Developing the Business Managers Relationship Ladder - Essay Example

Service Quality, Employee Engagement and Loyalty Developing the Business Manager's Relationship Ladder November 30, 2006 Service Quality,Employee Engagement and Customer Loyalty 1 Developing the Business Manager's Relationship Ladder 1 November 30, 2006 1 2 Introduction 3 Hypothesis Statement 4 Rationale 5 Literature Review 6 Quality of Service 6 Zones of Tolerance 6 Employee Engagement 8 Incentive Programs 9 Customer Loyalty 10 Merits of Loyalty Programs 11 Research Methodology 11 Inductive Phenomenology 12 Research Scope and Plan 13 Primary Data Gathering 15 Data Analysis 16 Conclusion 17 Bibliography 19 Introduction The nature of this study is to explore the relationship of service quality, employee engagement and customer loyalty towards improving customer service in order to increase performance. Developing an understanding of the effect of management strategy on sales staff and service quality towards customer service does this. The target set of customers (or beneficiaries) is the central strategic planning element to the business because it provides the organisation's primary focus in meeting financial objectives in the sales department (Financial Services Forecast World 2005). The organisation's decision-makers choose the sales staff and revenue measurements of activities that the organisation will use to meet the customers' requirements, and the conclusion is the perception of the customer. The organisation's decision makers also choose performance measurement systems to monitor and assess how well the organisation meets customers' requirements and the organisation's broader objectives that led to choosing the target set of customers. Customer-validated performance measures reflect customer requirements and help employees manage the value chain's processes and activities by concentrating their attention on improving what matters to the customer (Frazer-Robinson 1997). For the purposes of this study, quality customer service is a multi-stage measurement. This is defined by the customer's expected service level on dimensions of reliability, timeliness, responsiveness and competence from the company's perspective at the time of encounter, before the staff performed the required service for the customer (Stoneman 2001). In short, this is expediting service for the customer. Furthermore, the employee understanding of customer expectations about the sales person's experience, media skills and creative skills as well as how the sales person acknowledges the service quality (Stoneman 2001). The relationship quality is the perceived service level on the above dimensions of the customer and sales person relationship (Stoneman 2001). Therefore, customer satisfaction is a focal point in this research as a cumulative, abstract affective construct that describes the total client's experience with the staff and is measured by the satisfaction with service quality expertise, skills performance and overall satisfaction with agency performance (Frazer-Robinson 1997). This will further assist in developing the ultimate goal to directly influence sales performance of service managers and consequently increase performance, but most importantly because sales are the main focus of the company direction (McCormick 2005). Therefore, it becomes important to describe the constructs between sales staff, service quality and customer service, but also to understand the commitments of the employee's towards customer service (McCormick 2005). This research project aims to improve employee engagement by improving customer satisfaction and retention through the development of a relationship ladder that describes the service manager's environment. Describing the employee's engagement in customer service through qualitative methods described later will do this. Utilising employee engagement theories to examine employee engagement in customer service and increase customer retention is a profitable and promoted method of development (Deloitte 2005). Employees who deal directly with customers are essentially the front-line of the company; they represent the facility to the customer (Deloitte 2005). In a service sales environment, the customers' first impression of the facility is important. The professionalism attitude, motivation and expertise of the employee are all part of this first impression (Deloitte 2005). There are many services for employee motivation and customer retention; however, the following study reviews and analyses the manner in which employee's are engaged in the customer service environment, and to what manner sales support and management including monetary rewards impact the desire to provide quality customer service. Hypothesis Statement This research proposal hypothesises is that employee's understanding of sales metrics, revenue and service engagement has a significant bearing on the employee's desire to provide quality customer service, and therefore conclude that customer service can be increased by developing better rewards and recognition systems as well as increasing the level of employee engagement. This hypothesis is based on several forward assumptions. The first assumption of this hypothesis is that creating higher engagement levels is all about recognising individual strengths, needs, preferences, and values; therefore employee engagement is able to be measured in a qualitative method (Gelde and Young 2005; Hand and Crowder 2005).. Secondly, this hypothesis assumes that customer satisfaction is valued by the employee's level of engagement-meaning that there is a correlation between employee engagement and customer satisfaction based on the employee's values of rewards and recognition. Lastly, this hypothesis presumes to create a model for recommendations based on the qualitative interviews gathered from employee's with the ultimate goal to improve quality of service (Heskett 1990), thereby assuming that quality of service will improve customer