Improvement of the learning organization culture and customer experience performance of the car dealers of one US automotive company in Thailand using organizational coaching interventions

Abstract

Coaching has been increasingly adopted as one of the organization intervention tools to improve organizational performance factors such as leadership, talent development, employee competency, and employee engagement. However, it lacks strong and tangible results that can convince organization leaders to invest in coaching interventions as a long-term solution to improve organizational performance. This research aims at providing empirical evidences on the impact of coaching interventions toward the adoption and implementation of a learning organization perspective that helps to enhance customer experience at the car dealership level. The research applies a quantitative methodology to study seven car dealers of an international US automotive company in Thailand (CDS), all of which are Thai small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An adapted version of the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) was developed to measure seven dimensions of the organizational progress on both the learning organization culture and the customer experience performance and knowledge performance as a result of organizational coaching interventions. The modified DLOQ was used to compare the results between the car dealers who received the customer experience management (CEM) coaching interventions and the ones who did not. A total of 300 samples with a response rate of 69% from the employees of the seven car dealers was received with 184 samples from four coached dealers and 116 samples from three non-coached dealers. The findings show that the CEM’s organizational coaching interventions (OCI) at the CDS dealers have a significant impact on all seven dimensions of learning organization culture (LOC) and customer experience performance (CEP). The impact of the OCI on the CEP is also partially mediated by the LOC. Significant positive correlation between the LOC and both the knowledge performance (KP) and the CEP were found. The strength of the OCI lies in the global and team levels of organizational learning while the individual level of organizational learning was least improved. As a result of the OCI, the two dimensions of learning organization culture – strategic leadership for learning (SL) and continuous learning (CL) – significantly contribute to the improvement of the organizational performance. Only one dimension: SL, significantly contributes to both the KP and the CEP, whereas the CL dimension only significantly impacts the KP. The research presents some limitations that are connected to the positivistic nature of the quantitative survey that was used. The results demonstrate the positive impact of the coaching interventions on the learning organization culture and on the customer experience performance. However, in the absence of a qualitive analysis, specific explanations justifying these results are not available. Future qualitative exploration would complement the present quantitative analysis, and focus group, panel of experts, and field research would provide additional insights and know-how to improve the coaching interventions. Improvement of coaching interventions would help optimize their impact on the seven dimensions of the learning organizations culture and on the customer experience performance. On the managerial side, the present thesis offers tangible proofs of the value of coaching interventions to improve both the learning organization culture and customer experience performance. It also demonstrates the efficiency of the coaching tools applied to car dealers’ managers and executives. On the academic side, the construct proposed in this thesis is unique and combines three main important elements: coaching interventions, the learning organization culture and customer experience performance. This first exploration of the impact of coaching interventions on the learning organization culture and on customer experience performance could inspire future investigations to better measure the level of improvement of the organizations using coaching interventions. Obviously, further investigations of the connections between coaching interventions, the learning organization culture and customer experience performance are required to confirm the results obtained from different car companies and other industries and to enrich the theoretical construct and therefore provide better modelized interactions between the variables. The long-term benefits of coaching interventions on improving and sustaining the customer experience performance through the learning organization culture should also be explored. Moreover, future research collaboration between coaches, scholars and practitioners for developing evidence-based practices in coaching interventions is encouraged.