Servitization: The people or human dimension of services management

Purpose-Manufacturing organisations are increasingly implementing a servitization strategy to gain a competitive advantage and improve the organisation´s income stream. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the human or people dimension of management of the servitization process. Design/methodology/approach - The research study constitutes a literature review and a narrative enquiry. The literature study was multi-disciplinary in nature and directed at gaining an insight into the human or people related aspects ofservitization management. The narrative enquiry entailed interviews conducted with executives and managers at a South African institution that had implemented a servitization strategy, to learn from their first hand experience. Findings - Three fundamental research study findings are the need for culture, management paradigms and skills realignment. The traditional culture transformation approach to align culture to strategy is found to be flawed. Services inherently involve people and the human aspects involved are complex in nature. Suggested is the need for a complex adaptive systems approach in managing the realignment process, which fundamentally differs from the linear deterministic approaches often, adopted. Practical implications-Manufacturers tend to follow a more traditional change managing approach that is deterministic in nature. The research findings suggest that a complex adaptive systems approach could in practice be more effective. Originality/value -The value of the research findings stems from the alternative complex adaptive systems perspective proposed for managing the human aspects of the servitization strategy.