satisfaction and customer retention (Gelde and Young 2005; Hand and Crowder 2005). These assumptions are based on employee training and management engagement that: Increased employee performance, combined with lower turnover, results in greater profitability; Engaged and productive employees develop brand recognition as employers of choice; Customer satisfaction increases when the organisational culture fosters employee satisfaction; Emphasises the roles managers play in engaging and retaining talent; Introduces the skills vital to managing, engaging and retaining today's diverse workforce (Greenland and McGoldrick 2005). Rationale The rationale of this hypothesis is related to the previous assumptions. By increasing service quality and employee engagement, service managers can then increase performance and lower turnover ratios. This will allow for management staff to understand the core drivers of employee engagement within the culture of the service-sales organisation (Greenland and McGoldrick 2005). It is rationalised that an employee who is productive and engaged will increase profitability and efficiency, therefore increasing the uniqueness of the Barclays brand as a banker of choice (Greenland and McGoldrick 2005). Management can then enhance the level of profitability per employee by making low cost adjustments in rewards and recognition matrices (Heskett 1990). In conclusion, the overall rationalisation of this research study is to gather an evidence-based assessment of the criteria for the characteristics of successful employee engagement, by an analysis of the employee values in customer loyalty and organisational service quality to be gained from the design and implementation of aligned and integrated programmes intended to create (or sustain) organisational success through a psychologically-engaged workforce (Greenland and McGoldrick 2005; Gelde and Young 2005; Hand and Crowder 2005). Literature Review Quality of Service Quality has been discussed through history and is still of an intense interest today. It is used in many academic and trade publications, in training seminars and mostly by the media. It is perhaps the most frequently repeated word among executive and managers in organisations. Zones of Tolerance The zone of tolerance has been sited as an important concept in both the service management and consumer behaviour literature. It has been employed to model the relationship between different expectation levels (Zeithaml, Berry, Parasuraman, 1993) and has been used to supply a range, or scale upon which to place a particular outcome. According to Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, (1996): Desired expectations represents: "the level of service the customer hopes to receive, consisting of a blend of what the customer believes can and should be delivered." Adequate service represents: "the second, lower level of service is adequate service which is the level of service the customer will accept." According to Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, (1996) the service disconfirmation model has three possible results; as follows: i) Dissatisfaction - Lower perceived quality, as to expectations. ii) Satisfaction - Adequate perceived quality iii) Delight - High quality Parasuraman et al. (1988) claims that perceptions of quality of service are a result of evaluating service delivery in relation to pre-consumption expectations known as the "disconfirmation" model. Disconfirmation models are based on the disconfirmation paradigm (Oliver, 1980). Quality is therefore defined as the gap between consumer's expectations and perceptions, and a customer will perceive quality positively only when a service provider meets or exceeds his expectations. Based on this paradigm Parasuraman et al. (1985) developed service-measuring tool known as SERVQUAL. This measures service quality within certain service constructs, which act as service quality determinants. The two 22 items questionnaires with 5 points Likert scale answers were developed in order to measure expected and perceived quality within 10 service constructs. Later on, the number of constructs was reduced to five. These are as follows: 1. Reliability: the ability to provide the pledged service on time, accurately and dependably. 2. Responsiveness: the ability to deal effectively with complaints and promptness of the service. 3. Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of workers and their ability to inspire trust and confidentiality. 4. Empathy: Individualised attention the company provides its customers with. 5. Tangibles: These include: the state of facilitating goods; physical condition of the buildings and the environment; appearance of personnel; and condition of equipment. Even though the model is widely used in service quality measuring, it was criticised against various criteria. In assessing SERVQUAL Parasuraman et al. (1988) defined it as a concise multiple-item scale with good reliability and validity that can be used to better understand the service expectations and perceptions of consumers. He suggested that the scale might be very useful in facilitating continuous improvement. However Shen et al. (2000) claims that with increasing market pressure, a continuous improvement may not be sufficient in maintaining a competitive edge. They suggest that service organisation shall use BPR and innovative approaches in order to increase competitiveness. It can be done by extending disconfirmation paradigm - customer needs and expectations have to meet and exceed through product innovation. Tan and Pawitra (2001) support this argument by pointing out that SERVQUAL was not designed to address the elements of innovation in service quality improvement. Dabholkar et al. (1996) cast doubts about the validity of SERVQUAL's dimensions. They state that the model applications in different industries reveal that the five dimensions may not cover aspects of customer service present in all service encounters. Parasuraman et al. (1994) argues