The managers play a significant role in the betterment of communication of employees. The role of the managers is investigated from their opinions revealed in the semi-structured interviews. When asked about the role of management in improving the communication of part-time international service employees, the first manager responded in the following manner.
“I regularly interact with the customer service employees under my department. Sometimes, the part-time international service employees who are generally new to the job find it difficult to get the accent of local customers. I make myself available to the employees so that they direct the customers to me when they find it difficult to understand their accent. I clear the queries of the customers in the presence of employees. This leads to a learning experience for the employees from which they can improve their listening and problem solving skills which are part of the communication process. So, I feel that the manager should be friendly and affable towards part-time international employees in order to help them improve their communication styles.”
Manager B when asked about the role of managers in improving the communication of part-time international students responded in the following manner.
“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 service 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-efficacy which leads to self-confidence and the results can be reflected in their performance.
When asked about the role of manager in improving the communication of employees, Manager C said:
“I make myself approachable to the service employees of my department. I reckon that personal accountability of managers in service employees’ communication process can foster the performance of service employees. I convey a strong message to the customers that am readily available to solve the problems encountered by service employees while dealing with customers. This is a practice of nurturing shared problem solving which I consider indispensible for improving the communication of service employees. This equips the employees with necessary skills so as to easily deal with customers and negotiate them. Moreover, I stress the importance of upward communication which means useful communication between the manager and the employee.
This reflects in the better communication of part-time international service employees. Upward communication in retail supermarkets like Sainsbury fosters a relational link between the manager and the employees which reinforces the trust and reliability of employees in relation to their managers. These factors contribute to improved confidence levels of part-time service employees which ultimately lead to effective communication.