THE ROLE OF HUMAN TALENT IN MARKETING
CONSUMER SERVICES
BY
DR. (MRS) SIDIKAT L. ADEYEMI
DEPT. OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION,
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN,
ILORIN.
ABSTRACT
The traditional model of marketing mix deals with 4Ps – Product, Price, Promotion and Place.
Distribution underlying the 4 Ps, is the firm and the internal processes, as well as the external
environment. The external environment has been changing and has grown dynamic to the point
of being turbulent in certain industries, and to cope with such changes, the internal processes
have taken a far more important role. In the internal processes, a fifth P-“People”-has taken an
important dimension. The marketing of services to both consumer and business firms entails the
people of the firm and the role they might play in the delivery of services and the satisfaction of
the consumer. Customer satisfaction must also follow from employee’s satisfaction. This article
argues that in order to ensure the satisfaction of its end customers a firm must also consider the
satisfaction of it employees, and advocates the importance of human talent in the marketing of
consumer services.
INTRODUCTION
Adopting a customer orientation requires a focus on at least three areas (1) understanding
customers needs and want; (2) disseminating this understanding to all functions in the
organization and (3) designing and implementing a marketing mix which responds to the firms
understanding of customers needs (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990).
In addition to the traditional 4 Ps (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) of the marketing mix, the
marketing of services to both consumer and business firms entails a critical fifth P component of
the firms marketing mix. This fifth P refers to the people of the firm and the role they might play
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in the delivery of a service and the satisfaction of the consumer (Bovee and Thill, 1989).
Customer satisfaction affects brand loyalty, brand switching and complaint behaviour (Fornell
and Wernerfelt, 1987, 1988, 1991). In days gone by concern with people management centered
on the most effective set of procedures to avoid conflict. The primary focus was compliance
with procedures, regulations and fulfilling the minimum requirements of employees in terms of
compensation, working conditions, and benefits.
In today’s work environment, the importance of human skill, team work, leadership, and a self
motivating environment, has prompted a change and focus on the recognition of human talent as
a critical component of the marketing mix. This paper advocates the importance of human talent
and the marketing of consumer services.
EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT
From the school of scientific management to human relations approach characterized by
“personnel management”, management principles have been driven by the needs of the
employee. For example, in the human relations school, labour is recognized as more than just a
factor of production—it has feelings and that there is a need for social interactions. As the
human factor gained increasing recognition as “X” factor, the key to a company’s success,
management began to look upon human as a resource, not just a factor of production. As a
resource, the workforce is recognized as an asset that, if effectively managed, could contribute
significantly to productivity and the economic performance of the firm. Hence the concept of
“Human resource management” was born. Management of employee relations has therefore
shifted to humans resource management where achievements of employees and their social status
are recognized.
There are significant differences between the two approaches in the management of the human
factor in terms of the premises, leadership, evaluation and the role of management (Casse 1985).
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Human Resources
Management
Human Talent
Management
Basic
People are resources
People have talent
Leadership and Evaluation
Extent to which
organization’s objectives
are achieved
Extent to which
organization’s and
employees objectives are
achieved.
Role of Management
Employ, assign, evaluate,
Employ, motivate and
and reward the right people.
develop the people’s talent.
To enable human talent management to succeed, three key success factors are required:
1.
Avoiding Mindset
2.
Creativity and Lateral Thinking
3.
Human Talent Disposition
Avoiding Mindset is the ability of the Manager to venture outside the traditional “space” to (a)
evaluate new situations, and to seek out opportunities, (b) to be creative in problem solving and
identifications, (c) obtain feedback from the organizational and external environment, and (d) to
develop goals for performance evaluation.
Each individual’s perceptions and attitudes are constrained by our past experience and culture
and this could restrict a manager’s vision. The manager should view a situation from different
perspectives by placing themselves in the shoes of their employees. This ability to “wear
different hats” is important for any manager to determine, among the various cries and
complaints, which are “wolf cries” or which are the critical problems and to elect the best
solution among the various alternatives. This would help to reduce the risks of damages caused
by being misled, which may at times be more critical than consequences arising from ineffective
leadership.
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Finally, human talent disposition is the ability and willingness to treat a human as a talent and
not just a resource. The willingness to recognize and nurture the employee’s talent is essential to
ensure that the organization achieves its goals. It is important for the Manager to consciously be
aware that people are not resource: they have feelings: they have a need for motivation and they
have a set of skills that need developing. Human talent development can be accelerated with the
right work environment, and the appropriate programs for development and training.
A successful competitive marketing strategy must reinforce or support human talent management
when marketing consumer services. The most competitive firm in today’s environment must
adopt a total firm philosophy that is driven by the needs of its market and its employees.
Professor Thomas Kochen of the MIT-Sloan School of Management contends that for the 1990s,
human resource management programs, especially those who are involved in marketing
consumer services, must change. He suggests that the main transformation should include:
Goals
Traditional
Transformed
Firm Focus On:
Firm Focus On:
Maximizing Share-holder wealth
Attention to the interests of
multiple stake-holders (including
employees).
Structure
Technology
Control opportunism and
Building loyalty and commitment
self interest
of employees
A deterministic substitute for
Integration of technology with
Labour
organizational and human resource
management system.
Human
Viewing labour as a cost to be
Viewing human resources as a
controlled, low status function,
source of competitive employee
limited employee voice.
empowerment and voice from the
workplace.
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Given the rapid economic progress and the accompanying social and technological changes,
needs of employees are constantly evolving.
These needs may be satisfied if employees
perceived themselves to be talents that are appreciated and nurtured by the organization rather
than resources to be consumed. The focus on satisfying employees or creating an environment
that is motivating and a work environment that is satisfying, is important in the delivery of any
service.
