The Customer as Employee

Abstract

A few years ago the concept of the employee as a customer was treated as a novel breakthrough. Here the process has taken the ultimate step of reversal and the customer as employee in service organisations is seriously examined. The customer must be selected, trained, motivated and even dismissed if necessary. As such he is no longer a passive recipient of services, to be humoured at all times, but an active participant on equal terms with the official staff, thus giving rise to a new dimension – the design and management of the role of the customer.

Citation

Johnston, R. (1989), "The Customer as Employee", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 15-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000001240