CXU Student Brief 10

Principle 2: Radical Decentralization

The radical decentralization of authority allows change to happen quickly and exactly where it needs to occur, elevating the customer experience in real time. The Wall Street Journal recently discussed Walmart’s new employee structure. Walmart’s goal was to have fewer mid-level managers with more capabilities, while giving the expanded floor level workforce more decision-making power.  The plan was to motivate the workforce to engage more effectively with customers. ‘Not so little’ things like returning an item or changing a price which previously took multiple authorizations and too much time, now are executed more efficiently, and their customers are noticing. We now have countless examples to show how even the largest multinationals are pushing responsibility to where the customer can see it. By decentralizing companies empower employees and improve the customer experience.

Employee engagement is a heightened emotional and intellectual connection that an employee has for his/her job, organization, manager, or co-workers that, in turn, influences him/her to apply additional discretionary effort to his/her work. An anatomy of this definition of employee engagement reveals that there are three threads: emotions (hearts), cognitions (thinking), and behavior (discretionary) that companies have to influence and galvanize to deliver the desired experiences to customers. These threads are also present in customers. Every organization that has placed customers at the core must place employees at the center as well. Only employees who are engaged can do an effective job of winning customers’ hearts, minds, and hands.