Janice works in the production department of a book printing firm. Her role involves collating printed documents, binding them and preparing them ready for shipment to the customer. She has no direct contact with the customer and believes that she has no responsibility for quality management. If a mistake in the print run is made, then she is not responsible. Her responsibility is just to take the printed material, collate it, bind it and ship it.

Janice has reasonable communication and interpersonal skills. She is friendly and gets along well with her co-workers.

Although Janice prepares the products ready for shipment she does not address them. In fact, if you asked her, she would not be able to tell you who the organisation’s customers were. As far as she is concerned all the knowledge about customers—who they are and what they actually want—is processed by other people in the organisation. All she does is work on the production line. This means that as far as she is concerned, she has no responsibility for customer service. Other people in the organisation are employed to provide customer service because they are good at it.

1. What is wrong with Janice’s attitude and with the organisational system?

2. How do you think attitudes like Janice’s impact on other employees, on the supplier–customer chain and on the organisation’s outcomes?

3. What do you think should be done to make Janice more aware of her responsibilities toward the organisation’s customers?

4. Why is it necessary that she understands that she has a very definite role to play with regard to customer service?

5. How can these problems be overcome?