Date: /09/2016

CASE STUDY-HRM

Goutham Ghosh was a regular customer of APN Bank Ltd., a public sector bank that was
established forty years ago. The bank has been doing well, in terms of its market share and
profitability in the region. However, Ghosh had a bitter experience with the bank when he
visited one of its busiest branches recently.
Ghosh saw an unending queue at almost all the teller counters. There were about 25
customers waiting at the cash counter for their transactions, while the teller counter executive
was attending to a call over the telephone for more than fifteen minutes, without attending to
the waiting customers. It was only after the assistant managers instruction that the executive
hung the telephone and attended to the customer. One of the customers then requested that
he be given notes of a higher denomination as the amount was huge. His request was turned
down with a curt, We do not hold higher denomination right now. If you insist, come after
three hours, we would exchange them. The plight of customers waiting for other banking
transactions was no better.
While a demand draft had to be processed within ten minutes of application, it took nearly
half-an-hour for an elderly person to finally collect the draft. The customer was given no
explanation for the delay. In fact, even at the account opening counter, bank executives were
seen behaving impolitely with prospective customers who wished to open accounts with the
bank. Ghosh observed that the teller counter executive responsible for account opening
transactions refused to help an applicant in filling up the complicated application form. Get
the application filled and we shall go ahead with the process, she sneered. Once the
customer filled the form and submitted it to the executive, with a frown on her face, she said,
Your application cannot be accepted as it is not filled in black ink. The disgusted customer
just placed the form on her table and walked away.
Ghosh himself had approached the bank to purchase a tax-relief bond. He found it agonizing
to wait for more than twenty minutes to get hold of the executive concerned. And even after
she finally attended to him, she could not listen to his queries as she was constantly being
interrupted by phone calls and other customers who had been waiting for her. Can you tell
me where the cash counter is? inquired one customer. I do not know, came the reply from
the executive. This irritated the customer and he began shouting at the executive, blaming
her for bad customer service.
People who had come to the bank for various other services like home loans, credit cards,
Demat transactions etc., also had similar experiences to share. Ghosh brought this to the
notice of the branch manager, who happened to be his old-time friend. The branch manager
apologized for the behavior of his team and promised Ghosh that he would look into the
matter seriously.
The branch manager was in a fix. If this attitude of his employees continued, the bank would
soon lose valuable customers. The manager called for a meeting of all his staff members. He
expressed concern over the behavior of teller counter executives and explained that
customers must be greeted with a smile and treated well. He emphasized exceptional
customer service that would create a competitive advantage for the bank. The members of
the bank reacted negatively to this. Well, all this was not mentioned in our job description,
countered one of the executives. This was strongly supported by his colleagues. You cannot
impose new rules each day, and it is anyway not possible to smile and oblige customers
amidst all the chaos, said another. The meeting ended on a negative note, creating ill-will
between the manager and the staff.
Thus, it was an inadequate job description that perhaps led to this unsolved issue between
the management and the employees. This issue eventually resulted in the bank losing
valuable customers and thereby, its business.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What do you think might have been the root cause of the problem faced by the branch
manager in this case? Was it a lapse on part of the HR department that led to this behavior of
the employees of APN Bank?
2. Suggest the basic contents of job description of a teller counter executive that could have
prevented the above problem in the case of APN Bank.

SOLUTIONS
1. The behavior of the employees at APN Bank might be attributed to two factors an
inadequate and improper job description, and the absence of an effective socialization
process at the bank. As cited by the employees at the bank, the basic courtesy and etiquette
with which one had to behave with the customers were not mentioned in their respective job
descriptions. An effective job description must detail all the duties and responsibilities of the
employees at different levels. It must also include the expected behavior of the employees
with the customers, co-workers and superiors. Although the job description might not cover all
aspects of the job, it must be flexible enough to be changed and modified whenever required.
The bank also seemed to lack an efficient socialization process that acquaints a newcomer to
the culture, values and norms of the organization to which he/she have to adapt. The
socialization process should also be extended to existing members to reinforce those values.
In the case of APN Bank, the HR department should have designed an orientation program
that introduces the incumbents to the basic etiquette that is expected of them. This would
help make such desired behavior a part of their routine jobs. Norms like greeting the customer
with a smile, maintaining eye contact with them while conversing, listening to the queries of
the customer without interrupting, trying to understand the expressed and the unexpressed
needs of the customer and guiding him to the right product available, etc., must be taught
during the socialization program.
Thus, it can be said that behavior of employees at APN Bank was mainly because of a lapse
by the HR department, as it failed to design an appropriate job description and an effective
socialization program.
2. Job description refers to the documentation of the various aspects of a job like the tasks
involved, the responsibilities of the job, and the deliverables. It also describes the setting and
work environment of the job. A good job description must include aspects like the scope and
nature of work, including all important relationships, responsibilities and duties of the position,
the degree of complexity, the degree of skill required, the extent to which the problems are
standardized, the extent of workers responsibility for each phase of work, and the degree and
type of accountability, etc., Thus, a good job description will help employees to ascertain the
extent to which the job description can help in understanding the job and its basic
requirements. For instance, a good job description of a teller counter executive would contain
the following:

Serve as the 'face' of the bank by effectively handling customer queries and
transactions.

Strive to attain and go beyond basic customer service by minimizing the customer's wait
time, and processing transactions accurately and efficiently.
Identify the customers' stated and unexpressed needs and guide them towards obtaining
the right and optimal service or product.

 Assist customers in carrying out various transactions like depositing or withdrawing money,
generating demand drafts and pay-orders, performing telegraphic transactions, opening
accounts and any other needs that a customer needs help in.
Ensure that customers are provided adequate product information through the means of
brochures forms etc. Greeting customers with a smile and maintaining eye contact with them,
while listening to their needs and queries.
Ensuring forms are filled correctly and checking for customer identification.
Documenting and filing all transaction reports, etc.
Such a comprehensive job description might have helped APN Bank, from such a crisis.