(OUM OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA RESEARCH PROJECT (BMBRS5103) 103500
HOW CAN TEAMWORK AFFECTS TO CUSTOMER FOCUS CASE STUDY: KHANG MINH OFFICE STATIONERY., LTD
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my lecturer - Dr Bui Phi Hung, who has the attitude and the substance of a genius: he continually and convincingly
conveyed a spirit of adventure in regard to research, and an excitement in regard to
teaching Without his guidance and persistent help this assignment would not have been possible
1 would also like to thank my fellow classmate who partnered with me in the class for the capstone who shared this learning experience with me Anh I would like to
thank you all of my co-workers in Khang Minh company who helped me to
complete this study well
In addition, a thank you to Opening University Malaysia and Hutech University organized the useful MBA program which I am very interested And I am strongly believe that this course will much help me during my career
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ABSTRACT
There is a very good quote of about teamwork of Mattie Stepanek, he
states" Unity is strength when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved." In the world today, teamwork becomes an important
parts in any companies, organization But what make the team successful and failed
This is a widely question and hard to answer correctly In this research, we
investigate about the teamwork affects to customer focus, we develop the serial of theories relating to teamwork; team composition, team selection, team development, and the sustaining of the team The purpose of this dissertation is to gain a deeply
understanding of how teamwork is used within a company to affect customer focus In order to fulfill this aim, we are not going to use all of these theories to explain the
question research “how can teamwork affect to customer focus” We are going to
use the theory of the change agents of Adebanjo and Kehoe in stead
A case study of a trading company in the industrial market, Khang Minh Office Stationery company is selected The aspects of teamwork, and customer focus are being studied The case study demonstrates the change agent in Khang Minh
company There are not differences compared to theory regarding how to teamwork focus in customer focus, the mutual objective seems to be the most important factor and the glue that keeps this team together
Customer focused is defined as knowing who the customers are, what matters to
them as well as meeting the customers’ needs The customer is considered to be a
long term partner and customer focus is brought into the teamwork by means of the change agents
Trang 5OPEN UNIVERSITY SIA MALAY KMC Ic CSR SPSS EFA ANOVA KMO Sig VIF IMR IEF ICR DCF
ABBREVEIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
:Khang Minh company : Internal Cordinator
:Customer service representative
‘Statistical Package for the Social Sciences :Exploratory Factor Analysis
:Analysis of Variance
:Kaiser-Mayser-Oklin
:Observed significance level
:Variance inflation factor
Independent Measure & Reward ‘Independent Employee Focus
‘Independent Communication & Building Relationship
:Dependent Customer Focus
Trang 6GON UNIVERSITY M ALAVSI A TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION .cssssssssosscssccsccenersansonssvensonsonsesensenscrsecssensenss 8 1.1 Background .scsssssesssccsssssessensssenssssorsccnrsccersenessenscarseeanacoensssearenrones 8 1.2 Problem discussion -.sccccscsssrecsesensasatrsccesevescaresvenecsenes 8 1.3 Research aim .cccsscssscsssvscsscrssssscecsneanssnassanssnsezeccsosoosersccsensenanessasoes 9 1.4 Research question sscessssesressssenserserscscosseesscenenrensensnssonanesvensensonens 10
1.5 Limitation of Research Study sceeeseseriiisrieiieieseriee 10
1.6 Structure of research Paper .ccccscssssserescsoscrseenssersesscesennecssessoees 10 CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW sscssersossssassersessosencesseonnsenserenees 11 2.1 TeamWO co ng 6148368443008048681616004096010001006000000000009199 11 2.1.1 Definition of teamwork sccsrcssssessensesscoseserssnsassnsenconsessees 11 2.1.2 Teamwork vs group WOF ‹eeeeeseeeseesieeieiisseslee0060 9 12 2.1.3 Selection of Team member - ccĂsc s9 SH n190190694664060606 13 2.1.4 Team roÌes -s-<=<cs s26 131690946468498840848440660909006 15 2.1.5 Types 0Ÿ feam c-ceeesesSeSsSẰ nH000644014060480080400100000008 19 2.1.6 Sales f€aIm c-oo <2 Ăn nnYS 230848080 0050836116004600800069048110605 20 2.1.7 Sustaining the function of Teamwork eeesrenesee 21 2.1.8 Promoting team effectiVe€§S eeeseniesirseireaiseesseraesee 22 2.1.9 Problems teams ÍAC€ co con S993 0 1618 05000690088034049006 23 2.2 Customer ÍOCUS c 55-55 S020 t0040889461646069468884000100000900001900009968 24 2.2.1 Definition of customer fOCUS .cccssesererrssscrsereorsnserssnsorsnsensers 24 2.2.2 Customer Satisfaction .csccccssrsssessersessccsccercorsnseeserscssenrseens 25 2.2.3 Customer YaÏUe son 99990950660 93068940080884008890000600386 25 2.2.4 Customer focus in teamwork cervcesssrsssersorserscenrsorsentecereences 26 2.2.5 Company defined customer Ÿ0Cus eeesseseessesesesersee 27 2.3 Conceptual framewWorl - << nỲ ng 015400540.1000860010008 28 2.4 ConclSi0D «co 5S S0 Ỳ n5 0090893444460416610060660490084900000 869 29 CHAPTER 3 —- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY se csessssnsssee 30 3.1 Introducfioi se cac 5s 2c H309 55 120 84304481400060484000800090080019 31 3.2 Research Approach cceeS nen 08104010014140840240208004001908 32
3.3 Research Strafegie€s c.essesssnnY Han 000401344604010000040040006 32
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3.4 Sampling and sample SỈze .-.« °esssessesiseisssiesieiesse 33
3.5 Datfa collecfion n0 00 006030100 B4040808060140100004 34 3.6 Data AnaySÌS ccccen nen nen 04613800404614800000000000010004 35
