The findings presented in the previous section are categorized and collated to answer the research questions. The findings are analyzed in relation to the concepts identified in the literature review.
The answer to this question is derived from the opinions of the managers. The findings pertaining to the role of the management in improving the communication and the elements involved in training the part-time service employees are useful in answering this question. The opinion expressed by Manager? are in close alignment with Douglas (2010) study about relational coordination The findings stress the importance of managers being friendly with service employees to develop sound relationships for better results. This argument is backed by the findings from Manager A who mentioned that
“I feel that the manager should be friendly and affable towards part-time international service employees for improving the communication of service employees.”
The three day training program where the managers play an active role in improving the communication of part-time employees also contributes largely to improving the communication of such employees. The training program is quite helpful to understand the key issues regarding the communication style to be adopted and practice in the course of the service delivery. This argument is backed by the answers of all three managers:
“A three day training program is conducted to the part-time international service employees to handle the customers in the desired manner characterized by empathy, kindliness, friendliness etc. In the first two days, a special certified trainer is appointed to clearly deliver and explain the key aspects of communication process. In the first two days, a special CD is shown to these service employees that highlight the key issues in handling the customers. The CD talks about issues like how to handle abusive customers, how to stay calm in customer service as a part of good communication process and how to empathize with the customers”
Another important issue is the emphasis on empowering employees for better performance as shown in the contribution of Manager?
“I feel that recognition of employee performance also plays a key role in the betterment of his performance as a good communicator in the service context. I regularly review the performance of employees to identify who is performing well so that I can encourage them to perform better. I focus on the identification of star performers so as to provide leverage in some issues in order to nurture problem solving skills. This is a sort of empowerment of service employees. I feel this exercise of empowerment of service employees reinforce self-confidence and the results can be reflected in their performance”