technique of life”

Simmel 1922

By the end of 2006, the RSM Erasmus University and Microsoft Netherlands started the research

project “The New World of Work”. This research project aimed to provide insights in the changing

way of working for the workforce, enabled by information and communication technology (ICT). One

of the organizations that joined the research project was Dutch labor union De Unie. Each student,

participating in this research investigated a single case study, from which the case study of De Unie

served as my Master’s Thesis.

At the start of this research project I only knew labor unions from strikes presented in the

newspapers and on television, and I was wondering why a Dutch labor union would like to participate

in our research project. To my opinion, labor unions were a little old-fashioned and conservative.

I already knew that representative organizations were facing a decline in memberships for the past

years. By the time I was wondering the above, I came to the understanding that in fact it was not

strange at all for a workforce representative organization such as De Unie to participate in this

research project.

As labor unions are facing difficulties on the recruitment and retention of members the primary

concern for unions will be to identify new concepts that adapt to the needs of the changing

workforce and rejuvenate the traditional union. Fortunately, I noticed the management of De Unie to

be aware of the urgency for workforce representative organizations to develop new concepts. And as

a result, De Unie recently started with the first virtual union in the Netherlands. My opinion about De

Unie changed; this might be a progressive organization!

Traditionally, labour unions centres on maintaining the elusive balance in the group-individual

member relationship. I came to the understanding that one of the forces that is changing the group-

individual relationship is the growth of the internet and other ICT tools. The latter increases the

speed and availability of information and turn the group-individual relationship on its head, due to

the emergence of ICT-enabled individualization. For De Unie, understanding members’ needs for


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individualization and reconciling these with the requirements of the group will be a precondition to

the online union’s success.

Towards the end of my thesis I realized that with the start of the online union, although at the

moment very small and not fully developed, De Unie explored a complete new concept with high

potential to succeed. By this research study, I have tried to provide De Unie direction for the ongoing

way of improving the online union to adapt to the needs of the changing workforce.

Providing direction is phase I in the process of improving the online union. Translating the needs of

the members into the design will be the second phase. During my last contact with De Unie, the

project manager of the online union mentioned: “Okay, I was thinking about the following technical

requirements in order to translate the needs.......how do you think about it?” At that point, my

opinion about labor union De Unie was definitely changed; this organization certainly can be

progressive.


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Acknowledgements

The research study you are about to read has been written as my Master’s thesis. In writing this

paper I was fortunate with the support and advice of many people with different fields of expertise.

In this section I’d like to dedicate some words of appreciation to those who guided me in my journey

towards this final thesis.

First of all I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Dr. Frank Go for his time, guidance,

overwhelming support and enthusiasm when writing this thesis. His knowledge, rich interpretations

and critical view led to many hours of great conversations that were of great importance for the final

result of this Master’s thesis. For his invaluable contributions I am very grateful.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my co-reader, Dr. Murthy Halemane. I would like

to thank him for his time, critical view and overwhelming commitment. Also thanks for the nice

conversations, practical advices and interest in the research subject.

Furthermore, I would like to thank Ad Breukel for the valuable conversations we had in Utrecht. His

knowledge and experience in the field of research are tremendous. I would like to thank him for the

time he made free for us and for his valuable advices. In this way I will also show my respect to Dr.

Robbert Govers for his contributions at the start of our research.

A special word of thanks will go to Prof. Dr. Ir. Eric van Heck, Dr. Peter van Baalen and Drs. Marcel

van Oosterhout for their constructive criticism, contributions and support to our team during the last

year we worked on the New World of Work project. I really appreciated our cooperation. I would

also like to thank my “teammates” Robbert Engels, Marcel Legerstee, Vincent Vermeulen and

Wieteke Dupain; we made it!

For this research for the online union I will also express my gratitude to many people of De Unie for

the discussions, advice and support. I would also like to thank all members of the online union who

took the time to fill in my survey and therefore contributed with valuable information.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude towards my

family; my parents and my brother. Their never ending support and encouragement was of great

importance to me. I feel very fortunate to have a family like you!

Ferdinand Kieboom, November 2007


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Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to the memory of R. van Zevenbergen-Huisman

(1917 – 2007)


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Executive Summary

Workforce representative organizations in the Netherlands are witnessing a decline in the number of

memberships for about 10 years. Under influence of ICT, the design of work is changing from a

centralized to a decentralized form. As a result, the function and role of representative organizations,

such as De Unie, are changing as well. In response, representative organizations are searching for,

and experimenting with new service concepts in order to recruit new members and increase the

position of the organization as well as the organization’s cash flow. Under influence of the

aforementioned forces, De Unie started to develop a new union concept that is more responsive to

the members’ contemporary needs. As a result, De Unie recently launched the first online union in

the Netherlands; “De Internetvakbond”.

The current research study serves to improve decision makers’ understanding of the demands of the

members, and offers objective knowledge about the key performance drivers of the online union.

Hence, it will provide De Unie direction to the ongoing process of designing an online union that

adapts to the demands of the changing workforce. By both identification of the most important

needs of the members, by collection of empirical data and; by translating the needs into appropriate

technical requirements.

This research starts with a literature review followed by exploratory research to the needs of the

members and the performance drivers of the online union. The present study applies the SERVQUAL

model to measure the quality of the services offered by the online union. By including Kano’s model

we were able to identify how well the different service attributes of the online union are satisfying

the needs of the members. By integrating the SERVQUAL and Kano model into the concept of the

House of Quality, we were able to translate the needs and requirements of the member into the

design process of the online union.

By exploratory research we identified five dimensions that are considered to determine the overall

performance of the online union; interaction, solidarity, information, safety and interaction.

Statistical analysis merged the dimensions interaction and solidarity and indicated a significant

positive relationship between tangibles and the overall performance of the online union. The House

of Quality indicated Digitalization to be the most important technical requirement in the ongoing

process of improvement and enables the online union to meet the widest collection of members’

needs. Digitalization in this case offers the online union possibilities for value-based pricing of

services, connect different parties in the network and enables interaction between the De Unie, it’s

members and third parties. From this perspective it increases the value of the online union.


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Table of Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................ ii

Foreword .................................................................................................................................... iii

Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... v

Dedication ...................................................................................................................................vi

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... vii

Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... viii

List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xi

List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xi

Chapter 1 - Introduction ............................................................................................................. 13

1.1 Research Background .................................................................................................................. 13

1.2 Theories of service improvements .............................................................................................. 14

1.3 Problem Definition and Research Questions .............................................................................. 16

1.3.1 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 17

1.4 Research objectives ..................................................................................................................... 18

1.5 Research Design .......................................................................................................................... 18

1.6 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................................... 19

Chapter 2 - Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................. 21

2.1 Online trade unions ..................................................................................................................... 21

2.2 New Media challenges ................................................................................................................ 23

2.3 Virtual Communities .................................................................................................................... 26

2.3.1 Concept of virtual communities ........................................................................................... 26

2.3.2 Typology of virtual communities .......................................................................................... 29

2.3.3 Function of Virtual Communities in Marketing .................................................................... 31

2.4 SERVQUAL ................................................................................................................................... 33

2.5 Quality Function Deployment ..................................................................................................... 34

2.5.1 The Four-Phase Model ......................................................................................................... 35

2.5.2 House of Quality ................................................................................................................... 36

Customer Needs (WHAT’S) ............................................................................................................ 37

Planning matrix (WHY’S) ............................................................................................................... 39

Technical Response (HOW’S) ........................................................................................................ 39

Relationship matrix ....................................................................................................................... 39

Technical Correlation Matrix ......................................................................................................... 40

Technical Matrix ............................................................................................................................ 40


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2.6 Conceptual model ....................................................................................................................... 40

Chapter 3 – Methodology ........................................................................................................... 43

3.1 Research Design .......................................................................................................................... 43

3.2 Data description .......................................................................................................................... 43

Phase I: Exploratory research; defining member’s needs ............................................................. 44

Phase II Quantitative research; online survey ............................................................................... 44

Phase III Establishing the House of Quality ................................................................................... 45

3.3 Instrument development and quality ......................................................................................... 45

Chapter 4 - Results Empirical Study ............................................................................................ 49

4.1 Phase I: Results exploratory research ......................................................................................... 49

4.1.1 Interviews with employees of the online union ................................................................... 50

4.1.2 Interviews with the members of the online union ............................................................... 51

4.2 Results Quantitative research ..................................................................................................... 54

4.2.1 Sample description ............................................................................................................... 54

4.2.2 Factor analyse ....................................................................................................................... 57

Scale Reliablity ............................................................................................................................... 59

Correlations ................................................................................................................................... 60

4.2.3 Multiple Regression Analysis ................................................................................................ 60

4.3 Establishing the House of Quality; translating “What” into “How” ............................................ 62

4.3.1 Gap analysis ......................................................................................................................... 62

4.3.2 Kano Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 64

4.3.3 Data Collection House of Quality ......................................................................................... 65

4.3.4 The House of Quality ............................................................................................................ 66

4.4 Summary empirical results .......................................................................................................... 69

4.4.1 Exploratory research ............................................................................................................. 69

4.4.2 Conclusions Quantitative results .......................................................................................... 69

4.4.3 Conclusions House of Quality ............................................................................................... 70

Chapter 5 - Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations ...................................................... 71

5.1 Synopsis ....................................................................................................................................... 71

5.2 Central Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 71

5.3 Implications ................................................................................................................................. 72

5.4 Methodological value .................................................................................................................. 73

5.5 Recommendations for future research ....................................................................................... 73

References ................................................................................................................................. 75


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Appendix 1: Survey Data............................................................................................................. 81

1.1 Expectation vs. Perceptions ........................................................................................................ 81

Appendix 2: Independent correlations ........................................................................................ 82

Appendix 3 ................................................................................................................................. 84

3.1 Kano matrix ................................................................................................................................. 84

Appendix 4: Case description De Unie ......................................................................................... 85

Appendix 5: Interviews employees’ online labor union. ............................................................... 88

5.1 List of interviewed employees .................................................................................................... 88

5.2 Questions ..................................................................................................................................... 88

5.3 Conclusions interviews with employees ..................................................................................... 90

Appendix 6: Interviews with members online labor union. .......................................................... 93

6.1 List of interviewed members ....................................................................................................... 93

6.2 Questions ..................................................................................................................................... 93

6.3 Conclusions interviews with members. ....................................................................................... 95

Appendix 7: Survey Internetvakbond De Unie ............................................................................. 98

Appendix 8: Statistical Analyses ................................................................................................. 108

8.1 Factor Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 108


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List of Figures

Figure - 1 House of Quality .................................................................................................................... 16

Figure - 2 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................................ 19

Figure - 3 Polyinclusion (Go & Fenema, 2003) ...................................................................................... 24

Figure - 4 The Four-Phase model of QFD (Cohen 1995) ........................................................................ 35

Figure - 5 House of Quality .................................................................................................................... 36

Figure - 6 Kano’s model (ReVelle et al, 1998) ....................................................................................... 38

Figure - 7 Conceptual Model (Based on Go, 2005) ............................................................................... 41

Figure - 8 Empirical research design after phase I. ............................................................................... 53

Figure - 9 Frequency site visits .............................................................................................................. 56

Figure - 10 Reason to visit website ........................................................................................................ 56

Figure - 11 Overview gap scores ........................................................................................................... 63

Figure - 12 Kano Categorization ............................................................................................................ 65

Figure - 13 The House of Quality for the online union .......................................................................... 66

List of Tables

Table 1 - Virtual Community benefits for consumers and producers (De Valck, 2005) ........................ 32

Table 2 -Service dimensions Online union ........................................................................................... 53

Table 3 - Demographic Characteristics .................................................................................................. 55

Table 4 - Sector of the organization ...................................................................................................... 56

Table 5 - Function of members ............................................................................................................. 56

Table 6 -Rotated component matrix .................................................................................................... 58

Table 7 - Dimensional structure after Factor Analysis .......................................................................... 59

Table 8 - Internal Reliability ................................................................................................................... 60

Table 9 - Correlation matrix .................................................................................................................. 60

Table 10 - Regression Coefficients ........................................................................................................ 61

Table 11 - Technical Correlation Matrix ................................................................................................ 68

Table 12 - Importance rankings How's .................................................................................................. 69


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Chapter 1 - Introduction

“Your workplace is wherever you are”

- Motto from Interpolis Insurances Tilburg

1.1 Research Background

Just looking at the captioned statement some people may probably remark: “Yeah, perhaps in your

dreams ....”. However, one of the leading insurance companies in the Netherlands succeeded in

turning its ‘your workplace is wherever you are’ dream scenario into an innovative office concept

back in 1995. Its imaginary power harnessed in a ‘new world of work’ dream scenario and ability to

mobilize superb implementation skills, supported by sound planning. This enabled Interpolis to

achieve concrete business savings in reality. For instance, its new building offers 64% more

workplaces and accommodates 103% more employees than its traditional office building (Veldhoen,

2005). Hence, this case provides both inspiration and an appropriate introduction to frame the

present case research. In particular, it conceives a test to validate the House of Quality technique

through a statistically reliable sample of the De Unie’s member population in the Netherlands.

Nowadays the way we design our work is strongly influenced by Information Technology. Sinha and

van de Ven (2005) indicate that the design of work, i.e. the way in which work is performed, is

changing from centralized to decentralized structures. Sinha and van de Ven (2005) attribute this

change to IT, which divides, distributes and coordinates work across organizational and national

boundaries. From the performance perspective IT can be viewed as an enabler of work design

changes rather than a just another tool to automate processes (Dederick, 2003).

This research study is part of the overall research project The New World of Work (NWoW). This

research project is conducted by the RSM Erasmus University in systematic- and comprehensive

collaboration with Microsoft Netherlands, Rabobank and the Dutch trade union organization De

Unie. The research team consists of nine members from three different departments of the RSM

Erasmus University; marketing management, decision and information sciences and strategic

management. The five student members investigated each one case study. The research project

results are culminated in a report, including the case studies, for the participating companies and,

separately, presented in a Master’s thesis, of which the present study serves as one.


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The present case study focuses on the Dutch labour union De Unie. Recently, De Unie started its

journey to discover new concepts of working. For example; a new building with different features to

facilitate new ways of working was built in the year 2003. Within 2006 De Unie started the first

online labour union in the Netherlands; “the online union” (De Internetvakbond). Labour unions

worldwide are facing a decline in the number of members for almost twenty years now (Greene

2000, Ward 2002, Heery 2004). Problems on recruitment and retention of members are the primary

concern for unions to identify new concepts that adapt to the needs of the changing workforce and

rejuvenate the traditional union. Also in the Netherlands unions are challenged with the above

described decline in the number of members.

In essence a labour union centres on maintaining the delicate balance in the group-individual

member relationship. The latter is shifting as a consequence of two main forces. First, the changing

power balance altering the traditional configurations and relations in the market; second, the growth

of the internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT). The latter accelerate

the velocity of information and business processes and turn the group-individual relationship on its

head, due to the emergence of ICT-enabled individualization.

Fortunately, the leadership of De Unie is aware of the significance of the aforementioned forces and

the urgent need to develop a new union concept that is more responsive to the members’

contemporary needs. It merely started an online union as an experiment to rejuvenate the

organizational concept that would fit to the needs of the “new workforce” and new members.

Hence, understanding members’ needs for individualization and reconciling these with the

requirements of the group is a precondition to the online union’s success. At present, there is a lack

of information regarding members’ identities and motives. Such data is vital to plot an adoption

strategy for the online union. Therefore, this research seeks to provide insights about members’

identities and motives in relation to the online union. Moreover, it provides recommendations on

how De Unie can improve its processes to align the online union with the conventional organization,

which is rooted in the co-located form of conducting work, that the majority of members are familiar

and comfortable with.

1.2 Theories of service improvements

In order to translate customer’s requirements into the development process of new products or

services, nowadays different methods exist to control, measure, manage and improve quality in

different areas. One method to measure the quality of a service is the SERVQUAL model of

Parasuraman et al (1985). The model determines the quality of a service by measuring customer’s

expectations and perceptions on different service attributes. A gap exists when the expectation of a


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service exceeds the perception of a service. In order to measure how well different service attributes

are able to satisfy the needs of customer the Kano model was developed (Kano, 1984). Kano’s model

classifies the attributes into three categories, according to the level of satisfaction.

The present study applies the SERVQUAL model to measure the quality of the services offered by the

online union. By including Kano’s model we are able to identify how well the different service

attributes of the online union are satisfying the needs of the members. The SERVQUAL model only

identifies gaps between member’s expectations and perceptions but does not mention how the

explored gaps can be closed in order to improve the performance of the online union. Therefore,

based on the concept of Tan and Pawitra (2001), the needs of the members identified by the

SERVQUAL model will be integrated into the concept of Quality Function Deployment (Akao, 1990).

This in order to provide information how De Unie can improve the design the online union.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) represents a powerful structured methodology for exploring and

steering interaction between different contributors in the product or service development or

improvement process (Tidd 2001). This is also the case when designing IT-related products of

services, like in this case the online union. Within the theory of QFD there are two dominant models;

the four phase model and Akao’s Matrix of Matrices Model. This research study will make use of the

four phase model of QFD. The Four-Phase model divides a product or service development process

into four phases. For each phase a matrix in shape of a house is used.

In order to translate the needs and requirements of the member into the design process, the needs

explored by the SERVQUAL model will be integrated into the first house of the four phase model; the

House of Quality (HOQ). The HOQ is used to depict customer requirements, technical measures,

target values, and competitive analysis (Eureka and Ryan, 1994). Therefore the HOQ will be an

important instrument in this ongoing process of improvement in order to match the needs and

requirements of the members and the design requirements of the online union.


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Figure - 1 House of Quality

As showed in Figure - 1, the House of Quality is formed by a number of elements (rooms) on different

levels. The left room lists the member’s needs or requirements, the “Whats”. The room below the

roof consists of the “Hows”, the technical (design) requirements. Function of the “Hows” is to

translate the “Whats” into terms that are measurable. The body of the house presents the

correlation between the “Whats” and “Hows”. Through this correlation matrix we are able to analyze

the extent to which each “How” affects each “What”.

1.3 Problem Definition and Research Questions

Nowadays an information worker has got many technological tools available. The present study

levers IT as an enabler of work design. In the communications context and the array of tools available

for social interaction, IT tools are applied both on the co-located and remote work level. The

information environment helps workers to solve increasingly complex and ambiguous problems.

However, research that mapped information flows among executives indicated ‘that there was only

limited collaborative activity in pockets of the organization’; ‘in general this lack of collaboration was

a product of people not knowing what other people knew’ (Cross, 2001).

From an information environmental perspective ICT enables organizations to decentralize their

decision making system. By extension decentralized types of organizations provide people the

opportunity to make decisions that matter to them (Malone, 2004:6). Hence, it offers workers more

freedom in how and where to carry out their job. In spite of such promise, the new ways of working

paradigm faces a formidable challenge for organizations. Namely, they have to initiate a “change” in

the mind of the information workers, especially on how to deal with their new-found freedom on the

job.


