Customer Relationship Management and Leadership Sponsorship
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Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 5-2019 Customer Relationship Management and Leadership Sponsorship Jacob Martin [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Martin, Jacob, "Customer Relationship Management and Leadership Sponsorship" (2019). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 124. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. This dissertation, directed and approved by the candidate’s committee, has been accepted by the College of Graduate and Professional Studies of Abilene Christian University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership Dr. Joey Cope, Dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies Date Dissertation Committee: Dr. First Name Last Name, Chair Dr. First Name Last Name Dr. First Name Last Name Abilene Christian University School of Educational Leadership Customer Relationship Management and Leadership Sponsorship A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership by Jacob Martin December 2018 i Acknowledgments I would not have been able to complete this journey without the support of my family. My wife, Christal, has especially been supportive, and I greatly appreciate her patience with the many hours this has taken over the last few years. I also owe gratitude for the extra push and timely encouragement from my parents, Joe Don and Janet, and my granddad Dee. On a professional level, I thank Dr. McMichael for listening and helping guide the process. I also want to give a special thanks to Dr. Dool. His constant upbeat and positive feedback got me through so many of the challenging hesitations along the way. There were so many times, I admit, I had no idea what I was doing, and during these times, he was there. Though we had never met in person, he was always a short phone call away. I am indebted to his guidance. ii © Copyright by First Last Name (2018) All Rights Reserved iii Abstract It is extremely expensive for an organization to question the effectiveness of its customer relationship management (CRM) systems. The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of how leadership sponsorship impacts the effectiveness of CRM implementation, deployment, and daily use in the United States. A mixed-methods research study was conducted using an electronic survey questionnaire to gather quantitative data and phone interviews to gather qualitative data. The sample included individuals who were familiar with CRM and worked in organizations in the United States that had implemented a CRM system no less than 2 years and no more than 5 years prior to this study. The quantitative findings indicated value in leaders maintaining a focus on the needs of the customer, encouraging flexibility for employees as they work through their processes, and keeping current with the culture of technological advances. The qualitative findings revealed the relationship between leadership sponsorship and effective usage of CRM is greatly benefited when key leadership positions act at the right times, when organizations involve the user in the CRM processes, and when leaders find a way to incorporate CRM into the daily workflow. The findings suggested that the relationship between leadership sponsorship and CRM effectiveness was stronger when specific leadership positions were engaged in the appropriate things at the right times. Keywords: customer relationship management systems, CRM implementation, leadership focus, organizational effectiveness, organizational performance, leadership sponsorship iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................ i Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Problem Statement .........................................................................................................2 Purpose Statement ..........................................................................................................2 Research Questions ........................................................................................................3 Definition of Key Terms ................................................................................................3 Limitations and Delimitations ........................................................................................4 Dissertation Overview ...................................................................................................5 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...............................................................................................6 CRM Definition .............................................................................................................7 The Evolution of CRM Systems ....................................................................................8 CRM Challenges ............................................................................................................8 Acknowledging the CRM Investment ...........................................................................9 Organizational Benefits of CRMs ................................................................................10 CRM Readiness ...........................................................................................................10 CRM Risk ....................................................................................................................11 Connecting Innovation With CRM in Today’s Business Climate ...............................11 Organizational Performance and Effectiveness ...........................................................13 Leadership Sponsorship ...............................................................................................14 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................15 Chapter 3: Research Method and Design ...........................................................................17 Research Questions ......................................................................................................17 Hypotheses ...................................................................................................................18 Methodological Approach and Rationale ....................................................................18 Population ....................................................................................................................19 Sample .........................................................................................................................20 Operational Definitions of Variables ...........................................................................20 Survey Instrument ........................................................................................................21 Interviews .....................................................................................................................22 Validity and Reliability ................................................................................................23 Researcher’s Role ........................................................................................................25 Interview Questions .....................................................................................................26 Quantitative Data Collection ........................................................................................26 Qualitative Data Collection ..........................................................................................27 Data Analysis ...............................................................................................................28 v Assumptions .................................................................................................................29 Summary ......................................................................................................................29 Chapter 4: Results ..............................................................................................................31 Quantitative Data Collection Procedures .....................................................................31 Quantitative Results .....................................................................................................32 Sampling Results .........................................................................................................33 Organizational Performance Results ............................................................................36 Organizational Process and Structure Results .............................................................37 Customer Service Results ............................................................................................38