for Team 2
7/10/16
Project Description
Based on the information provided to us, PJ Enterprises expects business to
continue to grow at the rate that it is currently growing. While growing at a rapid
pace, company executives would like to maintain profitability, improve their
customer-service scores by 10%, and make sure PJ Enterprises has a quality work
environment including staff development.
One major area PJ Enterprises is struggling with is in customer service. Our
project will be to design, develop, and deliver a learning program for the telephone
operators. There are currently 25 telephone operators. They are all female,
generally have a high school or equivalent education, and range in age from 18 to
50s and 60s. Currently, there is a dedicated training room with a projector
available, as well as individual employee workstations. Each workstation is
equipped with a computer (without sound card). Workstations are located in a
single room, without dividers between stations.
PJ Enterprises would like to train CS supervisors and telephone operators on each
catalog item we will plan accordingly pending the needs assessment. By
providing proper training, company stakeholders believe that catalog sales will
increase and customer complaints will decrease.
Information Needed
We will begin by conducting a business analysis to see how PJ Enterprises'
practices and performance compare with other industry norms. We will then work
internally by interviewing senior management, as well as the HR department, and
various other department managers that work closely with the catalogs and CS
team. Finally, we will focus on the Telephone Operators studying their jobs and
analyzing their calls to identify any trends or negative habits that can be corrected
with our training.
Team Strategy
We will be using a variety of methods to determine the root cause of this
performance issue including: interviews, surveys, job shadowing, analyzing call
recordings, and conducting a business analysis.
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Analysis Plan
Research Method
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Target Audience
1.
Interview
Human Resources
Abbie Weispfenning
2.
Interview
Sr. Management
Abbie Weispfenning
3.
Interview
Customer Service
Supervisors
Kristen Smith
4.
Interview
Merchandising
Manager & Catalog
Director
Kristen Smith
Research Method
5.
6.
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Target Audience
Survey
Telephone Operators
Call Recording
Analysis
Telephone Operators
Claire Unnerstall
Job Shadow
Telephone Operators
Claire Unnerstall
Business
Analysis
Business Journals/
Research
Matt Pearsall
Alaba Agbatogun
Questions to Ask
Recruitment
How are the telephone operators and customer service supervisor jobs
advertised to candidates?
Explain the recruitment process from posting the jobs to hiring the
candidate.
Selection
What are the education and experience requirements for the telephone
operators and customer service supervisors?
What are the key competencies you look for in a telephone operator and
customer service supervisor candidate?
Are candidates given the opportunity to job shadow the role they are
applying for?
What does an ideal candidate look like for the telephone operator and
customer service supervisor roles?
Hiring
How many individuals are involved in the hiring process? (ex: HR, Hiring
Manager, current employee, etc.)
How many telephone operators and customer service supervisors are hired
in a year?
Training/ Onboarding
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What trainings are currently being conducted for telephone operators and
customer services supervisors?
4
What trainings are conducted for new hires? (telephone operators and
customer services supervisors)
Turnover
If involuntary terminations are occurring, what are the main reasons for
this? Does this occur in certain roles over others?
Questions to Ask
Why Training?
How will this training help the company reach their goals?
Current State
What are the business challenges you are facing that makes this training
important?
What is keeping telephone operators from having the level of success you
want them to have?
Future State
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Details of Activity/Method
Due to the fact that there are several concerns about the customer service department at
PJ Enterprises; it is important to hear everyones side regarding the situation.
Questions to Ask
Questions to Ask
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Are the items grouped in the catalogs in any specific order? (all jewelry
together, childrens toys)
How long are the descriptions for each of the products?
Are the operators allowed to have a hard copy of the catalog while they are
taking orders from customers?
Are the products themselves available for the operators to see?
Is the PowerPoint presentation available as a hard copy for the operators to
refer to as needed? Can it be accessed online?
Are the products in the catalogs given some type of numerical
identification for easy reference?
Are the pages of the catalogs color coded or ordered in specific way?
Are the pictures of the products individual or are they in a collage with
other products around them?
