It is hard to disagree that almost all businesses depend on the level of their customer satisfaction. If clients are happy with the service they receive and the quality of goods they purchase, there are more chances they will return to the company and become regular customers. Additionally, they are also likely to recommend the business they liked to their friends, and the organization receives more loyal clients, increasing profit and making the business more competitive. What is more, even if a person visits the organization for the first and last time, the more successful their experience is, the better employees will feel because positive communication with clients increases employees’ productivity and stress resistance. This is another valuable bonus for the company. Thus, a lot of effort must be put into making customers happier, and this paper aims to analyze how T-Mobile managed to improve this area.
Effective management and leadership are based on the concepts of quality and constant improvement. Therefore, it is vital that precisely quality becomes integrated into every level of the business, and all its operations are also based on quality. This idea is rather famous nowadays, but it initially belonged to Dr. W. Edwards Deming, “who went to Japan to help with the census after World War II” and “taught statistical process control to leaders of prominent Japanese businesses” (“Deming’s 14-point philosophy,” n.d., para. 2). He believed that companies could increase market share and productivity and reduce costs by enhancing the quality of all their operations, even the minor ones. Therefore, Deming developed 14-point management philosophy that can lead organizations to significant improvements.
All the fourteen points are incredibly helpful for businesses. For example, the thirteenth rule states that self-improvement and education have to be implemented. Overall, it is recommended for leaders to develop their workers’ current skills and encourage them to gain new knowledge, which will prepare them for upcoming difficulties (“Deming’s 14-point philosophy,” n.d.). This step makes the team more adaptable to the company’s future major changes, and the operation quality will be increased.
The T-Mobile case study exemplifies the necessity of this point. According to Dixon (2018), “T-Mobile doubled down on training to help reps transition from a narrow focus on specialized lines of business—such as billing, collections, and tech support—into generalist roles” (para. 25). For new hires, the training lasted ten instead of eight weeks. The company did not try to save money on the staff’s training, and it provided colossal results. The employees became more experience and, since managers received “more time to deliver coaching, it meant increasing the ratio of managers to reps” (Dixon, 2018). Thus, T-Mobile made sure that its workers were ready for the upcoming changes.
Another essential point in Deming’s system is to eliminate fear. Employees need to be ensured that they are free to express their concerns, doubts, and brilliant ideas (“Deming’s 14-point philosophy,” n.d.). The managers have to show that they are not interested in punishing or blaming the workers for possible mistakes, which will make the staff more relaxed and reduce the number of workplace errors. The T-Mobile case also demonstrates this. The employees were ensured that the changes were required, and the transition went successfully, which reduced their fear of mistakes (Dixon, 2018). Consequently, apology credits across the board were down 37%, and the level of clients’ happiness increased.
References
Deming’s 14-point philosophy. (n.d.). Mind Tools. Web.
Dixon, M. (2018). Reinventing customer service. Harvard Business Review. Web.