LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES IN CREATING A CUSTOMER-FOCUSED
Date
2011-05-31
Authors
Fatyi, Mzimkulu Stanley
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Abstract
The changing demands of customers require organisations to be customeroriented.
This change urges organisations to move from their present status
quo to a new, desired, configuration to better match the current business
environment. Many theorists from the different disciplines in marketing,
business process reengineering, total quality management, and efficient
management advocate this customer orientation. Developments in theory
suggest a number of business processes through which this customer
orientation can be achieved and the role the leadership of the organisation must
play in achieving this customer orientation. Against this background, the
objective of this study is to explore the challenges facing the leadership of
Spoornet, a railway division of Transnet, in achieving customer orientation and
to describe the role the leaders must play in influencing the development of this
customer orientation.
The research is based on quantitative and qualitative data from questionnaires
sent to 150 employees that were randomly selected across all levels of the
company, and also from secondary data available in the company. Analysis of
the case of Spoornet reveals a number of issues that the leadership of Spoornet
faces in developing in this organisation a customer-oriented focus. Participants
in this study were very vocal about their feelings, especially in criticism of the
leadership. Findings suggest that key customer-oriented factors such as
management attitudes and behaviours, employee and executive skills,
departmental co-operation, and reward systems must be developed with
leadership playing a pivotal role in achieving the desired customer orientation
objective.
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Leadership, Customer relations