3.7 Validity & Reliabilify series 36 CHAPTER 4: EINDIENGS - -. 555ĂĂ5Ẵ 1539999 1016695568361420169 00450 37 4.1 Introduction se << cĂ n1 g6 0 1 060481693600408406601000 050 37
4.2 Testing of scale reliability sssssssoressesccssossorerersennersereeensessessners 37 4.2.1 Measure and Reward (MR) «Sen neessen eee 38 4.2.2 Employee Focus (EE) cccesesnessisisesiseesersense 39 4.2.3 Communication & Relationship (CR) - -<<<e<ssesese 39 4.2.4 Customer Eoeus (CF) . - + nhnhhntHHHHH He 41 4.3 Exploratory Facfor ÁnaÏySÌS eceeceeseeenienisissieseesesreersee 42
4.3.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis for Independent factor 43 4.3.2 Factor Analysis for Dependent Íacf0rS -seeeeesees 49
4.4 Pearson correla(ion anaÌySÌS eeesĂeeeeSeseeisasssesesersenee 50 4.5 Linear regression amalySis .ssssssersonscrercersecsecerencesrsseeseorsoeenonsees 50
4.5.1 Linear Regression AmalySis csssssssesssssssnsemnrsnssussennen senses 50
4.5.2 Evaluate the suitability of Regression model . 31 4.5.3 Checking the suitabilify of model . «s<es«sssseesesses 51 4.5.4 Explanation of equation .ssscscoccssesceseessersscerreresnsssensenenees 53
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 54
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Teamwork is very important feature of many activities in the modern companies in over the world Accurate models of teamwork, including distributed decision making and information flow, selling etc are needed for customer focus
Albrecht(1995) states that businesses all over the world are rediscovering the
costumer All of managers in companies have concentrated on markets, marketing, market share competition, competitive strategy, products, capital and profits Plenty of managers have agreed that creating customer value is important to increased
customer orientation (Slater & Narver, 1998), Creat customer value is a necessary feature for competitive environment as well as its leadership position in the market But many businesses, customer focus is still not clear, it is just the words
In this dissertation we describe an overview of research on teamwork, that affecting to customerfocus We surveyed literature about the teams and mechanisms of teamwork Teams can be viewed as groups of inter-dependent individuals working
together to achieve the committed goal A teamwork is effective which requires a
serial of competencies, that can be trained and coached However, the main insight
is that team members must possess a mutual awareness which allow them to interact, anticipate each other’s actions and needs, and carry out team processes like
communication, coordination etc These processes are the basis for teamwork
activities more advanced, such as delivered situation awareness and command and control, of particular relevance to the companies We also discuss the usage of intelligent agents for modeling teamwork in these simulations, and we propose the
challenges for researching in future
1.2 Problem discussion
There are many problems in theories that we develop the following chapter, and each theory has its own advantages and disadvantages In this study, we are going
to use the Change Agents theory of Adebanjo and Kehoe to explain our research
question, and because of limitation of time so we just review the problem relating
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to his theory only
According to Adebanjo and Kehoe (2001) In the reality, the level of teamwork is
low Many companies have the issue with teamwork This maybe the culture and
technical.The success of the team, voluntary or delegated, very influenced by the technical support available to employees Those are facilitations, skills and training There are to much important things that can attract the staff participating in teamwork; encouragement of management and recognition the team efforts In fact, the negative influence of the policies in company and the lack of time can be resulted in the mistake of participating teamork
Adebanjo and Kehoe (2001) states that there has also been a failure of achieving customer focus due to the inability to identify the agents These agents are communications, employees focus, measures of for example satisfaction and
complaints, relationship building and rewards to loyal customers Those agents can lead to success and the way of introducing into organizations
However, in a study of Drew and Coulson-Thomas (1996), despite the problems, teamwork being considered to be more important in the future of most companies In some significant cases Which companies are achieving transformation through
enhanced customer focus, service and international business is predict to rise quite significantly in team efforts The companies that are changing the value chain and supplier regarding also anticipate the major contribution through the team The biggest changes are expected in the areas of the company that acts with outsiders -
Client, suppliers and international partners
1.3 Research aim
The aim of this dissertation is to gain a clearer understanding of how teamwork is used within a company to affects customer focus To get this purpose the research
explores, describes and tries to explain the edges of a team in a company, how can teamwork affects to customer focus, the definition of costumer focus and the goals of customer focus is introduced in teamwork A case study of a selling company in
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YSIA ALA
the industrial market, Khang Minh Office Stationery., Ltd is selected The aspects of team, teamwork and customer focus are being studied intensively
1.4 Research question
The purpose of this thesis is to get a deeper understanding of how teamwork is used within a company to affect to customer focus In order for us to reach our aim, we have constructed the research questions: How can teamwork affects to Customer focus?
