This thesis critically analyses the current popular strategy: Customer Relationship Management (CRM). To date, vendors and management consultants have made significant contributions to existing literature. Important issues have been raised such as the potential benefits to both the organisation and customers. These were promises of achieving strategic objectives and competitive advantage, developing mutual trust and personal relationships, integrating and sharing information across the organisation, providing consistent levels of services through different communication mediums and re-living the corner shop experience. However, many CRM strategies with the complemented CRM systems have failed because long histories of previous strategies and technologies have been ignored. Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Relationship Marketing (RM) all form part the history of CRM. An equally important key issue absent in mainstream CRM literature has been employees, who have become the forgotten people. This gap in the literature is addressed given that only a few studies scarcely mention employees. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the type of working environment created by CRM changes, particularly organisational culture and change, power and control and conflict of interests A critical realist auto-ethnographic approach has been employed to illustrate a richer analysis and support the gap developed. The empirical research deeply analyses the daily working lives of employees at a local building society branch. Participant observations, data collection and interviews were the research methods used. The nature of this research methodology has led to the inclusion of an autobiography to introduce the reader to the type of thesis written. Autobiographical accounts have been embedded in collection of the empirical research, which is justified for its usage in the research methodology chapter. Findings reveal that a sales environment was created as a result of CRM implementation has led to increased levels of monitoring and surveillance that have deskilled the workforce. A conceptual framework is developed for others wanting to make a contribution to this field.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:493308 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Sangita, Patel |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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