Primecell Case Study

PrimeCell Northeast Region Case Study

(Recommendations & Course of Action)

Week 4: Caselette Study 01

Date:

January 9, 2016

Norwich University

201512 GB511B Strategic Resources Management

Professor

Mike Thirtle

Prepared By

Alexander Rajis

TO: Sally Gates, Customer Operations Division Chief

FROM: Bill Welch, Manager, Customer Service Branch

DATE: January 9, 2016

SUBJECT: Recommendations & Course of Action to Mitigate Customer Complaints

INTRODUCTION

PrimeCell is a national provider of pay-as-you-go cell phone service in the Northeast region that is highly competitive and challenging; it is a market in which we presently have an internal threat that will diminish our share of customers and profit if we continue to receive a high number of customer complaints. The Northeast region customer service branch that you appointed me to serve as its manager consist of five customer service representatives who report directly to me. Since my appointment, I have been able to observe and gather sufficient data to provision a short-term action plan I believe will put us back on track.

As you are aware, there is serious synergy issue among the members of my staff that is the primary reason for the customer discontent we are experiencing. I believe that the dysfunctional environment that exists in this branch is reparable. I can obtain significant improvement within a reasonable timeframe if you granted me adequate resource with which to motivate my staff. I ask that you permit me to maintain the current staff under my purview. I have mitigated the conflict that was, and create synergy among my representatives, consequently, we have seen an appreciative reduction in customer complaints. Though, I have managed to obtain a perceptible improvement, but without supplementary organizational improvements, it is likely that I might experience a motivational challenge in the future. In addition to what I have delineated above, PrimeCell should also address the following:

1. Absence of consistency in dealing with customer needs
2. Improve the effectiveness of current customer service schemes
3. Explore supplementary or best practices in customer service
4. Lack of support for individual creativity that fosters motivation

FINDINGS

What I uncovered to be the root of this group’s irrational behavior and customer discontent, affecting measurable performance outcome, is the failure of prior management’s ability to establish a clear direction and group synergy. There is a prevalence of intrapersonal and intragroup conflict arising from opposition and incompatible behavior, including antagonistic interaction, of which I intend to resolve successfully.    

CONCEIVED CAUSES

The size of this group (five to be exact) appears to be adequate, and the individual representatives have the necessary skills such as education, experience, and the demeanor to be effective customer service representatives from my evaluation. The inability to effectively achieve acceptable and measurable standards appears to have originated from:

• A lack of clearly articulated and understood professional norms
• An inconsistent or lack of performance evaluation and rewards system
• Lack of a climate of trust among team members
• Inconsistent leadership in identifying performance targets
• Lack of a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities
• Intragroup conflicts
• Challenges with group demography
• Absence of knowledge or perception of a shared common goal
• Outdated procedures about core business processes

        (Robbins & Judge, 2008).

ANALYSIS

Though, the outlined issues above are significant, they are manageable through the application of effective team-building doctrines. To accomplish this, PrimeCell must institute applicable contextual influences, for example, suitable team structure, key work design elements, and dynamic process variables (Robbins & Judge, 2008).

Also, another essential component would be to follow best practices of effectively transforming this group into a team by taking the approach of creating tasks that this group can regularly perform, which will allow them to develop into a cohesive and efficient workgroup.

• Forming: member selection, getting to know one another
• Storming: discussing what needs to be done and how to implement it
• Norming: settling into a routine, understanding other member’s skills, listening to one another
• Performing: capitalizing on each other’s strengths, getting a task done
• Adjourning: recognizing what has been accomplished, disassembling the group. (Champoux, 2011).

I am currently studying Strategic Management Resources and have learned valuable concepts that theoretically captures the approach suitable to use in addressing some of our personnel and customer discontent concerns. Precisely, the concepts of team-building asserts that one should start by clearly understanding the demands of the jobs, structural characteristics, assessing the need for shared responsibilities, and determining how to assign responsibilities (Champoux, 2011).

Crucial to the approach delineated above is getting staff to appreciate this concept and be prepared to do the work they already know how to do. I learned that teambuilding is an ongoing process that helps a work group evolve into a cohesive unit. Achieving team-building requires building trust and empowering employees, which comes from a leader positively influencing his/her subordinates. Obtaining team cohesiveness also depends on how well members of a team have developed emotionally in dealing with each other (Champoux, 2011).