LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES IN CREATING A CUSTOMER-FOCUSED

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.