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Providing employees with the “right” IT tools as an enabler of work is only a first step. The second

step is crucial, that is determining workers’ intentions and competences to bring about an

appropriate match between ‘man-machine’. Only then is it feasible to determine the requirements,

i.e., what is wanted and to translate such data into how organizational processes should be ordered

in an appropriate design.

As a workforce representative organization, De Unie will have to adapt to the changing workforce

and design new concepts that support the needs and requirements of her members and from this

become a valuable partner in terms of work related support and personal development. The

individualization of the workforce is gathering pace in the context of urbanization. It places a

premium on “an individual to preserve his autonomy and individuality in the face of overwhelming

social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life” (Simmel, 1922).

As the world (and organizations) becomes flat (Friedman, 2004) and the sourcing of human resources

increasingly flexible, in nature it is only logical that De Unie abandons centralized thinking and acting

in favour of a decentralized model of organization. Within this context, De Unie developed the online

union; that is supposed to function as a ‘virtual community’. Some of the main characteristics of a

virtual community are: a set of relationships between individual members and the group,

represented by De Unie and sub-units within the labor union.

But what happens when an organization migrates from a centralized to a decentralized model of

organizational structure and strategic decision making? How are geographically dispersed members

and branch offices of De Unie responding to the concept of the online union? Do stakeholders

perceive the online union primarily as a new way of social interaction? Or as a vehicle that corrodes

the character of relations that are based on face-to-face encounters and relations which have

evolved over time?

1.3.1 Research Questions

As mentioned in previous sections, this research is part of an extensive research for Microsoft

Netherlands. This specific research study for the online union will be conducted at De Unie. The

following research question and five sub questions are formulated:

Research question:

How does De Unie address to the implications for the New World of Work through the design

and implementation of the online union?


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Theoretical based sub questions:

1) How to use the theory of House of Quality?

2) To what extent can the online labour union be defined as a Virtual Community?

Practical based sub questions:

3) What are the needs of the members of the online labor union?

4) Who are the existing members and who can be potential members?

General sub question:

5) How does De Unie needs to change the organizational design of the online labour union

in order to fit with the needs of its members which are collected through the House of

Quality?

1.4 Research objectives

The research objective enables us to chart the course for this research. The objectives of this in-

depth study can be divided into a theoretical and practical objective.

Theoretical objective :An extensive theoretical review of the existing literature about online unions,

virtual communities and methods for measuring and managing the quality of a service will provide us

a better and deeper understanding of factors influencing the service performance of the online

union. The literature therefore will create a stable foundation for this research study.

Practical objective: Based on the integration of the SERVQUAL model and the Kano model into the

method of Quality Function Deployment, this study for the online union seeks to identify different

factors which help to match the design of the online labour union with the needs and requirements

of the members. The main goal for this research study is:

To improve the design of the (already existing) online union, in order to be more effective in its way

to serve the needs and requirements of its members. In other words; to get this community working

well for De Unie and its members, it will be crucial to get a clear understanding of the expectations

and needs of its members.

1.5 Research Design

A single case study will be conducted (Yin, 2003) to investigate the needs and requirements of the

members and from these findings redesign the online union. This research starts with a literature

study followed by preliminary research in terms of qualitative interviews with workers of the online


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union as well as members of the online union. Based on the literature study and the preliminary

research, the explored performance drivers and needs of the members will be processed into an

extensive questionnaire. A survey will be conducted under the member population of the online

union in order to quantify the findings of the literature study and the preliminary research.

The results of the survey will be processed into the House of Quality as “Whats”. In strong

collaboration with the management team of the online union, the process requirements to adapt to

the needs of the members will be identified and processed into the HOQ as “How’s”. By adding the

strength of the relationship between the “How’s” and the “What’s” we will be able to determine the

importance of each process requirement. By doing so we will be able to make pronouncements on

how to improve the online union.

1.6 Thesis Structure

A visualization of the thesis structure is presented in Figure - 2 (Verschuren en Doorewaard,’2002),

followed by a brief description of the content of each of the chapters included.

Figure - 2 Thesis Outline

Chapter 1 (Introduction): presents an introduction into the current research study and the subjects

included. Furthermore this chapter describes the problem statement, research objectives, research

design and description, contribution of thesis (relevance), and structure of thesis.

Chapter 1-Introduction-

Chapter 2-Literature review-

Chapter 2-Conceptual model-

Chapter 3-Methodology-

Chapter 4Phase I

Exploratory research

Chapter 4Phase II:

Survey Analysis

Chapter 4Phase III: Establishing

House of Quality

Chapter 5 Conclusions


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Chapter 2 (Theoretical Framework): presents the results of the literature review. This chapter will be

divided into four parts. The first part will discuss the content of this research in terms of the current

situation for representative organizations like unions and potentials for new concepts. The context

will be described within the second part and focuses on virtual communities whereas the third part

will discuss the process of improvement by an extensive review of the SERVQUAL and Kano models

and the concept of the Quality Function Deployment. The literature review will constitute as the

foundation for the conceptual framework that is present in the last part of this chapter.

Chapter 3: (Methodology) discusses the methodology for the current research study. This chapter

presents the research design, data description, instrument development and validity and reliability

aspects of the measures.

Chapter 4: Results Empirical study; this chapter is divided into three parts. The first part will discuss

the process and findings of the exploratory research to the needs of the members, indicated as key

performance drivers of the online union. Results of the interviews with employees as well as a group

of members of the online union will be presented. From these results several propositions are

formulated. The second part of this chapter presents an extensive analysis of the results of the

conducted online survey. To find empirical evidence for the formulated propositions, several

statistical tests like Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis will be discussed. Furthermore,

the information gathered by the online survey will function as input for the construction of the

House of Quality in the third part of this chapter. The third part presents a broad description of the

construction of the House of Quality for the online union. The House of Quality is used to provide De

Unie direction for informed decision making in the ongoing process of improving the online union, as

the House of Quality directly links the technical requirements to the needs of the members.

Chapter 5: (Conclusions and recommendations) will discuss the conclusions, implications and ideas

for further research. This chapter will describe an answer to the problem statement, realization of

objectives, theoretical and empirical conclusions from the research, managerial implications and

limitations and directions for further research.


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Chapter 2 - Theoretical Framework

This chapter will provide an overview of previous research related to the subjects that will be

discussed within this study. The first section, 2.1, will discuss literature findings about the topic of

this research study; online unions. It discusses the current situation of representative organizations

like a labor union and potentials for new concepts. Furthermore three future scenarios will be

presented. In relation to new union concepts, section 2.2 will discuss the influence and opportunities

of new media types. Especially the significance of changing ways of interactions between a supply

and demand sides will be highlighted.

One specific type of new media are virtual communities. A review of the concept, types and

relevance of virtual communities will be provided in this section 2.3. Section 2.4 presents the

SERVQUAL model which will be used to measure the performance of the online union. Data provided

by the SERVQUAL model will be processed into the method of Quality Function Deployment. This

research study will focus on the design process of the online union. The House of Quality presented

in section 2.5.2 will be used to design the concept of the online union to the needs of its members.

The established theoretical framework forms the foundation for the conceptual model. Section 2.5

presents the conceptual model for the current research study

2.1 Online trade unions

Problems in recruitment and retention of members over the past two decades form the foundation

for the decline of traditional labor unions. In order to reverse this decline, unions should adapt to the

needs of the changing workforce and from this perspective develop new types of unions that are in

shape with the needs of the workforce and are appropriate to the 21th century (Heery et al, 2000).

The existing decline increases the need for renewal of union memberships. According to Greene et al

(2000) it is important that renewal of a union is not limited to existing areas but unions should also

be aware of recruitment possibilities in traditionally non-unionized sectors and growth areas of the

economy like the service sector. Heery et al (2000) mentioned in this case also the increase of the

contingent workforce, which includes temporary work, agency work and freelance work.

The growth of the internet and many different information and communication technologies is also

challenging the role of traditional representative organizations like labor unions. Greene et al (2000)

argue that for their renewal labor unions should use IT options like internet, to organize in a more

innovative and potentially more effective way. In particular, the use of the internet in the labor union


22

context is referred to as ‘e-union’, ‘virtual union’, ‘cyber union’ (Ward, 2002). The e-union includes

options, such as web sites, e-mail, chat rooms, bulletin boards and online applications and voting

mechanisms that attract new and younger members (Ward, 2002) and afford De Unie opportunities

to organize its activities in a decentralized manner. The shift to a decentralized organization model

has consequences, especially in three areas:

Space, time and distance: Employees and employers who were traditionally separated from

organization and solidarity due to physical barriers are able to participate by the use of IT. Distances

will decrease as IT applications make it possible to connect geographically dispersed members and

organizations. As a result of the dispersed and flexible work patterns of various work sectors, physical

relationships are hard to establish. E-unions can provide features of a strong community based

relationship between and with her members.

Transparency: As the internet offers members the opportunity to employ local, national and

international online union related resources, it increases the transparency of the behavior of union

officials to her members. Online unions can also provide a critical alternative source in a trade union

context, as they provide elements of civic participation, political activism and transport policy-making

(Greene et al, 2000 p4).

Solidarity and Activism: Online labor unions create opportunities for enhanced forms of solidarity

and communication at local as well as global levels. An online labor union can connect members with

the same interests or aims and therefore creates new ways to maintain collectivism and solidarity

without physical barriers. The Internet can also establish faster and more frequent communications

which can increase membership loyalty to collective actions (Pliskin et al, 1997).

In case of the changing workforce and the future of work, Beck (2000) described different scenarios.

Central in his scenarios is the change from the work society to the knowledge society. New

information technologies, globalization, individualization and ecological factors influence society and

the future of work. From Beck’s perspective it seems that new technologies and especially the

emergence of the internet also influence the nature and structure of union organizations. Within this

context Ward and Lusoli (2002) developed three scenarios:

1. Erosion: Although full-scale erosion is very unlikely, by the increasing influence of new information

technologies, limited erosion of the traditional functions of representative organizations is predicted.

First of all, new media types like e-commerce are challenging the traditional areas from which labor

unions have recruited their members. Secondly, the increasing use of new IT applications will result


23

in a more individualistic and consumption orientated culture. Third, the traditionally hierarchical

structure and conservative culture of unions makes it difficult to benefit from new technologies.

2. Modernization: Within the scenario of modernization, unions will use the opportunities of new

information technologies to modernize traditional union functions. IT is used to establish a more

positive and modern image for labor unions. For example websites can be uses as online information

databases. Online services can be improved by providing not only commercial services but also

online professional assistance and training. But new information technologies can also be used for

targeting and recruiting new members like for example the so called e-generation; people who have

grown up with technology.

3. Democratization: The scenario of democratization moves further than the modernization scenario

where information technologies are used for modernization, online services or recruitment. The

increasing speed and the volume of information obtainable via diverse computer mediated

communications, offer members the ability to communicate their opinions on policy matters on a

more frequent and direct base to a local, national and global audience. Therefore IT facilitates

change towards both decentralized organizations and participation in the decision making of

individuals. However, if not coordinated in an effective manner it may lead to activism that may take

the form on the internet by the foundation and ‘wild-growth’ of independent online unions.

2.2 New Media challenges

Over the past decades transportation and information technology have transformed human

interaction with space. (Go and Fenema 2003). Information technologies made it possible to connect

people at different ends of the globe and accelerated the sharing of information (new facts) and

concepts (Simon 1991). Simmel (1922) therefore talked about “the metropolis” as a modern life

compared with small town/rural life. The used citation of Simmel in the foreword of this thesis

illustrates this idea.

The result of technology developments can be presented in two models. First, people may be

included in one or more spaces sequentially or in parallel. The different spaces in which people may

be included are depicted Figure - 3. In this model the material space represents situations where

artefacts and people exist together in the same context. Information space is the use of “network of

networks” (i.e. Lievrouw & Livingstone, 2006). Mind spaces are connected when people and/or

machines interact. Social spaces occur when people include themselves in multiple social contexts

and relationships (Go & Fenema, 2003). In this context the forming of mind space and social space

are faced with a shift from material spaces to information spaces. In theory a lot is written about


24

“virtual communities” in which social spaces and mind spaces are formed in the virtual environment.

People are articulating their mind space by means of information technology, and direct one to one

interactions are mediated (“co-presence”).

Gutek (2003) argues that there are three patterns of interaction, namely; relations, encounters and

pseudo relationships. Relations exist when consumers have repeatedly contact with an organization.

In this context, both sides know each other in a more personal way. Encounters, on the other hand,

are patterns of interaction that happens once and episodically. Nowadays interactions shift more and

more from relationship to encounter but a relationship will not disappear. It is possible to deal with

“encounter” customers like they are “relation” customers. This is mainly a result of the changing

media. Within the so called pseudo relations there is no need for face-to-face interaction between

the organization and the customer. This implies that the relationship can be social and technical at

the same time. The relationship of the online union with her members can be described as a pseudo

relationship as there are in the first place no face-to-face interactions, interactions are mainly

through new media types but are still based on a more personal relation between De Unie and the

members.

It is argued by Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2004: p.5), that the processes of value creation are rapidly

shifting from a product view to personalized co-experiences. As value shifts to experiences, the

market is becoming a forum for conversation and interactions between consumers, consumer

communities, and firms. Therefore and in contrast to Gutek (2003), Prahalad and Ramaswany also

take into account the existence of networks. They distinguish four different dimensions of

interaction: dialog, access, risk-benefits, and transparency. A dialog implies interactivity, deep

Information

space

space

Social space

Material space

Mind space

Figure - 3 Polyinclusion (Go & Fenema, 2003)


25

engagement and the ability and willingness to act on both sides. But a dialog will be difficult if

consumers do not have the same access and transparency to information. Nowadays it is possible to

connect to information as much as people needs from the community, from other consumers but

also from the organization. Both access and transparency are important to have a dialog.

Furthermore, these dialog, access and transparency can lead to a clear assessment of the risk-

benefits of a course of action and decision (Phahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004: p.9). The internet has got

a primary role in this ongoing process as the internet makes is possible to share personalized

experiences in an easy way by for example virtual communities.

Research has consistently shown that “who you know” has a significant impact on what you come to

know, as relationships are critical for obtaining information solving problems and learning how to do

your work. Particularly in knowledge intensive work, creating an informational environment that

helps employees solve increasingly complex and often ambiguous problems holds significant

performance applications (Cross et al 2001). A lack of collaboration is typically a product of people

not knowing what other people know. In order to create a strategic pay-off for the organization it is

important that the organization first recognizes and secondly understands how to cope with

knowledge and information flows. Cross et all expect emerging collaborative technologies to

facilitate virtual work and skill profiling systems to help with the location of relevant expertise.

However these emerging technologies are very important; to be effective and efficient just

technology is not enough and organizations need more information on how people seek out

knowledge, learn from and solve problems with other people in organizations. Within this context

Cross et al indentify four features that distinguish effective from ineffective relationships:

- 1 knowledge; knowing what another person knows and thus when to turn to them;

- 2 Access; being able to gain timely access to that person;

- 3 Engagement; willingness of the person sought out to engage in problem solving rather than dump

information,

- 4 Safety; i.e., a degree of safety in the relationship that promoted learning and creativity.


26

2.3 Virtual Communities

This part of the theoretical review will discuss the subject of virtual communities. The way this

section is organized is adopted from the description of virtual communities by De Valck (2005).

Section 2.4.1 will discuss the concept of (virtual) communities and provides a definition. Section 2.4.2

will describe different types of virtual communities and section 2.4.3 will discuss the role of virtual

communities in marketing, particularly their potential effectiveness in stimulating participation

patterns of members (De Valck, 2005).

2.3.1 Concept of virtual communities

As a result of the development of the internet, nowadays it is easy for people to get in contact with

people from all over the world. The internet makes it possible to form direct interactions with people

who are geographically dispersed, have different backgrounds and live in different time-zones. This

offers people the possibility to interact with others about a common topic of interest or a common

problem.

When computer networks link people as well as machines, they become social networks, also called

computer supported social networks (CSSN’s) (Wellman et al 1996). A specific type of a CSSN is the

virtual community. Traditionally the term community is linked to a geographic place like a

neighborhood where people live together (Wellman and Gulia 1999b). Today, a community is no

longer limited to the physical place it occupies in society, but is regarded as a set of relationships

where people interact socially for mutual benefit (Wellman 1997). The term “virtual” indicates that

primary interactions are electronic or enabled by technology (Ridings 2004). This brings us to the

main difference between communities in the traditional environment and virtual communities: the

common space of a virtual community is the cyberspace. Go & Fenema (2003) emphasize that within

the virtual environment social spaces and mind spaces are formed. “People are articulating their

mind space by means of information technology, and direct one to one interactions are mediated

(“co-presence”)” (Go & Fenema 2003, p 9).

The concept of virtual communities finds it origin in the development of the internet and exists for

almost a quarter of a century (Reingold 2000, Ridings 2004). One of the first definitions of virtual

communities was made by Howard Reingold. He describes virtual communities as “a collective of

geographically distributed individuals bound by a common interest exploiting Internet technologies

to enable communication” (Reingold 1993). Ridings et al (2002, p 273) define virtual communities as

“groups of people with common interests and practices that communicate regularly and for some

duration in an organized way over the Internet through a common location or mechanism”.


27

When we look to similarities between traditional and virtual communities, three core components

are found to be similar (Kozinets 2001, Muniz & O’Guinn 2001 p.418):

Consciousness of kind: members of the virtual community feel a strong connection towards

each other and see themselves as a group although they have never met. This sets them

apart from non-members.

Shared rituals and traditions: members of a community act and behave to the norms and

values of the community where they belong to.

A sense of Moral responsibility: members of a community feel a sense of responsibility to

each other and the community itself.

As mentioned above, there are similarities between virtual communities and traditional

communities. Besides the main difference in the common space in which traditional and virtual

communities occur, another important difference is that members participating in virtual

communities participate on a voluntary base (De Valck, 2005). The “only” consequence of leaving the

virtual community is the end of a membership. Within traditional communities joining and leaving

the community is much more difficult because often members grow up in these communities.

Hagel and Armstrong (1997) developed the virtual community business model which identifies five

defining characteristics of virtual communities:

Distinctive focus: within the virtual community people with the same interests come together. A

distinctive focus helps (potential) members to understand what resources can be found within the

community. Organizers of the community create a specific climate and create a set of norms and

values. Members have to act to these norms and values.

Ability to integrate content and communication: the virtual community makes it possible to share a

lot of different published information. Members not only interact with each other about the

credibility of the content, but also with the publishers. This can result in credible, valuable and

reliable information which for example can be used in the purchasing process of a product of service.

Appreciation of member-generated content: members participate within the community by giving

opinions, sharing experiences, discussing products or services. The information and knowledge

provided by a certain member can be valuable for the community and its members. These virtual

exchanges of a certain member can for example influence certain buying behaviour of other

members.

Access to competing publishers and vendors: much more as in the traditional environment, the

virtual environment offers (potential) online consumers the possibility to compare many publishers


28

and suppliers to each other. Within the virtual environment consumers can compare different

products, services, quality, prices and locations which will help them to make a more well-defined

decision. In this case the virtual community acts as an organizing community to its members.

