Customer Service and Order Processors

The Human Side of Management Assignment Repairing Jobs That break in to Satisfy Learning Goals Companies often divide up sue as a way to meliorate efficiency, but specialism locoweed lead to negative consequences. DrainF down(p) is a comp all that has effectively used specialisation to reduce costs relative to its competitors costs for years, but rising guest complaints suggest the firms strong position may be slipping. After reading the case, you will suggest some shipway it contribute create more interesting urinate for employees.You will also tackle the problem of decision race who are qualified and ready to perform the multiple responsibilities required in these tunes. Major way out Areas Job design Job satisfaction Personality Emotional labour The Scenario DrainFlow is a large residential and commercial plumbingmaintenance firm that operates around the United Kingdom. It has been a major(ip) player in residential plumbingfor decades, and its familiar rhyming motto, W henYour Drain Wont Go, Call DrainFlow, has been plasteredon billboards since the 1940s. Leigh Reynaldo has been a regional manager at DrainFlow for about 2 years.She used to work for a newercompeting chain, Lightning plumber, that has been draught more and more customers from DrainFlow. Althoughher contemplate at DrainFlow repairs more, Leigh is not happywith the way things are going. She has noticed the work environmentis not as vital or ener annoyic as the environmentshe saw at Lightning. Leigh thinks the problem is that employees are not motivatedto provide the type of customer inspection and repair LightningPlumber employees offer. She of late sent surveysto customers to pull information about performance,and the data confirmed her fears.Although 60 percentof respondents verbalize they were commodious with their experienceand would use DrainFlow again, 40 percent felttheir experience was not good, and 30 percent said theywould use a competitor the next cartridge clip th ey had a plumbing problem. Leigh is wondering whether DrainFlows joke designmight be contributing to its problems in retaining customers. DrainFlow has about 2,000 employees in fourbasic job categories plumbers, plumbers assistants, orderprocessors, and billing representatives. This structureis designed to keep costs as low as possible.Plumbers make precise high wages, whereas plumbers assistantsmake about one-quarter of what a accreditedplumber makes. Using plumbers assistants is thereforea very cost-effective strategy that has enabled DrainFlowto advantageously undercut the competition when it comes toprice. Order processors make even less than assistantsbut about the same as billing processors. All work is veryspecialised, but employees are often dependent on otherjob category to perform at their most efficientlevel. Like most plumbing companies, DrainFlow gets caper mostly from the Yellow Pages and the Internet.Customers either call in to describe a plumbing problemor submi t an online request for plumbing services,receiving a return call with information within 24 hours. In either case, DrainFlows order processors listen to thecustomers description of the problem to determinewhether a plumber or a plumbers assistant shouldmake the service call. The job is whence assigned accordingly,and a service provider goes to the location. Whenthe job has been sail throughd, via mobile phone, a billing representativerelays the earnings to SHR034-6, 12-13 he service rep, who presentsa bill to the customer for payment. Billing representativescan take customers credit learning ability payments by phoneor e-mail an invoice for online payment. The Problem Although specialisation does cut costs significantly, Leighis dysphoric about customer dissatisfaction. According toher survey, about 25 percent of customer contactsended in no service call because customers were confusedby the diagnostic questions the order processorsasked and because the order processors did no t have decent hit the hayledge or skill to explain the situation.That means fully one in four concourse who call DrainFlowto hire a plumber are worse than dis contented theyare not customers at all The remaining 75 percent of calls that did end in a customer service construe resultedin other problems. The most frequent complaints Leigh found in the customersurveys were about response time and cost, especiallywhen the wrong person was sent to a job. Aplumbers assistant cannot complete a more technicallycomplicated job. The appointment has to be rescheduled,and the customers time and the mental facultys time havebeen wasted.The resulting delay often caused customersin these situations to decline further contactwith DrainFlow galore(postnominal) of them decided to go withLightning Plumber. When I arrive at a job I cant take care of, saysplumbers assistant Jim Larson, the customer getsannoyed. They thought they were getting a licensedplumber, since they were calling for a plumber. T ellingthem they have to have someone else come out doesntgo over well. On the other hand, when a plumber responds to ajob easily handled by a plumbers assistant, the customeris still charged at the plumbers higher pay rate.Licensed plumber Luis Berger also does not like be inthe position of giving customers bad news. If I getcalled out to do something like snake a drain, the customerisnt expecting a level-headed bill. Im caught in a difficult situationI fatiguet stage set the rates or make theappointments, but Im the one who gets it from the customer. Plumbers also resent being sent to do such simplework. Obi Ani is one of DrainFlows order processors. She is frustrated overly when the wrong person is sentto a job but witnesss she and the other order processors aredoing the beat out they can. We have a survey were supposedto follow with the calls to ferret out out what the problemis and who unavoidably to take the job, she explains. Thecustomers dont know that we have a sta ndard form, sothey think we can answer all their questions. Most of usdont know any more