What is the difference in communication style between Sainsbury staff who are local students compared with staff who are international students in the process of service provision? 

The answer to this question is derived from the findings gathered from the opinions revealed in the semi-structured interviews conducted to the customers. The opinions of the customers are interpreted to understand the difference in  the communication style between local service employees and part-time international employees.

It is inferred from the findings that the communication style of part-time international employees is characterised by apathy. It is evident from the response of one of the customers where he revealed his experience with the part-time international service employees. The following finding confirms the above argument 

“It happened when I visited the store for the first time when I faced a part-time international service employee. As I was looking around the store, a Nikon camera caught my eye and one of the service employees came forward to explain the features of the camera. He initially gave a brief demo about the camera. Then as I had some doubts, I asked few queries for which I received irrelevant answers. I asked him repeatedly the same question so as to make it clear. Then, I thought that it is my slang that is troubling him in understanding my queries. He not even bothered to call his department manager to clear the issue. I found that he is not concerned to clear the issue and simply let the issue pass on .”

The communication style of local service employees is characterised by the features such as friendliness, trustworthiness etc. This can be said because of the rapport they share with one of the customers which is clear from the opinions revealed by the customer through  semi-structured interviews where he mentioned that 

“I usually prefer interacting with the same service employee whenever I make a purchase from the groceries department. He is quite helpful for me in giving information about the new arrivals and new offers .He understands my needs and utilities as we have developed a sort of personal connection with repeated visits to the store. The reasons for strong personal connection may be due the fact that he is empathetic, friendly and reliable.”

Apart from this, the part-time international student employees possess affirmative communication style. Moreover, the impatience is other negative feature of the part-time international service employees. This is evident from the findings when Customer C reacted in the following manner 

“I am a regular customer to the store. In my shopping experience till date with the store, I observed that the part-time service employees are less patient in hearing my concerns and my requirements. They tend to rush off without listening to me completely. I observed that they interrupt me in the middle of my dialogue and they start talking without completely listening to my opinions. This is generally not observed in local service employees” 

However, the communication style of local service employees is characterised by cheerfulness and activeness which usually passes on the moods of the customers making it a satisfying shopping experience. This is known from the opinions of Customer C when he shared his experience about local service employees. 

“I found local employees to be more active and characterised by socially acceptable facial expressions. This creates a cheerful environment at the time of purchase. Moreover, this ultimately leads to a satisfying shopping experience.”

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”

This study specified the significant information on change management process and global outsourcing process carried out in the organizations by taking Infosys Company as example. According to this study, Infosys Company is facing many change management problems in the global outsourcing process. Even though Infosys Company is having many global operations, still it is outsourcing its IT and BPO services to many companies over the world. In order to identify the actual problems faced by Infosys Company, research conducted survey in Infosys Company of Hyderabad by including Infosys Employees as participants. Each participant specified their own views and ideas on global outsourcing and change management process.

Recommendations

Being an international company, Infosys is still outsourcing its IT and BPO services to many other global outsourcing companies over the world in order to reach the target customers from all ends. Infosys main motto is to expand their operations into all major countries. Rather than outsourcing their services to other companies, Infosys should expand their business by opening new projects in different areas over the world. Infosys is having a good global financial standard that is capable of opening its branches in many areas. Infosys can use this particular aspect in order to reach its target potential customers over the world. Many participants answered that global outsourcing process is more important for their companies in order to manage different locations where they are not able to manage their operations.

But because of outsourcing these services employees are facing some problems with the outsourced company management. Infosys should try to build efficient relationship among the outsourced companies and the employees in order to manage the international operations in a successful manner.  From the results, it is been noticed that even though Infosys Company is successful in aligning its change management and global outsourcing process, still it is facing many challenges and changes in the market. In order to overcome this problem Infosys Should try to use good alignment strategies in order to manage the alignment process of global outsourcing and change management process successfully. The shareholders and stakeholders of Infosys Company are even facing problems with the outsourced company management and Infosys should build a relationship between outsourced companies and their share as well as stakeholders in order to manage their share standards.