Commercial orientation: some companies create their own communities; commercial communities.

Companies provide valuable information about the company or/and her products to the members of

the community. This information can lead to more appreciation of the company and her products by

the members of the community. This makes the virtual community an attractive tool for companies.

When discussing the concept of virtual communities an important aspect is to understand why

people join a virtual community. What is their main purpose, why do they actively participate and

why do they come back to the community every time? One of the reasons for participating in a

virtual community can be either functional, such as information exchange (Wellman 1996) or from a

hedonic aspect as the creation and consumption of a positive experience through interaction

(Bargozzi and Dholakia, 2002). Interaction is recognized on three levels of communication; two-way

non interactive communication; reactive communication and fully interactive communication (Jones,

1997). Within the community information and knowledge can be seen as a valuable currency or as

social resource (Hitz and Wellman 1997). Different form traditional communities, useful information

and knowledge can be spread within the virtual community through so called “weak-ties” because

members are relative strangers to each other. The virtual community can also be considered as an

important reference group for its members, mostly in a secondary but sometimes also in a primary

way (Constant et al, 1996).

Another reason for participating in a virtual community is the social aspect provided by the

community. It is stated by Heering (1996) that the freedom to express views and to receive social

support are one of the main reasons for individuals to join and participate in a virtual community.

Wellman (1997) defines virtual communities as social networks that use computer support as the

basis of communication among members instead of face-to-face interaction. Furthermore, virtual

communities make it possible to find individuals who are in the same situation and provide

emotional support, social support, a sense of belonging and companionship (Wellman et al, 1999a).

According to Hagel and Armstrong (1997) following types of needs can be distinguished why people

participate in a virtual community:

Interest; within the virtual community members come together because of a common

interest. Members exchange information and share knowledge about this common interest

by sharing resources or giving opinions and advices. Preece (2000) defines the virtual


29

community as a group of individuals who cooperate to share resources and satisfy each

other’s needs.

Relationships; virtual communities offer people with the same interests of/ or problems the

possibility to come together within the virtual community. By frequently interacting within

the virtual community, strong and personal relationships may be formed. Sociability, or social

interaction, is a key ingredient in building social capital in virtual communities. Social capital

is fundamental to the sustenance of the community and encourages members to collaborate

and cooperate with each other for a common purpose (Preece 2002).

Fantasies; members in virtual communities can share different fantasy experiences they

have. For example; members can engage in role-playing games where everything seems to

be possible.

Transaction; in the virtual community members can make economical transactions. For

example goods can be sold to other members like at markplaats.nl

As a growing interest and influence of virtual communities is assured, Kozinets (1999) emphasizes

that “unlikely to replace physical encounters or information from traditional media, online

interactions are becoming an important supplement to social and consumption behavior”.

2.3.2 Typology of virtual communities

According to De Valck (2005) virtual communities can be used for a wide range of different topics but

vary greatly due to (1) their main purpose, (2) the computer-mediated context in which they occur,

and (3) their organizational structure. The first type of segmentation, main purpose, is most relevant

for this particular research and will be discussed more deeply below followed by a brief discussion of

the other two types of segmentation.

Segmentation by main purpose

As mentioned above, virtual communities are organized around different topics. Also many different

typologies to distinguish virtual communities are known. The most well known typology is made by

Hagel and Armstrong (1997). They made a distinction of communities based on the purpose for

which they are organized: communities of relationships, communities of interest, communities of

fantasy and communities of transaction:

Communities of relationships; within this type of communities members have something in

common or are in the same situation. For example a common illness, being single or having

the same job.


30

Communities of interest; members of this type of communities are willing to share

knowledge and experiences. For example recommendation sites like Kieskeurig.nl, where

people share their experiences about different product.

Communities of fantasy; within communities of fantasy members interact with each other by

playing virtual games with each other. Within this fantasy world members can play with

fictive persons in different fictive environments.

Communities of transaction; within this communities members exchange goods, services etc.

on a demand and supply manner.

Although this classification by Hagel and Armstrong (1997) is still used, nowadays many other types

of virtual communities can be distinguished. Some examples are; brand communities (Muniz &

O’Guinn, 2001), communities of ethnicity (Mitra, 1999), communities of consumption (Kozinets,

1999) and e-learning communities (Hardaker and Smith, 2002). Although these types of virtual

communities are useful to detail and will limit the focus for research, according to De Valck (2005)

they do not add new categories to the classification of Hagel and Armstrong (1997).

De Valck (2005) stated that in fact most virtual communities are a combination of a community of

relationships and a community of interest which combines social interaction with information

exchange based on for example a similar demographic background, specific brand, consumption

related activity, certain travel destination or a medical problem.

To cover the main purpose served by virtual communities, De Valck (2005) adds another type to the

four types distinguished by Hagel and Armstrong (1997); the community of practice. A community of

practise consists of a group of people who are informally bound (within or between organizations)

and share their knowledge and information to learn from each other regarding shared (work) related

practices.

Segmentation by computer mediated context

Virtual communities are supported by different functional software systems, like for example; email

lists, chat rooms, electronic bulletin boards or online buying functionalities. Different types of virtual

communities will arise due to different characteristics of the software (De Valck, 2005). Kozinets

(1999) classified virtual communities, based on the computer mediated context of the community.

This classification is based on two dimensions; group focus (information exchange vs. social

interaction) and social structure (loose vs. tight).


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Segmentation by organizational structure

According to De Valck (2005), the way a virtual community is organized not only influences the way

individual members participate but has also influence on how they make consumer decisions.

Therefore the third segmentation aspect distinguished by De Valck (2005) is based on the

organizational structure of the virtual community. For segmentation on the organizational structure

De Valck distinguished several dimensions. The most appropriate one for De Unie will be the issue

whether and to what extent the individual members are likely to endorse the virtual community on a

voluntary basis.

2.3.3 Function of Virtual Communities in Marketing

As mentioned before, the internet can be very valuable to its users. The internet is able to connect

across diverse and dispersed locations. By doing so, the internet creates new social constructs like

communities of users (Jones 1999). Therefore the interest of marketers in learning about, organizing

and managing virtual communities on the internet is increasing (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002).

Hagel and Armstrong (1997) announce that companies which are able to invest in new possibilities

created by the internet will gain positive advantages by the creation of virtual communities, leading

to market knowledge and information. Nowadays marketers start finding ways that can strengthen

and support their brand image and overall corporate identity by the creation of strong virtual

communities (Hildebrand, 1998).

Kozinets (1999) mentioned that marketers should be aware that within the virtual environment,

consumers are considered to be; 1) more active and discerning; 2) less accessible to one-on-one

processes and 3) provide a large amount of valuable and cultural information. Taking this into

account, Rowley (2004) contributes that within the virtual environment marketing communications

therefore are concerned with the following factors; creating presence, creating relationships and

creating mutual benefits.

De Valck (2005) summarized the benefits for consumers as well as for producers in the overview

presented in Table 1.


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Table 1 - Virtual Community benefits for consumers and producers (De Valck, 2005)

The main benefit for consumers will be the extent of information that can be found by interacting in

virtual communities. Knowledge and experiences related to products, services, brands, producers

and retailers are shared between community members. The information gathered within the

community can result in improved consumers decision-making and product usage.

Besides gathering knowledge and experiences of other users, virtual communities can be used for

interaction between consumers and producers. Interaction with consumers will provide companies

more information about consumer needs, attitudes, behaviour and norms and values (De Valck,

2005). Interactions with companies offer consumers the opportunity to give their opinions about

existing products and services. Companies can anticipate on this feedback and use it in further

development processes. By interaction between companies and customers a relationship can be

established which can result in loyalty and mutual understanding.

When communities are integrated into the development process of new products, this is called

collaborative product development (Go, 2007) or community based innovation (Fuller, 2004). Due to

their high product interests and knowledge, members of communities of consumption can be a

suitable source for virtual participation in new product development processes (Kozinets, 1999).

Members of virtual communities can act as co-creators, testers and buyers by their contribution in

the development process (Fuller, 2004) and therefore co-create value in a dynamic way (Prahalad

and Ramaswamy, 2004).


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2.4 SERVQUAL

The SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al (1985) provides organizations a technology

for measuring and managing service quality (Buttle, 1996). Unlike the quality of goods, the quality of

services cannot be measured objectively by for example the number of defects. Parasuraman et al

(1985) stated that the quality of services is an abstract and elusive construct because of the following

three unique features of services; intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability of production and

consumption. As objective measures for services are difficult, an appropriate approach for measuring

the quality of the firm is to assess customer’s perceptions about the service. The multi-item scale

SERVQUAL model measures customers perceptions on a quantitative way and can be uses as

diagnostic application to indicate service quality and strengths. The SERVQUAL model defines service

quality as the difference, the gap, between customer’s perceptions of the service and the

expectations of the service. Since its foundation in 1985, extensive research has resulted in a refined

model that consists of 22 items distributed into five dimensions. The 22 items describe aspects of the

following five dimensions of service quality:

Tangibles: physical facilities, equipment, and the appearance of personnel.

Reliability: ability to perform the promised service accurately and dependably.

Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and to provide prompt services

Assurance: knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and

confidence.

Empathy: caring and individualized attention to customers

To measure the five dimensions of service quality, the SERVQUAL survey consists two sets of 22

statements. The first set measures customer’s expectations for a class of services (e.g. hotels)

whereas the second set measures the perceived performance of a particular service provider (e.g.

Hilton Hotel). A score for the quality of service is assessed by subtracting the perceptions score (P) of

the expectations score (E). Positives scores mean that the perceived performance exceeds

customer’s expectations. Negative scores submit to an underperformance in relation to customers

expectations. A score of zero means that there is satisfactory quality.

Parasuraman et al (1988) tested the SERVQUAL model in different service categories (appliance

repair and maintenance, retail banking, long-distance telephone, securities brokerage and credit

cards) and claim that the model consists of generic dimensions and therefore is applicable for use in

a variety of service encounters. Other research studies challenge the dimensionality of the

SERVQUAL model. Buttle (1996) stated that the SERVQUAL dimensions are not universal but the

number and content of the dimensions depend on the context. Within some contexts the domain of


34

service quality may be complex whereas it can be simple and unidimensional in others (Babakus and

Boller 1992).

Tan and Pawitra (2001) discus two other areas of improvement. The SERVQUAL model assumes a

linear relationship between customer satisfaction and service performance attributes. Low customer

satisfaction therefore would be a result of low attribute performance. This is not necessarily true; in

case of satiation or when the attribute is taken for granted, paying more attention to a specific

attribute will not always result in higher customer satisfaction. On the other hand, unexpected or

delightful attributes can have a great impact on customer’s satisfaction.

The third limitation according to Tan and Pawitra (2001) is that although the SERVQUAL model is a

good method to identify service gaps, it is not able to indicate how the gaps can be closed or how to

translate the gaps into innovation. Tan and Pawitra (2001) therefore integrated the SERVQUAL model

(Parasuraman et al 1988) and the Kano model (Kano et al, 1984) into Quality function Deployment

(Akao 1990) in order to further service excellence. The customer satisfaction evaluations of different

service attributes are used as input for improvement and innovation. The Kano model will be

discussed in section 2.5.2. The concept of Quality Function Deployment will be presented in section

2.5.

The above described approach by Tan and Pawitra (2001) will be used as a foundation for this

research. Member satisfaction of different online union related attributes will be measured and

integrated into the House of Quality to guide improvement and innovation of the online union.

2.5 Quality Function Deployment

The original term Quality Function Deployment is derived from six Chinese characters: “hin shitsu ki

no ten kai”, this can be translated into “quality (hin shitsu) function (kino) deployment (ten kai)’.

Together the Japanese characters mean “how do we understand the quality that our customers

expect and make it happen in a dynamic way” (Cohen, 1995).

The concept of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was originated in the early 1970’s as a means to

motivate engineers to consider quality early in the design process. Akao (1990) described the method

of QFD as “a method for developing a design quality aimed at satisfying the customer and then

translating the customer’s demand into design targets and major quality assurance points to be used

throughout the production phase”. In line with Akao’s definition, the definition of Hauser and


35

Clausing (1988) is more concerned with teamwork and communications; “quality function

deployment focuses and coordinates skills within an organization, first to design, then to

manufacture and market goods that customers want to purchase and will continue to purchase”.

Although QFD is originally developed for productdevelopment, it has been used in the service

industry for quite a while. QFD is a good way to get a clear identification of the detailed steps which

are necessary to perform a service. In case of the online labour union we can identify the members

as keystone customers. They have most influence in determining the succes or failure of this new

concept. Other groups in this case are the Unie itself and third parties like employer organisations

and the government.

2.5.1 The Four-Phase Model

Within the theory of QFD there are two dominant models. The first model is the Four-Phase model

which is also known as the Clausing model or the American Supplier Institute (ASI) model. Second

model is Akao’s Matrix of Matrices Model. While the Four-Phase model provides a blueprint for

product/ service development and therefore covers basic product/ service development steps, the

Matrix of Matrices model is also designed for Total Quality Management (TQM). The Four-Phase

model is easier in style and therefore more widely used, although in the content the two models

don’t differ that much. For this research we will focus on the Four-Phase model.

The Four-Phase model divides a product or service development process into four phases. For each

phase a matrix in style of a house is used (Figure - 4).

Figure - 4 The Four-Phase model of QFD (Cohen 1995)

The first phase of the model is used to collect the customer requirements and attributes for a

product or service; the needs of the customers. These needs are called WHAT’S.

In this phase of the model the WHAT’S need to be transformed into technical requirements called

the HOW’S. The second phase will have to transform the technical requirements from the first phase


36

into part characteristics, which is called parts deployment. Within the third phase the key part

characteristics are transformed into process parameters or/ of operations, this is called process

planning. In the fourth phase these process parameters or/ of operations are transformed into

production parameters of/ of operations and is called production planning.

The product and service planning in the first phase is the most fundamental part of the Four-Phase

model and therefore is given a special name; House of Quality (HOQ). As mentioned in section 2.5.1,

this research focusses on the four phase model and especially on the first phase; House of Quality.

2.5.2 House of Quality

The foundation of the House of Quality (HOQ) is the belief that products should be designed to

reflect customers’ desires and “tastes”. Hauser and Clausing (1988) described the HOQ as a sort of

conceptual map that provides the means for interfunctional planning and communications. Clausing

and Plugh (1991) give a more specific definition as the HOQ is a multifunctional tool that can be used

throughout the whole organization. For engineers, it is a way to summarise basic data for the

product of service development process in a usable form. For marketing, it represents the customer’s

voice and general managers can use it to discover new opputunities. A typical House of Quality will

be presented as a house-shaped matrix (Figure - 5). The horizontal part of the matrix contrains

qualitative and quantitative information relative to the customer (WHAT’S). The vertical portion of

the matrix contrains technical information that responds to the customers inputs (HOW’S). The

following elements form the House of Quality and will be discussed below; 1. Customer needs (left),

2. The planning matrix (right), 3. Technical requirements or HOW’S (upper), 4. Relation matrix

(centre) 5. The roof and 6. Technical matrix (bottom).

Figure - 5 House of Quality


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Customer Needs (WHAT’S)

As mentioned before, QFD starts with the customer. The first step in creating a House of Quality is to

identity the needs of the customers for the product or service, collect and when necessary organize

these needs, and reveal the relative importance perceived by the customers. Usually when an

organization is using the HOQ, the focus is on the ultimate customers. Also in this research for the

Unie, the focus will be on the ultimate customers who are in this case the members of the online

labour union.

After identifying the target group of customers, the needs of the customers for the product or service

have to be determined. A customer need is a description, in the customer’s own words, of the benfits

that have to be fullfilled by the product or service (Griffin and Hauser 1993).

Kano et al. (1984) developed a model which defines three types of customer needs (Figure - 6). In

this model attributes of a product or service are categorized on how well they are able to satisfy the

needs of the customers. The following categories of customer needs are defined:

- Basic needs, also known as must-be needs; customers become dissatisfied when performance of the

product attribute is low and satisfaction will not rise above neutral even with a high performance of

product or service attribute. These needs reflect to features wich must exist before a potential

customer will consider a product or service. The performance or one-dimensional needs allow a

direct comparisson between competing products and are therefore more quantifiable. Customer

satisfaction is a linear function of the performance of the product attribute; higher attibute

performance will lead to higher customer satisfaction. The third category are the exitement or

attractive needs also called delighters. Inclusion of these features delight the customer, even if they

did not ask for such features. Therefore customer satisfaction increases super-linearly when

increasing the product of service attribute performance. Important to notice is that there will be no

decrease in customer satisfaction when there is a decrease in attribute performance. These are the

features that give a feeling of “wow” to the customers and therefore we can conclude that these

features are most suitable for differentiation.


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Figure - 6 Kano’s model (ReVelle et al, 1998)

The Kano model suggests that only satisfying the basic and performance needs of the customer may

not be enough. In highly competitive markets it can be important for organizations to create product

or service attributes targeted at exciting and over-satisfying them (Tan et al 2001). Shen et al. (2000)

discussed that the Kano model shows that attributes which had once been attractive, become one-

dimensional over time because people get used to their availability. Over time these attributes

become taken for granted and will fall into the category of basic needs of the customer. Therefore

timely development and introduction of products or services with innovative and novel attributes

will be important in a highly competitive market.

There are many different methods available for gathering the qualitative data about the customer

needs; reactive and proactive methods and different types of interviews. One-on-one intervieuws

and focus groups are proved to be effective methods (Griffin and Hauser, 1993). After analyzing the

qualitative data, for example by using an affinity diagram, the data is ready for quantification. A

reliable method for quantifying is a well-designed survey (Cohen 1995 p294). When constructing a

survey it is important to pay attention to the selection of an approriate sample size, to ensure an

adequate respons and clear readability of the survey to avoid amiquity bias. Griffin and Hauser

(1993) stated that a self-selection bias might be present in standerd customer satisfaction data

collected by the organization itself.

Not all needs have the same priority to the customers. Some customer needs have higher priorities

than other needs. The organization will use these priorities to make decisions which balance the cost

of fulfilling these needs with the desirability (to the customers) of fulfilling that needs (Griffin and


39

Hauser 1993). In literature the importance of the WHAT’S are mostly positioned at the the right side

of the House of Quality. Recent studies discussed the House of Quality with the importancies of the

WHAT’S positioned at the left, next to the WHAT’s. To our opinion this is the right position because

the importancies are strongly related to the WHAT’S and provide a better and more clear

understanding of the House of Quality when positioned right next to the needs to which they belong.

Through a validation study, or an analysis of a statistically reliable sample of respondents a test is

performed to distinguish between the abolute important and less significant needs. This test used a

five point Likertscale to measure an importance ranking; where number five represents the most

important and number 1 the least important.

Planning matrix (WHY’S)

Whereas the left side of the HOQ, the WHAT’S, consists qualitative data about the customer needs,

the right side consists of quantitative data about the customer needs. This part of the House of

Quality is also called the Planning Matrix. The planning matrix contains a series of collums that

represent key strategic product or service planning information. The data placed in this matrix allows

the organization to make stategic decisions about the products of services they are planning. Some

examples are; competitive satisfaction performance, sales points, goals and in some cases an overall

weighting of the total collums of the planning matrix.

