Customer Driven Or Quality Driven - Essay Example

Customer Driven Organisation Culture Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Introduction Many organizations are failing in their service delivery because they have a very weak organizational culture, which makes them lack a sense of direction (Thompson & Martin, 122). Recently I was appointed a manager in a well known local organization, which deals both with service and products delivery. Its weak organization culture has been its source of weak performance. This paper entails a strategy of what to do in order to build a strong organizational culture as well as to b able to develop a customer driven organization. It is very important for an organization to maintain the loyalty of the customers. The culture an organization employees in its management is the main determining factor in this matter. Organizational culture refers to the basic but shared, discovered, developed or invented assumptions by an organization for the purpose of helping it to be able to cope with emerging challenges both the as a result of internal integration and external adaptation. The culture of an organization has to do with what the organization is and something that it has. Human resource strategy models These refers to all the practices as well as policies that the management of an organization uses to design the work as well as select develop and train, motivate, appraise and control the employees in the organization (Mullins, 79). There are three models of namely the control based, resource based and then an intergraded model, which combines the first two. Control based type of model involved in the strategic management of the human resource globally, entails the ways in which the management tries to control as well as monitor the role of the employees in the performance of the organization. It is very important for any management to be able to control the behaviours of the employees in the organization because if they can not then it means the achievement of the organization’s goals and objectives may not be reached. This means that any organization must be in a position to transform its labour power into labour itself. This will be done through ensuring that all the employees that are hired have the capacity to do the work. This will be done by organizing space, task, time and movement within the operations of the workers. In addition, it is very important for the management to understand that all of the workers have very different needs in term of space, time, rewards, job security and their capacity to work (Hill & Jones, 100). The workers behaviour enables the management to be able to control the operations of the organization meaning that proper management of the human resource will enable them to understand the workers behaviours hence proper strategic management. Resource based model entails reward efforts through the process of managers viewing their employees as the organizations assets. Apart from the organizations focusing on competition with their rivals, it is also very important for it to think beyond the existence problems and try to improve the company’s ways of operations by ensuring that the employees are getting the knowledge they need especially on what is happening in the market at that particular point (Mullins, 200). This is where the issue of knowledge management comes in. There are a number of advantages of sharing knowledge in an organization as a way of managing the human resource, which are as follows. It leads to improved level of creativity at a personal level hence leading to the creation of a room for innovation It leads the organization to a point of realizing economy of scale and so lowering the production costs. It ensures the company maintains consistency in terms of the quality of its services and products. It also enables the organization or the organization repeating the mistakes it had committed. Improves responsiveness in terms of competition Improves the organization’s process of decision making Investors in People Investor in People refers to one of the management tools used in the achievement of the best management. The framework has three Principles. Planning involves the development of the strategies that will be used in the improvement of the performance of the organization in terms of the objectives and goals. The planning skill means that the manager must be able to have the objectives, the mission, the vision, the core values the strategies the resources and the budget of the organization with him and all must be operational. He also needs to be able to apply the eight steps of planning in the organization or the business (Finlay, 99). The plan that is done for the organization must also have very SMART strategies and objectives meaning they should be very specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. The second principle involves do, meaning the implementation stage of the strategies, vision, mission and the objectives, finally the principle of reviewing. Reviewing entails the process of evaluation as well adjustment of the strategies. The three principles also involve ten indicators that are used of which each of the indicators is further sub-divided into a number of requirements, which are thirty nine in total. The requirements of the standards and their benefits to the organization This is one of the most effective investment tools for any organization as well as businesses. It is aimed at the advancement of the organizations performances through their employees. It is very helpful to the organization in the achievement of the objectives as well as in the development of the human resource of the organization. One of the main standards of the tool is the three principles of which each organization must subscribe to and has some indicators, which must be the organizations key target. It provides a very flexible kind of framework for use by the organization (Black, 144). It is also very helpful in the process of mirroring the organization’s plan cycle ensuring that it is very clear as well as easy for it to follow and implement the plan that has been put forth for the organization. It also