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  • May 28, 2018
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review (website)

How Companies Can Identify Racial and Gender Bias in Their Customer Service

By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Tami Kim
  • Format:Electronic
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Abstract

Research shows that minority customers — blacks and Asians — regularly receive worse customer service than whites in ways that are not immediately obvious to onlookers (or even managers). These results prompt a couple of questions for executives and managers. One, does your company hire individuals to interface with customers? Most likely, the answer is “yes.” Two, do you know if your employees are treating all customers equally? The answer here is probably “no.” This is, in part, because many aspects of customer service are intangible, nuanced, and difficult to observe. A well-designed internal audit can help you understand exactly how your employees are treating customers, and can help you formulate changes to implement.

Keywords

Internal Audit; Customers; Service Delivery; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Citation

Feldberg, Alexandra C., and Tami Kim. "How Companies Can Identify Racial and Gender Bias in Their Customer Service." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 28, 2018).
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About The Author

Alexandra C. Feldberg

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • December 2022
    • Administrative Science Quarterly

    The Task Bind: Explaining Gender Differences in Managerial Tasks and Performance

    By: Alexandra C. Feldberg
    • Harvard Business Review

    Fighting Bias on the Front Lines

    By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Tami Kim
    • October 2021
    • Faculty Research

    A Framework for Understanding Racial Disadvantage within Organizations

    By: Alexandra C. Feldberg, Letian Zhang and Anthony J. Mayo
More from the Authors
  • The Task Bind: Explaining Gender Differences in Managerial Tasks and Performance By: Alexandra C. Feldberg
  • Fighting Bias on the Front Lines By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Tami Kim
  • A Framework for Understanding Racial Disadvantage within Organizations By: Alexandra C. Feldberg, Letian Zhang and Anthony J. Mayo
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