The Psychology of Waiting Lines
The Psychology of Waiting Lines
By David H. Maister
Introduction
In one of a series of memorable advertisements for which it has become justly famous, Federal Express (the overnight package delivery service) noted that: "Waiting is frustrating, demoralizing, agonizing, aggravating, annoying, time consuming and incredibly expensive." (1)
The truth of this assertion cannot be denied: there can be few consumers of services in a modern society who have not felt, at one time or another, each of the emotions identified by Federal Express ' copywriters. What is more, each of us who can recall such experiences can also attest to the fact that the waiting-line experience in a service facility significantly affects our overall perceptions of the quality of service provided.
Once we are being served, our transaction with the service organization may be efficient, courteous and complete: but the bitter taste of how long it took to get attention pollutes the overall judgments that we make about the quality of service
The mathematical theory of waiting lines (or queues) has received a great deal of attention from academic researchers and their results and insights have been successfully applied in a variety of settings. (2) However, most of this work is concerned with the objective reality of various 'queue management ' techniques: for example, what the effects are upon average waiting times of adding servers, altering 'queue discipline ' (the order in which customers are served), speeding up serving times, and so on. What has been relatively neglected, however, is much substantive discussion of the experience of waiting.
As Levitt reminds us, "Products are consumed, services are experienced." Accordingly, if managers are to concern themselves with how long their customers or clients wait in line for service (as, indeed, they should), then they must pay attention not only to the readily-measurable, objective, reality of waiting times, but also how those waits are
By David H. Maister
Introduction
In one of a series of memorable advertisements for which it has become justly famous, Federal Express (the overnight package delivery service) noted that: "Waiting is frustrating, demoralizing, agonizing, aggravating, annoying, time consuming and incredibly expensive." (1)
The truth of this assertion cannot be denied: there can be few consumers of services in a modern society who have not felt, at one time or another, each of the emotions identified by Federal Express ' copywriters. What is more, each of us who can recall such experiences can also attest to the fact that the waiting-line experience in a service facility significantly affects our overall perceptions of the quality of service provided.
Once we are being served, our transaction with the service organization may be efficient, courteous and complete: but the bitter taste of how long it took to get attention pollutes the overall judgments that we make about the quality of service
The mathematical theory of waiting lines (or queues) has received a great deal of attention from academic researchers and their results and insights have been successfully applied in a variety of settings. (2) However, most of this work is concerned with the objective reality of various 'queue management ' techniques: for example, what the effects are upon average waiting times of adding servers, altering 'queue discipline ' (the order in which customers are served), speeding up serving times, and so on. What has been relatively neglected, however, is much substantive discussion of the experience of waiting.
As Levitt reminds us, "Products are consumed, services are experienced." Accordingly, if managers are to concern themselves with how long their customers or clients wait in line for service (as, indeed, they should), then they must pay attention not only to the readily-measurable, objective, reality of waiting times, but also how those waits are
References: Buffa, E.S. (1983), Modern Production/Operations Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Doob, L.W. (1960), Patterning of Time. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Sasser, W.E., J. Olsen, and D.D. Wyckoff (1979), Management of Service Operations: Text, Cases and Readings. New York: Allyn and Bacon. This article is from THE SERVICE ENCOUNTER edited by John a Czepiel, Michael R. Solomon and Carol Suprenant, © 1985 by D.C. Heath and Company, Lexington Books. David Maister is the author of Managing the Professional Service Firm (1993), True Professionalism (1997), The Trusted Advisor (2000) (coauthor), Practice What You Preach (2001) and First Among Equals (2002) (coauthor.) Prior to launching his (solo but global) consulting practice in 1985, he served as a professor at the Harvard Business School. TEL: 1-617-262-5968 E-MAIL: HTUdavid@davidmaister.comUTH WEBSITE: HTUwww.davidmaister.comUTH You can automatically receive David’s future articles via e-mail (at no cost) by registering on his web site (HTUwww.davidmaister.comUTH). Copyright 2005 David H. Maister Page 9 of 9 www.davidmaister.com