1.5 Limitation of Research Study
Teamwork affects to customer focus is a very interesting and practical dissertation to
the companies However, it is beyond the extent of our study to investigate all
perspectives that would be interesting to investigate Due to the limitations in time
of this study, we decided to look at the subject from the sales perspective not the customer We have also chosen to focus on the Change agents, and we use theory
of Adebanjo and Kehoe to develop the team which the involvement of customer focus
1.6 Structure of research paper
This study research about the teamwork affects to Customer focus, and this divided into 5 chapters In the chapter one we generally given overview of teamwork and customer focus; research aim, research question and research limitation etc In
chapter two provides the explores and analyze the literature on the research question Chapter three gives the how to research, sampling, sample size, collection
of data and analyze its feedback from respondents Chapter four presents the data
collected and findings Chapter five describes the conclusion of all what we have done on the dissertation and given the recommendation as well as the implication for
further research
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, literature relates to the research questions will review Available theories that relate to the research questions that we introduced in chapter one The
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components which may affects to customer focus such as sustaining of team work,
promoting team effectiveness, team roles etc Because of limitation of time so we
are going to choose one of them to present in our research The team roles factor is the first and most important theory of teamwork In this study, the Belbin’s theory will be presented
2.1 Teamwork
2.1.1 Definition of teamwork
Scarnati (2001, p.5) defined teamwork “as a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results” Harris & Harris (1996) also explain that a team has a common goal or purpose where team members can develop effective, mutual relationships to achieve team goals Teamwork basic on the individuals working together in a collaborated environment to accomplish the committed team goals via sharing knowledge and skills and experience
A Successful teamwork basic on synergism between all of team members make an
environment where they are ready to contribute and participate in order to promote and nurture a positive, effective team environment Team members must be good enough to be adaptable to collabrated working environments where the goals are achieved through collaboration and social interdependence rather than individual, competitive goals (Luca & Tarricone, 2001)
Teamwork is an entire organizational philosophy, it is maybe a different thinking, is a path that firms have discovered in recent years to make the worker really truly commit to the objectives and to achieve high performance and quality if when to
produce or provide a good or service The aspects that conduct teamwork are (Allen,
1975):
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Each member is to give his best, to make every effort to get the job done, not looking to stand out from their peers, but because it is confident that they wili do so he knows that this is the only way for the team to achieve their goals For example, in a transplant operation all professionals involved in the search for successful action The surgeon does not seek his personal brilliance but the good work of the team In addition, if the operation fails shortly going to be worth his performance has been particularly successful Teams will need time to engage and work
effectively (Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman, 1957) Usually teams go through various stages (Hoffman and Rogelberg, 1998): Home: Optimism prevails, the
members feel excited about the project has been entrusted, less known but intimate relationship, everyone doing their part to avoid conflicts difficulties soon: job
complexity and difficulties first arose that creates tension and conflict between its
members, the difference of character and personality looms Coupling: the members are aware that they are required to understand that if they want to take the project forward This forced them to try to overcome personal confrontation
2.1.2 Teamwork vs group work
According to (Deeter-Schmelz & Ramsey, 1995), work groups basic on the sum of the individual best performance, there is no need for collective responsibility in the
work produced The aim of group likes the organizations, they focus on leadership
Other, team shared leadership and a process for discussion, debates , decision
making and sharing to produce work products through their joint contributions of the members A team will be consisting of a few people with complementary skills they committed to the goals , set of performance goals and approach for which they hold
themselves equally responsible (Rao et al., 1996)
Teamwork is the most importantly and widely tools for companies and organization such as total quality management or product development almost always depend on
effective and high-energy team efforts Teamwork and team- based organizations
are seemed to increase significantly in the future as a result of many strategic change programs currently under way An importance is that will be the growth of teams
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link to customers, suppliers and partners of company The growing teamwork will be accompanied by new organizational forms and working ways, based on networks and clusters of skills, crossing boundaries with suppliers, customers and even competitors (Drew and Coulson-Thomas, 1996)
An internal team leader is often needed to coordinate with activities of the team, keeping records and notes to coordinate coaching, training or report to senior
management team The leadership roles can be rotated through the team’s members over time Teams may need the support outside the team Middle manager who used to be responsible for results that the team now has taken over can serve as
administrators, coaches, or advisers to the team (Rao et al., 1996)
According to Morris and Mountfort (1997), the leaders have the following roles in
building winning teams: By using team building as a cornerstone of success but also a continuing process, with a good coach can see and be available to all team members Moreover, the team leader should encourage team members to discuss the behavior The team leader should also build a complex work groups where every team member is responsible and thus involved in team building
2.1.3 Selection of Team member
This is a key influences team performance (Senior, 1997; Belbin, 2002) Team composition not only what individual members bring to the group in terms of skill,
ability, experience, role etc but also whether these individual capabilities combine
to result in higher performance for the team as a whole forming a synergy
Literature that has focused on design factors points at aggregated member characteristics, member heterogeneity and team size as categories associated with
team composition (Stewart, 2006)
From the perspective of aggregated member characteristics, different abilities of
individuals provide the team with a different resource and each recource adds linearly to team performance Therefore the value of the team success is based on
the value of the team members (Templar, 2011; Chapman, 2011)
The composition of a team according to Robbins (2001) includes variables that {13}
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relate to how teams should be staffed Robbins claims, regarding the abilities of
members, that to perform effectively, a team requires three different types of skills It needs people with technical expertise, problem-solving abilities and decision- making skills This in order to to identify problems, generate alternatives, evaluate those alternatives, and make competent choices
Each team is made up of individual members, but not all individuals can be members of the company Each team has a goal, and the members have different goals will dramatically reduce the efficiency of the team So in the first phase of the teambuilding, choose the team members will be a top priority
With the process of team development, team leader must select each candidate strictly, and select the potential talents from the candidate For the selection, team should not only value the education background of the candidate but also consider learning ability and logical analysis capabilities Meanwhile, individual character of the candidate is also regarded to the key indicators Work skills and work experience