enables the organization to have strategies which improves the performance of the organization, ensures that process of learning as well development is very well planned, it also ensures that the strategies that are made for the management of human resource promotes equality. It helps the managers to be effective and efficient in their management and leadership skills, the people are also involved in the management of the organization and finally the investment in the people is geared towards the improvement of the organizations performance. What is e-learning? E-learning refers to the use of the technology, which enables the people to be able to learn any time and anywhere they wish to. It entails the process of learning, delivering information as well as expertise to people even at a very large distance from each other (Salder & Craig, 78). The innovations in terms of technology as well as the issue of business and organization enlargement have brought the issue of e-learning. This is also due to the fact that the management of the organization can not afford the time to bring together all the employees of the organization together for a training section and so the management may opt to post the training information on the website for the employees to access it and then get the desired knowledge. This means that the management’s main aim of introducing the e-learning is to be able to overcome the main challenge of time, distance and limited resources. In addition, it enables the people to be bale to learn at different times as well as ways. There are different methods of e-learning namely the a synchronous e-learning like self places and the discussion, synchronous e-learning like the virtual classroom, chat, video conferencing, audio conferencing, shared whiteboard, instant messaging, application sharing and finally the developing and management e-learning like the knowledge management, learning the contents of the management systems and learning the management system. Outdoor training activity Out-door training activities are very much in use in the training of the middle managers all over the world. It should be noted that though it has a number of advantages in the sense that it breaks the monotony of the trainees being trained indoors as well as making it friendlier since it is not done in so much a formal manner, it can also have some other short comings. This is especially considering the issues of ethics and safety (Salder & Craig, 199). It would be a very good experience if the training were done during the summer period since the trainees will enjoy the good weather. Some of the following are the main cons of the outdoor training and these factors must be very well considered before the activity is undertaken. Bad weather like the winter season can really interfere with the health as well as the safety of the trainees. This is because of the cold weather as well as the possibility of glaciations. The environment safety in terms of the reception by the community of the surrounding where the activity will be held. This is because in case the community is very hostile then it means that the activity can be serious interfered with as well as the safety of the trainees. The accessibility of infrastructure before as well as after the meeting by the trainees is also a factor of concern and the sanitation in the neighbourhood, the cost –time effectiveness is also to be considered. Another very important concern is that the materials and the equipment to be used for the activity may get very dirty, slimy, rusty, or even have mould growing on them as well as the issue of bugs taking some residence in them. This is likely to occur in the winter season. If it happens then it means that there will be a very serious damage on the equipments of which some are very expensive to buy as well as maintain. This means that the cost of materials and equipment maintenance is also very high as far as outdoor training is concerned. Also if done during the cold weather it would really make the participants suffers because of the issue of muscle pulls. In addition, it is very likely that the equipment may also not be used even after being set in an outdoor training meaning it is a waste if time. Finally, it will be very time consuming as well as finances since it will require some extra effort in those areas for the planning of the event. Finally, there is a possible of low turn up in such an e vent due to some personal inconveniences. Service marketing Unlike products, services have impact that is more direct on the customers. Thus, marketing of services ought to be more deliberate and considered. The competencies of a service provider and his resources need to be audited carefully. Services require to be positioned appropriately for them to be bought by customers. As opposed to products, services are more intractable. Services need to be defined precisely and be designed in an appropriate service product mix (Hannagan, 59). Promotion of products is less challenging as opposed to promotion of services due to intangible nature of services. Another unique aspect of services is that one basic service can be provided in many different service business enterprises, which are involved in provision of different levels of amenities and luxuries. Services are also unique in that similar services can be delivered in different ways. Marketing mix used in marketing services conveys how the service is positioned in the market. Apart from being intangible, services have other unique features such as perishability, variability and presence of other consumers. Thus during marketing of services, the marketing mix ought to differentiate the service from competition on attributes that are highly valued by the target customers. This implies that the marketers ought to make two vital decisions: choose the target market and create differential advantage. Therefore, service marketing requires that marketers be able to know where to compete and how to compete (Black, 177). The 4Ps of marketing is the best known way through which the marketing mix is defined which was first expressed by E J McCarthy. The 4Ps are product, price, place