Teamwork and Customer Service

Abstract

Service management discourse has evolved tremendously over the past few decades. Nonetheless, the service management landscape remains a critical terrain for research and theory development, propelled not only by competition but also by the unique feature of service: the concurrent action of service delivery and consumption. To contribute to the understanding of service management, this chapter offers a teamwork perspective. Particularly, this chapter is founded on the psychological thinking regarding the dysfunctional capacity in teams if harmonious and symbiotic alignment is not achieved. Strategic alignment of team-working is critical for ensuring satisfactory customer service. To achieve the target of the chapter, four core steps are taken. First, the motivation for this chapter is summarised, explaining the pertinence for enhancing knowledge in this area. Within that motivation too, customer service as it relates to effective teamwork is also highlighted. Second, customer service is elaborated, and in doing that, core related features are flagged and explained. Following that, literature is reviewed on teamwork, highlighting its customer service importance, and also explaining a range of contingencies that condition team-working outcomes and customer service implications. To conclude, this chapter draws the attention of service management practitioners to critical team-working steps for optimum customer service and organisational performance, and recommends areas for future research.