Management News

Management Styles Influence Service Tone

Topic

Leadership

Key Words

service, role model

InfoTrac Reference

A71352345
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News Story

Customer service satisfaction is directly related to employee job satisfaction. Customers tend to believe that the treatment they receive at the front line is a representation of the way the organization wants the customers to be treated, and, in fact, research has shown that the way managers treat their employees is reflected in the way the employees treat customers.

In studies done in the banking industry, researchers found that employees and customers both rate service quality highest in bank branches that emphasize and provide good service.

A study was done with students in a food service supervision program that required students to visit fast-food restaurants and rate the level of service by employees and managers. They found that the restaurants with the most service-oriented managers also were the ones with the best service by employees, underscoring the need to hire and keep caring managers.

Questions

1.	Explain this statement in light of the article: Effective managers are not necessarily true leaders.
2.	The article states, the students' findings regularly paint a dismal picture of service quality in the fast-food biz..."e;. Why do you think service quality is such a problem in this industry? What can organizations do to improve the service at this level company-wide?

Source

Ron Zemke, "Management Styles Influence Service Tone," CityBusiness, (Minneapolis, MN), Feb 16, 2001, p. 12.

Instructor Discussion Notes

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