Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Art

Department

Business

First Advisor

Michael Castro

Second Advisor

Tom Dehner

Third Advisor

Rick Jouett

Abstract

This project deals with a study of the internal restructuring of a major organization. It looks at customer service as a whole and how it is effected if internal communication is not at its very best.

Chapter one covers the basics of good customer service and establishes that, if done correctly, good customer service positions a company for success. A key point is that good customer service stems from a positive self image within the company, among all segments of the work force; and that this self image depends on good internal communications dynamics.

Chapter two reviews the literature of internal communications and how it can effect the outcomes of customer service.

Chapter three focuses on two specific books that had a great deal of influence on the project's results and conclusions of this project. One book is The Addictive Or1anization by Anne Wilson Schaef and Diane Fassel which views major corporations as being "addictive" and their employees as being the "addicts". The analogy compares organizational behavior to dysfunctional family situations involving codependency. In such situations. breaking self destructive behavior patterns is difficult, because a certain comfort level of accommodation has been reached even in the face of suffering. This book provocatively develops the analogy, with destructive internal communications dynamics as the corporate "drug." Schaef and Fassel's book helps in analyzing the symptoms of the problem.

The second book covered in chapter three, Performance Mana1ement by Aubrey C. Daniels, is more prescriptive. Daniels stresses managing people by measuring their performance while giving positive or negative feedback and setting goals along the way.

Chapter four shows the results from the research done in chapters one through three and applies them to the restructuring of Brown Group, a footwear company based in Clayton Missouri. The results form a plan that analyzes Brown Group the way that it is currently structured and restructures it into an organization that can run much more smoothly and productively.

Chapter five reveals the feedback that was given by the Director of Management and Staff Development at Brown Group. It covers the topics within chapter four that he did or did not agree with and his reasoning for each response. Chapter five also relates the plan to the discussions in the first three chapters.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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