The Hindu Business Line : You can’t centralise ideas

To Nandan Nilekani business creativity is in understanding different trends and different incidents that are completely unconnected in some ways and saying, “Hey, maybe if we take these two or three things together, this is the likely way thing s will go. If we do the right thing, we can take advantage of that.”

A lot of business creativity has to do with visualising a future that others don’t see, explains Nilekani, co-Chairman of Infosys, in one of the essays included in Creativity: Unconventional Wisdom from 20 Accomplished Minds edited by Herb Meyers and Richard Gerstman ( www.palgrave.com). “You can’t predict where the idea will come from, nor can you centralise ideas. But you can create an ecosystem where ideas flourish,” he says. Karim Rashid, a renowned designer, declares, in a different chapter, that we are all born creative. Yet, we need to be encouraged to be creative, he argues. A major hurdle, according to him, is laziness. To Steven Holl, who was named ‘America’s Best Architect’ in 2001 by Time magazine, creativity is the breaking out of the habitual ways of thinking. “Creativity is central to our survival. Imagination is central to our survival. Without these, we are dead.” Creative people are driven by factors of validation and a sense of acknowledgement, says Chris Bangle, BMW Group chief of design. “That does not mean they need a third party to do the acknowledging.” “Often it can be a dialogue only between the designer and the creation, but this needs to be a loop of personal satisfaction to the tune of: ‘I came, I designed, you exist.’ The bigger the loop and the more people that enter into it, the more energy a creative person is usually rewarded with.” Great collection.

Service quality, a customer issue

Service Quality Management in Hospitality and Tourism
Ed: Jay Kandampully, Connie Mok and Beverley Sparks

A hotel may proclaim that it gives the best service. A resort’s ad message may trumpet its supremacy in quality. But, in the ultimate analysis, service quality is a customer issue, says Service Quality Management in Hospitality an d Tourism, edited by Jay Kandampully, Connie Mok and Beverley Sparks ( www.jaicobooks.com).

“As harsh as it may sound, it does not matter what the service provider thinks; if the customer is not satisfied then the service has failed.” Organisations can be successful when they can diagnose their customer expectations fully and satisfy them completely, the authors suggest. Measurement techniques in the industry are both qualitative and quantitative. The simplest and the least expensive technique is unobtrusive observation, the book recommends. In this, the managers take a step back from operational duty to observe, map and analyse the many interactions that take place daily between the organisation and its customers. One of the least employed techniques, though most effective, is the one-to-one customer interview. An example they cite is of the Joondalup Resort Complex in Western Australia, which makes it a priority to follow up on each and every function held in the resort. The resort’s managers have discovered such a personal approach “allows for a greater chance of recovery and differentiation in the marketplace.” But recovery is possible only if the staff realise there is a failure. It is not uncommon to be confronted with denials and avoidances. Avoidance happens when the staff chooses to remain ‘back of house’ or changes the topic ‘to an aspect of the service that has been satisfactory.’

A survival guide to the eager traveller.

D. Murali

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