could be improved, but a person's disposition is actually unable to change easily
Though some members have excellent work skills, they are lack of the sense of
responsibility and team spirits, and then it's so hard to build a truly outstanding team (Building effective team Date of retrieval 1.5.2010)
Though the selection of team member is important, during the operation of the team,
survival of the fittest is even the same As the growth of team, some members turn out to be inappropriate driving forces for the development In order to keep the team's performance, they have to be swapped out which results from their attitude or faith instead of ability (Building effective team, Date of retrieval 1.5.2010)
Finally, teams need people with good listening, feedback, conflict- resolution and other interpersonal skills All three types of skills need to be represented and the right mix is crucial According to Robbins, it is not necessary for the team to have all the complementary skills from the beginning, since it is common for one or more
members must be responsible to lear the skills in which the group is lacking, this
will ultimately help the team achieve its full potential Robbins claims that
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personality has a significant influence on individual employee behaviour Teams
that are rated more highly in mean levels of extraversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, and emotional stability tend to receive higher managerial ratings
for team performance It is important that all team members possess these
personality traits otherwise this can result in strained internal processes and
decreased overall team performance Teams have different needs, and people should be selected for a team to guarantee that there is diversity and that the different roles are filled
On many teams and individuals can occupy a number of roles It is important
according to Robbins that managers understand the individual strengths that each can bring a group, select the members with their strengths in mind, and provide
decent work tasks with the preferred style of the members
2.1.4 Team roles
This theory will be the main factor affects to our research question how can teamwork affects to customer focus
Belbin’s definition that a team role is a tendency to behave, contribute and
interrelate with others in a particular way
A team role described as a specimen of behavior, characteristic of the way in which one person of the team interacts with another other persons’ performance serves to facilitate the progress of the team as a whole In a follow-up
publication, Belbin discusses the continual evolution of team roles, which differ
in a few respects According to Belbin, there are nine team roles as below table
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Roles and descriptions — team-role contribution Allowable weaknesses
[Plant Creative, imaginative, unorthodox Solves difficult | Ignores details Too preoccupied to problems communicate effectively
esource Extravert, enthusiastic, communicative Explores | Over-optimistic Loses interest linvestigator opportunities Develops contacts once initial enthusiasm has passed
(Co-ordinator Mature, confident, a good chairperson Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making Delegates well
Can be seen as manipulative
Offloads personal work
Wledge and skills in rare supply
Shaper Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure Has the) Can provoke others Hurts people’s drive and courage to overcome obstacles feelings
onitor- Sober, strategic and discerning Sees all options | Lacks drive and ability to inspire Evaluator Judges accurately others
Heamworker _ Co-operative, mild, perceptive and diplomatic Indecisive in crunch situations Listens, builds, averts friction
mplementer _ Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient | Somewhat inflexible Slow to [Turns ideas into practical actions respond to new possibilities Completer Painstaking, conscientious, anxious Searches out | Inclined to worry unduly
errors and omissions Delivers on time Reluctant to delegate
Specialist Single-minded, self-sharing, dedicated Provides | Contributes on only a narrow front
Dwells on technicalities
Table 1: Source: Belbin, R M Team Roles at Work, Butterworth-Heinemann (a division of Reed Elsevier UK Ltd) and Belbin Associates (1993), p 23
This theory is based on the following principles: each member contributes to the
team through both a functional role and a team role The balance is needed the same for each team member A team member's primary and secondary team roles can be identified based on the results of the Belbin Team Role Self Perception Inventory (BTRSPI) A balanced mix of team roles within a team usually leads to higher performance (Belbin, 1981:132-133).The research of Belbin concludes that the
success, or unsuccess of teams are mostly dependent on the behavior of the team [16]
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members and how they interact with each other and apply their capabilities to
reach decisions and end results The successful teams were composed of members
possessing compatible Team roles while the unsuccessful teams had a composition of incompatible team roles The mismatching of team roles and missing team roles
resulted in personality clashes and conflict
Belbin identified nine team roles and their correlative behaviors necessary for the
ideal team composition while observing and analyzing the data from the Management Games Belbin described two questionnaires and through the use of those questionnaires, the Belbin Team Role Self Perception Inventory (BTRSPD
and the Observers Assessment questionnaire, it is possible to identify the two team roles which the members is able to assume, and two team roles which are best avoided (Belbin, 1981, Belbin, 1993)
Roles in the core selling team
Deeter-Schmelz and Ramsey have conceptualized four roles in the core selling
team: the selling team leader, the seller, the internal coordinator and the customer
service representative
Selling team
Responsible for all team actions Within the team, works
directly with the CSR, the CI and the seller May work
directly with the buyer and/or buying team leader to Selling team leader satisfy customer needs Obtains information and/or approval from management on such things as team
decisions and special customer discounts, as well as
information that permits the alignment of team and organizational goals
The primary customer contact Obtains customer information that is distributed throughout the team A key Seller source of external information regarding the marketplace,
competitors, etc
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Internal coordinator | Responsible for the extended selling team Works closely
with the leader, the seller, the CSR and various relevant
functional departments
Customer service Provides installations, maintenance and other customer
representative services Interacts with buying team and selling team
members
Extended Selling team |Consists of functional experts possessing the technical knowledge needed by the selling team to meet specific
customer needs
Table 2- Source: Adapted from Deeter-Schmelz and Ramsey, 1995
e Selling team leader
The leaders are no doubt the most important role in the sales team The emphasis on the team and teamwork will set demanding requirements for leadership Parish
¢ Seller
Seller represents the core group members who serve as the main contact for the customer The seller is also the main source of information from the outside going
into the group
« Internal coordinator
The internal coordinator is responsible for organizing and coordinating the extended sales team The internal coordinator works closely with the seller, the team leader
and the Corporate Social Responsibility to identify customer information needs
These customer needs will drive the composition of the extended selling team The internal coordinator might contact those organizational members who can provide the expertise needed by the core team to accomplish team goals
Customer service representative (CSR)
Customer service representative are the sales members of the core sales team they
are responsible to provide clients or customer with the , maintenance, installation, repair, and other services When the seller is not available or when the information
is needed that not requiring the input of the seller, customer service representative
