IKEA and Customer Service and Organisational Effectiveness - Admission/Application Essay Example

IKEA and Service and Organisational Effectiveness IKEA is one of the most successful firms in the world and deals with furniture and other interior design products. With its roots in Sweden, IKEA has become an icon for affordable furniture around the world. Being a furniture seller, the firm has been on the receiving end of various accusations of improper conduct, especially with regard to the way the firm treats the environment. However, one issue touching that the firm ha been unable to deal with is effectiveness in its delivery of goods to customers. This issue has been seen to hurt the image of the firm in a very deep way due to the fact that it reveals the firm in a negative picture. The issue at hand is an issue of poor customer service caused by a poor delivery system as a result of poorly coordinated logistics. The customer ordered a piece of furniture from IKEA and was not able to get the piece of furniture until months later, despite receiving messages of deliver from both IKEA and its logistics provide, UX Logistics. Yet, the customer was not able to get proper communication from the firm, and the customer service employees were unwilling to offer any help. This has happened to many customers who order goods from IKEA and end up having to spend weeks and months in end without ever having the product delivered. This as Winter (para 5) shows, is an internal issue whch becaue even internal managers who have tried to improve the delivery system and the overall customer experice have expalined their frustrations. This not only shows that the firm has failed in developing a good relationship with its customers, but also shows that the firm does not have a good ethical infrastructure in place. For a firm as big as IKEA, the placement of well laid customer service standards and infrastructure is not an option if the firm is going to survive in the long run. The second issue which emanates from this issue is the fact that IKEA does not have the need or the desire to improve its customer experience. This is indicated not only in this particular scenario but actually in many other issues in the past which the firm has been unable to handle properly. For instance, there are other cases where it was alleged that IKEA officials spied on customers who companied of late delivery and asked for compensation for the same. IKEA also seems to be unaware of the fact that it does not have a well laid mechanism to deal with delivery issues like these. For any firm of IKEA’s proportion, there should already be a well laid plan on how to deliver goods to customers in time and in good shape, and to make sure that the firm avoids such circumstances. IKEA seems to depend of other entities to serve the customer. In the above scenario, the issue was the fact that that there was miscommunication between the firm and its logistics provider. As a result of this miscommunication, the firm was unable to establish whether the customer received her goods or not. The situation indicates that IKEA did not handle the issue of the customer whose order had been delayed for too long. Although the IKEA compensated her, there was no customer relations process which was initiated to make sure that the customer was appeased and that the rest of the customers would be assured that such a situation is not business as usual. In such a situation, firms like IKEA should be able to know that just compensating the customer monetarily was not enough. The firm should have done something more, in order to mend the situation and make the customer feel that this is not the way they carry out business. Instead of this, the firm chose to keep the customer going back and forth between IKEA customer care and the UX Logistics firm. There was no solution being developed for the situation and this led to the customer getting frustrated. This thus ruined any chances of reconciliation between the customer and the firm. The way IKEA handled the situation is a very big mistake because the way a firm treats one customer in an indication of how it would treat any other customer. IKEA has been the recipient of such complaints of failed or unduly delayed deliveries and this has ruined the image of the firm. What pains a majority of customers who complained about the customer service is the fact that their issues are treated with oblivion and no serious measures or actions are ever taken to help solve the problem. Handling the situation Instead of choosing to develop a way to solve a solution and know how to deal with the customer’s complaint, IKEA chose to ignore the firm and pretend that her complaints were not real. In such a delicate situation, there is always a need for the firm to be very diplomatic and to come up with ways of making sure that only the least possible damage would be incurred by the firm in terms of its public image. IKEA should have tried to be more diplomatic in the situation and try to understand the customer’s issues. However, there was no sign of IKEA trying to go to the bottom of the matter and establishing the reality of the issue and to establish whether the accusations were true or not. By failing to address the issue in this way and choosing to choosing to ignore the customer, IKEA not only confirmed that the allegations about its poor customer service and delivery system are true, but also confirmed that it was not ready or willing to address it in the right way. This lack of professionalism on the part of the firm is an indication that the firm was not prepared to handle this kind of matter. IKEA also showed a very adamant level of disrespect for its customers and this leaves a question on how the firm operates. Works Cited Winter, Jessica. The Magnificent Nightmare of the Billy Bookcase Ikea is so good at so many things. Why is it so bad at delivery? 22 August 2013. 18 November 2013 . Read More