Technical Response (HOW’S)

As discussed, the first two parts of the House of Quality collect and analize information about the

customer needs (WHAT’s). The next section of the House of Quality, the Technical Response, will

transform these needs in technical measures; also called the HOW’S. This is the orange part in the

middle of Figure - 5. According to Chan et al (2002) HOW’s are methods, company measures, design

requirements, substitute quality characteristics, and engineering characteristics, which can be

related to and measure the customer needs (WHAT’S). The American Supplier institute (1994) stated

that good HOW’s must be measurable, global and proactive.

Relationship matrix

The relationship matrix is the center of the House of Quality. The relationship matrix identifies the

strengths of the relationships between the customer needs (WHAT’S) and the technical requirements

(HOW’S) and therefore is a vital part and the heart of the House of Quality. The strenght of the

relationship is also called the impact of each HOW on a specific WHAT. Usually the following four

relationship levels can be distinquished: no relationship, weak/possible relationship,

medium/moderate relationship, and strong relationship. A symbol representing these ratings will be

entered into the two-dimensional matrix.


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Technical Correlation Matrix

The roof of the House of Quality, shows which HOW’S are interrelated and how strong these

relationships are. The technical correlation matrix shows for which areas close communication and

collaboration is important and for which areas it is less or not important and between which

attributes design bottlenecks may occur (Cohen 1995). Like for the relationship matrix, also for the

correlation matrix symbols are used to indicate mutual improvement (+) or trade off (-) relationships

between the HOW’S.

Technical Matrix

The last part of the House of Quality is the Technical Matrix. This part provides a lot of technical

information that is linked to both customer needs and parts characteristics in the second phase of

QFD (Chan, 2002). First the relative importance ratings of each HOW to all the WHAT’S needs to be

determined by multiplying the final importance ratings and the weightings from the plannin matrix.

Next step is to set the targets for the HOW’S, also called the HOW MUCH’es (American Supplier

Institute 1994). These targets represents levels of performance for the HOW’S in a way that the

organization believes that is required in oder to be competitive in comparison to competitive

products or services. In order to be specific and measurable each target should be quantified. It is

also important that the targets that are set, are reachable according to the technical sources of the

The HOW’S with the highest final rates are moved to Phase II of Quality Function Deployment, the

parts deployment.

2.6 Conceptual model

Previous sections discussed the literature relevant for the present research study. Based on the

literature findings we developed the conceptual model as depicted in Figure - 7. As discussed in the

literature review, new types of interaction are becoming more significant. For the present research

we focus on virtual communities, which nowadays form the basis of the internet. More specifically,

the concept of the online union can be classified as an online community. The present research seeks

to provide new insights on how to create value by matching the needs of the members of the online

union on the demand side and the design of the online union on the supply side. Therefore,

exploratory research followed by a validation study, through a statistically reliable sample of

members of the online union, is applied to identify key performance drivers of the online union.


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Figure - 7 Conceptual Model (Based on Go, 2005)

The conceptual model is based on the matchmaker model of demand, mediation and supply and

draws on to the idea of Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004). As described in section 2.2, Prahalad and

Ramaswamy (2004, p.5) claim that: “The processes of value creation are shifting from a product view

to personalized experiences.” As the value creation is shifting, the market is becoming a forum for

interactions between consumers, communities and organizations. Specifically, interactive media is

able to strengthen these relationships between consumers and organizations, but is can also

strengthen the relationship between consumers (Lievrouw & Livingstone 2006). These relationships

can be defined as pseudo relationships (Gutek, 1996).

Thus the interaction will result in changing relationships and influences between the different

participants. First, the interactivity aspect of the online community makes it possible to share

experiences and information and therefore can be a source of knowledge between members. In

general within online communities different members can be identified. These different identities

have their own specific knowledge, needs, and expectations. As a result, interactivity can create

value in a way of mutual benefits.

Second, interaction strengthens the relation between the organization and the third parties involved.

The identity of the organization fits with the identity of the members of the online community. In

other words the organization needs to examine its stakeholders and the expectations of their

stakeholders (i.e. members and third parties) to create a matching organizational identity. To sum

up, due to interactivity the components linked to internal and external information will provide

members of the online union information and knowledge; internal direct from all sorts of members


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of the online union and the union itself, and external in a way that information can be gathered

indirect by third parties.

In this way the conceptual model is consistent with the interaction approach as stated by the

Industrial Marketing and Purchase Group; value is co-created through interaction between

stakeholders including customers, corporations and communities (Ford et al 2003).


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Chapter 3 – Methodology

Chapter two discussed the theoretical framework of this research study, followed by the explanation

of the conceptual model. This chapter will discuss the methodology used for the present research.

First, section 3.1 presents the research design followed by a brief discussion of the chosen research

approach and a description of the different data sources in section 3.2. To conclude this chapter,

section 3.3 discusses the development and quality of the survey instrument.

3.1 Research Design

The present research study is conducted at the Dutch labor union De Unie, and specifically focuses

on a new union concept; the online union. In order to test the conceptual model and indentify key

performance drivers of the online union, a single case study or survey instrument is not enough to

validate the model and find appropriate empirical evidence. Therefore different data sources and

approaches will have to be integrated in order to collect appropriate information. As a result, this

research will provide De Unie a deeper understanding about the needs of the members of the online

union and will offer objective knowledge about the key performance drivers. Hence, it will give

direction to the ongoing process of improvement for the online union.

As mentioned in previous chapters, the main purpose of this research is to identify expectations and

perceptions of the members of the online union about its performance and from this point attend to

the process of improvement of the online union. This means that this research study is not limited

merely to the identification and proposition of service performance driver enhancements for the

online union. It has to be noticed that in this case improvements ideally are part of the ongoing

process (‘s Gravendijk, 2007). In order to find empirical evidence for the process of improvement of

the online union, we will follow the three steps of measurement and analysis of Quality Function

Deployment defined by Griffin and Hauser (1993). The first step is to identify the needs of the

members by means of exploratory research. After this the needs of the members will have to be

structured in order to set priorities for these needs in the third step. The three different phases will

be briefly discussed in section 3.2.

3.2 Data description

This section discusses the chosen research approach of the current study. It also presents an

explanation of the different data collection techniques and the way they are preformed. The

research structure can be divided into three separate phases;


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Phase I: Exploratory research; defining member’s needs

Several sources will be used in order to indentify the specific needs of the members that can be

considered as key performance drivers for the online union. One source is the literature research

discussed in chapter two. Exploratory research to define the needs will be done by two types of

planned in-depth interviews.

Interviews with Union experts: The knowledge embedded by experts can be valuable for the

classification of the service aspects desired by the members. Union experts in this case are

employees of De Unie that are in a professional way related to the online union. The knowledge of

experts about the firm and the industry can help in diagnosing the nature of the research problem

(Malhotra and Birks 2003). Three structured interviews will be conducted with members of the

management team of the online union. The results of the interviews are used as input for the in-

depth interviews with members of the online union.

Interviews with members: Based on the results of the in-depth interviews with union experts, semi-

structured in-depth interviews will be held with individual members of the online union. Purpose of

the interviews is to get a deeper understanding of factors that determine member’s perception of

the online union. Important to notice in this case is that all interviewed members are also employee

of De Unie. From this perspective they have a certain double role. While the online union is an

organization that operates on the internet, its members are geographically dispersed over the

Netherlands. For practical reasons I decided to interview employees who are also members of the

online union and therefore located on one of the offices of De Unie. The interviewed members are

selected from different departments in order to get a deeper understanding of the needs from

different perspectives.

The interviews with the union experts and the members of the online union will result in a list of

items that are assumed to be related to the overall performance of the online union. Propositions

will be formulated to test the assumed relationships. The explored items will be validated by

surveying a statistically reliable sample of members of the online union. Results of the exploratory

research are present in chapter 4.

Phase II Quantitative research; online survey

After exploratory research conducted in phase I, an online survey will be used to quantify the

explored items and to test the formulated propositions by advanced statistical techniques. Based on

the SERVQUAL concept, the online survey will collect data of member’s perceptions and expectations


45

of the explored items in phase I. Besides perceptions and expectations, the survey will measure the

priorities of the explored items based on the Kano model. Data gathered by the SERVQUAL model

and Kano model will be processed into the House of Quality.

The content and methodology of the online survey will be discussed in section 3.3. The statistical

analysis of the data gathered with the online survey will be presented in chapter 5.

Phase III Establishing the House of Quality

The data collected from the survey of phase II will be processed into the House of Quality. As

mentioned in section 2.5 this technique is used to translate the needs of the members of the online

union into appropriate technical requirements. The House of Quality will provide information for De

Unie about performance drivers of the online union that are expected and desired by its members.

Therefore the results in terms of requirements and prioritized expectations can be used as input for

improvement, innovation and strategic direction (Gonzales 2006) of the online union. On the other

hand, the House of Quality will be used to provide answers for the research questions and to validate

the conceptual model. The construction and analysis of the House of Quality will be presented in

chapter 5.

3.3 Instrument development and quality

A survey can be defined as a “pre-formulated set of questions to which respondents record their

answers, usually within rather closely defined alternatives” (Sekaran 2003, p.236). An online survey

will be conducted to quantify the items investigated by exploratory research. Hence, it will provide

data for statistical analysis and integration into the House of Quality.

Construction of the survey instrument is based on the SERVQUAL model by Parasuraman et al (1988),

that measures the service quality. Its original service dimensions determined by Parasuraman et al

(1985) have a universal nature and are in a certain way applicable for many service organizations to

measure the gap between the delivered quality of services and the expected quality of services. By

exploratory research we will look if the SERVQUAL attributes are appropriate for this specific

research. Moreover we are interested to look for new items in relation to the service quality of the

online union. After exploratory research, the investigated items will be grouped into dimensions.

Each dimension consists of several items. Items will be measured on a five-point Likert scale from

strongly disagree to strongly agree. Each item is measured by two questions. The first question

measures the overall expectation, whereas the second questions measures the respondent’s

perception about the item in relation to the online union.


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The perceived importance of the items is measured by the KANO model in part II and III of the

survey. In part II respondents are asked how they feel when a certain performance characteristic is

available at the online union whereas in part III respondents are asked how they feel when a certain

performance characteristic is missing. Importance’s of each characteristic is measured on a five-point

scale with the following answer options; I enjoy it that way – I expect it that way – I am neutral – I

dislike it, but can live with it – I dislike and do not accept it.

Evans and Mathur (2005) discusses the advantages and weaknesses of an online survey. The main

advantages of an online survey for the current research study will be discussed below, followed by

the most important weaknesses:

- Flexibility: One of the main advantages is that an online survey is flexible in a way that it can be

conducted in different formats. For example; an e-mail with an invitation and link to the survey, a

pop-up when a person is visiting a website. For this research the survey was implemented in an

online survey tool (Global Park). An e-mail invitation with a link was send to all members of the

online union.

- Speed and Timeliness: Members of the online union are geographically dispersed over the

Netherlands. Due to the speed and global reach of the internet an online survey makes is possible to

interact with geographically dispersed respondents.

- Convenience: The third important advantage of an online survey will be the fact that respondents

can fill in the survey on a convenient time and take as much time for answering the questions as they

need.

- Ease of data entry and analysis: For respondents an online survey is a relative simple way to fill in a

questionnaire. The answers of the survey will be automatically transferred into data that can be used

for statistical analysis. Therefore time needed for inputting and processing data will reduce

significantly.

- Controlled Sampling: Online surveys offer different formats to generate samples. For this research

the database of members of the online union was used to compose the research sample. An email

that invited members to participate was send to all approximately 1000 registered members.

Advantage for De Unie is that by inviting the members, the organization shows to be interested in

member’s opinions and therefore enhances its relationship with her members.

The most important weaknesses of an online survey relevant for this research:


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- Unclear answering instructions: Online surveys are self-administered and therefore the answering

instructions have to be very clear. As a result of unclear answering instructions respondents might

stop filling in the questionnaire without finishing it. The questionnaire for the online union consist

clear answering instructions before each new part of the survey. Instructions are carefully tested in

the pre-test phase of the survey.

- Impersonal: Online surveys are characterized by the absent of human contact whereas personal

interviews offer the possibility to in-depth questions. Therefore the questions must we well

formulated and clear in order to get valuable and usable information.

- Privacy and security issues: Respondents might hesitate to fill in an online survey when it’s unclear

if their answers will be treated confidentially and whether their information will be sold to other

companies. The introduction of the questionnaire for the online union explains the purpose for this

research and the way information will be treated. An email address will be asked to ensure the

uniqueness of the answers. The email address will not be used for other purposes.

Sekeran (2003) stated that when designing a questionnaire one should focus on three areas of design

principles:

Principles of wording: The principles of wording refer to different aspects as; the appropriateness of

the questions, how questions are worded and the level of sophistication of the language used, the

type and form of questions asked and the personal data sought from the respondents.

Principles of measurement: The use of suitable scales and scaling techniques will have to lead to two

methodological conditions that are required for a good research; validity and reliability. Validity

determines how well a technique, instrument or process is measuring a specific concept. Reliability

will indicate how stable and consistently the instrument measures the variable.

Overall appearance of the questionnaire: In order to get a valuable response not only the first

principles are important, the overall appearance of the survey is important too. Therefore a good

introduction, organized questions, clear answer instructions and a conclusion are aspects that will

stimulate respondents to participate and will increase the value of a survey.

A pre-test was carried out to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. For the pre-test

of the survey a selection of 15 professionals of De Unie, graduate students, practitioners were asked

to fill in the questionnaire and give their opinion about the content and the way questions were

formulated. Furthermore experts in the field of marketing management and technology and

innovation management were involved in the developing process of the questionnaire-items.


48

During the pre-test, grammatical inaccuracies were rectified and when needed the items were

further clarified. The pre-test was equipped with comment boxes that gave respondents the

opportunity to comment on its wording, instructions and length. The time needed to complete the

questionnaire was considered to be +/- 10 minutes. Pre-test showed out that the time ranged from 8

till 13 minutes which was in line with the expectations and adequate for the respondents. The length

of the questionnaire was appropriate and in cooperation with De Unie we decided to add one more

item to the dimension tangibles in order to gather more information about member’s preferences

for custom made service aspects. After the pre-test the questionnaire was administered to 1000

registered members of the online union, resulting in 120 respondents in three weeks (calendar week

42, 43 and 44) who completed the questionnaire. In the current research a “complete” questionnaire

means that there are no missing values in the data set which means all questions were answered.

The developed questionnaire consists of the following features:

PART I

- Based on the SERVQUAL method, twenty-two items measured by two

questions to determine gaps between the perceived and expected

services of the online union.

PART II

- Based on the Kano method, twenty-two questions to measure perceived

importance when characteristics are available (functional).

PART III

- Based on the Kano method, twenty-two questions to measure perceived

importance when characteristics are not available (dysfunctional).

PART IV

- Thirteen demographic questions (respondent’s age, gender, education,

name of the company, work sector of company, job function, work

experience, years of work in recent firm, years of work in recent position,

household situation, region of living, frequency visits online union,

reason for visiting online union).

The final questionnaire, as distributed to the members, can be found in Appendix V.


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Chapter 4 - Results Empirical Study

The research methodology for this research study has been discussed in chapter 3. This chapter

presents the results of the empirical study. Section 4.1 discusses the results of the exploratory

research. It presents the identified member’s needs, indicated as performance drivers, and the

assumed relationships to the overall performance of the online union. Based on the explored items,

propositions are formulated and tested by an online survey. Section 4.2 presents the statistical

analysis of the survey and will validate the needs of the members. Data gathered by the online

survey will be processed into the House of Quality. The composition and analysis of the House of

Quality is described in section 4.3.

4.1 Phase I: Results exploratory research

This section discusses the exploratory research to the needs of the members. The needs can be

indicated as the performance drivers of the online union. The performance drivers are considered to

affect the overall performance of the online union. The literature research as described in chapter 2

functions as the first part of the exploratory research. Based on the literature review, a conceptual

model was established. The most important element in the exploratory phase are the interviews with

employees and the members of the online union, in order to investigate the needs, and therefore the

performance drivers of the online union.

As discussed in previous chapters, the SERVQUAL model will be used to measure the quality of

services offered by the online union. The SERVQUAL model is described to be applicable to a wide

variety of service organizations and offers options to reword some of the items in order to create a

fit with a specific context (Parasuraman et al, 1988). This particular research study for the online

union is highly specialized. We expect that one or more attributes of the current SERVQUAL model

will fit not with the context of the present research study. By qualitative research we expect to

identify several new attributes which are highly related to online services. This leads us to the

following proposition:

Proposition 1: By qualitative research we expect to explore new SERVQUAL attributes that

are specifically related to online services, not present in the current set of attributes of the

SERVQUAL model, and that influence the overall performance of the online union.

Besides interviews with union experts and members of the online union, value information for this

particular research can be gathered by an exploratory benchmark study. A benchmark study

compares the activities and/ or performance of competing companies or companies in different


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areas. For this research study we planned to perform a benchmark study to compare the activities

and performance of the online union with direct competitors and other e-services in different areas.

Potter (1994) mentioned that the starting point for benchmarking will be that the organization must

change and will have to change radically. As noticed in the previous sections, the online union is the

first online labour representative organization in Holland. Other union organizations in Holland are

(yet) not working with this online concept. Although in this case, it has to be mentioned that

competitors FNV and CNV are developing new campaigns which make use of new media types like

the internet. However, they do not offer online services in a separate entity. At the moment De Unie

has planned to start a benchmark study based on the concept of the balanced score card in January

2008. Due time constraints and the practical start of a benchmark by De Unie within two months we

were not able to conduct a suitable benchmark study and therefore results of a competitive

assessment are not included in the current research study.

4.1.1 Interviews with employees of the online union

In order to gain information from an organizational perspective, three interviews with union experts

were conducted. As mentioned in section 4.3.1, knowledge of the interviewed experts will be used

for the classification of service aspects for the online union. Therefore the most relevant people to

interview are union experts whose function is nearly related to the online union. To assess a

complete overview of information, experts in different hierarchical positions and with different

functions were interviewed. A complete list of interviewed experts as well as an extensive summary

of the interview results can be found in appendix 5. This section will discuss the explored service

characteristics which will be used as input for the planned interviews with members of the online

union as well as for the final questionnaire in phase II.

As mentioned before; due a decline in the number of members, unions are searching for new

concepts that focus on a younger population of members like for example young professionals. De

Unie also focuses on the “new type of worker” and therefore differentiates from other union

organizations in Holland. These new type of workers are defined to have a high affinity with digital

environments like the internet and will use IT as an enabler of work. They are also individualistic in

terms of searching and gathering for information and knowledge. According to the interviewed

experts, by the use of the internet an online union is able to function as a valuable “partner” for the

new type of workers. Valuable in way that it is able to integrate different parties into the network of

De Unie in order to facilitate an environment that provides knowledge and information that is in

shape with the needs of the members.