can step in as a customer contact When interacting with the purchasing group,
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Customer service representative will get information about customer requirements,
preferences and customer issues and complaints before
According Deeter-schmelz and Ramsey (1995), the individual members of the core team group may be responsible for more than one role The roles of the team to varies by the size of the firm, in a small firm, one member can be in charge several roles He or she may take responsibilities as a seller, mechanic and so on, meanwhile a large company can have multiple sellers in the same team in IC A clear understanding of the role of each team member and how roles impact with other team role is essential for a successful outcome The common problem of team
may occurs because they are not clear about roles and goals 2.1.5 Types of team
Teams are categorized in various ways Some researchers classify teams on the
basis of their objectives Robbins and De Cenzo (1998) categorize teams as functional teams, problem-solving teams, self-managed teams, and cross-functional
teams Hackman’s (1987) classification can be summarized according to the differentiation of level of autonomy and control of the organization (as cited in
Thompson, 2004) and Quality Council of Indiana (2005) classifies teams according to types of teams that are used by industries throughout the world This
classification can be summarized as;
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Team Type | Structure Best Applications
Improvement | May be 8 to 10 Can work on quality or productivity issues Teams members froma single | A process improvement team can consist of
department multi-department membership and focus on process flow and product issues
Quality May be 8 to 10 May initially work on quality topics or Teams members from a single | overall department performance Can evolve
department into self- directed teams
Project Can have broad or Works on specific projects such as the Teams specific member installation of a conveyor system Can also selection May consist | focus on material related items like an of all or part improved inventory control system Usually management disbands upon the completion of a project Six Sigma Generally 8 to 12 Works on specific processes or customer Teams members with Black based projects of importance Usually
Beit or Master Black disbands upon project completion
Belt support
Cross 8 to 12 members Members are carefully selected Functional from different areas, Knowledgeable people are required Very Teams departments, or similar to project teams Tends to deal more
disciplines with policies, practices and operations Self Directed | 6 to 15 members Requires considerable training and
Teams Generally a natural exposure Can be given objectives or
work area team May | develop their own Some companies select
Table 3: Synopsis of team types, structures and applications (Quality Council of
Indiana, 2005, p.5)
2.1.6 Sales team
Sales team is an important team in any company, they are responsible of impacting with customer or client They should often contact customers, client to get the
information about their needs and demands The feedbacks from sellers in company
is much needed, basic on these information, company may have the right solution, [20]
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right decision- making etc
Deeter-Schmelz and Ramsey (1995) has conceptualized four roles in the core selling team:
Responsible for all team actions Within the team, works directly with the CSR, the CI and the seller May work directly with the buyer and/or buying Sales team | team leader to satisfy customer needs Obtains information and/or approval
leader from management on such things as team decisions and special customer
discounts, as well as information that permits the alignment of team and organizational goals
The primary customer contact Obtains customer information that is Salesman distributed throughout the team A key source of external information
regarding the marketplace, competitors, etc
Internal Responsible for the extended selling team Works closely with the leader, the coordinator | seller, the CSR and various relevant functional departments
Customer | Provides installations, maintenance and other customer services Interacts service with buying team and selling team members
Extended Consists of functional experts possessing the technical knowledge needed by
Selling the selling team to meet specific customer needs
team
Table 4: Source: Adapted from Deeter-Schmelz and Ramsey, 1995 2.1.7 Sustaining the function of Teamwork
This is most necessary factor which can motivate the teamwork and affects directly to customer focus There are some agents that can help improve the effectiveness of
team
Change agents for teamwork
Adebanjo and Kehoe (2001) said that there are five key change agents in companies which have implemented teamwork in a successful way These are:
e Recognition and reward:
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employee recognition and a form of motivation for staff and other teams A
common mistake is to recognize only the team has solutions to meet other standards This should be unencouraged, as the company has achieved success and teamwork teams sometimes have mild solution either successful or not feasible
e Encouragement: A lack of encouragement is a common reason for the failure of attempts at teamwork to progress beyond infancy Encouragements mostly
come from managers, otherwise encouragement has a distinctly positive impact on employees
The main mistake of teamwork is the lack of encouragement This factor mostly
comes from managers directly Managers should know how to encourage
employees clearly, if not, the teamwork may be negative
¢ Facilitation: Facilitation was provided for teams which helped to keep the team
goal in focus and ensure that teamwork friction was reduced while promoting arrival at workable recommendations
e Training: Company have been educated all of employees in company about the need to form teams, employees are trained in the necessary tools and
techniques that make their attempts at teamwork successful
e Education: The formation of teams is preceded by education in the need for and advantages of teams Employees understand that teamwork is for everyone within the organization, and by working in teams they are solving problems or seeking improvements that affected their own functions but also the success of the
company in general
2.1.8 Promoting team effectiveness
There are some aspects relating to teamwork (Tannenbaum et al (1996)) they are: There must be a logical reason to use a team If a single person can perform the
task better there is no need for a team
e Management must shows their supports to the team
e The resource requirements of the team are met or being met The performance of
the team might fail if there are lack the needed resources to complete the task All of
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team members need time to work and access to information necessary for task completion Policies of Organization can be also slow team work performance as
well as situational constraints
e Different kinds of teams have different needs to success so, a given team will
exhibit different needs at different stages in its development There are no interventions that will work in all situations A team which has lacks of technical skills must require a different intervention than one that has communication
problems or exhibits role conflict Accurate diagnosis is critical for selecting the right tool or intervention
Tannenbaum, he also states that a careful diagnosis should be made before making an intervention to solve problems a team may face He claims that in order to
improve team effectiveness one must be capable of using different types of
interventions, not just always the same one There are keys to promote teamwork:
e Team building e Team training
se Work redesign/structuring
e Leadership development
2.1.9 Problems teams face
Conti and Kleiner (1997) stated that there are some of the issues which teamwork may face:
e Work structure, hierarchical in nature: A change in organizational structure is essential in good teams
e Keeping their goal Individualism normally happened this problem Control, political issues and personal agendas can become obstacles that can be negatively
affect to the vision of the team
e Group thinking and analysis paralysis: Thinking Group is final conformity that
