When comparing corporate culture with customer service, it can be seen that each one has some type of influence over the other. Employee satisfaction is directly affected by the culture of an organization. When the routine of an organization is not organized, the organization will lack the consistency in its leaders, and the expectations of the organization will not be clear. This in turn will cause the employees of the organization to feel as if they are confused, frustrated, and not satisfied with their place of employment. When the employees of an organization are not satisfied, the motivation and the morale of the employees will become lower and lower (Rael, n.d.). A poor corporate culture can adversely affect the employee’s level of performance, which can have a negative impact on the ability of the organization to initiate an effective business strategy. Product quality and service provided to the customers can also be affected negatively, which will cause the organization to lose the satisfaction of their customers (Emerge International, 2007).
When an organization is uncoordinated, a new customer service issue will arise. Being uncoordinated occurs when the values of an organization and the actions of an organization are not the same. If these problems are not corrected in time, they can be financially destructive to the organization. When an organization is experiencing internal change or even when entering into a merger more problems can arise (Emerge International, 2007). When two organizations are merging, they have to be successful in blending each other’s values, ideals, and missions. If they are not successful, there will be no consistency and there will be a negative impact on how the business provides customer service.
Today, organizations tend to be motivated in contributing to their community. What is the purpose in making these contributions? Organizations have realized that to be successful in the working environment they have to be able to provide good public relations. Stakeholder theory, which is a relatively new theory, suggest that organizations are committed to their stockholders, as well as their customers, community members, suppliers, employees, and activists in the social environment (Grow, Hamm, & Lee, 2005). In order to be successful, organizations have to focus on the concerns of their customers, investors, and their employees to retain these individuals. This type of pressure forced The Gap to halt their relationships with 70 of their factories, which are located overseas. These relations were halted because the factories due to abuses of labor laws. The organization has issued reports on social responsibility in the past two years (Grow et al., 2005).
The employees of the current generation are requiring more attention from the stakeholders of their organization. These employees are requiring more from their working environment than a routine job with an 8-hour workday with steady paychecks. This has resulted in organizations such as Home Depot that are finding ways to project an image that depicts them as being an organization, which is socially responsible. This will also enable an organization to draw in workers that are younger through all levels of the organization (Grow et al., 2005). In one year, 50,000 of the employees of Home Depot contributed 2 million hours working for their community. The employees of Home Depot also joined forces with an organization named KaBOOM, which on a volunteer basis built thousands of parks for kids within the next few years, spending more than $25 million dollars (Grow et al., 2005). Today other organizations are following this new trend. These organizations are following this trend to provide proof of their social responsibility in their communities.
Corporate culture has proven to be an asset that is important in being responsible socially and being responsible to providing excellent customer service. Corporate culture has an impact and an affect on every aspect of the structure of an organization. Corporate culture can be seen as the lives people lead while they are on the job. Corporate culture has a direct affect on the attitudes of the employees of an organization, affecting the work ethics of the employees, and affecting the interest of the external and internal customers. Corporate culture also has an affect on employee behavior, and the service they provide to their customers. These skills are important to the survival of an organization. An organization can experience failure or success by their corporate culture. While on the job, one must have some awareness of the corporate culture of their organization to be able to provide their services to their employer and to their customers. This will also enable one to contribute to the success of their organization on a personal and professional level.
References
Emerge International. (2007). Cultural due diligence. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from
http://www.emergeinternational.com/content/cdd.html
Encarta Dictionary. (2009). Corporate culture. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/corporate%2520culture.html
Grow, B., Hamm, S., & Lee, L. (2005). The debate over doing good; some companies are
taking a more strategic tack on social responsibility. should they? Business
Week, 3947, 76. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from General OneFile database.
Rael, R. (n.d.). Corporate culture clips archive. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from
http://ronrael.com/archives/jun-03.htm
Schachter, D. (2005). The importance of understanding organizational culture. Information Outlook, 9(6), 18-19. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from General OneFile database.
