Case Study Report 1
Case Study Report on From Training to Performance: A Case Study
Case Summary
Customer service for a company was on a slight, but steady decline over the last few years. The company was interested in deploying HPT techniques to resolve issues and generate higher customer satisfaction numbers. The customer service employees at the company developed a Laissez-Faire attitude, where a sense of complacency permeated the work environment. Furthermore, there was a lack of leadership due to 2,000 people being distributed across 500 offices and locations. To implement human performance improvement, the HPT analysts utilized ADDIE. During the analysis stage, they determined the challenges of the organization included organizational newness, clash of cultures, and lack of investment. The analysts designed surveys and questionnaires to gauge customer and employee satisfaction. From these results, they developed a plan to improve performance. They created a one page business plan that met and advanced the needs of the employees, shareholders, and customers. In addition, the analysts implemented tool-kits for customer relations for employees, and even implemented tool kits for the leaders, supervisors, and managers. They promoted a feeling of shared involvement through an employee-wide mission statement contest, and engaged clients through a one on one interview process. Upon evaluation, the scores for customer service and employee satisfaction rose steadily over the next 2 years. The success was attributed to the focus on outcomes, systems and systematic approach, and the added value that arose from the HPT training.
Initial Problem Statement
There was a steady decline in the customer services “Top-Box” score despite the steady and accustomed performance. The company of 2000+ employees developed a strong Laissez-Faire attitude, in regards to company policy and culture. There was also a problem with some locations only having two people, and great distances between locations. This led to a sense of disconnect and communication problems between managers and the people they managed. The business unit in its current form was created by incorporating other parts of the organization internally and smaller units from outside the company they acquired. This led to issues with disconnected leadership philosophies, clash of cultures, and in some cases no investment in the current company or their relationship with customers.
Performance Analysis Tools, Analysis, Results
Many factors, beyond the “Top-Box” score from clients, were considered in order to determine the overall performance of the organization. Employee attitudes were measured by scoring based on employee satisfaction, engagement, and development. Customer satisfaction was also taken into account for the project. The analysts examined thousands of surveys, which used a five point scale, ranging from completely dissatisfied to completely satisfied. Customer scores for satisfaction were better than other metrics but had reached a plateau. Shareholders were also looked at in judging performance for the unit. The general ledger and business analysis data were used, and financial metrics were also considered. These were believed to be okay, but could be adjusted to produce better results than what currently were being achieved.
Cause Analysis Tools, Analysis, Results
Through the cause analysis, the HPT analysts determined the main cause for lack of performance came from the laissez-faire attitude presented by the employees and leadership staff. As the case study suggests, performance was slowly, but steadily on the decline, although it was not attracting any attention from the leadership group. Geographical diversity was also a challenge that presented itself in the cause analysis. With nearly 500 separate locations, with over 400 holding an average of two employees, it became difficult and costly to manage and supervise progress. Further, employees held an “out-of sight, out-of-mind” attitude. Moreover, different components of the organization contained different mentalities and leadership styles, creating an organizational newness amongst the employees. The cause analysis also presented that many of the employees came from a background of family-oriented, distinctly non-bureaucratic business culture. The company itself held a profit-oriented approach, creating a clash of culture and understanding between the organization and its employees. Finally, the cause analysis discovered that there was a lack of investment from employees. The training department was without sufficient resources, which led to lack of control and assessments of distance employees. From the cause analysis, success criterion was developed to present that worthy performance was being met. The success criteria included: building a compelling case, creating a sense of urgency, involving and engaging the leadership team, creating a connected feeling amongst even distant employees, effective and simple interventions, utilizing employee’s unique talents, and demonstrating a holistic relationship with frontline employees.