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By the absence of a formulated strategy and communication plan it is difficult for the online union to

recruit and retain new members. For De Unie it is also unclear which sectors of work are represented

in the online union. The degree of participation of the members is perceived to be very small. A few

interaction components are available but nearly used (for instance; Hyves communicator). In order to

create a network of relationships De Unie planned to integrate interaction tools like a forum and

different platforms that creates opportunities to connect members. Also the involvement of third

parties like for example Stageplaza1 are aspects planned for the near future.

Union experts mentioned the custom-made character of the online union to be a critical advantage

over the traditional unions. Different from the traditional union, a relative small membership

contribution has to be paid on a yearly basis instead of a monthly contribution fee. This contribution

allows members to pose one query for advice. After this they will have to pay for each query

separately. Experts also noticed the lack of current information offered on the website of the online

union.

4.1.2 Interviews with the members of the online union

The results of the interviews with union experts were used as input for the interviews with the

members of the online union. Interviews with members were conducted in order to classify their

needs and to identify the performance drivers of the online union. A list of interviewed members and

an extensive summary of the results are available in appendix 6. The results of the interviews in

combination with the results of the interviews with the union experts are used to compose the

online survey.

The exploratory interviews with the members identified several performance aspects of an online

union that can be divided into five different categories that, according to the members, determine

the overall performance. The categories (dimensions) will be discussed below. For each dimension a

proposition was formulated to test its influence on the overall performance of the online union.

Information: interviewed members mentioned the importance of information provided by the online

union. Interviews showed out that information is the main criteria to visit or contact the online

union. Therefore, members expect the online union to provide up to date information, information

that is trustworthy but also information that is relevant and useful for them. Besides this the

information must be easy accessible.

Proposition 2: Information will positively influence the overall performance of the online

union.

1 Stageplaza; mediating organization for student internships.


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Interaction: interviews revealed that members expect certain ways of interaction between the union

and its members. At the moment the online union for example interacts with her members by

providing online newsletters. But members also expect to get involved in the development process of

the online union to shape the online union to their preferences. Members also perceived a lack of

personal attention. Possibilities of interaction between members was mentioned to be preferred but

are not experienced in the current situation.

Proposition 3: Interaction positively influences the overall performance of the online union.

Safety: the category safety mainly reflects to the needs of members for a good representation of

their shared interest by the online union. Related to a good representation is the influence of the

online union on for example collective bargaining. Interviewed members expect the online union to

have a suitable influence to secure a good representation of their interests. Another “safety” related

aspect is the expectation of affective and adequate support to work related issues but also for

personal related aspects like for example assurances.

Proposition 4: The overall performance of the online union will be positively affected by

safety.

Solidarity: one of the reasons for people to join a union is the feeling of solidarity provided by a

representative organization. This feeling of solidarity originates from the fact that members join a

union for more or less the same reasons and therefore expect to meet members in equal positions.

Although in the current situation not available in a suitable way; members expect the online union to

offer new opportunities to interact with people in the same position and share knowledge and

experiences.

Proposition 5: Solidarity will positively affect the overall performance of the online union.

Tangibles: the most important reason for the interviewed members to join the online union is the

custom-made approach in combination with the relative low contribution price as presented in

section 4.1.1. This approach offers members the possibility to be represented for their shared

interest and to profit from customized services for a relative low price. From this we can conclude

that a good representation of their shared interests and customized services are important service

characteristics of an online union. Also a first-class presentation of the online union and appropriate

online facilities (e.g. speed and content of the website) are identified to be important performance

aspects.


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Proposition 6: Appropriate perceived tangibles will have a positive effect on the overall

performance of the online union.

The explored dimension can be visualized into a research model as depicted in Figure - 8. The model

represents the assumed influence of the dimensions on the overall performance. By analysis of the

survey results in section 4.2 we will test the formulated propositions.

Figure - 8 Empirical research design after phase I.

The explored items are embodied in a model and clustered into five different dimensions (Table 2)

Table 2 Service dimensions Online union

Information

Interaction

Solidarity

Safety

Tangibles

OverallPerformance

+

+

+

+

+

+


54

4.2 Results Quantitative research

This section presents the results of the quantitative research study. Several attributes investigated in

the first phase are integrated into the survey model. Based on the SERVQUAL model, an online

questionnaire was designed to measure gaps between the actual performance and the member’s

expectations of the online union. By integrating the Kano model we are able to categorize the

attributes according to the influence of each of the attributes on member’s satisfaction. The

collected data will be used to test the propositions formulated in section 4.1.2. Hence, data collected

by the online survey will function as input for the construction of the House of Quality (Tan and

Pawitra, 2001).

Section 4.2.1 presents the demographics of the research population whereas section 4.2.2 presents

the statistical analysis of the survey data. Based on qualitative research to the needs of the members

we conducted five dimensions (Table 2).A factor analysis will be performed to test the structure of

the composed dimensions. After the factor analysis, we will execute a multiple regression analysis to

test for the influence of each of the dimensions on the overall performance of the online union in

section 4.2.3

4.2.1 Sample description

Within three weeks 120 respondents have finished the questionnaire. From a total sample of 1000

registered members this results in a response rate of 12%. Except from the question “What is the

name of your company”, all questions were mandatory which resulted in a dataset without missing

values. Before starting the analysis we filtered the data on respondents duration time to complete

the questionnaire. Respondents whose duration time was shorter than seven minutes were filtered

out. Based on the average time of 12,5 minutes, a duration time less than seven minutes assumes

that they have not filled in the questionnaire seriously enough. After expectation of the dataset, four

respondents were filtered out resulting in a final dataset of 116 respondents.

Based on the demographic questions we shaped a general descriptive profile of the member

population of the online union (Table 3). Specific work and union related characteristics will be

discussed later in this section. From the general characteristics as presented in Table 1, we can

conclude that the majority of the sample is male, merely of the age of 50 or higher, educated with a

MBO or HBO (Bachelors) degree, full-time employed, living together with an employed partner and

merely settled in the region Noord-Brabant. As mentioned before, the main target group of the

online union are young professionals. Therefore it is surprising to see that most of the respondents

are of the age of 50 or higher. One explanation might be that at the start of the online union a


55

respective group of members of the traditional union became a member of the online union as they

feel highly associated to the organization De Unie.

Variable Composition Frequency Percentage

Gender Male 97 83,6

Female 19 16,4

Age <25 4 3,4

25 - 34 19 16,4

35 - 39 14 12,1

40 - 44 12 10,3

45 - 49 14 12,1

50 - 54 22 19,0

>54 31 26,7

Educational Level Professional Degree 15 12,9

PHD 1 0,9

Masters Degree 16 13,8

Bachelor Degree 38 32,8

Associate Degree 1 0,9

University, no Degree 5 4,3

MBO 39 32.6

High School 1 0,9

Household Situation Single 29 25,0

Couple, partner non-employed 20 17,2

Couple, partner employed 69 59,5

Work situation Full time employed 90 77.5

Parttime employed 16 13,8

Non-employed 10 8,6

Region Zuid - Holland 19 16,4

Noord - Holland 12 10,3

Utrecht 10 8,6

Zeeland 3 2,6

Noord- Brabant 36 31,0

Limburg 7 6,0

Gelderland 12 10,3

Overijssel 4 3,4

Flevoland 4 3,4

Friesland 2 1,7

Groningen 2 1,7

Drenthe 5 4,3

Table 3 - Demographic Characteristics

Table 4 shows the different sectors where employees of the online union work, whereas Table 5

presents the functions employed by the members.


56

Table 4 – Sector of the organization Table 5 – Function of members

As represented in Table 4 most respondents are employed in the financial sector and the services

sector. The number of respondents working in these sectors can be explained by the fact that in the

first year of the online union employees of two financial organizations where faced with

reorganizations and mergers. There was no collective bargaining agreement for their specific sector.

To represent the interests of these employees, De Unie started a campaign and became the

employee’s representative organization. This also explains the results of Table 5 from which we can

conclude that most members have a financial related or management function.

Figure - 9 Frequency site visits Figure - 10 Reason to visit website

The frequency of visits to the website of the online union is presented in Figure 9. Overall we can

conclude that members do not visit the site of the online union very often. The majority of the

0 10 20 30 40

Other

Manufacturing

Education

Government

Finance

Wholesale

Retail

Healthcare

Construction

Transportation

Insurance

ICT

Services

0 10 20 30

Other

Consultancy

General management

Finance - Administration

Healthcare

Procurement and Logistics

Legal

Marketing-PR-Advertising

Research and Development

Government

Human resources

ICT

Sales

Daily 0.9%

A few times a week 2,6%

Once a week 4,3%

A few times a month 12,1%

Once a month 24,1%

Less than once a month 56,0%

Information 87,1%

Recreation 10,3%

Interaction 2,6%


57

sample visits the site less than once a month (56%) or once a month (24.1%). As showed in Figure 10,

the main reason for members to visit the site is to gather information (87.1%).

4.2.2 Factor analyse

In our model quality (Q) measured by one item is the sum of an expectation rating (E) extracted from

the corresponding perception rating (P). A gap-score is defined as Q = P – E. The computed gap-

variables are used for further scale analysis. Further analysis of the gap scores will be discussed in

section 4.3.

After qualitative research in phase one, the explored items were structured into five dimensions

(Table 2). To test the structure of the modified dimensions factor analysis was conducted. Factor

analysis is a multivariate statistical technique which aim is to reduce a large number of variables to a

smaller number of underlying dimensions, known as factors. Therefore factor analysis will try to

explain a maximum amount of variance in our data by means of a small number of factors.

Before conducting factor analysis, we should test if factor analysis is an appropriate method for

detecting structures in our data. Therefore we will first inspect the correlation matrix, the Bartlett’s

test of sphericity, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and the measure of sampling adequacy (MSA).

When the results of the tests conclude that factor analysis is allowed, the items will be structured

into factors.

The Bartlett’s test of sphericity will test the inequality between the correlation matrix and the

identity matrix. The test values detected a significant result (Chi 1164.774; p:0.00) from which we can

conclude that there are differences between the correlation matrix and the identity matrix. The

second test, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, measures the sampling adequacy. A high value indicates

sufficient intercorrelations between the variables which mean that the correlations between pairs of

variables can be explained by other variables.. The test value in our analysis is 0.875. A value of >0.8

is meritorious. The last test for sufficient intercorrelations is the Measure of Sampling Adequacy

(MSA). Looking at the anti-image matrix in SPSS, low MSA values of <.55 will have to be removed. The

values of the anti image matrix in our test are all higher than 0.8 except for one item that scores

.719, which is still allowed. From the above we can conclude that factor analysis is allowed.

After the different tests to detect if factor analysis is allowed, a suitable method of analysis should be

selected. For this analysis we will use the method of Principal Component analysis. This method will

determine the minimum number of factors that explain a maximum of variance in the data.

(Malhotra & Birks, 2004). The factor analysis was computed by the use of SPSS 13.0 and is included in

appendix 8.


58

The scree plot and eigenvalues provided by SPSS, indicate a composition of four factors. After

deciding the number of factors, the communality values were inspected. A communality (hi2) = % of

variance in xi explained by the factor model. When a communality value of a variable is relative low

(<.30), that variable correlates low with other variables (therefore is “quite unique”). Variables with

low communality values should be removed as they definitely measure something else. In our

analysis no variables are removed as all communality values are >.414.

The Varimax rotation procedure was used to select variables into factors. The varimax rotation

procedure is an orthogonal method of rotation (axes are maintained at right angles) that minimizes

the number of variables with high loading factors on a factor thereby enhancing the interpretability

of the factor (Malhotra & Birks, 2004).

Component

1 2 3 4

Up-to-date information ,807 Reliability of information ,796 Offering relevant information ,728 Member involvement on development ,481 Interaction between Union and members ,425 ,500 Interaction between members ,674 Involvement third parties ,604 Recognizing needs of the members ,461 Perception of solidarity ,499 Opportunity of physical meetings ,721 Opportunity of virtual meetings ,779 Members in the same position ,639 Good representation of interests ,641 Perception of safety and protection ,509 ,656 Influence of online union ,756 Intelligibility objectives and services ,507 Offering effective support ,646 Reliability and quality of services ,556 Professional presentation ,511 ,632 Good online facilities ,777 Accessibility of information ,608 Custom-made services ,658

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a Rotation converged in 6 iterations.

Table 6 - Rotated component matrix

Factor analysis, as presented in Table 6 indicates four factors which collectively explained 58,7% of

the variance in all items. Based on the exploratory investigations of phase I, the original model (


59

Table 2) consisted five dimensions (factors). The explored dimension “Solidarity” was not recognized

as a single dimension. Factor analysis merged the dimensions “Interaction” and “Solidarity” and

indicated it as one dimension, that we (still) name “Interaction”. Furthermore the item “recognizing

the needs of the members” switched from the dimension “Interaction” to “Information”, whereas

the item “reliability and quality of services” was replaced from the dimension “Tangibles” to “Safety”.

Due to the high factor loadings and plausible interpretations, we decided to adopt the new structure.

The new dimensional structure is presented in Table 7.

Table 7 - Dimensional structure after Factor Analysis

Scale Reliablity

After the factor analysis, item analysis was conducted to test if the dimensions composed by the

factor analysis are reliable. Cronbach’s alphas were employed to test the reliability of the

dimensions. Item anlysis is conducted after the factor anlysis because Cronbach’s alphas measures

how well a set of items measures a unidimensial construct; the scale has no underlying factors.

Cronbach’s alphas value varies betwen 0 and 1, where values <0.6 indicate unsatifactory internal

consistency reliability. Values of >0.7 are acceptable. As presented in Table 8, for all dimensions

Cronbach’s alphas are >0.7 which implicates that the scales are reliable.


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Dimension Number of items

Cronbach’s Alphas

Mean Std Deviation

Interaction 8 0.843 -0.629 0.700 Safety 6 0.817 -0.963 0.737 Tangibles 4 0.758 -0.573 0.760 Information 4 0.762 -0.830 0.801

Table 8 - Internal Reliability

Correlations

Correlations were calculated to look for association between the variables. Pearson’s product

moment correlation (r) was used to express the strength and direction of coherence between the

independent variables and between the dimensions composed by factor analysis. The higher the

correlation value the stronger the coherence between the variables.

Table 9 - Correlation matrix

All four dimension positively correlate to each other on a significance level of P<.001. (Table 9). The

strongest correlation is found between the dimensions Tangibles and Safety (0.611, p<0.001)

whereas the dimensions information and Tangibles appear to have the weakest correlation.

The complete table of correlations between all independent items can be found in Appendix 1.

Extremely high correlations (r>0.90) or very low correlations (r<0.30) normally will have to deleted

from the dataset as these correlations makes the interpretation less clear. The aim of the identified

model was to collect data for integration into QFD; therefore we choose to keep all items in the

constructs and will not perform a way of data reduction.

4.2.3 Multiple Regression Analysis

As described in the previous section, all factors and independent variables correlate significantly to

each other. In this section we will perform an analysis to look for the assumed relationship of the


61

explored dimensions on the overall performance of the online union. In order to test the unique

effects of each dimension (Interaction, Safety, Tangibles and Information) we will conduct a multiple

regression analysis in which the overall performance will be the dependent variable.

Table 10 - Regression Coefficients

The results of the multiple regression analysis are presented in Table 10. The analysis indicates the

dimension Tangibles to have an independent significant influence on the overall performance

(t=2,248, p<.05). Although the other dimensions have a positive influence on the overall

performance, multiple regression analysis did not show significant effects of the independent

variables.

From the regression analysis presented in Table 10 we can formulate our population regression

model to estimate the effects of the exploratory variables;

Overall performance = α + β1 Interaction + β2 Safety + β3 Tangibles + β4 Information + εi

Where in this analysis α is the regression intercept or constant and εi is the standard regression error.

In our model, when β1 Interaction + β2 Safety + β3 Tangibles + β4 Information = 0, the expected value

of the dependent variable overall performance = 1. Based on the regression model the following

sample regression model can be stated;

Overall performance = 7,257 + 0,295 Interaction + 0,069 Safety + 0,523 Tangibles + 0,121

Information + 1,023

The R2 indicates the degree of explanation of the regression model. The R2 for our model can be

derived from Table 10 and has a value of 0,286, the adjusted R2 is 0,243 which indicates that our

model explains 24,3% of the variation in the overall performance of the online union. This

percentage is explicable by the fact that the online union currently appears to be in an experimental

phase and does not spread out her function and offerings in an unambiguous way. This makes it hard


62

for members to understand the possibilities and what can be expected. From this perspective an

adjusted R2 of 24,3% in this case is acceptable.

4.3 Establishing the House of Quality; translating “What” into “How”

In section 4.2 the dataset of items established from the perception and expectation ratings was

statistically tested. Factor analysis examined the structure of the dimensions whereas a regression

analysis was conducted to test the unique effects of the established dimensions on member’s overall

rating of the online union. In this section we will integrate the data gathered by substracting the

expectations from the perceptions plus the data from the Kano related part of the survey into the

first matrix of Quality Function Deployment; the House of Quality.

Section 4.3.1 discusses the gap analysis between the expectations and perceptions. Section 4.3.2 will

present the Kano analysis. Involvement of the management team as experts in the data collection for

the QFD process is described in section 4.3.3. The compositition of the House of Quality will be

presented in section 4.3.4.

4.3.1 Gap analysis

Based on the SERVQUAL method, the first part of the survey measured the quality of the services

provided by the online union. As discussed in section 2.4 gaps occur when there are differences

between customer’s expectation and the actual perception of the service provided; the wider the

gap, the larger the difference. Positive scores means that the perceptions of a service exceeds the

expactations whereas a score of zero indicates satisfactory quality. Negative scores on the other

hand submit to an underperformance in relation to the customer’s expactations.

Each item is measured by two questions. In our survey the first question measures the expectations

of a member by asking to indicate on a five-point Likert scale how a specific situation in general

should be. The second question measures the same situation but than specifically in the case of the

online union. For example; the first announcement will be “A trade union organization should have

good online facilities”, followed by “The online union has good online facilities”.

All items in the survey measured negative gaps. An overview of the gap scores is presented in Figure -

11. A possible explanation for the negative gaps might be the fact that people have the intention to

respond more extremly when they are asked to indicate an ideal situation. Therefore the focus

should be on the variation of the gaps instead of the negative values (Teas, 1993b). The measured

gaps can be very valuable to the organization as it clearly indicates on which service aspects the

organization is underperforming. This study focusses on the process of improvement, therefore the

gaps are valuable as input for the House of Quality but not as single indicators.


63

The highest negative gapscore can be seen for the attribute “influence of the online union”. This

score indicates that members expect a union to have sufficient influence on for example collective

bargainings, whereas they perceive the online union to have less influence. The member population

of the online union is relative small compared to other unions. As presented in Table 6 the

memberpopulation is also divided over many different worksectors. The representation in number of

members in a specifc sector is therefore low which persuades the influence of the online union.

The second highest negative gap is found on the attribute “offering effective support”. This attribute

indicates that members expect a union to provide effective support when needed, which can be

stated to be an important aspect of an online union. The smallest negative gap is represented by the

attribute “custommade services”. Further analysis of the gaps will be done after a combined

integration with the Kano scores into the House of Quality.