In the research interview process many participants stated that outsourcing companies are offering strategic alliance benefits, but Infosys should try to reach their target customers by opening new branches rather than sharing the profits and shares. Many participants from Infosys Company stated that globalization process has shown major impact on their company and for this reason Infosys should try to manage globalization process in a balanced way in order to overcome the problems even at the time of globalization period. On the other hand, most of the participants stated that change management process is aligned with their global outsourcing process; still Infosys is facing problems with change management process. Infosys should use many change management strategies and techniques in order to overcome the problems.

Many participants stated different reasons for the failure of global outsourcing and change management process in Infosys such as lack of appropriate change management plans, lack of experienced staff in managing the changes, lack of management interest towards the changes.  Participants from Infosys Company stated that they are looking forward towards some main European countries to outsource their products and services.

Rather than selecting European developed countries, Infosys should try to expand their services into undeveloped countries in order to develop themselves and support the undeveloped countries by offering employment etc Even though Infosys is following many global outsourcing strategies still it is facing many failures in the international markets. In order to succeed in the global market Infosys should try to use some new strategies and methods by replacing their old strategies. Finally, this study concludes that Infosys Company should follow the suggested recommendations in order to overcome the problems faced by their company in managing their change management and global outsourcing process.

Findings from the interview with service employees 

Challenges faced by part-time international student employees

The responses of service employees are gathered through semi-structured interviews to present as challenges faced by them. When interviewed about the difficulties faced by him in dealing with customers, Employee A said:

“I have been working as a part-time employee for the last six months. I am from India and I used to struggle to pick the slang of local customers. I used to ask some customers to repeat their words. This irked many customers and as a result of that I received negative feedback from the customers when they mentioned their views in the feedback form. However, I slowly improved with time and now I am quite comfortable in picking up  the slang of local customers. In my early days I was shocked to see a customer complaining that I am rude. I was shocked because I felt that I didn’t speak in a rude manner. When I spoke to my department manager, I was asked whether I missed some of the words like “thank you”, “hello”, “sorry”, “please” and “cheers” in my conversation. I came to know then that I rarely used those words. My manager explained the importance of such words in my communication style.”

Employee B :.

“I have been working in the store for the last two months. I found my job challenging when I was put in a situation where I had to rush while dealing with customers. This hampers my ability to effectively deliver the intended service to the customers. Besides that, I had to tell lies at times to convince the customer in order to encourage buying. This is a kind of gamble as it carries the risk of attaining negative feedback if they spot out that I am lying. But if can convince them, my performance is enhanced in terms of the number of items sold per month.”

Employee C:

 “I have been working in the store for the last four months. At times, I had to face some tough situations when I had to incur the wrath of the employees. It is very challenging to stay calm so as to not match their turn .”

The semi-structured interviews conducted with the customers helped in revealing opinions pertaining to their experience with local employees who are not students. Customer A :

“I usually prefer interacting with the same service employee whenever I make a purchase from the groceries department. He is quite helpful to me in giving information about the new arrivals and new offers. He understands my needs and utilities as we have developed a sort of personal connection with repeated visits to the store. The reasons for strong personal connection may be due to the fact that he is empathetic, friendly and reliable.”

Customer B when asked about her experience said:

“I was always greeted by the employees I identified as the local ones soon after entering the store. Besides that,  the body languages of the local employees suggest that they are quite accommodative, affable which is very pleasing.”

Customer C when asked about his experience mentioned that

“I found local employees to be more active and are characterised by socially acceptable facial expressions. This creates a cheerful environment at the time of purchase. Moreover, this ultimately leads to satisfied shopping experience .” 

Findings from the interview with Customers

The customers experience with part-time international service employees is derived from their opinions revealed in the semi-structured interviews. The experience of customers is considered to understand their problems in dealing with part-time international student employees. One of the customers, Customer A, a middle aged 26 year old white man  revealed his experience with part-time international service employees as follows.