Intervention Selection and Development
Target groups for the unit were incorporated into the development and implementation process as much as possible so they would have a vested interest and feeling of backing the solution instead of staying a problem. The performance design incorporated both instructional and non-instructional solutions. Analysis showed that the technical skills of the employees were excellent; therefore, an expensive instructional intervention, addressing technical skills was not necessary. The key intervention for restoring the performance of the unit were, simple improvement sessions, focusing on employee-customer interactions. This intervention also adopted an agreed upon style, behavior, and policy when dealing with customers so the locations would feel part of the unit and not a distant outpost. The entire employee population was the target of the project and worked with these basic principles for the solution:
WHY – Everyone needed to feel like they were part of the organization, and proud of accomplishments as a unit. Management was going to need to sell their workers on the idea of the change for the betterment of the company, the shareholders, and themselves.
WHAT – Management was going to use and hold employees accountable while also rewarding place, but management needed to start using them and understanding what they meant.
How – A Learning-by-doing instead of doing-by-learning approach had to be used in the solution, as people knew what but not how to fulfill their customer’s needs.
WHO – Management would actively utilize new communication protocols.
WHEN – Milestones for each stage were established; a robust, well-defined plan would be used to achieve the stated objectives.
Evaluation
Through evaluation, the HPT analysts saw a dramatic increase in positive results. For employees, the favorable scores of performance climbed from 74 to 2004 to 85 in 2006. Customer satisfaction scores also saw a dramatic increase. From 62% in June 2005, the scores had reached an all-time high of 72.1% in December of 2006. From the evaluation, the analysts determined that success came from many specific factors. The focus on outcomes, the systems approach, the focus of adding value, working in a partnership, and application of systematic approach were all contributions to the success of this HPT case study.
Critique – What would we have done differently?
We would have tried to reach a goal of higher than 72% satisfaction rating. We all agree this seemed really low for a customer service oriented unit, and find it unacceptable. The project would have to be revised and re-implemented from the 72% satisfaction rate score. To increase this score, we would focus on further improvements in communication and resource availability. Through the use of focus groups, we would also explore the idea of making a change to the brand, in an effort to promote customer and employee brand loyalty. This might be another avenue or project to look at in trying to increase customer service numbers.
Case Summary
Customer service for a company was on a slight, but steady decline over the last few years. The company was interested in deploying HPT techniques to resolve issues and generate higher customer satisfaction numbers. The customer service employees at the company developed a Laissez-Faire attitude, where a sense of complacency permeated the work environment. Furthermore, there was a lack of leadership due to 2,000 people being distributed across 500 offices and locations. To implement human performance improvement, the HPT analysts utilized ADDIE. During the analysis stage, they determined the challenges of the organization included organizational newness, clash of cultures, and lack of investment. The analysts designed surveys and questionnaires to gauge customer and employee satisfaction. From these results, they developed a plan to improve performance. They created a one page business plan that met and advanced the needs of the employees, shareholders, and customers. In addition, the analysts implemented tool-kits for customer relations for employees, and even implemented tool kits for the leaders, supervisors, and managers. They promoted a feeling of shared involvement through an employee-wide mission statement contest, and engaged clients through a one on one interview process. Upon evaluation, the scores for customer service and employee satisfaction rose steadily over the next 2 years. The success was attributed to the focus on outcomes, systems and systematic approach, and the added value that arose from the HPT training.
Initial Problem Statement
There was a steady decline in the customer services “Top-Box” score despite the steady and accustomed performance. The company of 2000+ employees developed a strong Laissez-Faire attitude, in regards to company policy and culture. There was also a problem with some locations only having two people, and great distances between locations. This led to a sense of disconnect and communication problems between managers and the people they managed. The business unit in its current form was created by incorporating other parts of the organization internally and smaller units from outside the company they acquired. This led to issues with disconnected leadership philosophies, clash of cultures, and in some cases no investment in the current company or their relationship with customers.