Figure - 11 Overview gap scores

-1,43

-1,07

-1,04

-1,01

-0,95

-0,91

-0,90

-0,84

-0,77

-0,75

-0,72

-0,72

-0,72-0,66

-0,63

-0,62

-0,60

-0,55

-0,52

-0,49

-0,32

-0,22

-1,60 -1,40 -1,20 -1,00 -0,80 -0,60 -0,40 -0,20 0,00

Influence of online union

Offering effective support

Good representation of interests

Intelligibility objectives and services

Offering relevant information

Up-to-date information

Perception of solidarity

Opportunity of physical meetings

Member involvement on development

Reliability of information

Accessibility of information

Recognizing the needs of members

Professional presentation

Interaction between union and members

Good online facilities

Reliability and quality of services

Perception of safety and protection

Interaction between members

Opportunity of virtual meetings

Involvement third parties

Members in the same position

Custom-made services


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4.3.2 Kano Analysis

The second part of the questionnaire (Appendix 7) consists of questions based on the Kano model.

The Kano model (Kano, 1984) was developed to classify product or service attributes on how well

they are able to satisfy the needs of the customer. Parallel to the items measured in the first part of

the survey (SERVQUAL), the Kano model measures both the functional and dysfunctional forms of

the attributes. In example, a functional form to measure will be “How do you feel when the online

union offers you up to date information?”, whereas the dysfunctional form will be “How do you feel

when the online union does not offer you up to date information?” For both questions the

respondents were asked to answer one of the following 5 options “I enjoy it that way”, “I like it that

way”, “I am neutral”, “I dislike it but can live with it that way”, “I dislike it and don’t accept it that

way”. While our survey was conducted in Dutch the answer options were translated into respectively

“Dat stel ik op prijs”, “Ik verwacht niet anders”, “Neutraal”, “Vervelend, maar kan ermee leven” and

“Vervelend en onacceptabel”.

The collected data from the functional and dysfunctional questions makes it possible to classify the

attributes into one of the following Kano categories: attractive, one dimensional, must be,

indifferent, questionable and reverse. In order to integrate the Kano categories into the House of

Quality, the categories will have to be quantified. Therefore Tan and Pawitra (2001) developed an

arithmetic method. For each functional and dysfunctional question the answers of the all

respondents to each of the answer options were summed. The answer option with the highest sum

results in the arithmetic and therefore determines the Kano category of a specific attribute. After

this, all attributes can be presented into the matrix depicted in Appendix 3. As a result the

classification of the attributes into Kano categories is presented in Figure - 12.

From the classification presented in Figure - 12 we can conclude that the attributes “Third party

involvement”, “Good online facilities” and “Custom made services” are classified in the category

attractive. This indicates that these three attributes surprise and attract the customer when

available. Implications of the Kano categories were discussed in section 2.5.2. In order to integrate

the Kano classification of the attributes into the House of Quality, Tan and Pawitra (2001) add

weightings to the different categories. The category ‘attractive’ will be multiplied by factor ‘4’, ‘one

dimensional’ by factor ‘2’, ‘must-be’ by factor ‘1’ and ‘indifferent’ by factor ‘0.5’.


65

Figure - 12 Kano Categorization

4.3.3 Data Collection House of Quality

The SERVQUAL gaps of section 7.1 identified the differences between member’s expectations and

current perceptions of the online union. With addition of the Kano model we were able to determine

for which attributes improvements will be most critical. A limitation of the SERVQUAL model is that it

only identifies gaps without addressing on how to close the identified gaps. By integrating both

models into the House of Quality offers the opportunity to recommend on how to improve and

innovate the services of the online union.

As stated by Hauser and Clausing (1988) the method of quality function deployment focuses and

coordinates different skills within the organization. First to design, secondly to manufacture and

market the product or service. Therefore to optimize the results of QFD a cross functional team

including members with different backgrounds and expertise is required (Griffin and Hauser, 1993).

Data for the House of Quality was provided by the management team of the online union, consisting

of three people. In this case all members have good knowledge of the current situation of the online

union and the technical and financial options of the organization. In order to make sure the matrix of

the House of Quality was well interpreted, a meeting was hold to explain the method. After this first

session almost all required data was collected. A two-hour telephone meeting with the project

manager completed the data collection for the House of Quality


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4.3.4 The House of Quality

The different parts of the House of quality are discussed in section 2.5. To recap; the construction of

the House of Quality consists of 1) the customer needs (left), 2) the planning matrix , 3) technical

requirements or HOW’S, 4) relation matrix (centre) 5) technical correlation matrix (the roof) and 6)

technical matrix.

The House of Quality as constructed for the online union is presented below (Figure - 13). Although

processed in the completion of House of Quality as depicted below, the technical correlation matrix

is not displayed in Figure - 13 but will be presented separately. The different elements of the House

of Quality will be discussed underneath.

Figure - 13 The House of Quality for the online union

Customer Requirements

The customer requirements or “Whats” are qualified by the interviews with employees of the online

union and members of the online union in phase I of this research study. After this the needs were

defined into five dimensions and quantified by the online survey of phase II. Factor analysis in phase

III classified the needs into four dimensions; interaction, safety, tangibles and information.


67

Technical Requirements

The technical requirements or “Hows” are established from investigations of the service process of

the online union during the past half year of this research study. Furthermore requirements were

performed in strong collaboration with the management team of the online union. A clarification of

the technical requirements will be discussed below.

1- Contact availability; available options for members to get in contact with online union.

2- Employee availability; number of union experts available for direct services.

3- Knowledge; knowledge available in the organization of the online union (experts, databases,

third parties)

4- Frequency of contact; interaction moments with members (newsletter, requests, site visits,

etc).

5- Speed of services; process time of the services.

6- Frequency of information updates; number of information updates on website, newsletters.

7- Member feedback processing; how feedback is effectively processed through the

organization.

8- Database options; database options with all relevant information of the members.

9- Personalization of services; extent of personalized services for a specific member.

10- Automatization; extent to which service processes are automated.

11- Digitalization; extent to which services and facilities are digitalized.

12- Networking availability; extent of options to create networks between members, the online

union and third parties.

Planning matrix/ Competitive assessment

The results of the benchmark study in chapter 5 were not sufficient enough to be processed into the

House of Quality (Figure - 13). This insufficiency of the information can be explained by two factors.

First of all, the online union of De Unie is the only virtual union in Holland whereas competitors in

this case are the traditional unions. Therefore to compare the activities of the online union we

studied other e-services in chapter five. Secondly, as mentioned in the introduction and in section 2.2

the decline in the member population creates a climate where every competitor is searching for new

ways to recruit members. The management team of the online union does not have enough

knowledge of the competitive projects related to the online union to process into the House of

Quality. De Unie has planned to start with a competitive benchmark in the first months of 2008.


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Technical Correlation Matrix

Traditionally the technical correlation matrix is shaped as the roof of a house (Figure - 13 The House

of Quality for the online union). In order to increase the readability of this part of the HOQ, we

decided to collapse the roof into the matrix presented in Table 11. The technical correlation matrix

will map the correlation between the established technical requirements (How’s). Trade–offs will

have to be made when negative correlations appear. In our model only two negative correlations can

be identified; first a negative correlation occurs between the speed of the services and

personalization of services and secondly between speed of services and feedback processing.

Table 11 - Technical Correlation Matrix

Technical Matrix

The technical matrix will display the importance rankings of the technical requirements and guides

the organization in making decisions within the (re)design process. Therefore this part is the most

important element of the House of Quality (Figure - 13). To calculate the importance of each

technical requirement, the interrelations weightings will be multiplied with the adjusted importance

score for each customer requirement. After this, the scores for each “What” will be summed up. The

relative importance of the technical requirement is than calculated as a percentage of the total score

of the “How’s”. Priorities and relative importance scores of each “How” are presented in Table 12.

Digitalization of the services received the highest score, closely followed by the frequency of

contacts. Other important “How’s” are the networking facilities, contact availability and knowledge

transfer between members and De Unie and membership.


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Table 12 - Importance rankings How's

4.4 Summary empirical results

4.4.1 Exploratory research

In the first phase of the current research, extensive qualitative research was performed to ensure the

most important characteristics of an online union, according to the members as well as the

employees. Based on the idea of the SERVQUAL model by Parasuraman et al (1988), the explored

items are embodied in a model and clustered into five different dimensions (Table 2). Exploratory

research provides evidence for proposition one; from the original SERVQUAL model only the

dimension “tangibles” was maintained and four new context specific dimensions were established.

The new dimensions are Interaction, Information, Solidarity and Safety. Based on the explored items

a survey was composed to validate the explored performance drivers through a statistically reliable

sample of members of the online union.

4.4.2 Conclusions Quantitative results

The factor analysis tested the structure of the five dimensions established after exploratory research

in phase I. Factor analysis indicated four dimensions instead of five dimensions. The dimensions

interaction and solidarity were fused into one single dimension. The four dimensions showed out to

be reliable by high Cronbach’s alpha’s (>0.7) and strongly correlate to each other. Therefore we

decided to adopt the dimensions constructed by Factor analysis as presented in Table 7.

Regression analysis indicated a significant causal relationship between the independent variable

tangibles and the dependent variable overall performance. Although the other independent variables

showed out to influence the overall performance positively, these relationships are not significant.

From this, the regression analysis provides significant evidence for proposition 6. Based on the

adjusted R2, our model explains 24,3% of the variation of the overall performance of the online union

which is in this case acceptable.


70

From the statistical analysis of the survey data we can conclude that the overall performance of the

online union is most influenced by the dimension tangibles. Items within this dimension are the

online facilities, custom made services, good presentation and the availability and accessibility of

information.

4.4.3 Conclusions House of Quality

The House of Quality was established to provide De Unie direction to the improvement of the online

union. From the presented HOQ in Figure - 13 we can conclude that the technical requirement

“Digitalization” will be the most important in the ongoing process of improvement and enables the

online union to meet the widest collection of member’s needs. Although the online union already is

an organization that functions in a digital way, digitalization will certainly help to improve services

and offers important opportunities to adapt to the needs of the members. For example; digitalization

makes it possible to increase the involvement of members by providing new methods of interaction

like forums, personalized mails, and polls. Digitalization enables De Unie to offer relevant information

in a digital way which increases the speed to offer up to date information. According to Figure - 13,

involvement of third parties is of high importance to the members. Digitalization is able to integrate

and connect different parties in the network of the online union in a fast and relative uncomplicated

way.

The House of Quality directly links the technical requirements to the needs of the members and

therefore can be considered to be one of the most untainted instruments for improvement (Akao,

1990). For this research study, considerations and correlations addressed to the HOQ are made by

the management team of the online union and the writer of this study. It has to be mentioned that

the value of the HOQ depends on the expertise of the design team. In this case team members had

different expertise’s which made it possible to interpret the HOQ from different perspectives.

The next step in this ongoing process of improvement of the online union, will be the establishment

of the second matrix of the concept of QFD; parts deployment. Due time and organizational

constraints it was not possible to start with the construction of this matrix. Therefore the House of

Quality as constructed in this research will function as a guide to give direction to De Unie for the

improvement of the online union. By the time (January 2008) De Unie will start with the next step

and will continue with the QFD approach. By construction of the second House, De Unie will

transform the “How’s” of Figure - 13 into part characteristics.


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Chapter 5 - Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations

5.1 Synopsis

Under influence of ICT the design of work is changing from centralized to a decentralized form. This

development impacts the function and role of representative organizations such as De Unie, which

witnessed a membership decline over the past ten years. In response, De Unie has been searching

for, and experimenting with new service concepts including the online union. The online union is

seen as an appropriate tool to recruit new members and operate as a means to interact with her

members, and deliver new services that will increase the position of the organization as well as the

organization’s cash flow.

To improve the decision makers’ understanding of the demands of the members and design an

online union that adapts to the demands of the changing workforce, two approaches were applied in

this research study. First, statistical analysis aimed at determining the needs of the members and

secondly the use of the quality function deployment by integrating the needs of the members into

the House of Quality.

5.2 Central Conclusion

A validation study, i.e., an analysis of a statistically reliable sample of respondents is applied in the

present case to identify the key indicators that impact the performance of the online union.

Interpretation of the empirical results cause us to conclude that the area of “tangibles” appears to

have the most significant effects on the ongoing process of improving the online union, and

therefore, deserves the undivided attention and allocation of resources from De Unie’s management.

Our central conclusion is derived from the statistical analysis conceived by the test conducted to (1)

determine the structure of the explored attributes and 2) obtain empirical evidence of the unique

influence of each attribute on the overall performance of the online union. By exploratory research

in phase I we identified five dimension that were considered to determine the overall performance

namely; interaction, solidarity, safety, tangibles and information. Factor analysis merged the

dimensions interaction and solidarity into one dimension. Both dimensions consist of items that are

associated to each other. Therefore, and as a result of the high factor loadings and improved

reliability scores, we adopted the new structure of four dimensions. Statistical analysis provided

significant evidence for Proposition 5; tangibles will positively influence the overall performance of

the online union. Although the other dimensions all positively influence the overall performance,

multiple regression analysis did not show significant relationships. The four dimensions; tangibles,


72

interaction/solidarity, safety and information merely explain 24, 3% of the variation in the overall

performance of the online union.

5.3 Implications

The House of Quality directly links the technical requirements to the needs of the members and

therefore can be considered to be one of the most untainted instruments for improvement (Akao,

1990). Two types of data were integrated in the House of Quality. First of all the gaps between the

expectations and perceptions of the online union measured by the method of the SERVQUAL model

and secondly the Kano category to indicate the influence of each item on member’s satisfaction.

The method of quality function deployment is used to provide De Unie direction for informed

decision making. First, by questioning the members’ needs; and, second by tailoring the design of the

online union. Continuously, to match the demands of the members as closely as possible in a

responsive manner.

What are the main implications of the House of Quality results?

For one, “Digitalization” is observed as the most important in the ongoing process of improvement

and enables the online union to meet the widest collection of member’s needs. Subsequently,

translate such needs into desirable and valuable services to generate and maintain a cash flow on

which De Unie depends for its growth and survival. Although the online union already is an

organization that functions online, the concept of digitalization should be understood as a

continuous process of versioning information. Shapiro and Varian (1999) refer to ‘versioning’ as a

technique to lever ‘value-based pricing, i.e., to sell the online union’s services to different members

at different prices will certainly help to improve services of and offers opportunities to meet the

most important member requirements. Value-based pricing of services affords the development and

exploitation of two-way communication with members and stakeholders. Such online approach

affords De Unie the opportunity to obtain valuable market data without expensive and time-

consuming marketing studies. Simply, by offering members and third parties a menu of services and

monitor which one they choose. For instance, De Unie can offer a product line with one product

offered at members and another one at ‘outsiders’ and observe sales figures to observe purchase

patterns in both markets evolving. Shapiro and Varian (1999:54) refer to this technique as

‘versioning’. Digitalization in this case enforces the opportunity to connect different parties in the

network of the online union. Therefore it enables interaction between De Unie and her members,

mutual between members but it can also enforce the integration of third parties. From this


73

perspective it increases the value of the online union, not only for her members but as well as for the

organization De Unie.

5.4 Methodological value

Based on the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et al, 1985) we explored four new attributes by

exploratory research that fit with the context of the online union. Factor analysis reduced the

number of attributes to three new explored attributes applicable to online services. From the original

model merely the attribute tangibles was maintained although the items were modified into topic

related items. The SERVQUAL model assumes the attributes to have a linear function. By integration

of the Kano model we were able to get information of the non-linear power of each performance

driver on the overall performance of the online union which complements the SERVQUAL gaps and

gives strong support for decision making in case of trade-offs.

By integrating the SERVQUAL model and the Kano model into the House of Quality, a strong

instrument was developed to measure the performance of the online union and to provide direction

for improvement sequentially to create a design that adapts to the needs of the members. Quality

function deployment originally was developed for product design but nowadays becomes also

important for the design process of services. By integration of the SERVQUAL and Kano model we

complemented the method of quality function deployment especially for the design of online

services.

5.5 Recommendations for future research

De Unie is planning to start a benchmark study within the first months of 2008. Due time

constraints and for the already planned benchmark study of the De Unie we were not able to

integrate suitable information of competitors and e-services in other areas, into our research

study. As a result we could not establish the planning matrix/ competitive assessment of the

House of Quality. To complement the results of the House of Quality, De Unie should

incorporate the competitive assessment into the model when establishing the second house.

The House of Quality is established to prove direction to De Unie for the ongoing process of

improving the online union. As discussed in section 2.4 the second House will transform the

technical requirements from the first House into part characteristics. By the House of Quality

we identified different needs and validate a general direction of improvement. To serve the

different groups available in the community of the online union it is necessary to get a

deeper understanding of their specific needs and expectations. A proved method to obtain a

deeper insight, and to gain knowledge about motives and values of different groups will be


74

the creation of personas. Cooper (1999) described a persona as ”a user archetype you can

use to help guide decisions about product features, navigation, interactions, and even visual

design. By designing for the archetype - whose goals, attitudes, and behaviour patterns are

well understood - you can satisfy the broader group of people represented by that

archetype”.

An extensive part of the inputs for the House of Quality is provided by the management team

of the online union. The input provided correlates with the subjectivity, knowledge and

experience of the team members. Therefore to optimize the results for the House of Quality

a cross functional team including members with different backgrounds and expertise is

required (Griffin and Hauser, 1993). As the online union merely started as an experiment of

De Unie, nowadays the management team of the online union consists of three people.

Incorporating more team members would increase the subjectivity, knowledge, experience

and understanding of the management team. Hence, it will improve the validity of the

outcomes for the House of Quality.


75

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Web sites visited:

www.internetvakbond.nl

The official website of De Unie’s online union and subject of this research study.

www.unie.nl

The official website of labor union De Unie.

www.geocities.com/unionsonline

The most known website for information about online unionism.

www.geocities.com/e_collectivism/

Website offers space for discussion and debate about collective activism, organizing and

action through electronic means

http://www.internetvakbond.nl/

http://www.unie.nl/

http://www.geocities.com/unionsonline

http://www.geocities.com/e_collectivism/


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Appendix 1: Survey Data

1.1 Expectation vs. Perceptions

0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00

Influence of online union

Offering effective support

Good representation of interests

Intelligibility objectives and services

Offering relevant information

Up-to-date information

Perception of solidarity

Opportunity of physical meetings

Member involvement on development

Reliability of information

Accessibility of information

Recognizing the needs of members

Professional presentation

Interaction between union and …

Good online facilities

Reliability and quality of services

Perception of safety and protection

Interaction between members

Opportunity of virtual meetings

Involvement third parties

Members in the same position

Custom-made services

Average Expectation

Average Perception


82

Appendix 2: Independent correlations


83


84

Appendix 3

3.1 Kano matrix

Questionanble Attractive Attractive AttractiveOne

Dimensional

Reverse Indifferent Indifferent Indifferent Must be



Reverse Reverse Reverse Reverse Questionable

Dat stel ik op prijs

Ik verwacht niet anders

Neutraal

Vervelend, maar ik kan er mee leven

Vervelend en onacceptabel

Dat stel ik op prijs

Ik verwacht niet anders

Neutraal Vervelend, maar ik kan ermee leven

Vervelend en onacceptabel

Fun

ctio

na

l

Dysfunctional


85

Appendix 4: Case description De Unie

Summary Case Description De Unie

History

The First labor unions in the Netherlands were raised between 1860 and 1870. The growth of the

industrialization had significant impact on society. The working conditions were bad, child

employment was a normal fact, workdays were very long and the position of employees was very

weak. De Unie is established from several mergers between different independent unions of

different sizes. De Unie BLHP was founded in 1972 and in 1995 the name of the organization was

changed in the current name; De Unie.

