Imagine doing business with an organisation whose systems are designed according to your needs, where the person who answers the telephone can close the deal, where, when you complain, the first person you speak to resolves the problem.

How does that feel? Now imagine they consult you about how best to run their business, so that it suits your requirements, with the intention of producing goods to suit them?

It sounds almost too good to be true, but some suppliers and manufacturers are already doing it. While many organisations in Britain are struggling to make the leap there are companies in America where self-managed, self-motivating teams are the norm. Clothing retailer Nordstrom is a by-word for Customer Service Excellence. They empower their staff to do virtually whatever it takes to ensure customer delight – mere satisfaction is not enough. The management support whatever decision the staff take, even if it proves to be the wrong one. It is a safe place to make mistakes. The staff exhibit entrepreneurial spirit and outstanding people skills, and operate as all but self-managing, self-motivating individuals. They are ultimately driven by exacting sales targets, but the result is incredible customer focus and service.

Take, for example, the customer who had her heart set on a dress in a Nordstrom store. When the store she was in was sold out in her size, the sales assistant rang all the Nordstroms in the region to try and track one down. When this failed, the assistant marched across the street to a rival shop where the dress was also available, purchased it at the marked value one higher than that at her own store and returned to Nordstrom, selling the dress to the customer at the Nordstrom price. This is one story among the many that show why Nordstrom has almost unrivalled customer loyalty.

SEMCO is a Brazilian manufacturer and service provider. Their president is Ricardo Semler, son of the founder. These days he has to call the company for permission before he visits, as the 'associates' are not too keen on management turning up unannounced. SEMCO is perhaps the most extreme example of participative management to be found the decision-making power of the organisation lies almost entirely in the hands of the workers, and any decision the board might make must be passed by them before implementation.

Each area, each team is responsible for its own operational effectiveness and objectives. While this may sound like a recipe for anarchy and failure, SEMCO has increased in size seven-fold over the past seven years. Offer your people real empowerment, is the message, and they will return your investment in spades.

Peter Day, journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s 'Business Matters', said recently that the future will be about mass customisation. This apparent paradox means that each unit of mass produced goods will be tailored to the needs of the individual consumer.

Car manufacturers such as Ford are already examining ways of tackling this and selling via the Internet. Levi's jeans are now offering in their larger 'Originals' stores a bespoke service to find and make the pair of jeans which fits perfectly.

Larger organisations with centralised and bureaucratic decision-making processes cannot hope to respond quickly enough to the rapidly changing customer landscape. To cope with such demands the self-managed, self-motivating team, driven by customer need, is appearing. They represent the future of Customer Service Excellence. Decision-making power devolved throughout the organisation leads to empowered individuals using their best judgement at all times, to paraphrase Nordstrom, in the interests of the greater whole.

The future is fluid

But will this be enough five, ten, twenty years down the line? Almost definitely not – the future is fluid and in the spirit of continuous improvement, the most effective companies are tracking consumer trends and interviewing customers, constantly seeking the next innovation in service delivery.

Here's a suggestion: what if these self-managed teams included in their number the customer as a full time, fully participating team member, involved totally in the decision-making process and the team's business matters?

Imagine the speed of response and overall effectiveness of such a team, of a business organised in this way. They would be much more immune from the vagaries of the market and consumer fickleness, able to act appropriately and almost instantaneously.

Don't scoff, it's coming. How ready are you?