Human Resources Innovation for Guest Satisfaction
Albert BarraSeptember 13, 2018 · 5 min read
Customers’ growing and changing needs, competitors’ responses, technological developments, and the effects and regulations of other environmental factors compel us to pursue ongoing innovation in processes, systems, products and services—a capability that, by its nature, is considered a competitive factor.
Customer satisfaction reflects customers’ assessment of the extent to which a product or service fulfils their expectations, needs and wishes.
Our awareness of that satisfaction can only be valid to the extent that the service provider is willing to change the way it establishes a relationship with that customer.
Cultural change or innovation is very difficult—far more so than maintaining the existing culture. As a result of this innovation, many things are replaced or displaced, and people therefore tend to resist such changes, which many see as a break with their status quo. To succeed in managing a process of cultural change, a change in the underlying philosophy, it is necessary to become convinced that this change will bring sufficient benefits to make it worthwhile.
In “The Cultures of Work Organizations,” Trice and Beyer set out several considerations that should not be overlooked when changing an organisation’s culture, including: choosing the right time, bearing in mind that people are aware of the need for change; approaching change with optimism; understanding resistance to cultural change; changing while maintaining certain constants; demonstrating the importance of implementing it; creating appropriate cultural forms; changing socialisation processes; and maintaining the presence of innovative leadership.
This process, like any activity that an organisation wishes to carry out successfully, requires strong leadership capable of bringing staff into, and drawing them towards, a new cultural environment, while also achieving the understanding and acceptance of everyone connected to the organisation in some way.
Leaders exert considerable influence over the workforce. They are in a position to make decisions that affect, in one way or another, all members, as well as the very content and values of the organisational culture. They will wish to instil their own experience, possibly, in the new culture, which could benefit or harm the workforce. Because of their position, they can use organisational communication systems to convey the culture’s main values and standards, although the workforce itself has significance and importance, and the leader will be as deeply immersed as they are in the learning process.
In a new business model with a clear customer focus, the resource that determines results is people at every level of the hierarchy. They must therefore be trained, developed and empowered to become agents of change.
As a consequence of this customer focus, certain requirements emerge that entail renewing the behaviour of human resources. First, the company will need to invest in human capital, knowledge and thinking people for every role and every member of the organisation, regardless of the function they perform, so that they can innovate, create and make decisions that solve problems in their relationship with the customer. To achieve this, the entire selection and recruitment process must be as important and thorough as that carried out for any management level.
With the organisation’s customer focus and the cultivation of a new kind of culture, information and communication become factors of integration, both among staff and between staff, customers and suppliers. Tools such as staff productivity can be performance-based in order to create satisfied customers. Likewise, innovation and the introduction of new technologies should be aimed primarily not at reducing costs in order to replace operational staff, but at supporting them and improving guest service and customer satisfaction.
The benefits of a service company with a customer-oriented culture and philosophy, and with a focus on knowledge and human resources in general, are highly sought after by all.
Knowledge and leadership in this type of company naturally entail the persistent promotion of innovation in processes and services, improving them and creating value.
A customer-oriented culture is one that prioritises customer satisfaction while taking into account other variables such as costs, technology and, above all, employee care. It is characterised primarily by decision-making across departments that anticipates the impact decisions may have on customers and, when those decisions are made, prioritises customers’ interests and expectations.
Organisations with customer-oriented strategies convey new values and beliefs to their staff, exercise conscious and dynamic leadership, communicate effectively and motivate their employees. They are characterised by their professionalism and ongoing understanding of guests’ needs and expectations, elements that help ensure high levels of customer loyalty and repeat business, because each and every employee is focused on their complete satisfaction, creating a dynamic and expanding cycle of excellent service.
New market circumstances demand highly trained, professional human resources, with ongoing education that includes the appropriate components of knowledge, functional skills and ethical values to help us understand and provide excellent service to our guests. But that is not enough: the foundation must be an organisation-wide philosophy in which its processes, structures and mechanisms are truly aligned with the customer, and in which senior management champions that philosophy.”This article ends here. The archive does not.
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