Mission and strategy

De Unie has set herself the following target: in a world of life and work where everyone is constantly

faced with fresh choices, to set out together and to find realistic solutions to individual needs and

matters relating to work, income and personal development. De Unie attaches great importance to

carefully handle the interests of society and those of members, staff and stakeholders, in line with

her focus on socially responsible entrepreneurship.

Profile

With members employed in the industrial, service and health care sectors, De Unie is a modern,

independent trade union that goes for custom-made solutions. De Unie is a typical network

organization and contributed to over 300 collective agreements and represents the shared interests

of employees in mergers and reorganizations but also member’s individual interests in the areas of

work, income and personal development. De Unie mainly targets on professionals and are well

represented among middle and senior management. The total number of members nowadays is over

97.000.

According to other labor unions, De Unie distinguishes itself by providing personal support based on

in-depth understanding of businesses and collective agreements. In the area of income, De Unie

provides individual members with advice in particular on taxation, pensions and social security, but

she also handles queries about other matters relating to income.

In addition to the basic products and services of a labor union, De Unie offers her members other

products and services under labels such as UnieReizen (travel) and Member Benefits (financial

advice, insurance and mortgages). In order to create a network of partnerships De Unie works


86

together with partners who share the philosophy of socially responsible entrepreneurship.

From the above described profile we can conclude that De Unie aims to be a trade union that helps

its members to develop their personal strengths.

Environment

The Netherlands has got three trade union confederations: the FNV (Federation of Dutch Trade

Unions), the CNV (National Federation of Christian Trade Unions) and the MHP (Trade Union

Confederation for Middle and Senior Management). De Unie is, via the union of independent trade

organizations, a member of the MHP. De Unie is aware of the fact that we live in a global society.

Unions should meet the challenges this brings along. Therefore De Unie is affiliated to Union

Network International [UNI], the European Metalworkers Federation [EMF], the International

Metalworkers Federation [IMF] and the International Travel workers Federation [ITF].

Organizational structure

From eight regional offices throughout the Netherlands, union officials, lawyers and secretaries keep

in direct contact with the members of De Unie. The management and service departments are

located at the head office “Unieplaza” in Culemborg. At this moment 220 employees work for De

Unie. The head office, Unieplaza, has opened her doors in 2003 and has got a deeper function

instead of just a building. This Unieplaza acts as a metaphor for De Unie as it stands for transparency

and transformation and therefore represents the character and culture of the organization.

Culture

The culture of De Unie can be best described as an open culture with a high level of collegiality and

an open way of communication. The relationship between the employees and the management team

is not that open as it is between the employees. There is a high level of top-down decisions that

result in some resistance and “fear” from the employees to the management team. Another

important issue might be that the chosen policy and direction of the management team is not clear

and policies are not always good understood by everyone. The communication between employees

and the management team can be described as more formal. The management team is settled in the

head office of De Unie in Culemborg and from this fact regional offices have a certain resistance to

the “head office” as to their opinion this represents the management.

Internal and external trigger

An internal trigger for De Unie is that the current organizational structure is used for about twenty

five years now. The organizational structure is region bounded (eight region offices and one head


87

office) which does not fit with the current situation in our society. The structure will have to be

changed into a project or sector-based structure in order to go deeper into the core businesses.

De Unie is aware of the change in society and in the way work is going to change in the future. One of

the issues mentioned by all interviewed employees is the change from “industrial employment” to

“knowledge employment”. Although management of De Unie is aware of this change, they realize

that the organization in general still acts as a traditional labor union. Another very important external

trigger is the fact that the traditional market of De Unie is shrinking. The number of members is not

growing anymore; in fact it is going down for about ten years now.

Process

The head office Unieplaza is facilitated with flexible workplaces at all departments. People can

choose to work in cocoons for effective meetings, concentration rooms and flexible workplaces

between colleagues. Secondly working at home is already a common fact at De Unie. A lot of

employees, when possible in their function, work one day a week at home. Employees are satisfied

about the offered hard- and software which makes remote-working possible.

Although there might be some resistance to decisions made by the management, the adoption level

of new technologies is perceived to be high.

New concepts

De Unie is the first labor union in the Netherlands that started with a labor union on the internet; the

online union (www.internetvakbond.nl). One of the differences with a labor union in the traditional

environment concerns the price of a membership. For the traditional labor union a standard price is

set, whereas for the online union members pay a small standard price for which they can get help for

one question. After this, members will have to pay for each request separately.

In line with the concept of the online union is the concept of www.ruziemetdebaas.nl. This site acts

as a sort of platform to discuss (starting) conflicts with the boss. The site is free to access for

everyone. Main goal is to give people a deeper understanding about the conflict itself, their position

in this conflict, and off course possible solutions. Another new and unique concept, applicable on the

site of the online union, is the Medstick. The Medstick is a completely electronic mobile medical

database (USB stick) with the same size as a normal credit card. The Medstick consists all the medical

information of the owner of the stick. This concept is perfectly in line with the mission of De Unie to

find realistic solutions to individual needs and matters relating to work, income and personal

development.

http://www.internetvakbond.nl/

http://www.ruziemetdebaas.nl/


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Appendix 5: Interviews employees’ online labor union.

5.1 List of interviewed employees

Date / Time

Departement

Location

Name

Function

21-09-2007

13.00 – 14.00

Policies and

expertise

Unieplaza,

Culemborg

Licisca Kruse Policy manager

Online union

20-09-2007

14.00 – 15.00

Online labour

union

Unieplaza,

Culemborg

Bart Willems Project manager

Online union

20-09-2007

15.15-17.15

General

Management

Unieplaza,

Culemborg

Jacques Teuwen Chairman De Unie

5.2 Questions

Introductie

- Mijzelf introduceren, doel interview aangeven (Onderzoek naar de behoeften van de leden

door middel van QFD, dit interview is bedoeld om verwachtingen binnen de Unie te

kwalificeren, in het bijzonder met betrekking tot het huidige beleid, kennis overdracht en

mogelijkheden binnen De Unie te kwalificeren)

- Wie is de geïnterviewde (functie,kennis internetvakbond, opleiding en ervaring)

Algemeen

- Wat is de achtergrond van de internetvakbond, wat zijn de beweegredenen geweest om

hiermee te starten en wat denk je dat het doel is?

- Waar bestaat het huidige aanbod van de internetvakbond uit?

- Wat is de huidige status van de internetvakbond, in termen van acceptatie?

Inrichting internetvakbond

- Wordt de internetvakbond centraal of decentraal (vanuit regio’s) aangestuurd in termen van

IT en vakbondmedewerkers?

- Zijn er behalve de leden en De Unie nog andere partijen die participeren binnen de

internetvakbond en hoe worden deze partijen bij de ontwikkeling van de internetvakbond

betrokken?


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Ledenbestand

- Wie is/zijn op dit moment de doelgroep(en) qua leden en is hier een verschuiving te

verwachten?

- Zijn er voor de bestaande traditionele leden van vakbond De Unie ook voordelen aan de

internetvakbond?

- Wat is een kritiek voordeel voor potentiële leden om voor de internetvakbond te kiezen ipv

de traditionele vakbond?

- Hoe worden de huidige leden van de internetvakbond betrokken bij de ontwikkeling van de

internetvakbond?

- Hoe denk je dat het gevoel van verbondenheid is bij de leden van de internetvakbond?

Behoeften leden

- Wat is volgens jullie de Top 5 van verwachtingen van leden van de internetvakbond?

- In hoeverre voldoet de internetvakbond aan deze behoeften verwachtingen?

- Hoe zou deze top 5 er volgens jullie in de nabije toekomst uit zien, zou deze gelijk blijven?

Welke verschuivingen zou je verwachten?

Verschillen t.o.v. traditionele vakbond

- Wat zijn de belangrijkste verschillen met de traditionele vakbond?

- Hoe worden deze verschillen naar de buitenwereld gecommuniceerd?

- Wat is de invloed van de internetvakbond op de relatie met leden en hoe verschilt deze met

relaties met leden in de traditionele omgeving?

Toekomst

- Er zijn duidelijke verschuivingen zichtbaar op het gebied van werk, zie ons onderzoek, wat

zou in jou ogen de mogelijke impact hiervan kunnen zijn voor de internetvakbond in termen

van vraag en aanbod?

- Wat zijn in jou/jullie ogen (mogelijke) verbeterpunten van de internetvakbond en wat

zouden deze verbeteringen op kunnen gaan leveren?

- Welke meerwaarde heeft de internetvakbond in jou ogen?

Overig

- Einde van het interview, zijn er nog zaken met betrekking tot de internetvakbond die niet

behandeld zijn in dit interview en volgens jou toch van belang zijn?


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5.3 Conclusions interviews with employees

General

In the year 2006 De Unie started the first online union in the Netherlands. The foundation of the

online union is based on the actuality of a decreasing number of “traditional” members of De Unie. In

fact the size of the member population is decreasing for almost ten years. It must be stated that De

Unie is not the only labor union with a decreasing number of members; all labor unions in the

Netherlands, and even abroad, are facing this tendency.

The different labor unions in the Netherlands are developing new concepts in order to reach a

younger population of members like students or starters. De Unie differentiates from this by not only

focusing on young members but also on the “New type of worker”. These new type of workers have

got a high affinity with digital environments and use IT as an enabler of work and are more

individualistic in terms of searching and gathering information and knowledge. De Unie is aware of

the fact that we live in a global society and that there is a change in the field of work and in the use

and usefulness of new media types. From this perspective the online labor union is used as a kind of

experience to determine how De Unie can become a useful “partner” for these new type of workers.

The objective for the online union is not only to stop the decrease of members but moreover to

create, as a labor union, added value for this new generation of workers. An important aspect for

achieving this goal is to get a well understanding on how to manage relationships within this virtual

environment. At this moment De Unie is trying to discover how they can combine different parties of

their network in order to facilitate an environment that provides knowledge and information which

fits with the needs of this new type of workers and therefore will become a valuable source.

At this moment the online labor union offers mainly three types of services:

- Shared promotion of members interests

- First line support to employer related subjects by union experts

- Different platforms like “conflicts with your employer”, “My core competences” and an

online internship database.

The online union is organized around a fully centralized structure. The IT-applications and the

management team are located in Unieplaza, Culemborg. Of course, the union experts who attend to

the questions of the members are also located in some of the eight region offices. Because questions

are answered by the same employees for the traditional union as for the online union, the quality of

the services provided by the online union is stated to be the same as for the traditional union.


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Communication about the online union to the outside is based on free publicity through

communication channels of De Unie itself like the internet site of the “traditional” Unie, newsletters,

magazines etc. In the near future De Unie will focus on communication options on the internet, for

example search engines or cooperation with other communities.

As mentioned above, the online union started in 2006. The spin off resulted in almost 2500

members. Due to the absence of a formulated strategy and communication plan it is difficult to

retain these members. As a result the number of members of the online union is already decreased

to +/- 2000. In terms of acceptation, all interviewed persons agreed that there is an already a certain

level of acceptation of the online labor union. This acceptation is still insufficient due to the fact that

the online labor union is still not completely developed and is still unknown for most people. At the

moment it is unclear which sectors are most present in the member population; different sectors are

represented.

Critical advantage of the online union above the traditional union is the customized identity of the

online union. The contribution price for the online union is stated at 10 euro for a one year

membership including one possibility to ask information of a union expert. After this, members will

have to pay for each question separately. For the traditional union the contribution price is stated at

15 euro a month without knowing which services you will use. A member of the online union pays for

what he needs.

The participation of the recent members is sufficient. For example members have the possibility to

actively participate in the decision process for their shared promotion of interests. This works out to

be a prosperous element of the online union. The participation of members on the development of

the online labor union is very small. At the start of the online union members had the possibility to

participate as an ambassador to assist in the development process. Unfortunately De Unie never

looked at these advices and decided to stop with this ambassador function.

Interviewed employees perceive the members feeling of solidarity to De Unie as low. This is mainly

due to the absence of “follow up actions”. At this moment there is only a monthly newsletter. In the

future this feeling of solidarity will have to grow as a result of more involvement of the members in

the development of the online union. One possibility to achieve this is to set up different forums in a

way like the Hyves network works.

At this moment there are not many other organizations participating in the online union. One

organization that participates is Stageplaza. The current platform for internships is facilitated in

cooperation with Stageplaza. In the future other organizations that will link their network to the


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network of De Unie are expected to join the online labor union. The plan is to set up different forums

where people can get in contact with each other. From this the aspect of relationship management

shows up again.

Interviewed employees were asked of what they think are the most important needs of the

members. The answered needs are mentioned below:

- The need of appropriate information; where and how easily can I find the information I need.

- Networks; which party be important for me and for which issue can I use this person.

- First line assistance to employer related issues.

- Interaction with other members who are in the same sector/position

- Feeling of solidarity

When looking on the needs mentioned above, the interviewed employees conclude that the first line

assistance to employer related issues works well. But the online union is not developed enough to

fulfill the other needs. For example the interaction aspect on the site is very small, only the Hyves

site of the labor union offers members the possibility to interact with each other although the use of

this possibility is minimal. Another example related to the network-need is the start of the internship

database. Overall we can conclude that for this moment, the online union works presents itself as

the traditional union in a new appearance. For the near future, a shift in the needs is not expected

but they will definitely become stronger.


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Appendix 6: Interviews with members online labor union.

6.1 List of interviewed members

Date / Time

Department

Location

Name

Function

24-09-2007

9.00-9.45

Policies and Expertise

Unieplaza, Culemborg

Ewald van de Sark Labour counsellor

24-09-2007

10.00-10.45



Sjerp Holterman Head department policies and expertise

24-09-2007

11.00-11.45



Peter Kersten Staff member

Reward systems

24-09-2007

13.00-14.45

Region Office Mid Unieplaza, Culemborg

Jos Drogen Statesman

24-09-2007

15.00-15.45

Section Chairmen Unieplaza, Culemborg

Wim Brouwer Operating group chairman

25-09-2007

13.00-14.00

Section Chairmen Telephone meeting

Gerwin van de Lei Operating group chairman

Reserve Reserve Reserve Susan Mogony Reserve

6.2 Questions

Introductie

- Mijzelf introduceren (onderzoek naar de behoeften van leden van de internetvakbond door

middel van QFD; dit interview is bedoeld om verwachtingen en huidig beeld van leden t.a.v.

de internetvakbond te kwalificeren.

- Wie zit er voor mij (functie; sinds wanneer lid, kennis internetvakbond)

Algemeen

- Hoe werd je geattendeerd op het bestaan van de internetvakbond (bijv. via bestaande

communicatie kanalen van De Unie, op internet gevonden, via vrienden etc.)

- Heb jij zelf mensen geattendeerd op het bestaan van de internetvakbond en de

mogelijkheden die deze dienst aanbied?


94

- Kun je specifiek aangeven waarom jij gekozen hebt om lid te worden?

- Wie zijn in jou ogen de doelgroep(en) van de internetvakbond?

Verschillen internetvakbond vs. traditionele vakbond

- Kun je aangeven wat in jou ogen het verschil is tussen de internetvakbond en de traditionele

vakbond?

- Wat is voor jou een kritiek voordeel van de internetvakbond ten opzichte van de traditionele

vakbond?

- Is er voor jou ook een belangrijk nadeel van de internetvakbond en de traditionele vakbond?

Verwachtingen leden

- Wat waren je verwachtingen van de internetvakbond ten aanzien van de diensten/ services

die zij aanbieden?

- In hoeverre voldoet de internetvakbond aan deze verwachtingen?

- Welke meerwaarde heeft de internetvakbond voor jou?

- Wat zijn in jou ogen (mogelijke) verbeterpunten van de internetvakbond?

Betrokkenheid

- Een vakbond, en zeker De Unie, wil leden een gevoel van verbondenheid geven. In hoeverre

is dat gevoel van verbondenheid bij jou als lid van de internetvakbond aanwezig, en kun je

uitleggen waar dat gevoel op gebaseerd is?

- Hoe wordt je als lid betrokken bij de ontwikkeling van de internetvakbond?

- Heb je zelf weleens gebruik gemaakt van een van de diensten van de internetvakbond? Zo ja,

beschrijf je ervaringen?

Uitstraling

- Heb je het gevoel dat de internetvakbond dezelfde kwaliteit en professionaliteit aanbiedt als

de traditionele vakbond De Unie?

- Als je specifiek kijkt naar de website van de internetvakbond, straalt de internetvakbond dan

dezelfde kwaliteit en professionaliteit uit als de traditionele vakbond De Unie?

Overig

- Einde van het interview, zijn er nog zaken met betrekking tot de internetvakbond die niet

behandeld zijn in dit interview en volgens jou toch van belang zijn?


95

6.3 Conclusions interviews with members.

Interviewed members were mainly attended to the online union through communication channels of

De Unie. Attention was created on the website of De Unie and by newsletters provided by De Unie.

Two interviewed members mentioned posters and the free publicity in for example papers at the

introduction period of the online union. Nowadays advertisements of the online union are only

noticed on the website of De Unie. Four out of six interviewed members attended relatives on the

online labor union which resulted in a couple of new memberships. The other two interviewed

members also attended other people, but from a professional perspective as they are employees of

De Unie.

People were asked to mention a specific reason why they chose to join the online union. The most

frequently answered reason was the price members have to pay for a membership of the online

labor union in contrast with the price of a traditional membership. This price offers members the

possibility to be represented for their shared interests and to profit from customized services for a

relative small price.

According to the interviewed members, the target group of the online union are younger people who

are at the starting point of their career (young professionals) or at the end of their professional or

academic study. Two interviewed members noticed that the online union is not only focusing on

young employees or students. They mentioned that the concept of the online union, to their opinion,

is suitable for people who crave for the safety of shared promotions of interest and on the other

hand are looking for the comfort of custom made services.

In line with the answers of the interviewed employees in Appendix 5.3, the interviewed members

defined the same differences between the online union and the traditional union. From a consumer

perspective, first of all the price of a membership indicates a significant difference. Secondly, all

interviewed members mentioned the difference in concept; the traditional union works from a

supply perspective (standard package of services) as the online union works from a demand

perspective (custom made services). From these answers we might conclude that the concept of the

online labor union is clear to the members, but it is important to mention that these answers might

be biased by the fact that all interviewed members are employees of De Unie.

