Effective Communication between an organization and its customers

Based on the experiences and findings; the study examines the effectiveness of communication between ZESCO Ltd; a quasi government electricity utility company and its customers. An attempt to identify some of the major problems leading to poor communication and root causes are analyzed. Solutions are offered to the most crucial and pressing problems that affected or contributed to ZESCO's ability or inability to communicate effectively and deliver better quality customer service. The study found that the new billing system (Customer Information System) introduced in 1998, was not adequately marketed to ZESCO customers externally and to ZESCO staff. This resulted in most customers (co-producers of the service) not comprehending the new billing system and thus rising against the organization with much hostility. The study found that the root cause of the problems the organization experienced were due to its inability to effectively communicate both externally and internally, issues of importance. Consequently, the study recommended, paramount to all other issues, the regular conducting of communication audits to assess the effectiveness of the organization's communication.