Developing Customer-Oriented Human Resource Management Model in Manufacturing Industry

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student in Human Resources Management, Kharazmi University

2 Human Resources Management Professor, University of Tehran.

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Management, Imam Sadiq University

4 Associate Professor, Faculty of Management, Kharazmi University

Abstract

Extended Abstract
Despite the fact that customer orientation as a strategic orientation has significant role in organization success, customer oriented human resources management has not received enough attention. Also the extant HRM models are generic and not appropriate enough for customer oriented organizations. According to the Systems View, all organizational elements and functions must be aligned with the strategic orientation in order to achieve success. This study aims at developing customer oriented HRM model in manufacturing industry.
 
Materials and Methods
It is an applied study using explorative strategy and mix methods. The qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. At the first time, data was coded by MAXQDA and at the second time handy coding was used. Using the related keywords, customer orientation resources including books, book chapters, articles, conference papers and etc. were identified and accessed. All the accessed sources were studied thoroughly and the codes related to the research question were extracted. Then, similar codes were bundled into basic themes. Also, the basic themes were bundled into organizing and global themes. At the second stage of the research, a questionnaire was designed based on the results of the qualitative study and distributed among 20 human resources management expert to measure the themes’ relevance to the proposed model.
 
Discussion and Results
Applying thematic analysis, 135 basic themes, 29 organizing themes and 7 global themes have been identified. The extracted themes have been presented and described in a model. Results of the thematic analysis indicate that customer oriented HRM model in manufacturing industry has three main dimensions: content, context and results. Organizational orientation, infrastructures, leadership, organizational culture, and relations constitute the contextual factors of customer focused HRM model. HRM content refers to HR strategy, processes, and functions. Results of the model refer to employee, customer, organization, and society results. The context dimension not only directly influence HR strategy, processes and functions but also directly influence HR results, customer results, organization results, and society results. Also, results of the quantitative data analysis show that all the identified themes are relevant to the model and there is consensus among the experts on the importance of the themes.
 
Conclusion
This study presents some new and valuable insights to HR managers and researchers. First customer focused HRM is significantly different from generic HRM. The sub-dimensions and components of the model clearly show that HRM needs a substantially different approach in order to add value and be conducive to customer success. In order for HRM to be effective, HR strategy, processes and functions must be aligned with customer needs and developed in a way that exhibit the importance of customers. Second, customer focused HRM is not merely satisfying employees’ needs in order to satisfy customer needs. Customer focused HRM goes beyond this traditional thinking and focuses on customers’ needs, although it does not ignore the necessity of employee satisfaction. Third, customer focused HRM needs a system view from managers. If HR function is going to contribute to organization’s customer success, the contextual factors including organization’s orientation, infrastructures, leadership, organization’s culture and relations must be conducive to customer orientation.