Questions to Ask
Kindly choose one option for each question in this section. Your response will be treated
anonymously and with utmost confidentiality.
1. How long have you been in your current role at PJ Enterprises?
1.
0-9 months
2.
9 months -2 years
3.
2-4 years
4.
More than 4 years
2. What is the average amount of time you spend on a call?
1.
0-3 minutes
2.
4-7 minutes
3.
8-10 minutes
4.
More than 10 minutes
3. When did you last receive training on the use of product catalog to assist customers?
1.
Less than 6 months ago
2.
6 months -1 year ago
3.
1-3 years ago
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4.
5.
4. How would you rate your ability to assist customers with questions from the product catalog?
1.
Excellent
2.
Very Good
3.
Good
4.
Fair
5.
Poor
Please indicate your level of agreement with each of the statements below using the following: Strong
Agree, Agree, Neutral, Strong Disagree, Disagree.
5. I always see a clear link between my performance as a telephone operator and the overall
success of JP Enterprises
6. I am given adequate feedback about my performance.
7. I am satisfied with the overall quality of service that I provide.
8. I have adequate opportunities for professional growth in this organization.
9. I received adequate orientation and training I need to do my job well.
10. My manager is actively interested in my professional development and advancement.
11. My work group consistently provides courteous service even when the client is unreasonable
12. Doing my job well gives me a sense of personal satisfaction.
13. I am paid fairly for the work I do.
14. My benefit package is commensurate with the quality of my efforts.
15. I have all the information I need to do my job effectively.
16. I am actively looking for a job outside this organization.
17. When a customer is dissatisfied, I can usually correct the problem to their satisfaction.
18. I respond quickly and courteously to fulfill customers needs
19. PJ Enterprises is flexible with respect to my family responsibilities
20. Overall, I am satisfied with my job.
Kindly provide your candid opinion to the following questions
What suggestions do you have for the improvement of JP
Enterprises?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What other issues not included in this survey need to be addressed in this
organization?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What would help you to be more productive and provide higher quality
service?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
also examine the calls for any major reoccurring concerns coming from the
customers. The call analysis will also be key to identify if there are hours
that have higher call volumes, where there needs to be more staff. This
activity will act as a precursor to the Job Shadowing activity, and will allow
us to create specific questions based off of the call analysis.
Questions to Ask
What times have the highest and lowest call volume?
What are the top 3 concerns customers call in about?
What is the average time a Telephone Operator stays on a call?
What are common practices heard with each Telephone Operator?
Questions to Ask
What is the Telephone Operator work environment like?
What are the Telephone Operators' perceived attitudes towards their job?
What would you consider to be a successful call?
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Questions to Ask
The stated efficiency of the phone system is 90%. Is this figure accurate, or
do users generally find a different efficiency level? How does the 85%
efficiency PJ Enterprises gets compare to others experiences? If it is
different, how does JP Industries usage of the system differ from other
users.
What is the industry norm for number of calls a particular operator should
handle in an hour? How does this compare to PJ Enterprises rate of 3
calls/hour? If it is different, how do PJ Enterprises practices differ from
other companies in the field?
How does PJ Enterprises customer satisfaction data (percentage of
unsatisfied customers, categories of complaints, percentage who indicate
they would not shop with the company in the future) compare to industry
norms and industry leaders? If there are differences, how do PJ Enterprises
practices differ from other companies in the field?
How does the average order, total call volume, and offered customer
benefits compare to other companies in the field?
1. How does PJ Enterprises incentive programs for customer service and
warehouse staff compare to other companies in the field?
2. How does PJ Enterprises current training program for telephone
operators compare to other companies in the field?
3. What industry standards, if any, exist for telephone operator training?
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Mitigation Strategies
Resistance of interviewees to
participate in the analysis interviews
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Roadblocks / Dependencies
For the business analysis,
commonly recognized industry
norms may not exist.
Mitigation Strategies
Gather data from several other
comparable companies and identify
general trends in the data.
Compare results to data from
recognized industry leaders such as
Zappos or Zulily.
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