Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Consultants...................................................................3
Project Description............................................................................3
Information Needed..........................................................................3
Team Strategy...................................................................................4
Analysis Plan....................................................................................5
Activity 1 - Interviews of Administrators............................................8
Details of Activity/Method..............................................................................................8
Questions to Ask............................................................................................................8
Sales Support Interview.................................................................................................8
Current Business Situation............................................................................................8
Information Technology Interview..................................................................................9
Telephone System.........................................................................................................9
Training..........................................................................................................................9
Human Resources Interview.......................................................................................10
Current Training Program............................................................................................10
Hiring Process.............................................................................................................10
Current Employees......................................................................................................10
Employee Relations.....................................................................................................11
Human Resources Policies..........................................................................................11
Project Description
PJ Enterprises, a mail-order catalog business, has a business plan that significantly
increases its financial targets and includes aggressive growth.
PJ Enterprises requested that East West Consults design, develop and deliver a
learning program for telephone operators and customer service supervisors. This
will replace the previous training done by in-house staff and training is to be
completed before the next catalogs are mailed.
The PJ Enterprises budget is $400,000 for all staff training for the upcoming fiscal
year.
Prior to determining the best way to serve PJ Enterprises training request, East
West Consultants will conduct initial research to determine the cause of the gap
between the current state and the company goals. In doing this analysis, East West
Consultants hopes to discover the details of PJ Enterprises needs and to more
accurately determine the best way to support business and training goals.
Information Needed
East West Consultants must first determine specific goals within the broad
financial goals, including:
How specific company goals for aggressive growth and increases in catalog
customer lists, sales and net profit will effect training needs
Plans for growth that will impact the work levels in the catalog division and
call center and also require different service and training levels
East West Consultants will also endeavor to obtain information about behavior in
the call center during the various shifts and by telephone operators and customer
service supervisors including:
The current practices, routines and behaviors of the staff involved, in general
and specifically with regards to company standards and complaint areas
Team Strategy
East West Consultants will use a variety of methods to collect the necessary
information, including:
Individual interviews
Surveys
Observations
Analysis Plan
Research Method
1.
Individual
Interview
Target Audience
Administrators
Mike Merrill,
Vice-President of
Sales
Jane Mackenzie,
Project Sponsor
Team Member
Responsible
Maureen
2.
Individual
Interview
Managers
Catalog Director,
Judie Thompson
Merchandising
Manager,
Sheena Perez
Jennifer
Research Method
3.
Survey
Target Audience
Telephone operators
Team Member
Responsible
Joseph
Survey
Customer service
supervisors
Joseph
Observation
Telephone operators
Customer service
supervisors
Cheri
Research Method
6.
Review of
documents
Target Audience
Catalogs
Training documents
Customer Feedback
Team Member
Responsible
Shauna
Questions to Ask
Questions for representatives from the departments of Information
Telephone System
Training
Do you feel that the operators and supervisors are well trained on
the technical aspects of their jobs?
As we develop a new training program, what computers and
software applications are available for employees for training purposes?
How many do you have?
Project Gap Analysis Strategy
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What can you tell me about how the current training program was
designed?
What kind of support does HR provide for the current training
program?
Hiring Process
One of the issues facing PJ Enterprises appears to be all
facets related to adding personnel. So lets go over this process:
time?
nonexempt?
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13
Employee Relations
Currently more than half of the telephone operators express
dissatisfaction with their jobs. One staff member either resigns or is
terminated every other month. Can you tell me what the operators
complaints have been, and why the high turnover?
You have new HR policies regarding employee performance
evaluations. How do you monitor your employees performance? What is
your criteria? Is this articulated to the employees?
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Questions to Ask
Questions follow below.
Training
You are responsible for training the customer-service supervisors
and the telephone operators. The training is a half day four times a year. I
understand that each session is 4 hours. How did you determine that 4
hours was suitable? Going forward, are you planning any changes in the
training practices, content or schedule?
What other training or tools do you think would be helpful for
them?
Do you think the training should be separated by supervisors and
managers?
What on-the-job help resources are available for the Call Centre?
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Increase in Sales
This year your annual sales were $5 million. The projected target
is to increase to $7 million. Do you think this is feasible?
How did adding the fourth catalogue impact sales this year?
High Turnover
There is a high job dissatisfaction and turnover with the operators
and supervisors. What do you think the cause of this is?
