Engendering customer care and complaints handling in Government real estate companies in the Caribbean: change from below through action research..
Keywords:
Participatory action research, Customer Relationship Management, Special Purpose State Enterprise, Caribbean, Landlord and tenantAbstract
This paper examines why attempts to improve customer care and customer relationship management in a Caribbean Government real estate company continued to fail. The lead author undertook an action research study as an insider researcher. One macro action research cycle was completed using multiple data sources and with key customer facing employees as an action research group to engage in collaborative inquiry. The results showed that the transactional nature of the landlord-tenant relationship, the fetter of being a State Enterprise, executive inertia, and silo thinking and behaviour made implementing change an intractable problem. However, the study also reveals the potential for “bottom-up” change through collaboration and capacity building with staff. We contribute both to knowledge of customer care in the public sector and to management practice, by showing how change can be achieved without top management support.
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