that there is strong theoretical and empirical evidence to support that assessment of performance occurs with reference to some norms or standards. They recognise an area for additional research as they need to identify the most appropriate way to incorporate expectations into service quality measurement. However, Cronin and Taylor (1994) reiterate their view against disconfirmation-based SERVQUAL scale of measuring service quality, and continue to be proponents of their perceptions-only approach to service quality measurement. Employee Engagement The McClelland theory (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, p. 15) encourages managers to learn how to identify the presence of nAch - need for achievement, nAff - need for affiliation, and nPower - need for power in themselves and in others to be able to create work environments that are responsive to respective need profiles. McClelland's theory describes three different types of personalities and the techniques that motivate them, where this theory is particularly useful because each need can be linked with a set of work preferences. "A high-need achiever will prefer individual responsibilities, challenging goals, and performance feedback, a high-need affiliator is drawn to interpersonal relationships and opportunities for communication. The high-need-for-power type seeks influence over others and likes attention and recognition" (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, p. 15). The need for achievement is defined by Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn as, "the desire to do something better or more efficiently, to solve problems, or to master complex tasks" and is commonly referred to as "nAch" (2003). McClelland has developed his Theory of Acquired Needs. He states that amongst our needs is the need for affiliation (nAFF). The need for affiliation is "the desire to establish and maintain friendly and warm relations with others."Therefore, to adequately engage an employee in customer service, the organisation must meet the employee's hierarchy of needs through adequate incentives that meet the hierarchy of needs. Incentive Programs Incentive programs involve a system of rewards and recognition. There is a distinction between recognition programs and reward programs. Recognition is acknowledgement, appreciation and approval, and targets the psychological need of the individual. Reward, by definition, is usually something given in return for good or evil done or received, especially that is offered or given for a service. Rewards focus on the physical benefit, usually financial, however "self-esteem, respect, intrinsic motivation and dignity are not guaranteed by a competitive salary" (Glasscock and Gram 1995). Both recognition and rewards are important in reinforcing intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, and provide positive reinforcement for desired behaviour performance. Employees will differ on which has the greater personal impact, but ultimately both reward and recognition programs affect an individual's self esteem. A customer-focused culture is enhanced when employees understand that the organisation will reward them for exceptional performance and customer service. Research shows that employee motivation and engagement is greatly enhanced when employees clearly understand the link between organisationally desired behaviours and rewards. It is important to recognise that an employee focus and a customer focus are complementary. When employees recognise that the organisation is focused on their well-being, they in turn will become engaged and reciprocate by trying to meet the organisation's goals, which include a focus on customer service as outlined by the SERVQUAL metrics above. In essence, the purpose is to develop employee engagement in conjunction with the benchmarks and defined constructs according to the majority values of tenured employees. Any recognition program will reflect an organisation's culture and values. Increasingly, recognition programs are part of company's total quality program. Recognition programs may take several forms, from highly formalised programs induced and implemented by management to informal, spontaneous "ceremonies" arising from fellow co-workers. Recognition and celebrations are a ways of reaffirming to people that they are an important part of something that matters. The ceremonies are especially important in the service industry where "pride in the product" is essentially pride in personal performance (Zemke 1993). Customer Loyalty Customer loyalty is a measurable tendency in customers that keeps them bound to a service, product, brand or company and finds expression in their continuous patronage and repeat repurchases of the choice they have made. This bondness creates in them a disposition to give preference to a particular service, product or brand over that of others. Loyal following of customers therefore prolongs their relationships with companies than would normally have been the case. This tendency gives several benefits to companies. Reichheld (1993) has enumerated some of them as increased revenue and profits, reduced customer acquisition costs and reduced cost of service provision. Duffy (2003) on the other hand, described loyalty programs as a strategic objective for companies. In the bid to appropriate these benefits, several companies have instituted customer loyalty programs. Most of these programs take the form of relationship building, in which certain privileges and benefits are bestow on customers that show a tendency to give preference to the company and its products and services. The success of such programs are periodically measured using analytical tools and or in formal surveys. Soderland (2006) has outlined the principal dimensions used in measuring such programs as re-patronage intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. Merits of Loyalty Programs In recent years however, the merits of customer loyalty programs have come