United Booksellers was founded 15 years ago as a collection of bookstores and publishers known for their commitment to the community and local culture (United Booksellers, n.d.). The bookstore coalition supports communities by hosting events that foster cultural growth and understanding, allowing individuals the opportunity to speak. United Booksellers also sponsors events that support literacy and literature. Forming a strong sense of organizational culture and customer-centric atmosphere has led United Booksellers to a long-lasting retail legacy of 15 years and positioned as a leader in retail publishing on the West Coast.

Information:

Central to a business or entity is its organizational culture. Organizational culture allows the entity to establish a set of beliefs and ideals that are widely adhered to and practiced by all employees and management. Businesses with a strong sense of organizational culture often see the most long-term prosperity and are leaders in their industries (SHRM). Ultimately, when an organization defines its culture, employees will operate in a more cohesive manner, expectations will be set and adhered to, and customers will receive a singular experience from the organization no matter the employee they’re dealing with for their product or service. Locations will also maintain a more cohesive operation structure.

United Booksellers benefits from the mentality and culture of creating an environment where people enjoy staying and come back to enjoy the organization. United Booksellers is known for its friendly service and atmosphere. Delivering friendly customer service is essential to a company’s success, with a positive tone, hiring the right people, and continually educating as ways to directly improve employees’ overall friendliness (Wiita, 2019). Creating a great workplace culture is also imperative to ensure employees operate with friendliness, as their attitudes towards customers are often extensions of their opinions of the company. When employees feel happy within the company, they extend this to customers.

It is suggested that although organizational culture is important to employees, the national culture will always take precedence and importance, leaving national culture as something to give credence and importance to from within an organization (SHRM). All businesses should be aware of what is currently culturally relevant. United Booksellers recently honored Martin Luther King Jr. day with readings of poems by incarcerated authors, all organized by the company’s co-founder, as reported by Luna Khalil recently in the Daily Californian. Through these actions, we can infer that United Booksellers seeks to remain committed to the community they serve by providing spaces where individuals can be heard, communicated, and understood.

Dummies, a Wiley Brand, reports that if issues are handled well by organizations, 82 percent of customers will return. It is also reported that customers will tell more people about bad service and less people when they receive good service. With bad news spreading faster than good news, it is important for organizations to take the time to make sure every interaction with customers ends up a positive experience.

Summary/Conclusion:

Q. 1. Are there indicators of United Booksellers’ service culture? If so, what are they?

One strong indicator of United Booksellers having a service culture is in their training of new employees to ensure customer service skills meet the expectations of the company and its customers. Taking the time and spending money to ensure quality in customer service skills means the company takes customer service seriously and is central to its operations and success. United Booksellers is customer-centric in its service culture with employees understanding the needs of customers and how they play a role in the organization (Dummies). Another indicator of United Booksellers having a strong service culture is in the way they operate and manage their stores, to deliver a peaceful, relaxing environment for all patrons.

Q. 3. If you were a customer, what kind of service would you expect to receive at United Booksellers? Why?

With a reputation of being a place where you can come to relax, enjoy coffee, read a book, and receive great customer experience — I would expect customers to have higher expectations when visiting a United Booksellers location. I would equate the expectation to possibly Barnes & Noble but slightly elevated. I would also assume much of the business coming to United Booksellers comes from customers telling friends and family about their experience, so they would have the same expectations and want the same experience themselves. Crucial to an organization, once setting the expectation, is maintaining, and even continuing to go above and beyond in delivering the best in customer service. If a customer has an expectation but then isn’t impressed, they can quickly be dissatisfied, and move on to another provider in today’s competitive world.

References

Dummies (n.d.). Exhibiting a Customer-Friendly Attitude. Dummies.com. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from the Dummies website:
https://www.dummies.com/business/customers/exhibiting-a-customer-friendly-attitude/

Khalil, Luna (2020). United Booksellers celebrates MLK Day with a reading of poems by incarcerated authors. DailyCal.org. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from the Daily Californian website:
https://www.dailycal.org/2020/01/24/united-booksellers-celebrates-mlk-day-with-a-reading-of-poems-by-incarcerated-authors/

SHRM (n.d.). Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture. SHRM.org. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from the SHRM website:
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx

United Booksellers (n.d.). About/Who We Are. UnitedBooksellers.com. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from the United Booksellers website:
https://www.unitedbooksellers.com/about.html

Wiita, April (2019). Never Underestimate the Importance of Friendly Customer Service. WorkingSolutions.com. Retrieved June 21, 2020 from the Working Solutions web site:
https://workingsolutions.com/never-underestimate-the-importance-of-friendly-customer-service/