The external blog “Maybe you get bad customer service because you’re a bad customer” written by Matt Walsh focuses on an event that happened in a fast food chain where the customer was displeased with the customer service after the employees had forgotten to not put ketchup on her hamburger. All of us have seen or experienced a situation where customer service failed us and our dema
nds as customers are not full filled. I agree with Mr. Walsh that the customer over-reacted, however, an interesting question that arises is:

Should employees who interact with customers have excellent negotiating skills?

I believe that the interpersonal skills of any employee who directly interacts with customers should be very high, despite the job. Situations such as the one described in the blog occur all the time and the organization has to be able to handle them with efficiency. In analyzing the situation in more detail we can use five conflict handling strategies based on the Dual Concern Theory from Chapter 9, Conflict and Negotiation. Because the conflict in this situation is not internal to the organization but instead it is between the organization and the customer, certain conflict management strategies such as avoiding and forcing would not be very successful as that would highly displease the customer. A pattern that can be identified is that both avoiding and forcing rank very low on the cooperative side. Consequently, in order for an employee to find a solution with the customer the best way is to use problem-solving, such as the example given on the blog, or yielding

I believe that problem solving is the best technique for both the organization and the customer. Problem-solving allows the employee to come up with a solution according to the situation which will please the customer and still be beneficial for the organization. However, a drawback that I can identify is that problem-solving requires individuals who can come up with solutions on the spot and can communicate them effectively. Unfortunately, these are skills that a lot of individuals lack.      Furthermore, problem-solving is often a slow negotiating technique as it requires time to find a win-win situation. The time required can be decreased but at a tradeoff. The organization has to give more authority to the employee to make decisions that they see best will benefit the organization, therefore not requiring to request permission from management.

On the other hand, I believe that yielding is not the best solution because while it satisfies the customer it is not beneficial to the organization. Nevertheless, I believe it is important to recognize that there might be situations where yielding may be appropriate. A benefit of yielding is that the organization guarantees that the customer will not be as displeased because of the lack of quality service and it is a fast method of negotiation.

In conclusion, I believe that if an employee interacts with customers he or she has to possess very strong interpersonal skills. The two best methods of conflict management that can be used in situations such as the one mentioned in Walsh’s blog is problem-solving and yielding. I believe that an important factor to consider in all conflict management situation between employees and customers is that the customer should be satisfied at the end of the settlement. The long-run success of the organization is more important than a small loss in the short-run that may have to be incurred to resolve the conflict.

Works Cited:

  1. Langton, Robbins, Judge, Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition.
  2. Walsh, Matt. “Maybe You Get Bad Customer Service Because You’re a Bad CustomerMaybe You Get Bad Customer Service Because You’re a Bad Customer.” Review. Blog post.The Huffington Post. N.p., 21 Dec. 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.