Improving Employee Satisfaction and Firm Performance
Satisfied employees have less absenteeism, more commitment, and greater productivity than do
dissatisfied employees. The greater the employees satisfaction the higher the quality of the
customer service counter which in turn leads to highly satisfied customers. To the extent that the
satisfaction of both employees and customers can be maximized, a more positive environment is
created that extends to future customer transaction.
Similarly, it makes sense that when
employees and/or customers are dissatisfied, the resulting environment is one that is not
conducive to fostering satisfaction for both employees and customers.
In short, in services marketing, customer satisfaction depends largely on the performance of
employees securing the service encounter and employee performance depends on the quality of
work environment. Thus a firm interested in maintaining or improving customer satisfaction
should consider the relationship shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 1
MODEL OF EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE
WORK
ENVIRONMENT
QUALITY
CONSUMER
PERCEIVED
QUALITY
EMPLOYEE
SATISFACTION
EMPLOYEE
PERFORMANCE
CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
5
FIRM
PERFORMANCE
As the figure illustrates, the service itself causes both employee and customer satisfaction. In
order for the proposed series of relationships to occur as planned, a firm must position itself to
manage the components of the work environment that contribute to employee satisfaction, and
create a work environment that is motivating for the employee.
Table 1 shows at least four major components that have been found to impact work environment
quality. Each of the four key environmental quality components are composed of a number of
multiple attributes that drive employee satisfaction. Each of these attributes is in turn a function
of multiple dimensions.
For example, autonomy is comprised of discretion, independence, and decision-making
authority. In order to allocate resources efficiently, and effectively create a self motivating
environment, management must understand which work environment elements have the
strongest impact on employee satisfaction and subsequent employee performance.
TABLE 1
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMPONENTS
Job Issues:
Individual Issues:
Autonomy skill variety
Motivation self esteem
Role Issues
Supervisor Issues
Role conflict
Consideration
Role ambiguity
Participation
Role overload
What is lacking in most firms is the ability to identify the factors that have the strongest impact
upon creating a positive work environment, and linking these dimensions to customer’s
satisfaction and firm performance. This paper attempts to develop a formal link between the
human resources side of the business and the integration of the company’s human talent into a
firm’s marketing strategy.
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The Employee Satisfaction System (ESP)
Central to the development of a system that links employee satisfaction to customer satisfaction,
is a thorough understanding of the parts of the work environment that are most important to
overall employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction leads to three performance aspects. These
are: low absenteeism, productivity, and commitment. Committed employees have low turnover
and a high level of interest in their work. The first two outcomes are best determined objectively
from firm records while the third dimension can be measured with a paper and pencil test.
Employee satisfaction and the elements making up the work environment are also measured with
paper and pencil tests administered to employees. Asking employees about which parts of the
work environment that are most important to overall employees satisfaction gives misleading
information. Employees tend to overstate things that appear to be socially desirable or rational.
Employees may also be reluctant to divulge information that is important in fear of how
management is likely to react. Similarly, they have a tendency to report that almost everything is
important. Instead of asking employees what components are important, the ESP system
empirically derives the importance weights of the key work environment components.
The ESP methodology views the relationships among work environment quality, satisfaction,
and performance variables. An analytical method is used to determine the relative impact of
different work quality elements on employee satisfaction and subsequent performance. By not
asking employees about what is important, the data collection becomes simpler and the
determination of the driving forces that contribute to employee satisfaction and performance.
The ESP yields information essential for determining which workplace quality improvements
that maximize the firm’s human resources.
In the ESP system all components (work environment quality elements, employee satisfaction
scores, employee performance measures) are modeled as part of a cause-and-effect system. The
ESP system indicates which work environment quality improvements need to be made and
which are most apt to increase employee satisfaction and firm performance.
Employee
satisfaction when integrated into a cause-and-effect system indicates both past employee
performance and provides useful information about future service encounters.
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ESP Managerial Tools
One of the outcome of the ESP system is an employee index for the firm as a whole and, if
desired an index for regions, branches, or different lines of business that can be:
1)
Translated into employee performance
2)
Used for comparing, monitoring, evaluating and controlling employee satisfaction
and performance.
3)
Used to pinpoint and prioritize which work environment quality elements need
improvement.
4)
Used to predict future employee performance
5)
Used as a basis for employee compensation systems
While the traditional marketing mix failed to include the role of a firm’s people, the serviceoriented firm of 90’s will have to integrate the fifth P into the firm’s market oriented strategy.
Effective management of people and the creation of a positive work environment will contribute
to both the satisfaction of employees and customers. A highly satisfied workforce especially
those that have contact with the end customer (i.e. retail clerks, customer service sales force,)
will contribute strongly to the satisfaction of the customer and subsequent firm performance. In
today’s competitive environment, a market driven quality orientation should include the
satisfaction of its employees.
References
Courtland Bovee and John Thill, Marketing, McGraw Hill, 1992
Pierre Cassa, Managing People’s Talent: The Leadership Challenge of the 1990s,
IMEDE Perspectives for Managers, Number 5, 1989.
Fornell and Wernefelt, Defensive Marketing Strategy by Customer Complaint Management: A
Theoretical Analysis, Journal of Marketing Research, 24, 1987.
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Fornell and Wernerfelt, A Model for Customer Complaint Management, Marketing Science, 7,
1988.
Hooi Den Huan and Wan Chew Yoog, Marketing Perspectives: A new dimension, Singapore
Accountant, April, 1992.
Kohi and Jaworski, Market Orientation: The Construct, Research Propositions, and Managerial
Implications, Journal of Marketing, 54, 1990.
Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, Seventh Edition, 1991.
Stephen Robbins, Management, Prentice Hall, 1994.
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