Be Different or be dead

April 4, 2012

Why too many layers in an organization prevent great customer service

Source: Unsplash

Why too many layers in an organization prevent great customer service.

How many levels in your organization separate the executives from the customer? Too many I suspect…

Stand-out organizations have a specific objective to minimize the number of layers between those that serve customers and those that are in leadership positions.

Amazing things happen when these structural filters are removed.

— leadership is better informed about market - both customers and competitors- behaviour since communication lines are more direct and fewer numbers of managers are in a position to filter any market news that could be helpful in executing the organiation’s strategy;

— the frontline gets heard in terms of the barriers to their performance; leaders have a better chance to cleanse the internal environment and make it easier for customer serving employees to do a better job;

— managers in the organization are forced to actually do more than manage. A flatter structure requires managers to perform tasks rather than delegate;

— response times to customer problems improve as leaders are made aware of problems in a timely manner;

— the organization’s customer learning abilities improve as information within the organization flows more freely;

— decisions are made faster as leaders are informed of performance levels in real time mode;

— operating expenses are reduced without impacting the customer;

— the ability to respond to unanticipated events in the environment is dramatically improved. Feedback on events happens quicker; reaction time shortens.

Organization structure is the vehicle to allocate resources to execute a strategy.

It will encumber plan execution if it is too vertical and bureaucratic; it will facilitate it if it is flat.

Structures don’t serve management; they should serve the customer

Does yours?

Cheers,
Roy
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• Posted 4.4.12 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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