Introduction
The term empowerment refers to the process of providing more authority to the employees of an organization. It means to place authority and power on the employees to make operational decisions. Empowering the staff of an organization is an enormous motivation strategy.
This is because employees perceive empowerment as their own personal contributions, resourcefulness, and efforts in the enhancement and the attainment of the organizational goals. It can be described as the process of nurturing the skills, desire, power, and tools that an employee requires to serve the clients of the organization. This essay explores the significance of empowerment in customer service management.
The Impact of Empowerment on Customer Services Management
In this modern era of high competition, the demand for high quality standards in customer service is essential for the success of any business. Most scholars argue that the out dated production-line strategy should be discarded in favor of modern strategies based on empowerment. This can be accomplished by treating employees in an appropriate manner, recruiting the right individuals, and encouraging a service environment that is conducive.
In this scenario, customers, employees, and organizations gain some advantages. Customers benefit because they obtain superior quality services. Through empowerment employees are able to perform their duties based on their perceptions. On the other hand, organization managers can retain and attract new customers through provision of quality services.
The empowerment of staff is particularly significant due to the dynamic relationships of customer alliances. Hartline, Maxham III & McKee (2000) argue that the traditional-structured approach of centralized control is no longer applicable in this competitive era.
Traditional models are regard to be particularly efficient in situations where uncertainty in relation to the needs of customers do not exist. In such cases, guidelines and regulations which dictate the conduct of employees towards the customers are required to enhance consistency. However, in the service delivery industry, which includes a lot of uncertainties, direct contact between the customer and the employee are frequent and significant (Hartline, Maxham III & McKee, 2000, p. 34).
Empowerment is essential and mandatory in the services delivery industry due to the need of decentralizing control from management. The power and authority to make critical choices is transferred to the lower cadre of employees in a process referred to as directed authority.
Chebat and Kollias (2000) argue that the service industry is hugely dependent on the capacity of employees to deliver the required service. The attitude and conduct of employees who have the first contact with the clients has a critical impact on the customer’s thoughts.
This is because the service is delivered during the interaction between the employee and customer. As a result of the significance placed on the service encounter, organizations should establish strategies that can help them manage their employees who make first contacts with the customer (Chebat & Kollias, 2000, p. 67). This will assist the management in making sure that the attitudes and conduct of their employees are appropriate to facilitate the provision of high-quality services.
According to Ardahaey & Nabilou (2012), the most coveted position in business today is the ability to attract, employ, and retain a highly skilled work force. It is believed that having such a team in the organization will be beneficial, and instrumental to both organization’s success and transformation.
In fact, all successful companies have a combination of intelligent and well-endowed personnel who share a perception that they belong to a single family. They discharge their duties passionately, and meticulously use their experience and knowledge in collaboration with other employees to influence growth and posterity in the company. Empowerment of employees equips them with the relevant skills. It enables sustenance of good relations, which companies establish with them (Ardahaey & Nabilou, 2012, p. 34).
Hartline, Maxham III & McKee (2000) hold that empowered employees are obligated and authorized to deliver on customer preferences efficiently and effectively. They argue that empowerment describes a situation where the management allows employees to use their discretion in the daily choices they make in relation to their work. When the management permits subordinate employees to make significant decisions, they relinquish their control on the dynamics of service delivery (Hartline, Maxham III & McKee, 2000, p. 33).
Empowerment is regarded to be a pre-requisite because customer service personnel require such flexibilities so as to effect decisions immediately, to enhance customer satisfaction. Proponents of empowerment argue that the point of contact staff are more reactive in service delivery, productive, adequately deal with complaints, are highly inspired, and offer high-quality services.
Ardahaey & Nabilou (2012) argue that the client’s satisfaction experience within the service sector decreases when the service does not conform to the customer’s expectations. Customer satisfaction heavily relies on the customer’s experience at the hands of the customer service provider.
To equip the employee with relevant skills, the management should have an empowerment program within the organization. They argue that empowerment is a sequence of becoming, and it should not be considered as an end outcome Ardahaey & Nabilou, 2012, p. 34)
Conclusion
This essay has explored the significance of empowerment in customer service management. From this discussion, it is evident that the service industry is hugely dependent on customer satisfaction to attract and retain customers. For customer service employees to discharge their duties properly and effectively, they need to be empowered.
List of References
Ardahaey, F, & Nabilou, H 2012, Human Resources Empowerment and Its Role in the Sustainable Tourism, Asian Social Science, Vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 33-38
Chebat, JC & Kollias, P 2000, The impact of empowerment on customer contact employees’ roles in service organizations, Journal of Service research, Vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 66-81.
Hartline, MD, Maxham III, JG & McKee, DO 2000, Corridors of influence in the dissemination of customer-oriented strategy to customer contact service employees, The Journal of marketing,Vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 35-50.