Design of a Customer Service Intervention Addressing Cross-Cultural Diversity and Communication Styles

摘要

Multi-cultural agencies in the United States that serve cross-cultural populations often have challenges based on cross-cultural misunderstandings between the American culture's customer service practices and the services needed by a customer base that has different cultural norms and communication styles. In the global marketplace, customer service varies from one culture to another. This applied dissertation study investigated customer service and the communication styles of diverse cultures through a review of classic and relevant literature.;An intervention, designed as a workshop utilizing adult learning theory, was developed to enhance the skills of customer service representatives serving culturally diverse populations. The content included sessions on cultural diversity awareness, customer service, and diverse cultural communication styles: tone of voice, use of vocabulary, body language, time and space, and accent. The design was assessed by 10 evaluators, who were selected for their personal expertise and backgrounds in the topic area and work in international companies. Evaluators were sent a formal invitation, a brief summary of the workshop and design objectives, the workshop format with specific details, and an evaluation questionnaire that utilized a mixed method approach of quantitative and qualitative questions. The evaluators were invited to participate in the study and asked to provide their assessment of the effectiveness of the content and design of the workshop. Questions focused on each segment of the workshop, the overall content, learning expected to be achieved, and the workshop's overall effectiveness. Additional questions focused on the length and appropriateness of the workshop for organizations serving diverse populations. The final question provided an opportunity for evaluators to provide additional comments.;The quantitative data were aggregated and a thematic content analysis was applied to the qualitative data. The major findings indicated the importance of understanding and awareness of cross-cultural diversity, the development of customer service skills and the appropriateness of this type of intervention for serving culturally diverse populations. Overall, the evaluators were supportive of the need for and design of the intervention. Future research is necessary to provide data on whether such interventions can provide return on investment for organizations.