Literature Review
Companies have been looking into broader perspectives which go beyond the 4p’s of marketing since the 1970’s . In the modern day, employee customer interface is a concept that is being considered by most businesses. This concept affects the people involved in the business processes and how they interact with each other. This was first implemented through service and marketing and merged both the marketing and the management departments . The employee customer interface assists the company to shed light on other aspects of the business such as service customer and service marketing, among others. The employee's experience at work is evident in customer-employee interactions.
Employees in the service industry perform their responsibilities by interacting with customers face to face or otherwise. The emotions of the employee need to be in check at all times during their interaction with customers, a concept known as emotional labor. Emotional labor is achieved through a number of strategies. Emotional control can be achieved by faking emotions so that they are just on the surface or by acting emotions which results in deeper feelings . These control strategies have certain impacts on the employee and the service provided by the employee. One group of employees which is heavily affected by these emotions control strategies include receptionists at hotels and the hotel business. Emotional labor is detrimental to the employee and leads to stress. Deep acting has the least impact on the well-being of the employee. Emotional labor is beneficial to the company since it enables the employer to determine how the employees are going to treat their customers. Work-family relationships have a great impact on the emotional labor of an employee . Hotel receptionists are needed to seek for alternative means to deal with stress arising from emotional labor.
Employers cannot witness every transaction that occurs within their business but how the interactions are carried out can be manipulated by setting a certain organizational culture which is based on services. Companies which are service driven will use service as logic, and both the customer and the employer will have a greater value. Customers are involved in other issues of the company such as the experience of the employees .
The biggest challenge for the service industry is to improve the service standards. Employers achieve this by empowering their employees and motivating them. Service should be delivered in an efficient and effective manner that is satisfactory to the customer . This is achieved by motivating employees and fueling their motivation by giving them a platform to prove themselves and providing them with the tools to achieve what they intend to do. Employers who are in the frontline customer service industry should be able to be trusted by the employer in the creation and the delivery of services. The employee acts as an interface between the customer and the organization . This position gives the employee a tremendous amount of control on the customer experience and the quality delivery of service.
Motivation involves encouraging employees to move towards a certain direction which is in line with the goals of the organization. There are common characteristics in any motivation which involves influencing human behavior, channeling the new human behavior, and finally, the human behavior has to be sustained . Customer-employee relationships face the potential risk of a dispute. Customers often build perceptions of the organization depending on the employee customer interface. Management of the service quality poses a problem since the organization depends on the employees to act as the interface between the customer and the employee. The administration tries to influence customer experience through selection, training, organizational culture and system design.
Social encounters have a wide range of possibilities since they rely on social contact which involves more than a single actor. Service providers ought to feel satisfied with their role and performance so that they can justify their career choice. The demands of the client are the organization's and the service providers’ primary concern. Customers prefer to be treated in a polite and appropriate manner . Employers gain access to customer experience through activities such as employee feedback which assists the organization to gain the customers feedback on the quality of service delivered by the service provider. Customer feedback is easier to get verbally and boosts the morale of the service provider. Employee bias is another challenge faced by service managers. Employees are likely to report selectively on the customer-employee interaction causing a management problem .
The global market has become highly volatile leading to the need for employers to come up with efficient ways through which their employees can interact with people from a global culture and different backgrounds. Interactions between employees also affect the quality of the service provided by the service provider. Companies can prevent problems between employees which are then portrayed through customer experience, by understanding the cause of ineffective interaction between employees . The leading cause of this problem includes the lack of efficient tools to perform their duties, poor definition of responsibilities, and conflict of interest among employees.
Workplace discrimination is one of the leading causes of poor service delivery at the place of work. Through seminars and workshops, organized by the employer, the employee is familiarized with other cultures and their perceptions. By understanding other cultures, employees can accept and respect other cultures, which improves customer-employee interactions. Lack of job satisfaction among employees often arises from unresolved disputes at the place of work. Dissatisfaction, unhappiness and depression in employees can lead to violent and aggressive behavior at work . A collaborative environment is also known to improve customer interaction. Personality disputes may cause employees to have animosity amongst themselves which is likely to influence the quality of the service provided by the customer.
Workforce issues and effective communication between employees should be addressed to improve employee customer interface. Tension between employees causes employees to avoid each other leading to reduced job satisfaction and employee productivity. Employers should be in a position to monitor stress levels amongst employees by being on the lookout for warning signs of excessive stress. Stress amongst employees is caused by strenuous family relationships, difficulties, professional hardships and trouble with accomplishing tasks. Focus groups have been proven as an efficient method used by employers to improve interaction between employees and productivity . This is achieved by understanding the personalities of each employee and how it affects their relationships with other employees. For instance, an employee who performs best under pressure and another employee who likes to accomplish tasks in advance are likely to have problems interacting with each other.
References
Andre, A. (2013). Service With A Smile : Managing the Interface between customer and Service Provider. University of Malta.
Borghans, L. (2000). Educational Innovation in Economics and Business. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Bowers, M. R., Martin, C. L., & Luker, A. (1990). Trading Places: Employees as Customers, Customers as Employees. Journal of Service Marketing, 55-69.
Duggan, T., & Demand, M. (2016). The Importance of Interaction in Workplace Issues. Chron.
Kandampully, J., Mok, C., & Sparks, B. A. (2001). Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure. New York: Harworth Hospitality Press.
Rundle-Thiele, S., & Rusell-Benett, R. (2008). Services Marketing: Linking the Employee-Customer Interface. Journal Special Issues.
Skoll World Forum. (2013, April 9). Why Personal Interaction Drives Innovation and Collaboration. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2013/04/09/why-personal-interaction-drives-innovation-and-collaboration/#7b8bdd2365dd