“It happened when I visited the store for the first time when I faced an employee who was an international part-time student. As I was looking around the store, a Nikon camera caught my eye and one of the employees came forward to explain the features of the camera. He gave a brief demo about the camera. Then, as I had some doubts, I asked few questions to which I received irrelevant answers. I asked him repeatedly the same question so as to make it clear. Then, I thought that it is my slang that is troubling him in understanding my queries. He did not even bothered to call his department manager to clear the issue. I found that he was not concerned to clarify the issue and simply let the issue pass on. Moreover, he seemed somewhat abrupt and authoritarian to the point of being abrupt  in the style of his communication although he was resourceful.

Customer B, a 35 year old woman of Afro Caribbean origin revealed her experience:

“I am a frequent customer of the store. I have encountered many sales employees both local and foreign students. I never had a strong rapport with a foreign student employee although I found them friendly and empathetic. I never faced any serious issue with part-time international service employees. I used to have a strong rapport with a local employee who used to work in this store. From then on, I did not have a  rapport with any local employees. The main reason behind it may be due to their short stint with the store.”

Customer  C, a 50 year old male of Indian descent  said:

“I am a regular customer to the store. In my shopping experience till date with the store, I observed that the part-time student employees are less patient in hearing my concerns and my requirements. They tend to rush off without listening to me completely. I observed that they interrupt me in the middle of my sentence and they start talking without completely listening to my opinions. This is generally not observed in the behaviour of  local people who are employees”

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. 

The training program prior to the conduct of regular job activities include those key elements of communication which are applied regularly in day to day job activities. The key issues related to the communication process dealt in the training program are investigated from the opinions of the managers. All the three managers expressed more or less the same opinion regarding this issue. Hence the opinions of all the managers is consolidated and presented as below.

“A three day training program is conducted with the part-time international students employees to handle the customers in the desired manner characterised 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 the communication process. In the first two days, a special CD is shown to these 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 a good communication process and how to empathize with customers.

The CD demonstrates that the communication process of service employees should not match with the angry tone of the customers. Moreover, the CD suggests to the employees to concentrate more on what you can do rather than what you cannot do. The CD talks about empathy in detail which defines that empathy means a deeper understanding of customer’s problem by focusing on what customers have to say. This focus on others leads to a feeling of trust and reliability on the service employees which is a part of the effective communication process.

The aspect of staying calm in dealing with angry customers is dealt with in more detail where the stress is expressed  through the tone of the service employees when the customer is angry. The employee can pacify the situation by maintaining a regular tone characterised by professionalism. This automatically helps in reducing the tone and anger of the customers thereby easing the situation. Moreover, the importance of courtesy should not be undermined. This is hallmark of good communication skills. To be courteous is to talk to the people the way you wanted to be talked to.

Another highlight of the effective communication process includes helpfulness. To be helpful, an employee should be resourceful enough to clear the doubts of customers so as to provide the required information needed by the customers. Another important aspect is to follow up. A good communicator follows up regularly with calls. If a service employee makes any promise that is to be fulfilled in the next visit during the negotiation process, he should not fail to keep up the promise. Else, it is not advisable to promise the customer. 

Major shortcomings in communication identified  in international students who are  employees in Sainsburys Richmond

Some of the questions in the semi-structured interviews aim at collecting data pertaining to the shortcomings of communication process that is generally observed in the part time employees who are international students. When asked about the issue, Manager A said:

“I feel that the virtues like gratitude, empathy and friendliness are quintessential for effective communication process. These qualities are observed to be missing in many international employees. These qualities provide the basis for phrases like ‘thank you’, ‘cheers’, ‘sorry’, ‘please’ etc. “

Manager B when asked about the shortcomings observed in the communication process of part-time international service employees expressed his views in the following manner:

“Though some of the international students have good English, their use of language and their body language depicts that they are affirmative and commanding which does not go well in the service context as customers expect more of a friendly and empathetic style of communication rather than affirmative style”

When the same question was addressed to manager C, he stressed about the slang of the service employees in the communication process more than any other thing. He said:

“The slang of part-time international employees, particularly Indians, is a bit fast and less intelligible compared to the usual slang of the local people. This, at times results in a communication gap, which consequently stands as a hindrance to the communication process. Even though this aspect is particularly stressed in the training process in order to slow it down, not much progress is seen in the regular communication style of part time international employees.”