Do you feel it is your role to handle this issue? If not than who?
Questions to Ask
See Appendix 1: Telephone Operator Survey
Questions to Ask
See Appendix 2: Customer Service Supervisor Survey
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Date:
Observer:
Time
Activity
Description
(TO = telephone operator, CS= customer service supervisor)
9:00
Receive
call
9:02
Access
catalog
Questions to Ask
Are company targets met?
Targets require that telephone operators respond to six calls per hour and that the
customer is kept happy.
Targets also include a two minute time frame in which:
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How many lines and headsets are in use during the observation period?
Please describe the steps in the call distribution system once a call is
received.
Please explain what kind of reports the call distribution system can provide
or generate.
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Questions to Ask
Questions for each type of document are given below.
Catalogs
This year is the first year that the company produced four different catalogs, one
for each season. These included:
More than 500 products have rotated through its catalog over the six years that it
has been in operation.
Questions
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Summary product description sheets are provided for reference on the automated
entry system.
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Questions
Questions
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Mitigation Strategies
Employee resistance to
participating in the assessment
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Roadblocks / Dependencies
Mitigation Strategies
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Appendices
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Training:
2.
How much does the current training help you do your job? (Choose only one number)
A lot ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A little
4
3.
4.
5.
6.
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How confident are you that you can manage service calls by yourself? (Choose only one number)
High ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Low
8.
9.
What are some of the challenges that you face when handling customer calls?
(Select all that apply)
a) The current customer service telephone system is technically ineffective
b) The current customer service telephone system is hard to use
c) The process of handling customer service calls is ineffective
d) Not familiar with the telephone system
e) Not enough staff to handle the number of service calls
f) Lack of product knowledge
g) Finding product information to solve problems
h) Not enough support from management
j) Difficult customers
k) Others (list them below)
_________________________________________________________________
10.
Is there anything you feel would make it easier for you to handle customer service calls?
List these below:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
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Job Satisfaction:
11.
Your supervisors are helpful in assisting you in your job. (Choose only one number)
4
12.
Your peers are helpful in assisting you in your job. (Choose only one number)
4
13.
How do you rate your overall job satisfaction? (Choose only one number)
4
14.
If your job satisfaction is below three (3) what are your reasons? Briefly explain below:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
15.
Please list ways to improve your working environment and job satisfaction below:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
16.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
What is the single most important factor to improve your job satisfaction and thus improve your
effectiveness at work?
Better training
More money
Reduce work loan
Better communication between management and staff
Others (list them below)
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
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Training:
2.
How do you rate the effectiveness of the current training in helping you to do your job as you assist
Telephone Operators? (Choose only one number)
High ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Low
3.
4.
5.
6.
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How confident do you feel that you are able to manage customer calls and maintain customer
satisfaction? (Choose only one number)
High ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Low
8.
9.
What are some of the challenges that you face when you handle customer calls?
(Select all that apply)
a) The current customer service telephone system is technically ineffective
b) The current customer service telephone system is hard to use
c) The process of handling customer service calls are ineffective
d) Not familiar with the telephone system
e) Not enough staff to handle the number of customer calls
f) Lack of product knowledge
g) Take too long to find product information to solve problems
h) Not enough support from management
i) Lack of customer handling skills
j) Others (list them below)
____________________________________________________________________________
10.
Please suggest ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of doing your job. List them
below:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
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Job Satisfaction:
11.
How do you rate the effectiveness of communication between management and staff? (Choose only
one number)
High ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Low
4
12.
How do you rate your overall job satisfaction? (Choose only one number)
4
13.
Please list the reasons for any job dissatisfaction below if any.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
14.
15.
What is the single most important factor for improving your job satisfaction and thus improve your
effectiveness in doing your job?
a) Better training
b) More money
c) Hire more staff
d) Upgrade the current customer service telephone system
e) Improve the process of handling customer service calls
f) Improve product knowledge support
g) Other (list one below)
____________________________________________________________________________
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How do you rate the effectiveness of the telephone operators in doing their job? (Choose only one
number)
High ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Low
4
17.
Please recommend ways to improve the Call Centers effectiveness in taking customer calls,
ordering and customer service. List them below:
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Project Team:
Cheri MacLeod, Maureen Stiebris, Joseph Yang, Jennifer Johnson-Corless, Shauna Borger
Project Gap Analysis Strategy
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