Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

CRM ensures a better understanding of what is needed; however, CRM does not guarantee the
ability to ensure that what is needed is done.
Any error costs a lot and will inevitably result in overspending resources. It often will take
additional time and cause delays, and in the case of service provision will generally dissatisfy a
customer. An unhappy customer may not only disappear, but may also advise other actual or
potential customers about the incident. Their subjective estimation of the risk in dealing with the
organization will reduce the rationality of choosing to stick with the organization. Sometimes it will
require a corresponding drop in price to maintain the same level of rational customer choice - but a
reduction in price is not always a cure.
Customers’ primary goal is not saving money; it is to get exactly what they need, in a timely
fashion, and through viable means. Often, they would prefer to pay more for this than tolerate poor
quality of products or services in exchange for a lower price. Otherwise, everyone would be happy
with any free service, which is definitely not the case.
Developing an organization from outside
To meet the needs of its customers, an organization must learn about these needs through a
market research process - and then must carve out a specific part of the market to be served. It
must also clarify its mission with respect to this target market or segment of society (and get
agreement from stakeholders if necessary), then develop the corresponding product, produce the
product, inform the client that it exists and how to obtain it, and finally sell the product. Only then
can the organization find out if the initial assumptions generated by its market research were
correct, and then move on to another cycle of more precisely defining or re-defining segments, and
so on. This sequence is a spiral of development and product delivery in accordance with the
needs of the external environment. An organization does well when its product fits its market.
Sales are good and clients are happy.
What an organization is capable of doing – this does not stay the same forever – is a subject and
task for management. However, at any given moment an organization can only do what it can do.
Beginning with an analysis of capabilities, management moves to the external market or society,
looks at what is going on and which groups of people have special needs that may be successfully
served by the organization, identifies a segment or segments to be addressed, clarifies its mission
in terms of that segment (there may be many missions for the same segment, or for different
segments), develops its product or products to best serve client needs, and then organizes its own
structure, processes, technologies, etc. to allow delivery of the product(s) in the most efficient way.
The most efficient way often depends on the specific competencies of the organization, which must
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