Ali recently became a manager at a local furniture store thatemploys three managers and 55 non- managerial employees. As largerfurniture stores such as IKEA and Home Center are coming to thearea, the owner is concerned about losing customers to competitionbased on the price of products.
The management team met and discussed their strategic responseto this problem. The team agreed that if profit levels did not risein the next few months, some employees would need be terminated. Itwas decided that the furniture store would compete using customizeddesigns and better customer service. Ali’s responsibility was totrain all non-managerial employees in good customer relationskills, and was given a budget of AED65,000 for this.
After contacting several training providers, Ali has narroweddown 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 CustomerRelations? 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 forAED8,000
Method: Lecture and Question-Answer Session Maximum Trainees:70 per session
Training Program: Customer Satisfaction Training for SalesStaff 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 anddisadvantages. Ali has been comparing these three options and isunsure if he should pick one of these or go with a differentapproach altogether. At this stage he is not even sure if trainingthe employees would even help.
Case Questions
3. Ali is unsure regarding the importance of the trainingprogram. Explain the process that can be carried out to addressthis problem.