under increasing scrutiny, which has led to greater application of metrics (Dowling and Uncles, 2006). The augment put forward is that if every company in a given sector or industry set up a customer loyalty program, would such programs continue to create additional loyal following over and above that provided by the differentials in service provision. In other words, does commoditization of a concept prunes down its advantages Some workers (Mittal and Lasser, 1998; O'Malley and Tynan, 2000) have expressed misgivings about the concept of customer loyalty programs. Mittal and Lasser (1998) for example, have pointed out that even if companies understood the value of customer loyalty, it shall be difficult for them to change it. It needs to be added that whilst customer loyalty programs cannot 'force' customer to opt for a particular brand or product or company, they can 'influence' decisively the choice behaviour of customers. To a large extent, this is the principal premise upon which most of these programs are built. Research Methodology According to Patton (1990), a research strategy is a framework for research action that provides the basic direction of the study and describes particular techniques and methods. In social science, several strategies exist to conduct research, such as experiments, surveys, archival analysis, history, and case studies. Here, the researcher has to evaluate and choose the most appropriate strategy, depending on the type of research question, the control of the researcher over actual behavioural events, and the focus on contemporary phenomena (Saunders et al. 2003). McDonough and McDonough (1997, 44-45) note that descriptive research aims to describe the significant events within the context itself (i.e. it provides a 'rich account' of the whole situation rather than minimising it) and that interventionist research intervenes by manipulating variables that can be identified and attempting to isolate the influence of one or more on the process. The descriptive research method is to gather information through natural observations, surveys and interviews. This approach is designed to assemble qualitative data that answers questions regarding a population status and hypotheses testing. Descriptive research is used when the research question is understood (Ghauri and Grnhaug 2002). The outcome of the research, therefore, is dependent on the measurement procedures used in the collection of the data, and this in turn is dependent on the types of data collection (Ghauri and Grnhaug p 47 2002). Inductive Phenomenology Maxwell (1996) notes that the strengths of qualitative research derive from its inductive approach; it focuses on specific situations or people and its emphasis on words rather than numbers. He argues that the strategy starts from the research context and develops as the event unfolds. The study helps the investigator to understand the meaning of the situation the investigator is studying. The investigator allows the people he is studying to attach meaning to their situation through their own story (Creswell 2003). Saunders et al (2003) recommends the 'phenomenology approach' when studying the social components for each processed used when analysing the data collected from interviews. Phenomenology is a psychosocial theoretical approach to disseminating information. In its simplest form, phenomenology is the study of phenomena: their nature and meanings. The focus is on the way things appear to participants through experience or in the consciousness. The phenomenological researcher aims to provide a rich textured description of lived experience. The aim of phenomenological research is to describe the everyday world as it is immediately experienced. Descriptive phenomenologist inspired by Husserlian ideas (Giorgi and Giorgi, 2003) would attempt to study essences of phenomena as it appears in consciousness. Therefore, the research strategy employed in this methodology is to provide a 'rich account' of the employee engagement and customer service relationship using an analysis of descriptive information. This means that the final recommendation model is not known-for example, the hypothesis does not specifically detail a metric of employee engagement that must be fixed, instead the research hopes to gain evidence of employee engagement in relationship to customer satisfaction that will develop a model for improvement. Research Scope and Plan There are two overall concerns of this research. Primarily the research seeks to define employee engagement in relationship to customer loyalty. This requires that the research study take on two dimensions. The first is to understand how employees are engaged with their customer service based on the ideals of the McLelland Theory. The second is to understand how customers are impacted (based on the idea of zones of tolerance and SERVQUAL) by the employee engagement. The interview questions are therefore divided into two sections, one for employees and the second for consumers, as follows below. The responses will then be organised based on the SERVQUAL metrics - for example, a response that states a tangible and physical object, such as the building and product, are important would be under "tangible;" where a response that shows empathy, such as employee listening skills, is highly important would be marked under "empathy." This will allow the phenomenology of the research to explain the relationship between customer and employee beliefs, as well as draw a hierarchy ladder that develops an understanding of the attributes, values, and consequences of the employee to customer service relationship. Employee Engagement Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness: Assurance Empathy: What are your beliefs about customer service How are you engaged in shaping customer service What do you feel are important quality service expectations How has leadership impacted engagement in customer satisfaction Do you feel that there is an emphasis on customer