Enhancing engagement of internal customers in a social business through extensive use of visualization : Case company: Monsterbedriften, Norway
Chaffin, Caroline (2015)
Chaffin, Caroline
Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201503273644
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201503273644
Tiivistelmä
In today’s society attempts to solve important issues often reinforce old approaches. Still there are passionate people wanting to create innovative solutions, while simultaneously making society act. These people are called social entrepreneurs and they bridge an important gap between charity and public services. Their social innovations have also given roots to a new social economy which emphasizes putting people before systems and structures.
Monsterbedriften is a social business who wants to help former prisoners and people who have not completed their education or have trouble getting work. Their vision is to help as many people as possible get a new start in life and pay it forward which emphasizes a life outside unemployment, drugs and criminality. Helping youth who are found among a marginalized group in society is an important target group which has increased in Norway during the last decade.
In this thesis the author used Monsterbedriften as a case company when conducting a service development project. In Monsterbedriften staff is considered internal customers. The purpose of this thesis was to enhance engagement of internal customers in a social business. The aim was to apply service thinking, service design methods and visualization tools for enhancement of customer engagement. The project took place from February until November 2014.
In order to enhance engagement of internal customers, the author saw a need to iterate current service design tools and methods to fit the needs of a social business. She ended up creating an "Engagement tool-kit for social businesses" which uses visualization tools and methods extensively. The tool-kit was designed and tested in a pilot company, and changed (iterated) based on real user feedback before it was introduced to the case company.
The author found that service design thinking helped the case company view their business from an outside perspective and invest time in service improvements. By gaining a holistic view of their business, the case company was able to clarify needs and make a premeditated plan on how to support and engage staff so they can move on to a life outside the business. This was related to the company’s vision and development goals for year 2014/2015.
By using visualization extensively, the case company experienced that they were able to enhance into the world of their internal customers and construct their service according to actual needs. The service development project resulted in five development ideas which are considered as the final deliverables. This included iterations on the tool-kit that allows it to be applied in future businesses. The case company suggested that the Engagement tool-kit should be used in all the social businesses in FERD’s portfolio, which is Norway's largest investor within the field of social entrepreneurship. They also asked the author to help them continue to visualize information to their internal and external customers after the thesis project was ended.
Monsterbedriften is a social business who wants to help former prisoners and people who have not completed their education or have trouble getting work. Their vision is to help as many people as possible get a new start in life and pay it forward which emphasizes a life outside unemployment, drugs and criminality. Helping youth who are found among a marginalized group in society is an important target group which has increased in Norway during the last decade.
In this thesis the author used Monsterbedriften as a case company when conducting a service development project. In Monsterbedriften staff is considered internal customers. The purpose of this thesis was to enhance engagement of internal customers in a social business. The aim was to apply service thinking, service design methods and visualization tools for enhancement of customer engagement. The project took place from February until November 2014.
In order to enhance engagement of internal customers, the author saw a need to iterate current service design tools and methods to fit the needs of a social business. She ended up creating an "Engagement tool-kit for social businesses" which uses visualization tools and methods extensively. The tool-kit was designed and tested in a pilot company, and changed (iterated) based on real user feedback before it was introduced to the case company.
The author found that service design thinking helped the case company view their business from an outside perspective and invest time in service improvements. By gaining a holistic view of their business, the case company was able to clarify needs and make a premeditated plan on how to support and engage staff so they can move on to a life outside the business. This was related to the company’s vision and development goals for year 2014/2015.
By using visualization extensively, the case company experienced that they were able to enhance into the world of their internal customers and construct their service according to actual needs. The service development project resulted in five development ideas which are considered as the final deliverables. This included iterations on the tool-kit that allows it to be applied in future businesses. The case company suggested that the Engagement tool-kit should be used in all the social businesses in FERD’s portfolio, which is Norway's largest investor within the field of social entrepreneurship. They also asked the author to help them continue to visualize information to their internal and external customers after the thesis project was ended.