Performance Analysis Tools, Analysis, Results
Many factors, beyond the “Top-Box” score from clients, were considered in order to determine the overall performance of the organization. Employee attitudes were measured by scoring based on employee satisfaction, engagement, and development. Customer satisfaction was also taken into account for the project. The analysts examined thousands of surveys, which used a five point scale, ranging from completely dissatisfied to completely satisfied. Customer scores for satisfaction were better than other metrics but had reached a plateau. Shareholders were also looked at in judging performance for the unit. The general ledger and business analysis data were used, and financial metrics were also considered. These were believed to be okay, but could be adjusted to produce better results than what currently were being achieved.
Cause Analysis Tools, Analysis, Results
Through the cause analysis, the HPT analysts determined the main cause for lack of performance came from the laissez-faire attitude presented by the employees and leadership staff. As the case study suggests, performance was slowly, but steadily on the decline, although it was not attracting any attention from the leadership group. Geographical diversity was also a challenge that presented itself in the cause analysis. With nearly 500 separate locations, with over 400 holding an average of two employees, it became difficult and costly to manage and supervise progress. Further, employees held an “out-of sight, out-of-mind” attitude. Moreover, different components of the organization contained different mentalities and leadership styles, creating an organizational newness amongst the employees. The cause analysis also presented that many of the employees came from a background of family-oriented, distinctly non-bureaucratic business culture. The company itself held a profit-oriented approach, creating a clash of culture and understanding between the organization and its employees. Finally, the cause analysis discovered that there was a lack of investment from employees. The training department was without sufficient resources, which led to lack of control and assessments of distance employees. From the cause analysis, success criterion was developed to present that worthy performance was being met. The success criteria included: building a compelling case, creating a sense of urgency, involving and engaging the leadership team, creating a connected feeling amongst even distant employees, effective and simple interventions, utilizing employee’s unique talents, and demonstrating a holistic relationship with frontline employees.
Intervention Selection and Development
Target groups for the unit were incorporated into the development and implementation process as much as possible so they would have a vested interest and feeling of backing the solution instead of staying a problem. The performance design incorporated both instructional and non-instructional solutions. Analysis showed that the technical skills of the employees were excellent; therefore, an expensive instructional intervention, addressing technical skills was not necessary. The key intervention for restoring the performance of the unit were, simple improvement sessions, focusing on employee-customer interactions. This intervention also adopted an agreed upon style, behavior, and policy when dealing with customers so the locations would feel part of the unit and not a distant outpost. The entire employee population was the target of the project and worked with these basic principles for the solution:
WHY – Everyone needed to feel like they were part of the organization, and proud of accomplishments as a unit. Management was going to need to sell their workers on the idea of the change for the betterment of the company, the shareholders, and themselves.
WHAT – Management was going to use and hold employees accountable while also rewarding place, but management needed to start using them and understanding what they meant.
How – A Learning-by-doing instead of doing-by-learning approach had to be used in the solution, as people knew what but not how to fulfill their customer’s needs.
WHO – Management would actively utilize new communication protocols.
WHEN – Milestones for each stage were established; a robust, well-defined plan would be used to achieve the stated objectives.
Evaluation
Through evaluation, the HPT analysts saw a dramatic increase in positive results. For employees, the favorable scores of performance climbed from 74 to 2004 to 85 in 2006. Customer satisfaction scores also saw a dramatic increase. From 62% in June 2005, the scores had reached an all-time high of 72.1% in December of 2006. From the evaluation, the analysts determined that success came from many specific factors. The focus on outcomes, the systems approach, the focus of adding value, working in a partnership, and application of systematic approach were all contributions to the success of this HPT case study.
Critique – What would we have done differently?
We would have tried to reach a goal of higher than 72% satisfaction rating. We all agree this seemed really low for a customer service oriented unit, and find it unacceptable. The project would have to be revised and re-implemented from the 72% satisfaction rate score. To increase this score, we would focus on further improvements in communication and resource availability. Through the use of focus groups, we would also explore the idea of making a change to the brand, in an effort to promote customer and employee brand loyalty. This might be another avenue or project to look at in trying to increase customer service numbers.