How individual employees might react to organizational change likely influential factors

Purpose Employee response to organizational change impacts on its overall effectiveness. Firms can develop greater understanding by identifying various individual and company-related factors with most scope to influence how employees are likely to react. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Employee response to organizational change impacts on its overall effectiveness. Firms can develop greater understanding by identifying various individual and company-related factors with most scope to influence how employees are likely to react. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Retail disturbances: how should employees respond?

Purpose The customer retail experience is frequently interrupted by disturbances such as ringing phones and other people. Employees must be able to respond to retail disturbances effectively to ensure that customers have a satisfactory experience in the retailer. Using Affective Events Theory as a framework, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model for understanding how retail disturbances affect customers outcomes and how retail employee response mitigates the negative impact of retail disturbances. Design/methodology/approach The model was tested using a pre-study of retail managers and consumers, a survey study and four experimental studies. Findings Retail disturbances reduce interactional justice and customer positive emotions. Customers pay attention to how employees address retail disturbances, even when they are not directly involved. Research limitations/implications The research experiments focus on sound-based disturbances. Other stimuli (e.g. olfactory or visual) should be examined in more detail. Practical implications Employees can mitigate the negative effects of retail disturbances on customers with a positive response to the disturbance and to customers. Employee responses influence customers currently receiving service and nearby shoppers. Social implications The findings demonstrate the deleterious effect of solicitation calls on small retailers and provide recommendations for reducing solicitation calls. Originality/value This research shows that retail disturbances reduce customer outcomes, employee response becomes part of the disturbance event, and that it is possible for employees to address a group of nearby customers indirectly through unintentional observation.

Service failure in higher education institutions

Purpose Providing quality service is the goal of many service providers and higher education institutions are not exceptional. However, service failure may occur from time to time which may eventually lead to customer dissatisfaction with the service rendered. The purpose of this paper is to examine service failure incidents in higher education. Design/methodology/approach In this study, three categories of service failure, namely, employee response to service delivery system failure, employee response to customer needs and requests, and unprompted and unsolicited employee actions were used to categorise 45 critical incidents obtained from 30 students at a university of technology. Findings The results showed that service delivery system failures account for the biggest number (51 per cent) of service failure incidents captured in this study. Research limitations/implications The critical incident technique which relies on the respondents’ memory to recall service failure incidents was used to collect information. The drawback is that memory can be fallible and students may end up exaggerating service failure incidents. Practical implications This study can assist higher education institutional managers to understand the nature of service failure incidents that lead to student dissatisfaction. Originality/value This study is unique as it presents service failure incidents from the developing world and further provides the basis for creation of service recovery strategies.

Analisis Kepuasan Pengunjung Terhadap Layanan Perpustakaan Politeknik Negeri Bali

Library can be said as the heart of the universities. Politeknik Negri Bali (PNB) as one of the universities in Indonesia currently has one library room located on the 2nd floor of the PNB Central Building. Based on the data, the average number of PNB library visitors in the year 2017 is only 15% of the total civitas. This number shows that PNB library has not been optimally utilized. The purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction of library visitors to PNB library services, so that the PNB library in the future can provide better service and the number of library visitors can increase. The variables used are five service dimensions, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and emphaty. The method of analysis used in this study are importance performance analysis (IPA) and analysis of customer satisfaction index (CSI). Results shows that there are some services that need to be maintained, such as the completeness of facilities, updated collection, air circulation, locker safety, convenience in finding references, knowledge of employee, hospitality of employee, concern of employee, response of employee, and good comunication between employee and visitors. According to CSI method, the visitors’ satisfaction level is 76,40% which is classified as satisfied.

An analysis of the interaction effect between employee technical and emotional competencies in emotionally charged service encounters

Purpose Customers often experience negative emotions during service experiences. The ways that employees manage customers’ emotions and impressions about whether the service provider is concerned for them in such emotionally charged service encounters (ECSEs) is crucial, considering the criticality of the encounter. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory, this study proposes that two key competencies – employee emotional competence (EEC) and employee technical competence (ETC) – affect negative customer emotions and customer satisfaction with employee response in ECSEs. Design/methodology/approach This study relies on a video-based experiment that depicts a customer involved in an ECSE as a service provider delivers bad news to him. The hypothesis tests use a two-way independent analysis of covariance. Findings Both emotional and technical competencies must be displayed to improve the customer experience in an ECSE. When EEC is low, ETC does not decrease negative customer emotions or increase customer satisfaction with employee response. When EEC is high, ETC instead has a significant impact on both customer outcomes. Practical implications Managers must train employees to develop both technical and emotional competencies. Employees who demonstrate only one type cannot temper customers’ emotions or enhance their perceptions of the employees’ response as well as can those strong in both competencies. Originality/value Using a video-based experiment, this study examines the moderating role of EEC in the relationship between ETC and two key aspects of the customers’ experience in an ECSE (negative customer emotions and customer satisfaction with employee responses) following the delivery of bad news.