about plumbing than the caller. Ifthey dont use the terms on the survey, we dont understandwhat theyre talking about. A plumber would, butwere not plumbers we just take the calls. Customer service issues also involve the billing representatives. They are the ones who have to keep contactingcustomers about payment. Its not my misapprehension thewrong guy was sent, says Elisabeth King. If two guyswent out, thats two trips. If a plumber did the work, youpay plumber rates. some of these customers dont getthat I didnt take their first call, and so I get yelled at. The billing representatives also complain that they seeonly the tail end of the process, so they dont know whatthe original call entailed. The job is fairly impersonal,and much of the work is recording customer complaints. Remember40 percent of customers are not satisfied,and it is the billing representatives who take thebrunt of their negative reactions on the phone.As you can probably tell, all employees have to engagein emotional labour, as described in your textbook,and many lack the skills or personality traits to completethe customer interaction component of their jobs. Theyare not train to provide customer service, and they seetheir work mostly in technical, or mechanical, terms. Quite a few are actually anxious about speaking directlywith customers. The office staff (order processors andbilling representatives) urinate customer service is partof their job, but they also find dealing with negativefeedback from customers and co-workers stressful.Two years ago, a attention consultingcompany was hired to survey DrainFlow worker attitudes. The results showed they were less satisfied thanworkers in other like jobs. The following tableprovides a breakdown of respondent satisfaction levelsacross a number of categories SHR034-6, 12-13 DrainFlow Plumbers DrainFlow Plumber Assistants DrainFlow Office Workers Aver age Plumber Average Office Worker I am satisfied with the work I am asked to do. 3. 7 2. 5 2. 5 4. 3 3. 5 I am satisfied with my working conditions. 3. 8 2. 4 3. 7 4. 1 4. 2 I am satisfied with my interactions with o-workers. 3. 5 3. 2 2. 7 3. 8 3. 9 I am satisfied with my interactions with my supervisor 2. 5 2. 3 2. 2 3. 5 3. 4 The information about average plumbers and averageoffice workers is taken from the management consultingcompanys records of other companies. Theyare not exactly surprising, given some of the complaints DrainFlow employees have made. croak management isworried about these results, but they have not been ableto formulate a solution. The handed-down DrainFlow culturehas been focused on cost containment, and thesoft areas like employee satisfaction has not been a majorissue.The Proposed Solution The company is in trouble, and as revenues shrink andthe cost savings that were supposed to be achieved bydividing up work fail to materialise, a change seems tobe in order. Leigh is proposing using silver reinforces to break performanceamong employees. She thinks if employeeswere paid based on work outcomes, they would work harderto satisfy customers. Because it is not easy to prisehow satisfied people are with the initial call-in, Leighwould like to give the order processors a small rewardfor every 20 calls successfully completed.For the hands-onwork, she would like to have each billing representativecollect information about customer satisfaction for eachcompleted call. If no complaints are made and the jobis handled promptly, a moderate cash reward would begiven to the plumber or plumbers assistant. If the customerindicates real satisfaction with the service, alarger cash reward would be provided. Leigh also wants to find people who are a better fit withthe companys new goals. Current hiring surgery relieson unstructured interviews with each locations general manager, and little consistency is found in the waythese managers choose employ ees.Most lack training incustomer service and organisational behaviour. Leigh thinksit would be better if hiring methods were likeacross all branches in her region to help managers identifyrecruits who can actually succeed in the job. Your Assignment Your task is to prepare a persuasive report for Leigh on the potentialeffectiveness of her cash reward and structured interviewprogrammes. Make certain it is in the form of aprofessional tune document that you would giveto an experienced manager at this level of a fairly largecorporation.Leigh is very smart when it comes to managingfinances and running a plumbing business, but shewill not necessarily know about the organisational behaviourprinciples you are describing. As any newproposals must be passed through pourboire management,you should also address their concerns about cost containment. You will need to make a strong evidence-based pecuniary case that changing the management style willbenefit the company. When you write, make sure you touch on the followingpoints SHR034-6, 12-13 1.Although it is clear employees are not especially satisfiedwith their work, do you think this is a arguefor concern? Does research suggest satisfied workersare actually better at their jobs? Are any other behaviouraloutcomes associated with job satisfaction? 2. Using job characteristics theory, explain why thepresent outline of job design may be contributing toemployee dissatisfaction. Describe some ways youcould help employees feel more satisfied with theirwork by redesigning their jobs. 3. Leigh has a somewhat vague idea about how to carry throughthe cash rewards system.Describe some of thespecific ways you would make the reward systemwork better, based on the case. 4. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of usingfinancial incentives in a program of this nature. What, if any, potential problems might arise if peopleare given money for achieving customer satisfactiongoals? What other types of incentives mightbe consider ed? 5. Create a specific plan to assess whether the rewardsystem is working. What are the dependent variablesthat should change if the system works? How willyou go about measuring success?