Hi Adrienne,

One reason why "strangers" ("secret visitors") should be trusted is
because most visitors to museums - like shoppers in retail stores - ARE
strangers.  Shouldn't the evaluation of front-line staff include - but
not depend entirely upon - the "visitor experience"?  Supervisors cannot
evaluate how visitors process their experience with front-line staff.
Just because the front-line staff follow set procedures - and appear to
be friendly, efficient, helpful, etc. to their supervisors - does not
mean the front-line staff are performing their jobs well.

As well, there may be a potential benefit from such a "secret visitor"
process to change aspects of a museum's set procedure.  (For example:
What if multiple "secret visitors" consistently point to the same flaw
amongst a variety of front-line staff?  Perhaps it's not the staff, but
the set procedure that needs improvement . . .)

Best wishes, sincerely,

Jay Heuman
Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum
2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone)   342-2376 (fax)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Fine art is that in which the hand, the head
and the heart go together."
                          John Ruskin, 1819-1900
                          The Two Paths. Lecture ii.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Adrienne DeAngelis
> Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 1:31 pm
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: "secret shoppers" to evaluate tours
>
> Hello--
> The problem with "secret shoppers" is that they are frequently
> tempted to exaggerate their experiences. I don't see why a
> supervisor cannot simply pay better attention to what happens
> in the shop or in other parts of the museum in order to judge
> how the workers are working. Why are strangers to be trusted
> with providing information that could affect someone's job?
>
>         Adrienne DeAngelis
>         Resources in Art History for Graduate Students
>         (http://www.efn.org/~acd/resources.html)
>         [log in to unmask]

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