stifles creativity and personal input Analysis paralysis is when the team is in constant conflict that does not allow the group to make a decision
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* Communication problems and cultural barriers are other problems teams are
facing
e Lack of commitment and support from the top management This is very
important factor that affects to effectiveness of teamwork This may harm the
morale of team One problem that affects members of the research team solved is the lack of training Conti and Kleiner claimed that this is the most common reason teams fail To achieve teamwork, specific training is needed
According to Conti and Kleiner: There are some of the tools and techniques that may help companies to increase team performance as following:
¢ Promoting an internal structure of the organization that empowers teams
« To avoid destructive individualism and increase team spirit, both the organization
and the team needs to be committed to the team concept Teamwork is related to all the team members have clear objectives and a significant help
* An important concept for successful teamwork is to develop clear objectives and
improve The clarity of the goals allows members to communicate and they
visualize potential outcomes, clear objectives and enhancing team also kept
focused
e Essential to effective team work are key members Carefully selection members is
one of the componen that explain the success of a team To set this, an organization must create a job analysis describes the behavioral, technical knowledge, skills, and motivational characteristics would constitute a successful artist These
characteristics can be difficult to evaluate in an interview; thus simulating different
types need to be included in the selection process
e Another important concept related to the development of competent individuals are trained Training can be held to resolve three types of skills: working skills, team skills, skills and quality action
e The analysis tool These tools help teams understand and improve work flow within a function Flow charts, diagrams, work flow, chart praetor, and other
statistical concepts are examples of such tools
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2.2 Customer focus
2.2.1 Definition of customer focus
According to Henry, the customer focus of two types, identify and clarify requirements and expectations of customers Henry also said that customers can have the internal member or the department or fully organization Some customers are final, final buyers of products and services, sometimes the customer is a supplier The customer is seen as a partner
Customer focus means understanding the expectations, values, and priorities of those who receive the company’s work and ensures that those expectations shape the requirements for the products and services the team provides
2.2.2 Customer satisfaction
According to Eggert and Ulaga (2002) customer satisfaction research is mainly
influenced by the disconfirmation paradigm advocated by Parasuraman This model means the feeling of satisfaction of customer or client is a result of a comparison process between perceived performance and one or more comparison standard, such as expectations The customer feel satisfied when they feels that the
product’s performance is met to what they were expected If it exceeds
expectations the customer is very satisfied, if it remains below expectations, the
customer will be dissatisfied However, measuring the level of customer satisfaction has been criticized for being too limited and has been replaced by the
value of construction as a better predictor of outcome variables in the business
market
2.2.3 Customer value
The concept of customer value is multifaceted and complicated by many explain, prejudices and stressed There is a need to be aware of the differences in the concept of the value depends on the context.The customer value to an organization involving direct benefits that an organization experiences as a result of customer loyalty and
continued patronage; customer value reflects the personal values of individual consumers, and approach to customer value perception convenient center customers
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receive useful after buying a product 2.2.4 Customer focus in teamwork Change agents for customer focus
According to Adebanjo and Kehoe (2001) the physiological and organisational factors that can influence teamwork and customer focus are grouped into five change agents as shown in the figure below
The same author also states that(2001) the main differences between the successful firms and unsuccessful firms relating to customer focus were the possession of a comprehensive and highly structured approach to using customer-related data and the ability to make , to motivate employees working for customer Change agents for customer focus are;
communication and relationship, employee focus, measures, and reward
Adebanjo and Kehoe explain the change agents for customer focus:
Measures The use of customer-related measures serves as an important way This
will lead to discontent among the affected customers and the end result can be a defection to other suppliers
Reward and recognition of loyal customers is a way to encourage customers to return but also inform customers that their loyalty is being recognized and
appreciated
Employee focus All of employees know who their customers are Every employee
and all stages of the companies operations, not only customer service personnel as
traditionally, are encouraged to have the customer in focus
Communication:Communication is important to ensure that customers are kept in focus The communication includes both internal and external aspects of the company’s activities, Easy and effective communication with customers, between
departments and individuals are encouraged
Relationship building: Building a customer database and adopting a structured
approach to customer visits are methods of developing relationships with customers Social contact, sharing of business information, technical assistance for
smaller or less develops customers, and customer training is other methods [26]
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But (Adebanjo & Kehoe) also say that to achieve these changes agents is a
challenge because its concept of customer focus is very widely known To be easier to identify the change agents, the activities in below and companies may follow those The suggestion is that companies not expected to do all of the
activities but try as many as possible
Communication: To ensure proper communication, visits may be exchanged with
customers but also joint design of products should be carried out where possible
Employees should be trained in effective communication with customers, and the
company should constantly review processes and structures for ways of improving internal communication A structured approach should be adopted for communication of customer complaints and capturing of customer needs
Relationship building Build a customer database and applies a structured approach to customer visit is a method developed relationships with customers social contact, sharing business information, technical support for smaller or less
developed customer, customer training and other methods
Employee focus The concept of internal customer which encourages employees to
customer focus Also, directly contacting between all employees and the
company’s customer s to be motivated Employees may also give the detailed information on the customers and the uses of the products
Measures The ways of approach to measures related customers should be adopted
The measures may include satisfaction, complaints, product distribution, product
returns, customer requirements, sales, performance benchmarks and, where possible, the time to respond to requests of customer
Reward Loyal customers of company be given the awards, company may issues
sales discounts policy and may send letters
2.2.5 Company defined customer focus
Customer relationship scale
Nigel (1995) says that we could see different customers focus on a scale where the
different positions on the range associated with the different types of customer
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relationships
Table 5: Source: Nigel, 1995, p 11
Nigel lists the items to consider when moving down the scale of customer focus to
Customer focus Customer relationships How do we treat
our customers?
Low Anonymous buyers
Key accounts/segments How do our
customers believe we
9 Medium Hostages treat them?
Loyal followers What does it feel like to be one of our
High Partner customers?