Keywords

References

1-Ahoy, C. (2009). Customer-Driven Operations: Aligning Quality Tools and Business Processes for Customer Excellence, First Edition, McGraw Hill, New York.
2-Armstrong, M. (2014). Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, Thirteen Edition, Kogan Page, London
3-Armstrong, M. (2009). Armstrong’s Handbook of Management and Leadership: A Guide to Managing for Results, 2nd Edition, Kogan Page, London.
4-Arndt, A.D. and Karande, K. (2012). Is it better for Salespeople to Have the Highest Customer Orientation or a Strong Fit with their Group's Customer Orientation? Findings from Automobile Dealerships, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19(3), 353-359.
5-Aurelis, M. (2003). Creating Value and Stakeholder Benefits: Customer-Focused Practices of Baldrige Award Recipients, Retrieved from http://www.pomsmeetings.org/ConfProceedings/001/Papers/QM-07.1.pdf
6-Baker, T. (2002), Customer Focused Organizations, Challenges for Managers, Workers and Human Resources Practitioners, Journal of Management Development, 21(4), 306-314
7-Bartley, B., Gomibuchi, S. and Mann, R. (2007). Best Practices in Achieving a Customer-Focused Culture, Benchmarking: An International Journal, 14(4), 482-496
8-Basaez, M.O., Aranda, D.A., Djundubaev, R. Montesinos, F.S. (2014). The Role of CRM-SRM Bolt-ons in Enterprise Resource Planning System: Toward a Customer-Oriented Supply Chain, Strategic Change, 23: 389–400
9-Bowen, D.E. (1996). Market-Focused HRM in Service Organizations: Satisfying Internal and External Customers, Journal of Market-Focused Management, 1: 31-47
10-Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101
11-Cartwright, S. (2005). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management, Second Edition, Blackwell Publishing, USA
12-Chen, C.K., Yu, C.H., Yang, S.J. and Chang, H.C. (2004). Customer-Oriented Service-Enhancement System for the Public Sector, Managing Service Quality, 14(5), 414–425
13-Cook, S. (2008). Customer Care Excellence, How to Create an Effective Customer Focus, 5th Edition, London: Kogan Page
14-Guest, D.E. (1997), Human Resource Management and Performance: A Review and Research Agenda, International Journal of Human Resource Management 8(3), 263–276
15-Hannon, J.M. and Sano, Y. (1995). Customer-Driven Human Resource Policies and Practices in the Japanese Service Sector, Human Resource Planning, 17(3), 37-53
16-He, H., Wang, W., Zhu, W. and Harris, L. (2015). Service Workers’ Job Performance, European Journal of Marketing, 49(11/12), 1751 - 1776
17-Hendry, C. and Pettigrew, A. M. (1990) Human Resource Management: An Agenda for the 1990s', International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1(1), 17-43
18-Homburg, C., Workman, J.P. and Jensen, O. (2000). Fundamental Changes in Marketing Organization: The Movement toward a Customer-Focused Organization, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(4), 459-478
19-Hong, Y., Liao, H., Hu, J. and Jiang, K. (2013). Missing Link in the Service Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Antecedents, Consequences, and Moderators of Service Climate, Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 237–267
20-Kandula, S.R.(2003), Human Resource Management in Practice: With 300 Models, Techniques and Tools, Prentice Hall of India: Dehli
21-Kang, D.S. and Bartlett, K.R. (2013). The Role of Perceived External Prestige in Predicting Customer-Oriented Citizenship Behaviors, Human Resource Development Quarterly, 24(3), 285-312
22-Kopelman, R.E., Chiou, A.Y., Lipani, L.J. and Zhu, Z. (2012). Interpreting the Success of Zappos.com, Four Seasons, and Nordstrom: Customer Centricity Is But One-Third of the Job, Global Business and Organizational Excellence, September/October, 63-78
23-Lengnick-Hall, M.L. and Lengnick-Hall, C.A. (1999). Expanding Customer Orientation in the HR Function, Human Resource Management, 38(3), 201–214
24-Liao, H. and Subramony, M. (2008). Employee Customer Orientation in Manufacturing Organizations: Joint Influences of Customer Proximity and the Senior Leadership Team, Journal of Applied Psychology, 93 (2), 317–328
25-Lin, C.H., Sanders, K., Sun, J.M., Shipton, H. and Mooi, E.A. (2015). From Customer-Oriented Strategy to Organizational Financial Performance: The Role of Human Resource Management and Customer-Linking Capability, British Journal of Management, 27(1), 21-37
26-Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications
27-Parsons, B. (2014). Is Your Culture Really Customer Focused?, Senn-Delaney Leadership Consulting Group, Retrieved from www.senndelaney.com
28-Plakoyiannaki, E., Tzokas, N., Dimitratos, P. and Saren, M. (2008). How Critical is Employee Orientation for Customer Relationship Management? Insights from a Case Study, Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 268-293
29-Rashid, M., Abdeljawad, I., Ngalim, S.M. and Hassan, M.K. (2013). Customer-Centric Corporate Social Responsibility: A Framework for Islamic Banks on Ethical Efficiency, Management Research Review, 36(4), 359-378
30-Roosta, A., Venouss, D. and Ebrahimi, A. (2013). Marketing Management, 17th edition, Tehran, SAMT Publications(In Persian)
31-Schneider, B. (1994). HRM – A Service Perspective: Towards a Customer-Focused HRM, International Journal of Service Management, 5(1), 64-76
32-Shah, D., Rust, R.T., Parasuraman, A., Staelin, R. and Day, G.S. (2006).The Path to Customer Centricity, Journal of Service Research, 9(2), 113-124
33-Sharaj Sharifi, A. (2011). Investigating the Relationship Between the After Sale Service of Car Manufacturing Companies and Customer Satisfaction, Quarterly Journal of Management, 8: 9-18 (In Persian)
34-Strong, C.A. (2006). Is Managerial Behavior a Key to Effective Customer Orientation?, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 17(1), 97-115
35-Strong, C.A. and Harris, L.C. (2004). The Drivers of Customer Orientation: An Exploration of Relational, Human Resource and Procedural Tactics, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 12:183–204
36-Theodosiou, M., Kehagias, J. and Katsikea, E. (2012), Strategic Orientations, Marketing Capabilities and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation in the Context of Frontline Managers in Service Organizations, Industrial Marketing Management, 41, 1058-1070
37-Vandermerwe, S. (2014). Breaking Through: Implementing Disruptive Customer Centricity, 2nd Edition, Palgrave Macmillan Publications, London
38-Vazirzanjani, H.R., Motameni, A. & Moosavi, D.H. (2010). Measuring customers’ satisfaction about After Sale Service in Heavy Vehicle Manufacturing Industry, commercial studies, 40: 70-85(In Persian)
39-Yoo, J.J. and Arnold, T.J. (2014). Customer Orientation, Engagement, and Developing Positive Emotional Labor, The Service Industries Journal, 34(16), 1-17
40-Ziggers, G.W. and Hensler, J. (2015), The Reinforcing Effect of a Firm's Customer Orientation and Supply-Base Orientation on Performance, Industrial Marketing Management, 52, 18-26
Public Management Researches
Volume 9, Issue 34
March 2017
Pages 29-58

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics