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Enhancing customer
service and
organizational learning
through qualitative
research
Peter R.J. Trim and
Yang-Im Lee
The authors
Peter R.J. Trim is a Lecturer in Management at Birkbeck College,
University of London, London, UK. He teaches a number of
marketing courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and
is currently undertaking research into corporate intelligence and
national security.
Yang-Im Lee is a Lecturer in the School of Business and
Management at Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK. She is a
marketing specialist and is at present researching various
aspects of marketing strategy and international management.
Keywords
Research, Communication, Culture (sociology), Learning,
Marketing, Partnership
Qualitative research
Abstract
In order to develop a sustainable competitive advantage in the
knowledge based economy, senior managers need to ensure that
customer relationship management is placed within a clearly
defined organizational culture that embraces organizational
learning. Senior managers are required to exhibit a proactive
approach to leadership that results in creative solutions being
found to solve complex problems. Open communication
reinforces the decision-making process and allows mutually
based partnership arrangements to develop. This being the case,
the network approach to business development can be viewed,
as collectivist in orientation and this should allow partnership
arrangements to be developed through time.
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Organizational learning
De Weerd-Nederhof et al. (2002, pp. 320-321)
have indicated that the word learning encompasses
individual, group and organizational learning. It is
important to place learning in a multidimensional
context because marketing managers do need to
identify which management training and
development programmes are appropriate for their
staff. A customer oriented culture will provide a
platform for relevant training programmes (Rubin,
1995) that are viewed as relevant and necessary,
which result in organizational learning objectives
being set and achieved. Becoming a learning
organization should prove beneficial in the sense
that Hitt (1996, p. 16) has indicated that there are
two interrelated reasons why organizations
become learning organizations: survival and
excellence. In a customer driven era it would seem
logical that an organization is driven by the
concept of excellence owing to the fact that senior
managers are being continually asked to search for
new ways to improve the performance of the
organization to meet specific objectives (increasing
market share and providing higher returns to
shareholders, for example).
It is becoming increasingly important to realize
that this is a day and age characterized by ideas and
knowledge, and staffs are known to work more
independently than earlier (Appelbaum and
Gallagher, 2000, pp. 43-44). By harnessing and
using the knowledge within an organization, it is
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Open communication
Communication is an important, but under
recognized aspect of management. One would
think that the better-educated workers are, the
more they will see the need to co-operate and share
information. This is not necessarily the case in
an organizational culture driven by individual
self-esteem and underpinned by the concept of
individualism. Open communication can and does
result in teamwork and the achievement of goals,
however, too much transparency can result in
jealousies and embitterment, and inevitably lead to
conflict. Conflict may be the result of individuals
competing, but it may transpire as a result of
groups competing (within a department/function/
strategic business unit or between staff at different
locations or between staff in a joint venture/
strategic alliance) for specific rewards.
Appelbaum and Gallagher (2000, p. 50) are
correct in suggesting that communication is a
critical factor with respect to the successful
implementation of change within an organization.
Appelbaum and Gallagher (2000, p. 51) have also
referred to a key point made by Senge, who is
attributed with the saying that a learning
organization encourages and embraces dialogue.
What is evident is that it is essential for managers
to invest sufficient time in developing and
cultivating relationships with staff within the
organization that they work for and with staff in
actual and potential partner organizations.
Research undertaken by McKenna (1999, p. 775)
Proactive leadership
Schein (1992) has made various links between
organizational culture and leadership. One of
the key points to emerge from the literature is
that the value system of top management can be
transferred to those lower down the hierarchy and
as a consequence staff throughout the organization
can improve the image of the organization by
transforming their energies into certain outputs.
Bearing this in mind, organizational performance
can be improved through ensuring that the guiding
beliefs of senior managers override the daily beliefs
of subordinate staff (Davis, 1984). This being the
case, it should be possible for new leadership styles
to emerge that lead to change being appropriately
managed. It also means that current thinking
relating to leadership style as explained by
Kakabadse (2000) needs to be viewed positively by
all the employees of the organization as
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Relationship marketing
In order to have a customer service policy in place,
it is necessary to have a customer-oriented culture
that underpins the concept of relationship
marketing (Lewis and Gabrielsen, 1998, p. 66).
This being the case, it should be possible for
marketing managers to formulate and implement a
customer driven marketing oriented strategy
(Doyle, 1994; Porter, 1996). When auditing the
marketing strategy process, it is realistic to suggest
that marketers need to have a firm understanding
of how their colleagues view the customer
development and retention process. For example,
Gummesson (1999, p. 9) has suggested that
relationship building, and in particular the
development of long term relationships, need to be
viewed from a win-win perspective. This suggests
that the relationship marketing concept represents
a paradigm shift in marketing as indeed Gronroos
(1996) has suggested. As a result of this paradigm
shift, both marketing practitioners and marketing
academics need to think in terms of new ways to
develop and test new marketing theories and
approaches.
A number of issues emerge which need
attention. For example, it can be suggested that we
are living in an image-oriented era, and because of
this, both individuals and organizations are
concerned about the way in which they are viewed
and perceived. Wei (2002) has highlighted why it is
necessary to differentiate between image and
identity, and has linked psychology to image
enhancement and perception. Market-driven
companies are implementing customer-focused
strategies and this is to provide higher levels of
customer satisfaction (Achrol and Kotler, 1999,
p. 147). In order to be effective, a long term
relationship needs to be based on mutual trust.
Security management
The link between security management and
marketing has not been fully explored in the
literature. Trim (2002, pp. 262-3) has indicated
that security will hold the attention of staff at the
apex of the organization for years to come. As well
as issues of fraud and industrial espionage, the
work of computer hackers will need attention.
Indeed, senior management will need to ensure
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Conclusion
The strategic marketing concept is both relevant
and useful as it integrates a number of related and
semi-related bodies of knowledge into a logical way
of analysing and interpreting the actions of
companies, customers and governments. The
strategic marketing concept also allows marketing
mangers to establish how the business
environment is changing and allows various
mechanisms to be put in place to monitor
developments as and when they occur. In order to
remain competitive, a company will be required to
develop a sustainable competitive advantage that it
can maintain through time. This means that senior
management will need to ensure that the company
invests in the latest technology and furthermore,
various marketing managers are required to
identify how their subordinates can develop their
skill base through time. Marketing managers will
increasingly need to work more closely with
specialists in the human resource management
function to put in place staff development
programmes. This should ensure that staff have
the relevant skills that they need to undertake a
growing range of complex assignments.
References
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Achrol, R.S. and Kotler, P. (1999), Marketing in the network
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