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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes and beliefs of front-line employees regarding how customer-company interactions might be improved. Since front-line employees are closely connected to customers, the resultant experiences and relationships with customers are highly dependent on their actions. However, little is written from the perspective of front-line employees. Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative approach and employing an adaptation of the grounded theory method, this study uses front-line employee participants with data collection occurring over a six-month period. A variety of data sources were used including open-ended reciprocal interviews, member-checking interviews, observation, and collection of participant and researcher artifacts. Findings – Findings suggest that organizational changes initiated by management create strategically constructed silos that force implementation through people and systems to control and standardize the service interface and resultant customer experience(s). This reactive and inwardly focused construction of silos often serves company rather than customer needs and can result in deteriorating service levels based on the type of customer-company interaction occurring. Originality/value – Contrary to how most customer service processes are designed by management, not all customer-company interactions are alike and vary both in regard to the degree of knowledge needed by front-line employees to fully serve customers, and the routine or non-routine nature of the interaction. A two-by-two matrix is presented to highlight the impacts of silos occurring for various interaction types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – A paucity of literature considers a growing trend within the retail space whereby franchise companies and their franchisees market and sell products and services across multiple channels, including company-owned retail stores. This case study aims to explore the processes used to support the customer experience, the control mechanisms that are in place, and the channels by which these customer-company interactions occur. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach employing an adaptation of the grounded theory method for data collection, coding, and analysis was used and this study specifically focused on an international van-based service franchise during the integration of the franchise company's service into the retail brick-and-mortar locations of the parent company. Participants included retail employees of the parent company, franchise company support staff, franchisees, and third-party call center agents working for the parent company. Findings – Findings suggest a relationship exists between the alignment of the internal factors of the customer relationship management (CRM) experience (e.g. people, processes, and technology) and the relative strength or weakness of each external factor (e.g. customer, company, and competition). Moreover, it is postulated that weaker customer-centric service results in greater misalignment of internal factors and leads to larger service variability, or sub-optimized CRM. Originality/value – The unique contribution of this research is the juxtaposition of the disparate marketing approaches of the parent company and franchisees and the subsequent impact on CRM efforts of the company. A conceptual model of internal and external factors of the CRM experience is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We embarked on a case study to explore one organization's experiences with radical change for the purpose of uncovering how they achieved success. The organization we examined was Honeywell Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. From the interview data, we were able to devise a set of ten lessons to help others transform successfully. Two important lessons stand out above the rest. First, execution of a carefully developed change plan separates the high performers from less successful BPR projects. Second, recognition that dealing with change is difficult and complicated is not enough. Top management should make change management a top priority and communicate the change vision across the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research is to explore the role of creativity (in business process improvement paradigms) among Japanese organizations and US organizations. Although US and Japanese organizations may use differently terminology, the general idea of process improvement (to add value to products and/or services that exceed customer expectations) is embraced by both. What is not clear is the way in which organizations in the two countries implement change. Eight organizations participated in the study: four organizations from Japan and four from the US. Results of the study revealed that US organizations tend to desire faster change to improve performance. They want to adopt state-of-the-art methodologies and invest heavily in technology to transform their organizations quickly. In contrast, Japanese organizations prefer incremental change as it conforms to their culture and way of life. However, US organizations are beginning to realize that process improvement is greatly enhanced by changing the culture of the work place. Moreover, Japanese organizations are realizing that individual creativity is very important for future competitiveness in the world marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, Gamma Health Care Systems embarked on a redesign project for their Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Redesign involved major changes to the existing system to guarantee a very high level of service. This case describes the efforts of the Human Resource Department (HRD) to redesign its HRIS to better meet enterprise-wide goals of cost effectiveness and efficiency. The reengineering project transformed the HRD from a historic role of transaction processing to one of a strategic partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the drivers behind successful business process re-engineering (BPR). Examines Caterpillar Inc, located in Peoria, Illinois, USA, using data collected over a four-year period, beginning in 1992. Reveals positive outcomes which can be directly tied to the deployment of the business process simplification and improvement (BSP/I) methodology. BPS/I provides a systematic methodology for analysis, design and implementation of re-engineering principles. In addition, it provides the environment to help its people generate creative solutions to critical business problems. Examines the link between the steps of BPS/I and the theoretical phases of the problem-solving process. Also explores the link between BPS/I and Couger's variant model of creative problem solving. Notes creative opportunities available to Caterpillar as a result of the identification of this link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a longitudinal view of one organization's experiences with IT implementation and Business Process Reengineering since 1990. The organization is EuroProducts; a manufacturer of air freshener and related products located in thecountry, in the West of England, EuroProducts has identified data integration and data standardization as critical to leverage increased performance from its materials requirements process flow. As a result, a new MRP system is being introduced to integrate data input from factory floor workers, management, staff, and IS professionals. The goal is to use the new MRP system as a rallying point to facilitate redesign of material requirements work flows. Aspects of innovation and systems theory are introduced to help the authors organize and identify root causes of the problems EuroProducts has had with its IT implementation and reengineering efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]