Reviewed by Erin Kaiser
“Small things make all the difference in business,” stated Michael Levine. This concept opened up the eyes of Levine and inspired him to produce a book that would open insight to all business owners and consumers. Levine has put together key ideas to help people understand that a successful business and management style is possible and can reap great benefits.
The metaphor “Broken Windows” is used frequently throughout the book. This metaphor lets people imagine a broken window as a sign of a weak company or poor management style. Levine chooses this metaphor because he wants to point out that even small problems will increase a company’s possibility of going out of business. Levine emphasizes that inevitably every business has flaws but when a consumer notices the flaws, the company is at risk of losing a customer. Management needs to take care of the small problems such as peeling wallpaper or a broken window immediately so consumers will stay loyal to the company.
Every business is part of a very competitive market that leaves no room for error. Many companies fall short of their competition resulting in failed businesses and lost consumers. This book teaches business owners how to find the small problems so improvements can occur. Levine stresses the importance of customer feedback such as surveys, because some problems go unnoticed by solely employees or management. The theory also encourages businesses to go above and beyond what is expected in order to capture an audience and new consumers. People enjoy companies that do things for their customers and expect no extra money or commitment from them. For example the store IKEA created a children’s play area where parents could drop their children off while they enjoyed shopping around the store. This extra bonus was completely free to the shoppers and was a great tactic by IKEA because this set the company apart from its competition, and consumers took notice in a very positive way.
One of the most important parts of this theory, which was constantly mentioned by Levine, is that the worst “broken windows” are people. Employees can make or break a company since they play a major role in the customer service process. Most business owners are not available to greet every customer that walks in their business and, therefore they rely heavily on their employees to constantly make a good impression on every customer. Management needs to hire people based on this idea and needs to always be evaluating their staff. Consumers judge a business not only on its appearance but mainly on the employees’ attitude and helpfulness. People become very irritated and sometimes one bad experience will result in someone never returning to that business again.
This book also covered other types of organizations that do not always have visible “broken windows” because they have no physical location. For example, Internet Web sites can be full of “broken windows.” When something goes wrong with a company’s Web Site such as not being well organized, the public will find the problem immediately and become increasingly annoyed with the company, and most businesses do not notice there is a problem until it is much too late. This book is full of important aspects of business that are easily over looked and can truly help the success of a business.
Michael Levine’s approach to management was very effective throughout the book. I believe he explained his broken window theory with great examples that can be easily understood by the public. I think that this book is capable of making a huge impact on business owners because of his use of the broken window metaphor. Levine created a new way of approaching business that makes perfect sense especially to consumers who have expectations for companies. I believe the broken window theory is closely associated with the Total Quality Management Model. Both management styles are unique in certain ways but also produce some of the same concepts such as creating an atmosphere based on what the consumers want. These theories take a closer look into the world of their consumers and guides businesses to focus their attention on being consistent, reliable and useful. These management styles encourage managers to form an understanding with their employees and have the common goal of raising the standard of excellence. The information in the book was presented logically and provided numerous examples of real life situations.
I would recommend this book to other public relations students because this is a very useful book and will provide answers to many questions regarding management. I found this book to be an easy read for students because the book’s use of metaphors made management approaches simple to understand even for non business majors. The book pointed out a lot of common issues that arise as problems in businesses. As a consumer, I agree with everything Levine was trying to teach. I enjoyed this book because it talks about how the small things in life are what truly matter. I live by this concept every day, and I believe it comes with much truth because in reality many people do ignore the small things which results in bigger problems. This book is great for people who want to make a difference and be successful at running a business. I plan on keeping this book as a reference guide so that one day when I enter into the professional world I will have an idea of how to be successful, and the book will give me the opportunity to share my success with others.
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