service as a driver of business performance. Do you feel as though you are able to communicate and develop a relationship with your customers Is the relationship you currently have with customers a rewarding experience Do you feel that you are achieving a rewarding experience by providing customer service Are you empowered by providing customer service Does leadership in your organisation empower you to provide better customer service Customer Perceptions Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness: Assurance Empathy: What are your expectations in customer service Does customer satisfaction means that the quality and service are good How is customer satisfaction is important to you Does customer satisfaction mean that there is a relationship between you and the business employee Are you loyal to a brand if you feel that the employees have treated you in a manner that exceeds your expectations How are you impacted by customer loyalty programs Do you tend to purchase from companies that you have received good customer experience with How important is it that employees listen to your needs as a customer How important is reliable customer service Do you feel that an assurance of empathy from employees is important in customer service Primary Data Gathering The interviews will be conducted by gathering information from consumers regarding the impact of employee engagement on customer service. This will be compared with interviews from selected individuals from a sales or service employment facility to take part in the interviews. The selection of participants is based on willingness to participate and the dimension of sales, not by any other information such as demographic or income. The research will interview 15 consumers and 15 employees for a total of 30 participants. Data Analysis The concluding data analysis will be based on a dissemination of the participants' interview responses and the relationship to the secondary data analysis; therefore the hypothesis will be proven or disproved based on the frequency of responses. The focus of this study is on detailing the specifics of the qualitative analysis. Analysis methodology, termed "laddering" (Gutman and Reynolds, 1979; Reynolds and Gutman, 1984), for uncovering means-end hierarchies defined by these key elements and connective relationships. Laddering involves a tailored interviewing format using primarily a series of directed probes with the express goal of determining sets of linkages between the key perceptions across the range of attributes (A), consequences (C), and values (V). The theory of linkages is a foundation for the qualitative analysis. Therefore, the categorisation of the qualitative analysis follows as previously noted, where each has a phenomenology approach of describing situation and reactions and are categorised by attribute, consequence, and value. The qualitative data analysis will be made by categorising participant responses into meaningful patterns based on engagement, vocabulary, and relationships that develop from the interview responses. These categories are based on the following: Attributes: Defined situation by viewpoints and relationship to engagement and customer service. Values: Values of sales revenue, rewards and recognition in relationship to customer service metrics. Consequences: Perspectives defined by common phrases that have negative or positive connotations The research study will allow a justification of consumers' place a strong value on the importance of quality, but not always do they assume that a brand name is indicative of quality. From the literary research, we understand that customer satisfaction is a multi-faceted perception based on empirical evidence. At this point, in relation to the discussion of perceived quality of service, the indicator of consumer satisfaction becomes relatively important. This has a very important notation for retailers because it shows that the advertisement of a brand name does not mean as much to a customer as their perception of overall satisfaction. In the relationship between employees and customer service, the results may show a positive coefficient between employee engagement and consumer satisfaction. A negative correlation between these two paradigms would show that customers are not impacted by the employee, and this may lead to further research into brand image and quality. By this, it is also noted that the correlation between satisfaction and quality as well as satisfaction and loyalty is a much higher positive than the linkage with brand, this infers that consumers will buy a brand that gives them consumer satisfaction, but a brand does not always mean that they will be satisfied. In proving the previous thesis statement where research proposes to define the positive associations between various metrics of consumers' perceptions and the realm of employee engagement. A positive correlation between these categories is expected to find highly indicative consumers awareness of the implications of each defined category towards their zones of customer service tolerance. However, a negative correlation would indicate that there is not a link between these categories as far as how consumers perceive them. Furthermore, evidence in the literature review suggests that because all categories are positively relative to one another, as one metric fails, the other values will fail accordingly and consumers will not be as inclined to purchase a brand name based on the employee's ability to provide an adequate service. Conclusion The discussion of the interviews will lead to recommendations for improving employee engagement and therefore improving customer satisfaction. This will be based on the findings of the perception of Barclays' sales staff towards improving customer service in order to increase sales revenues to understand the effect that sales targets and sales strategy has on our sales staff and consequently sales revenue. 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