and promotion. The product is what the consumer wants from the service or product. It also entails the needs satisfied by the product or service. The product also describes the features that the product or a service has that enable it to satisfy the needs of customers. It includes things that the marketers do to make the product or service to be more attractive to customers so that they can buy it. Thus, products include the physical product or service itself, elements associated with the service or product such as packaging or the way the service is delivered, quality, features, options, warranties, brand name, and features. These attributes of a product or a service ought to meet the needs of a specified target market. For instance, a luxury service ought to create the right image for consumers who have everything. Place on the other hand describes decisions that marketers have to make on where to sell the product or the service. It may also entail the location of the customers and how to reach them (Barney, 660). Place also takes into consideration all channels of distribution that are needed to get the product to the customers. On the other hand, promotion is the mode used by marketers to describe the product or the service to potential customers. Promotion may be mass selling, sales promotion, or personal selling. Mass selling involves advertising which a firm pays for or publicity, which is free of charge. Sales promotion entails things that marketers do to get the consumers to try the service or the product or coupons, contests and free samples. Price refers to how much the firm charge for its product or service. Pricing is used by marketers when the price for their product or service is lower than that of competitors. High priced products fetch more profits but are hard to maintain especially where there are more competitors or where the product or service quality is compromised. Thus pricing of products or services is dependent on the value the product or the service renders to the consumer. The price of services or products can be determined through various means such as cost plus, value based, competitive, going rate, skimming, discount, loss leader or psychological based (Peter, 50). Service recovery Services encounters acknowledge that any terrible ending often dominate the recollection of the experience of a person. In most cases, customers do not notice how long it takes the service to be delivered when they are engaged mentally and hence service marketers often take advantage of this to engage their customers mentally (Harris, 177). Furthermore, more often than not customers desperately want to make sense out of unexpected events. The service encounters should therefore be studied from the customer’s point of view. Marketers should finish strongly, ensure they get the bad experience out of the way early, segment the pleasure, combine the pain and build commitment via choice and offer people rituals and stick to them. On the other hand, service recovery ensures that angry customers are assuaged through well-intentioned, apt, and prompt recovery. This requires that all stakeholders at the firm have the motivation, skill and authority to make service recovery to be the main component of service operation. In order to attain high service standards the service delivery system need to be production oriented. Conclusion Good culture in an organization are basically characterized by values and norms that supports excellence, profitability, teamwork, customer services that is well oriented, honesty, commitment and pride in an individuals work (Cummings & Worley, 88). The management must also be very adaptive and ready to work hard to survive in the competitive world through improvisation of new technologies which are very innovative for the purpose of coming up with new strains of growth. In order for the organization to attract and keep the customers there must be a culture of peaceful coexistence amongst the employees, management and the stakeholders. There is clear and well defined equity in the manner in which the customers will be handled. This is because if an organization treats some of its customers better than other then it means it may lose its customers on the ground that some will feel neglected. There should be mature use of the moral judgment in any decision that the organization will undertake. The organization culture will be used as one of the managerial tools in the organization. The challenge in the use of this tool is that many managers do not understand whether the managers should use management to control the culture or to adapt to the culture. The organization will use the management simply as a symbol of action in the sense that the shared understandings will be the source of managerial accomplishment. Works Cited Barney, John. Organizational Culture: Can It Be a Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage? Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 2006: 656-665. Black, Richard. Organizational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success. London: John Wiley and Sons, 2003. Cummings, Thomas & Worley, Christopher. Organization Development and Change, 8th Ed. New York: Thomson South-Western. 2005. Finlay, Patrick. Strategic management: an introduction to business and corporate strategy. New York: Pearson Education, 2000. Hannagan, Michael. Management concepts and practice. England: Prentice hall, 2005.  Harris, Stanley. "Organizational Culture and Individual Sensemaking: A Schema-Based Perspective." Organization Science, 5(3) 2004: 309–321. Hill, Cate. & Jones, George. Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach (8th Ed.). California: Cengage Learning, 2007. Mullins, Laurie. Management and Organizational Behaviour. New York: FT Prentice Hall, 2005. Peter, Fredrick. The practice of management. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Salder, Patrick, & Craig, John. Strategic management, 2nd Ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers. 2003. Thompson, John & Martin, Ford. Strategic management: awareness and change, 5th Ed. California: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2005. Read More