Ali recently became a manager at a local furniture store that
employs three managers and 55 non- managerial employees. As larger
furniture stores such as IKEA and Home Center are coming to the
area, the owner is concerned about losing customers to competition
based on the price of products.
The management team met and discussed their strategic response
to this problem. The team agreed that if profit levels did not rise
in the next few months, some employees would need be terminated. It
was decided that the furniture store would compete using customized
designs and better customer service. Ali’s responsibility was to
train all non-managerial employees in good customer relation
skills, and was given a budget of AED65,000 for this.
After contacting several training providers, Ali has narrowed
down his options to the following three training programs:
Expert Trainers Inc.
Al Jumeirah Consultants
Al Areej Training Services
Training Program: How to Build Long-Lasting Customer
Relations? Three-Day workshop for AED35,000
Method: Lecture, Group Discussion, and Activities
Maximum Trainees: 50 per session
Training Program: Customer Service Skills One-Day Seminar for
AED8,000
Method: Lecture and Question-Answer Session Maximum Trainees:
70 per session
Training Program: Customer Satisfaction Training for Sales
Staff Three-Day workshop for AED25,000
Method: Customized Simulations with Feedback
Maximum Trainees: 25 per session
Each of the three options has its own advantages and
disadvantages. Ali has been comparing these three options and is
unsure if he should pick one of these or go with a different
approach altogether. At this stage he is not even sure if training
the employees would even help.
Case Questions
2. How can the training program improve employee performance?
Use one of the motivational theories covered in this course to
support your answer.