How do our employees
believe customers
the desired point The first step is to know who the customers are, the goal is that
everyone in the organization know and value customers, The second step is to
become a customer and see if you like it The best firms have managers who
actually go out and see what it feels like to be treated as a customer, and then bring the experience back to the boardroom to improve it (Nigel) Knowing what matters to customers is difficult to confront as every customer have a different idea about what matters But succeeding in this issue could be one of the most powerful
sources of competitive advantage and real customer focus Meeting customers and working with them and customers days, are important things to socialize with the customers and getting customers taken seriously in the company Handling customer complaints, is about effectively listen to the customers, responding positively and building customer loyalty through this care and attention Measuring customer satisfaction, if you believe in customers, you will evaluate your performance in their terms Just trying to evaluate and being seen to do so is more important than the techniques you use Rewards and incentives for good customer performance, if the company does not honor those who do things to win the
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customer hearts, they will not succeed in taking the customer seriously Finally, Customer partnership, involve that the customer should be represented when making decisions and the supplier should also be present in the customer’s decision making to improve the service they provide
Redesign to match customer needs
Toombs and Bailey (1995) states that many companies in the world claim to be customer focused, but unfortunately a few can distinguish exactly how satisfy
customers by products and services
Marketing department can use its tools to measure the perceived value customers,
such develop new products and services and improve existing offerings Collect and analyze information and to know customers requirements and company can
design or redesign the products and services basically
According to Toombs and Bailey there are two steps that towards customer focus The first one is learning what all the customers, both internal and external, really
want from the company, how the internal market can function more efficiently, and were to allocate resources to gain bottom-line results The later is using the information to redesign the organization and modify the products and services to
serve the customers better 2.3 Conceptual framework
In the previous chapter two I have reviewed many of theories regarding the teamwork that may affects to customer focus such as the team roles theory of Belbin, Team promotion effectiveness of Tannenbaum etc
In this study, basic on the theory reviewed of Adebanjo and Kehoe as research model to describe the teamwork affects to customer focus This model will serve as
a guideline for data collection
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The aim for the company is to gain customer focus and thereby understand the customer’s needs and wants in a better way The first step towards customer focus is
the selection and composition of the team The tools necessary to sustain teamwork
in the long-run and the tools available to gain a long-lasting customer focus are
viewed as a parallel process, we believe this is logical since the company is dealing with internal as well as external customers simultaneously According to Adebanjo
and Kehoe (2001) the toolbox for gaining customer focus consists of communication which involves both internal and external aspects of the companies’ activities,
employee focus, customer related measures, relationship building, reward 2.4 Conclusion
In this chapter, we have shortly described about what teamwork and customer focus
is, what we have reviewed from the theories relating to this study And, finally,
basic on the review, we designed the model that regarded to customer focus From [30]
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the view of Adebanjo and Kehoe’s theory, we attempt to explain the how
teamwork affects to customer focus
CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction
According to Clifford Woody, Research comprises finding and re-finding the
problems, formulating, hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and
evaluating the data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last
carefully testing the conclusion to determine whether they fit formulating the hypothesis Other definition, as D Slesinger and Stephonson state that “ research is
the manipulation of things, concepts or symbol for the purpose of generalizing to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory in the practice of an arts”
The purpose of this chapter is to answer the question “ How teamwork affects to customer focus”
3.2 Research Approach
There are two common research approaches are deductive and Inductive: Saunders
et al (2003) differentiated between these two types of the research design First, the deductive approach is known as testing a theory, in which the researcher develops a
theory or hypotheses and designs a research strategy to test the formulated theory, second, the inductive approach is known as building a theory, in which the
researcher starts with collecting data in an attempt to develop a theory A researcher
should explain clearly which approach is being followed in his or her research
project
Marshall (1997) illustrated the theoretical use of both terms (inductive and deductive) as follows:
When researchers first begin to open up any new line of enquiry there will be no useful theories available from which to deduce propositions for testing Knowledge has to begin with collecting facts and then trying to find some order in them This is known as induction Deduction is the technique by which
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The four major research strategies are, according to Van der Velde et al;
experiments, surveys, Theoretical research and case studies Depending on time,
purpose, finance and others things we can chose the method that is suitable for your case
He states that Survey research concerned with opinions, attitudes, motives, values
and norms of participants or their actions And the same author says” associated with the deductive approach; allows for the collection of large amounts of data, used
to answer questions such as: who, what, where, how much, and how many, allows
researcher to collect quantitative data”
Basic on our case and the advantage it the method, the SURVEY research is selected
The advantage of Online survey:
* lower cost
* better response rates less effort to administer * greater accuracy
3.4 Sampling and sample size
Questionnaire made on google.doc with total 26 questions and 195 samples were
distributed to employees The main purpose of this method is saving cost and quickly received the respondents, and it is also accurate
Sample size is the action of choosing the number of observations to include in a statistical sample The sample size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is to make inferences about a population from a sample In
practice, the sample size used in a study is determined based on the expense of data collection, and the need to have sufficient statistical power In complicated studies
there may be several different sample sizes involved in the study
To determine how much sample we need in the study is the complicate The larger
sample sizes generally lead to increased precision when estimating unknown parameters
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The sample size basic on what we need to analysis In this study, we are going to
analyze the Exploratory factor and linear regression According to Hair, et al (2008), the minimum sample size is five times per one observed variables So, this
