Improving Communication Between Woolworths And Its Customers

Activity:

To improve the quality of communication between Woolworths limited and its customers

Objectives for information search

· To enhance the rate of customer satisfaction

· To increase customer retention rate

· To strengthen the competitiveness of the organization in the market

· To sustain and improve customer feedback mechanisms

· To facilitate the realization of the importance of a dynamic organization

· To improve the profit margin and overall performance of the organization

· To increase the rate of adoption of new communication strategies by both the employees and its customers

· To decrease the time spent on a customer by 20%

· To empower employees to better deal with customer issues, through successful management of mental health issues

· To determine and improve current customer satisfaction rate.

· To improve organization-community relations

Steps to take

· Informing the employees about the consequences of not communicating with customers effectively

· Supporting employees to be better communicators in the workplace

· Provide a conducive environment where customers can air their grievances without fear

· Develop and implement a workplace communication policy

· Informing the employees about the benefits of active customer engagement to their jobs and the entire organization at large

· To promote teamwork that will improve individual’s communication abilities in the workplace

· To provide effective communication equipment and

· Seeking the opinions of community leaders and involving them in the decision-making process

·  

Information required

(feedback, research conducted via the internet, journals, relevant articles)

Information

Source

Feedback

Customers, suppliers, and employees

Secondary research

Books, dissertations, publications, annual reports, journals, and magazines

Data collection  methods

v Interviews

Structured interviews will be used to collect data from employees and customers. They will take the form of face to face engagement and the use of survey forms. Both open-ended and closed questions will be used in the interviews. They will be carried out by sufficiently trained enumerators and overseers. Focused group discussions will be sued to gather information from a group of employees in the same department as well as customers based in the corresponding geographical locations.

v Questionnaires

Questionnaire forms will also be used to collect date from customers, employees as well as suppliers. They will be either handed directly to the three groups or emailed to customers whose details are available in the organization. Emailing will be the primary method because it will make it possible to get the feedback of both existing and former customers. The sampled population will be requested to email back or hand over the forms after filling them.

v Documents and records

Documents and records available to the organizations inform of customer complaints, minutes .feedback from suggestion boxes, financial records, customer referrals, database etc.this will facilitate an understanding of the primary reasons for the existing problems in the organization.

v Observations

This method will involve studying the interactions between the company’s employees with customers and suppliers. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected through this method. It will enable observations of various behaviors involved in the interactions (Bernard, 2013).

Data collected through these methods will be classified and later analyzed.

Steps to test the data

Reliability

Reliable data sources such as communicating directly to customers and not any other third parties will be used to ensure the reliability of the collected data.

The data capture methods to be used in the study will also be chosen carefully.more emphasis will be put on electronic data capture methods and the use of capital letters where physical forms are involved

The personnel involved in data entry will also be adequately trained to minimize any possible errors.

Data verification methods such as having two computer entries for each set of data will be used so that any variation is identified and corrected (Westenholz & Achola,2007).

Sufficiency

Data analysis methods will be used to ascertain the adequacy of data. both qualitative and quantitative data techniques will be used

Validity

The validity of the data will be achieved through the use of a sizable sample size that is representative of the entire population (Fischer, 2008).

The samples that will be used in the study will also be randomly chosen. This will ensure that the groups are made up of different gender, age, and other notable characteristics

It will also be guaranteed through the elimination of any possible source of bias such as bias in the choice of participants which would result in biased findings (Singh, 2007).

Objectives:

To update the management on the status and finding of the research carried out

To inform employees in the areas of improvement concerning service delivery  

To notify clients of the results of the study and the strategies to be used by the company to address the identified challenges

To inform other stakeholders about the responsibilities of the organization, expected standards in service delivery and results

To create trust between the organization, its employees, clients, and members of the public

To manage the expectations of various stakeholders

To encourage participation and collaboration of all parties

Information checked for accuracy, sufficiency, currency, and relevance

All data collected in the study, either through questionnaires, interviews or document reviews will be tested by a team of experts to ensure that it is accurate sufficient and representative of the recent trends. The checking of the data will also be to ascertain its relevance to the research subject being investigated.

Audience

Executives and departmental heads

Stakeholders

Employees

Suppliers

Customers

Members of the community

Location

Various locations from within and without the organization will be considered due to the distributed nature of the organization’s audience

Dissemination methods

Direct communication

This will be directed at the members of the community and customers of the organization using various channels of communication including social media, the web, and media channels.

Internal communication

Internal communication will be used to communicate to employees and other stakeholders. Both emails and social media sites will be used (Miles & Gilbert, 2009).

Other methods that will be used include face to face communication and reports.

Timeline

Within 96 hours after completion of the research process

Policies/procedures to be met

· All relevant communication will be made available for the identified groups of users. responsible but limited use of the information will also be allowed

· All information technology facilities to be used must be used responsibly keeping information relating to the  customers and the business confidential

· Care must be taken when using the email or social media pages of  the company as means of communication as these can be used in court against the company

· All  emails  being sent from the organization must be re-read

· All emails received from outside must not be amended unless with authorization

· Copying of emails to other recipients must be avoided to avoid breaching the data privacy act in case customers email addresses are revealed to third parties

· All emails must include an appropriate business reference for the organization.

· All the information relating Woolworths limited must not be used in for the operations of other organizations unless if prior permission has been sought.

Action

· Introduction of new communication management processes

· Initiation of a communication strategy

· Inform all the stakeholders of the new changes to the organization policies and procedures

· Inform members of staff and customers of the intended updates and changes to the organization communication strategies

· Building and strengthening customer relationships

· To establish a feedback mechanism to allow and encourage continuous communication on various issues

· Establish the internet as a powerful tool for communication between the organization and its employees

Documentation

(attach or complete the text for your dissemination, including the statistical analysis you have completed as evidence of your decision)

Woolworths Limited

To: employees

Stakeholders

Management

Re: quality of communication between Woolworths and its customers 

As a result of our several challenges faced in the organization, we carried out various inquiries about how effective the organization’s communication with customers has been, we have learned that the process has been incorrectly handled.This mishandling  of communication  has been the cause of the various challenges facing the organization (Kothari, 2015).

Various sources have informed us how these communication challenges have affected them either directly or indirectly.we have also established multiple deviations in the current methods being used(Ade?r, Mellenbergh & Hand, 2008). we have also found that a record number of 2499 customers have either rated the organization’s services or shifted their allegiance to competitors

No/ Mean

% Average

Employees

24

3

Male

402

51

Female

384

49

Frequent customer

700

87

Regular customer

86

10

Former customers

66

8

No/Mean

Average

Highly Satisfied

5

 0.6%

Satisfied

150

19%

Dissatisfied

250

31

Highly dissatisfied

350

44%

Feels there is a need for improvement

31

3.9%

Feels there is no need for improvement

0

0