(Solved Homework): I want you to share a story among yourselves on a personal experience that identifies…

Our firm was a small company engaged into Textile manufacturing. Our fabrics would however act an input to various leading Apparels’ Companies to tailor the garments for men and women clothing, in the given region. However, over the years, we witnessed a gradual decline in the sales of our fabric to these Companies. We assumed that with the advent of immense competition in our region, perhaps the other players in the markets are being able to provide to their fabrics at a more competitive rate than that of ours. We really did not have an active customer service team in place to look into the matter resulting in more misconception of the facts. Then, one day, when the entrepreneur of our Firm got in touch with one of its major clients, it was discovered that the Company was failing to produce quality output of the fabrics. It further had grievances regarding the price that the client had to pay as against the inferior quality of fabric sold to them. Also, the client informed the entrepreneur that none of our employees would work upon the after-sales service part and that the fabrics once bought from us could not be returned back on any ground which made the terms of the deal difficult to bind in for the client.

The entrepreneur came back to his office and called one of his friends to suggest him with some Human Resource expert contact. Eventually, he called upon the Human Resource professional to his office in order to discuss the problems in detail. It was learnt that the Organizational culture did not propagate any customer-responsiveness in the system. Further, the working environment was itself so intense with no adequate physical conducive working condition such as long working hours with minimal breaks, minimum leaves granted to the workers, lack of proper sanitation and lighting facilities at the work station, all of which contributed to the moods and personalities of the workers. They developed a feeling of resentment in them although the compensation was still appropriate and matched the Industry standards. Further, due to lack of customer-responsiveness, the firm failed to understand the changing needs of its clients. As a result, two major changes were proposed in this regard:

1. MAKING PHYSICAL WORK CONDITIONS MORE CONDUCIVE

Here, all efforts were listed down that needs to be undertaken in order to make the work atmosphere more congenial for the smooth functioning of the machines and workers. The ergonomics of the work station were proposed to be changed. Also, with regards to the Time and Motion study, relevant breaks from work and quality cafeteria and sanitation facilities were proposed to be chalked down in details. The leave system was also enhanced thereby motivating the workers to perform better and efficiently.

2. CUSTOMER RESPONSIVENESS

Key Variables Shaping Customer-Responsive Culture in the Organization was studied based upon

a)     The types of employees hired by the organization.

b)     Low formalization: the freedom to meet customer service requirements.

c)     Empowering employees with decision-making discretion to please the customer.

d)     Good listening skills to understand customer messages.

e)     Role clarity that allows service employees to act as “boundary spanners.”

f)      Employees who engage in organizational citizenship behaviors.

Accordingly, actions were detailed to the Entrepreneur in terms of:

Managerial Actions such as:

a)     Select new employees with personality and attitudes consistent with high service orientation.

b)     Train and socialize current employees to be more customer-focused.

c)     Change organizational structure to give employees more control.

d)     Empower employees to make decision about their jobs.

e)     Lead by conveying a customer-focused vision and demonstrating commitment to customers.

f)      Conduct performance appraisals based on customer-focused employee behaviors.

g)     Provide ongoing recognition for employees who make special efforts to please customers.

And then, with the above changes, there was a marked improvement seen in the moods, personalities and overall values of the Organization. Workers and employees showed more commitment towards their work thereby bringing in the system more degree of accountability that vouched for quality products in the market. The customer-responsiveness of the Customer team that was so formed based upon the recommendations, also successfully handled the grievances of various clients. There was a significant improvement hence in the overall work culture of the Company thereby bringing more laurels and goodwill apart from revenues, back in the business.