research has total 26 observed variables, means that we need at least (26 * 5) = 130 samples, and Tabachnick and Fidel (1996) stated that to do the regression analysis,
we need to follow the equation: Sample size (n) = 50 + 8*m In which m is the
number of independent factor In our case, there are three independent factors, so
the minimum sample size is 50 + 8*3 = 74
The lager sample, the more accurate; we distributed 195 samples, it is much more than requirement, it is accurate
.3.5 Data collection
Data Collection is an important aspect of any type of research study Inaccurate
data collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid
results There are many date collect methods available that allow researcher to
collect data for more accurate
For this dissertation, an online survey was the appropriate method for collecting the data This foremost since the purpose was to gain in depth information
Furthermore, an online survey also allows closeness to the respondent which is
preferred in quantitative study The questionnaire was created based on conceptual
framework that we have mentioned in chapter two
Questionnaires often make use of Checklist and rating scales These devices help
simplify and quantify people's behaviors and attitudes A checklist is a list of
behaviors, characteristics, or other entities that researcher is looking for Either the
researcher or survey participant simply checks whether each item on the list is
observed, present or true or vice versa A rating scale is more useful when a behavior needs to be evaluated on a continuum They are also known as Likert scales (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001)
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3.6 Data Analysis
To analyze the data that we have collected from respondents is important to find pattern and trends, percentage.The choice for this dissertation was the SPSS,
version 20 This tool is useful to helps us to analyze the reliability etc We also used Linker Scale in questionnaire This comprises from 1 — 5 levels Each question has code meet SPSS’s requirements, except 4 questions related personal information, we
record the title of which (Gender, position, Age, Education and working time) But
in the answer of those were code, for example: For example, since male came first, it was coded as 1 and female as 2 because it came second
Since there is previous research made on teamwork and customer focus, we relied
on theoretical propositions when developing our analytical strategy A within-case analysis will be performed since we are only analyzing one company This is done by comparing the data collected from the case study with relevant theories presented in the conceptual framework After having conducted the data reduction, we displayed the data and finally we draw conclusions based on the findings in our
study
3.7 Validity & Reliability
Validity is the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure The
question we has given employees and the data collection method from them affect the validity of research
e Construct validity: establish correct operational measures for the concepts being studied
e Internal validity: establish a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are shown to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships ¢ External validity: establish the domain to which a study’s findings can be
generalized
The total questionnaire used consisted of 31 questions to answer the question is that
how can teamwork affects to Customer Focus The five questions focused on the
demographics of the sample
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The remaining questions we designed as conceptual framework, it tries to answer the relation between teamwork and Customer Focus The first group include
questions, which content the very basic information about company Others three
groups were cohesive with the purpose of the this research
Tick boxes and Likert scale questions were used so that the data could easily be analysed It was ensured that the questionnaire also explained how to withdraw the data if a participant wished to do so
Reliability is the extent to which an “experiment, test, or any measuring procedure
yields the same results on repeated trials." 2 The tendency towards consistency in repeated measurements is its reliability
Reliability: demonstrate that the operations of a study, such as the data collection
procedures, can be repeated with the same results
Riege (2003, p7) says reliability concerns ‘the proportion of expected loss that is
avoided when the data is used to make decisions’ and Bryman and Bell (2011)
refer to reliability as the consistency of results and the concerns associated with the research question
4, CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter we use the SPSS to analyze the factors It will provide a systematic
and concise overview of the findings which are relevant to the research question, How can teamwork affects to Customer Focus? Basic on the findings we propose the solutions, recommendation and implication for the further
4.2 Testing of scale reliability
Cronbach’s alpha is a statistic Its purpose is to measure of internal consistency or
reliability
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The value of alpha (a) may lie between negative infinity and 1 However only positive values of « make sense Generally, alpha coefficient ranges in value from 0 to 1 and may be used to describe the reliability of factors extracted from dichotomous and/or multi-point formatted questionnaires or scales A normal Cronbach's alpha Internal consistency _ à>09 Excellent 0.9>a20.8 Good 0.8 >a>0.7 Acceptable 0.7 >a>0.6 Questionable Poor Unacceptable
Table 6: The standards of Cronbach’s alpha
this rule should be used with caution
acceptation for describing internal consistency that uses Cronbach's alpha is as bellow, though a greater number of items in the test can artificially inflate the value of alpha and a sample with a narrow range can deflate it, so
In the table 2: We divided into four groups follow our conceptual frame work in chapter 2 And all questions have been coded Cronbach’s No of No Variables Code Questions Alpha description Measure & IMRI, IMR2, IMR3, 1 IMR 0.851 5
Reward IMR4, IMRS
IEFI, IEF2,IEF3 ,IEF4,
Trang 384.2.1 Measure and reward Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha N of Items 851 5 Item-Total Statistics Scale
Variance Corrected Cronbach's
Scale Mean if| if Item Item-Total | Alpha if Item
Item Deleted | Deleted Correlation Deleted IMRI 15.96 8.009 716 806 IMR2 15.99 7.974 729 803 IMR3 15.98 8.128 672 818 IMR4 15.92 8.348 639 827 IMRS 15.97 8.589 560 847 Table 8
Measure & Reward component had total 6 observed variables( N= 6): we did analysis but found the variable IMR6 had out of acceptation so we removed it then
did again with the rest of 5 variables All the variables showed the good results
compared with standards in fable 6
Concronbach’s alpha =0 851
Corrected Item-Total Correlation of these variables >0.3 Conclusion: This component for the next analysis
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Variance Corrected Cronbach's Scale Mean if| if Item Item-Total | Alpha if Item
Item Deleted | Deleted Correlation Deleted IEF 1 18.06 10.398 641 774 IEF2 18.08 10.564 612 780 IEF3 18.00 10.609 591 785 IEF4 18.18 9.995 669 767 IEFS 18.00 11.457 492 805 IEF6 18.00 11.565 471 809 Table 9 This component had passed to the next step because of the result was so good: Concronbach’s alpha =0 817
Corrected Item-Total Correlation of these 6 variables >0.3 Conclusion: This component can use for the next step
S2)
Trang 404.2.3 Communication & Relationship Rellability Statistics N of Items Item-Total Statistics
Scale Mean Scale Corrected Item-| Cronbach's
ifItem | Variance if Total Alpha if Item