Member’s opinions about the presentation of the site of the online union are divided. Half of the

interviewed members perceive the site to have a professional performance, the other members

think that the site does not look professional and looks a little out dated. Although there are


96

different opinions about the professional looks of the site, all members perceive the quality of the

online union is equal to the traditional union and according to them the site looks trustworthy.

An important aspect of the interviews with members of the online union was to identify member’s

expectations and to what extent these expectations are fulfilled by the current online union. Each

aspect mentioned will be discussed below:

Easy accessible Information:

Members of the online union expect to find useful information in an easy and quick way. The online

union should provide a sort of “database” with relevant information divided in for example sector

categories. Members perceive the amount of information which is relevant and useful for them as

low. The online union consist no judicial work-related information in an easy accessible context.

Up to date information:

It is important for members that the information that is offered by the online union is highly up to

date. People expect here to find the most recent information about relevant work related issues. At

this moment members perceive the online union not as a medium that can provide them the latest

relevant information. The site is not updated very often and consists no or very few recent facts.

Interaction:

The aspect of interaction can be divided into two categories; first of all there can be interaction

between the online union and its members. Members expect for example to be informed by

(personalized) newsletters, interaction about the development of the online union and some of the

interviewed members favor more personal contact when they have made a request. At this moment

newsletters are not personalized and appear on a monthly base. Members of the online union are

not involved in the development process, although at the start a platform of ambassadors was

founded. Unfortunately the online union never used this possibility.

Secondly, members expect that there are possibilities to interact with people who are in equal

situations or who can be useful for them in a particular way. This type of interaction is not available

on the online union. In a certain way it is possible to interact with people in the same situation on the

online platform www.ruziemetdebaas.nl, but this platform only contains information about conflicts

between employer and employee. Not only interaction with people is preferred, also with third party

organizations which can be valuable for the members. For example insurance companies, retirement

fund organizations or the upcoming internship database which is launched in cooperation of

Stageplaza.

http://www.ruziemetdebaas.nl/


97

The above described aspects of interaction with other members focuses only on virtual aspects. Two

interviewed members noticed the absence of physical meetings. “When organizing an event to bring

people together who for example work in the same sector, will probably increase the feeling to

belong to a certain group”.

Solidarity

In line with the quote above; one of the reasons for people to join a union is the feeling of solidarity

provided by a union. This feeling of solidarity originates from the fact that members join a union for

more or less the same reasons. The feeling of solidarity with the online union can be classified as

small. This is mainly caused by the absence of face-to-face contact between the online union and her

members but is also affected by the nonexistence of virtual and physical interaction possibilities

between members.

Safety

People join the online union to have the certainty that their common interests are represented and

promoted in an effective way. Interviewed members mentioned that due to the broad variety of

subjects handled by the online union there is an increase in uncertainty about a well representation

of their common interests. Some members consider the influence of the online union to be relative

small in comparison to the traditional union.

First-line support

Affective and adequate support to work related issues is expected by members of the online union.

Members expect quick response on questions. It was mentioned that for some questions a database

on the site would be enough. People can find the answer/ solution by themselves without the need

of support by an expert.


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Appendix 7: Survey Internetvakbond De Unie Introductie

Welkom!

De wereld van werk is aan het veranderen en hierdoor ook de behoeften van de werknemers. Om

haar leden goed van dienst te kunnen zijn dient een vakbond in te spelen op deze veranderingen.

Daarom heeft vakbond De Unie ruim een jaar geleden een nieuwe service opgericht; de

Internetvakbond.

Deze vragenlijst is opgesteld om te onderzoeken welke verwachtingen er onder leden heersen ten

opzichte van de internetvakbond en hoe de internetvakbond op deze behoeften kan inspelen.

Het invullen van deze vragenlijst is van groot belang; de internetvakbond kan hierdoor beter

ingericht worden naar de behoeften van haar leden en kan jou hierdoor beter van dienst zijn.

Dit onderzoek maakt deel uit van een onderzoek dat is opgezet door Microsoft Nederland in

samenwerking met de RSM Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. Vakbond De Unie participeert ook

binnen dit onderzoek naar de invloed van informatie technologieën op de manier hoe wij ons werk

inrichten.

Begin bij het invullen van deze vragenlijst met het opgeven van je e-mailadres, dit om te waarborgen

dat jou antwoorden uniek zijn. Je e-mailadres zal niet voor andere doeleinden gebruikt worden en zal

niet aan derden verstrekt worden.

Het invullen van deze vragenlijst neemt ongeveer 10 minuten tijd in beslag.

Deze vragenlijst bestaat uit vier verschillende delen. In elk deel worden verschillende aspecten

gemeten.

Deel I: Percepties van karakteristieken van een vakbond

Deel II: Gevoelens bij aanwezigheid van verschillende karakteristieken

Deel III: Gevoelens bij het ontbreken van verschillende karakteristieken

Deel IV: Algemene en demografische gegevens

Bedankt voor je deelname!


99

DEEL I Dit eerste deel van de survey gaat over verschillende karakteristieken van een vakbond. We willen je vragen om telkens aan te geven:

- In hoeverre jij vindt dat een vakbond over een bepaalde karakteristiek moet beschikken. - In hoeverre de internet vakbond aan deze karakteristiek voldoet.

De verschillende karakteristieken zijn geclusterd in de volgende groepen: informatie, interactie,

verbondenheid, veiligheid en gebruik.

Information (Volledig mee oneens – Volledig mee eens)

1.1 – De informatie die een vakbond aanbiedt dient actueel te zijn.

1.2 – De internetvakbond biedt actuele informatie aan.

1.3 – Van een vakbond mag verwacht worden dat de informatie die zij aanbiedt betrouwbaar is.

1.4 – De internetvakbond biedt betrouwbare informatie aan.

1.5 – Een vakbond dient haar leden te informeren wanneer zij specifieke beroepsgerelateerde

informatie voor hen heeft.

1.6 – De internetvakbond informeert haar leden wanneer zij specifieke beroepsgerelateerde

informatie voor hen heeft.

Interaction (Volledig mee oneens – Volledig mee eens)

2.1 – Van een vakbond mag verwacht worden dat zij haar leden actief betrekt bij de ontwikkeling van

de vakbond.

2.2 – De internetvakbond betrekt haar leden actief bij het ontwikkelen van de internetvakbond.

2.3 – Een vakbond dient te voorzien in interactie tussen de vakbond en haar leden.

2.4 – De internetvakbond voorziet in interactie tussen de vakbond en haar leden.

2.5 – Een vakbond dient interactie mogelijk te maken tussen leden onderling.

2.6 – De internetvakbond maakt interactie mogelijk tussen haar leden.

2.7 – Om een zo volledig mogelijk pakket aan diensten te bieden dient een vakbond derde partijen

zoals bijvoorbeeld pensioenfondsen, verzekeringen of stagebanken bij de vakbond te betrekken.

2.8 – De internetvakbond betrekt derde partijen zoals bijvoorbeeld pensioenfondsen, verzekeringen

of stagebanken in haar aanbod.

2.9 – Het is realistisch om te stellen dat een vakbond begrijpt wat de behoeften van haar leden zijn.

2.10 – De internetvakbond begrijpt wat de behoeften van haar leden zijn.


100

Solidarity (Volledig mee oneens – Volledig mee eens)

3.1 – Een vakbond moet een gevoel van verbondenheid naar haar leden uitstralen.

3.2 – De internetvakbond straalt een gevoel van verbondenheid uit naar haar leden.

3.3 – Fysieke ontmoetingen met andere leden dragen bij aan een gevoel van verbondenheid.

3.4 – De internetvakbond maakt fysieke ontmoetingen met andere leden mogelijk

3.5 – Virtuele ontmoetingen met andere leden dragen bij aan een gevoel van verbondenheid.

3.6 – De internetvakbond maakt virtuele ontmoetingen met andere leden mogelijk.

3.7 – Binnen een vakbond vindt men leden die in dezelfde positie verkeren (gelijkgestemden).

3.8 – Binnen de internetvakbond vind men leden die in dezelfde positie verkeren (gelijkgestemden).

Safety (Volledig mee oneens – Volledig mee eens)

4.1 – Een vakbond zorgt voor een goede belangenbehartiging van haar leden.

4.2 – De internetvakbond zorgt voor een goede belangenbehartiging van haar leden.

4.3 – Een vakbond geeft haar leden een gevoel van zekerheid en geborgenheid.

4.4 – De internetvakbond geeft een gevoel van zekerheid en geborgenheid.

4.5 – Een vakbond kan in voldoende mate invloed uitoefenen bij bijvoorbeeld Cao-onderhandelingen

4.6 – De internetvakbond kan in voldoende mate invloed uitoefenen bij bijvoorbeeld Cao-

onderhandelingen.

4.7 – Een vakbond geeft duidelijk aan wat haar doel is en wat voor diensten zij aanbiedt.

4.8 – De internetvakbond geeft duidelijk aan wat haar doel is en wat voor diensten zij aanbiedt.

4.9 – Van een vakbond mag verwacht worden dat zij adequaat hulp te biedt wanneer dat nodig is.

4.10 – De internetvakbond biedt adequate hulp wanneer dat nodig is.

Tangibles (Volledig mee oneens – Volledig mee eens)

5.1 – Een vakbond is betrouwbaar en levert en diensten van goede kwaliteit aanbiedt .

5.2 – De internetvakbond is betrouwbaar en levert en diensten van goede kwaliteit aanbiedt.

5.3 – Een vakbond dient zich op een professionele manier te presenteren.

5.4 – De internetvakbond presenteert zichzelf op een professionele manier.

5.5 – Een vakbond dient goede online faciliteiten te hebben (denk hierbij aan de het aanbod op de

site).

5.6 – De internetvakbond heeft goede online faciliteiten (denk hierbij aan de het aanbod op de site).

5.7 – Een vakbond dient ervoor te zorgen dat informatie snel en makkelijk toegankelijk is.

5.8 – De internetvakbond biedt informatie op een snelle en makkelijk toegankelijke manier aan.

5.9 - Een vakbond dient een vraaggericht aanbod aan services te bieden (betalen naar gebruik i.p.v.

algemeen lidmaatschapstarief).

5.10 - De internetvakbond biedt een vraaggericht aanbod aan services aan.


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DEEL II

In dit tweede deel van de survey vragen we je een aantal stellingen te beantwoorden. Elke stelling

beschrijft een bepaalde situatie met betrekking tot een vakbond. Stel je de verschillende situaties

goed voor en geef aan welke antwoordoptie het meest je gevoel bij deze situatie beschrijft.

Antwoordopties:

I enjoy it that way Dat stel ik op prijs. I expect it that way Ik verwacht niet anders I am neutral Neutraal I dislike it but can live with it Vervelend, maar kan er mee leven I dislike and do not accept Vervelend en onacceptabel

1 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond altijd de meest actuele informatie aanbiedt?

2 – Wat vind je ervan als de informatie die jou vakbond aanbiedt betrouwbaar is?

3 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond je informeert wanneer zij specifieke

beroepsgerelateerde informatie voor je heeft?

4 – Wat vind je ervan waneer jouw vakbond jou betrekt bij de ontwikkeling van de vakbond?

5 – Hoe zou je het vinden als er mogelijkheden tot interactie zijn tussen de vakbond en haar leden?

6 – Hoe zou je het vinden als er mogelijkheden tot interactie zijn tussen de leden van jou vakbond

onderling?

7 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond derde partijen zoals bijvoorbeeld pensioenfondsen,

verzekeringsmaatschappijen en stagebanken?

8 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond goede kennis heeft van de behoeften van haar

leden?

9 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jouw vakbond een gevoel van verbondenheid uitstraalt?

10 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jou vakbond fysieke ontmoetingen met andere leden mogelijk maakt

(bijv. d.m.v. een evenement) om het gevoel van verbondenheid/ saamhorigheid te stimuleren.

11 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jou vakbond virtuele ontmoetingen met andere leden mogelijk maakt

(bijv. d.m.v. forums) om het gevoel van verbondenheid/ saamhorigheid te stimuleren

12 – Hoe zou je het vinden als je binnen jou vakbond leden tegenkomt die in dezelfde positie als jou

zitten (gelijkgestemden)?

13 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond zorg draagt voor een goede belangenbehartiging?

14 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond zorgt voor een gevoel van zekerheid en geborgenheid?

15 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond in voldoende mate invloed kan uitoefenen op bijvoorbeeld

Cao-onderhandelingen?


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16 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jouw vakbond duidelijk aangeeft wat haar doel is en welke diensten zij

aanbiedt?

17 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond adequaat hulp kan bieden aan haar leden wanneer dit nodig

is?

18 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond betrouwbaar is en diensten van goede kwaliteit

aanbiedt?

19 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond zich op een professionele manier presenteert?

20 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jou vakbond over goede online faciliteiten heeft (denk hierbij

bijvoorbeeld aan het aanbod op de site)?

21 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond informatie op een snelle en makkelijk

toegankelijke manier aanbiedt?

22 - Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond een vraaggericht aanbod aan services aanbiedt?

(Betalen naar gebruik i.p.v. een algemeen lidmaatschapstarief)?


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DEEL III

In dit deel van de survey worden je dezelfde stellingen voorgelegd als in het vorige deel. Bij de

stellingen in dit deel zijn de verschillende karakteristieken echter niet aanwezig. Geef wederom aan

welke antwoordoptie het meest jou gevoel bij de situatie beschrijft.

Antwoordopties:

I enjoy it that way Dat stel ik op prijs. I expect it that way Ik verwacht niet anders I am neutral Neutraal I dislike it but can live with it Vervelend, maar kan er mee leven I dislike and do not accept Vervelend en onacceptabel

1 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond niet altijd de meest actuele informatie aanbiedt?

2 – Wat vind je ervan als de informatie die jou vakbond aanbiedt niet betrouwbaar is?

3 – Hou zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond jou niet informeert wanneer zij specifieke

beroepsgerelateerde informatie voor je heeft?

4 – Wat vind je ervan waneer jouw vakbond jou betrekt bij de ontwikkeling van de vakbond?

5 – Hoe zou je het vinden als er geen mogelijkheden tot interactie zijn tussen de vakbond en haar

leden?

6 – Hoe zou je het vinden als er geen mogelijkheden tot interactie zijn tussen de leden van jou

vakbond onderling?

7 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond geen derde partijen zoals bijvoorbeeld pensioenfondsen,

verzekeringsmaatschappijen en stagebanken?

8 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond geen goede kennis heeft van de behoeften van

haar leden?

9 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jouw vakbond niet een gevoel van verbondenheid uitstraalt?

10 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jou vakbond geen fysieke ontmoetingen met andere leden mogelijk

maakt (bijv. d.m.v. een evenement) om het gevoel van verbondenheid/ saamhorigheid te stimuleren.

11 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jou vakbond geen virtuele ontmoetingen met andere leden mogelijk

maakt (bijv. d.m.v. forums) om het gevoel van verbondenheid/ saamhorigheid te stimuleren

12 – Hoe zou je het vinden als je binnen jou vakbond geen leden tegenkomt die in dezelfde positie als

jou zitten (gelijkgestemden)?

13 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond geen zorg draagt voor een goede belangenbehartiging?

14 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond niet zorgt voor een gevoel van zekerheid en geborgenheid?

15 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond in onvoldoende mate invloed kan uitoefenen op

bijvoorbeeld Cao-onderhandelingen?


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16 – Hoe zou je het vinden als jouw vakbond niet duidelijk aangeeft wat haar doel is en welke

diensten zij aanbiedt?

17 – Wat vind je ervan als jouw vakbond geen adequate hulp kan bieden aan haar leden wanneer dit

nodig is?

18 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond niet betrouwbaar is en garant kan staan voor een

goede kwaliteit van haar diensten?

19 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond zich niet op een professionele manier

presenteert?

20 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jou vakbond niet over goede online faciliteiten heeft (denk

hierbij bijvoorbeeld aan het aanbod op de site)?

21 – Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond informatie niet op een snelle en makkelijk

toegankelijke manier aanbiedt?

22 - Hoe zou je het vinden wanneer jouw vakbond geen vraaggericht aanbod aan services aanbiedt?

(Algemeen lidmaatschapstarief i.p.v. betalen naar gebruik)?


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DEEL IV

Dit is het laatste deel van de survey. In dit laatste deel willen we graag nog enkele algemene vragen

stellen over de internetvakbond en enkele demografische vragen.

Hoe vaak bezoek je de site van de internetvakbond?

Dagelijks

Een aantal keren per week

Een keer per week

Een aantal keren per maand

Eens per maand

Minder vaak

Met welke reden bezoek je de site van de internetvakbond over het algemeen?

Om informatie in te winnen

Voor ontspanning

Voor interactie met de internetvakbond

Voor interactie met leden

Als je een cijfer mag geven aan de internetvakbond, wat voor cijfer zou je op dit moment geven op een

schaal van 1-10 (1=erg slecht - 10=uitmuntend)?...........................................

Voor welke organisatie ben je werkzaam? (open)……………………………………….

Sector waarin uw organisatie actief is

Productie

Onderwijs

Overheid

Financiële sector

Groothandel

Detailhandel

Gezondheidszorg

Bouw

Transport

Verzekeringen

Informatietechnologie

Overige

Functie

Consultancy


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Algemeen management

Financiën, administratie

Gezondheidszorg

Inkoop en logistiek

Juridisch

Marketing, PR, reclame

Onderzoek en ontwikkeling

Overheid

Human resources

ICT

Verkoop

Leeftijd

<25

25 - 34

35 - 39

40 - 44

45 - 49

50 - 54

>54

Geslacht

Man/ Vrouw

Opleidingsniveau

Professionele graad

Gepromoveerd

Masters (aan universiteit)

Bachelors (aan HBO of universiteit)

Kandidaats

Universitaire opleiding, geen diploma

MBO

Middelbare school

Overig

Huishouden

Alleenstaand

Met partner (niet-werkend)

Met partner (werkend)

Overig


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In welke regio woon je:

Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland

Utrecht, Zeeland

Noord-Brabant

Limburg, Gelderland

Overijssel, Flevoland

Friesland, Groningen

Drenthe

Werkervaring

Ik ben momenteel…

Full time werkend

Parttime werkend

Niet werkend

Sinds hoeveel jaar werkt u voor uw huidige werkgever? (selecteer één antwoord)

0 - 0,5 jaar 3 - 5 jaar

0,5 - 1 jaar 5 - 10 jaar

1 - 2 jaar 10 of meer jaar

Sinds hoeveel jaar werkt u in uw huidige functie?

0 - 0,5 jaar

0,5 - 1 jaar

1 - 2 jaar

3 - 5 jaar

5 - 10 jaar

10 of meer jaar

Hoeveel verschillende functies of betrekkingen hebt u binnen uw huidige organisatie gehad?

1 - 3

4 - 6

6 - 9

10 of meer

Opmerkingen

We stellen eventuele opmerkingen zeer op prijs: als je nog opmerkingen hebt of vragen wilt stellen

naar aanleiding van deze vragenlijst, kun je deze hier invoeren.


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Appendix 8: Statistical Analyses

8.1 Factor Analysis

A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators

Documents

Transcript of A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators