Modern Management Challenges in Customer Service

Introduction: The Evolving Role of Management

In the business world, there are front-line agents and then there are managers. In the original days of the Industrial Revolution, the job of a manager was to simplify and streamline the tasks of front-line agents, making the work as straightforward as possible. The reason was that most front-line agents were entirely uneducated and required constant supervision. Modern management must take on a much more difficult and specialized role: knowing their customers and determining the most effective ways to retain and acquire business, then translating those measures for front-line agents. What were once basic orders have been replaced with complex forecasting charts, graphs, and various customer service theories — all conceptualized and grounded in modern research and analysis.

This paper discusses the role of the manager and the problems of modern management as presented in three peer-reviewed articles. The overarching problem in the world of modern management is that of keeping up with customer expectations and demands. Related to this issue are several smaller problems: determining customer expectations, properly preparing managers for their roles, and translating a company's needs into a workable framework for front-line agents. Without all of these parts properly combining, a business will struggle to keep up in this fast-paced and highly competitive modern market.

Rising Customer Expectations and Demands

The first problem that modern businesses face in the management sector concerns modern customer expectations and demands. In the past, customers expected little and were often satisfied with front-line agents who could simply answer their questions or solve their problems. Today, however, customers expect more from front-line agents and are not satisfied when only the most basic expectations are met (Gruber, 2011). A recent study determined that customers expect front-line agents to consistently and knowledgeably solve their problems; however, in order to then retain those same customers, the expectation rises further — to empathizing with the customer and helping them feel understood and appreciated (Gruber, 2011). Thus, the only way businesses can retain customers today is to rise above the baseline expectations. This is where management steps into the picture. It becomes the responsibility of modern management to remain aware of the distinction between inherent customer expectations and the additional expectations required for retention.

Conclusion

Overall, management is faced with many new challenges that were not apparent in earlier eras. The primary trend across all three publications is the necessity for management to possess applicable experience in more than simply managing — and considerably more than a basic degree can provide. While the studies do not specify exactly how much front-line experience is ideal, they make it clear that prior front-line experience produces invaluable managers, whereas a degree in management alone often results in an underprepared one. Understanding performance management as a holistic system — one that integrates learning, customer insight, and direct operational knowledge — is essential for managers who wish to meet the demands of the modern marketplace.