Human Resource Management
SECTION 1
Company’s background
Founded in 1920, our company is a phone corporation that particularly focuses on boosting telecommunication industry. As a human resource manager, my purpose is to ensure that the company achieves its intended goals. I am responsible for overseeing and managing the company. Other responsibilities include evaluating and supervising employees, offering employee benefits, recruiting and firing employees, and retaining employees. On a daily basis, I oversee the human resources department and handle all issues within the company. Lastly, I define and implement the policies and processes, which are vital to recruit, retain, and attract quality workforces. The company always looks for the best and competent employees to retain the company’s growth. Our employees are dedicated to their work and diligently work hard to retain the company’s brand.
As a human resource manager, I am fully aware that the organization’s productivity directly lies on the quality of its employee. In response to the sales growth that the company intends to achieve, the company has established a need to have a strategic training plan that will boost sales and revenues. To be successful, customer service training will be vital to the company as it will educate employees about new techniques and ways of performing their job differently and excellently. As a human resource manager, I will implement a training plan for 90 employees who happen to be customer care representatives. Employee training will be important as it will adequately prepare employees to meet the challenging and varying needs of customer care services and organization. Additionally, training will be an essential tool for employee development, which in turn will provides quality customer care services. In 2010, Zuzeviciute & Teresevicien carried out a research that indicated that the more satisfied and content the clients are, the more their satisfaction and the better the sales. Employees will become eligible to enhance quality performance, which will be a great asset to the organization.
In terms of growth, the company has achieved a huge investment in the mobile phone industry, and has had a strong brand name both locally and internationally. For the past years, the company has been known for its remarkable growth by converting first time clients to frequent clients, and frequent clients to potential one. This distinguishes the company from its stiff competitors. Currently, the company is the tenth largest manufacturer of cell phones in the United States with annual sales of over $20 billion. One of the company’s key strengths is the aggressive and skilled management team that searches for innovative ways and competitive candidates to enhance and retain the company’s growth. With this in mind, the company has retained its competitive advantage over its stiff competitors. Despite its remarkable growth in equipping staff members, the company has experienced a key challenge of the overcapacity in the mobile phone industry, which as a result, has affected the company’s sales and profits. As many cell phone companies continue to emerge in the market, there have been stiff competitions in the industry.
In 2010, the organization recorded revenues of $51, 000 million. However, the company reduced its revenues by 20% in 2011 and 3 % in 2012. The decrease of the company’s revenues was due to poor customer care services. After evaluating the company, I established that most customer care representatives are not equipped with the products’ knowledge. As a result, it becomes difficult to convince clients to purchase the company’s products. As a human resource manager, there is a need to implement a customer service training with a strategic plan of boosting sales and marketing.
SECTION 2
Tasks, Specification, and Job standards
The customer care representative (CSR) serves as a primary internal spokesperson of the organization (Maley, 2011). From Maley’s research, the CSR is responsible for maintaining and establishing gainful relationships with clients and ensuring that all customer complaints and needs are met. A CSR serves as an agent between the clients and the organization. He is responsible for communicating client requirements to the manufacturing or production team. He or she ensures that clients’ needs are met in accordance with company procedures and policies. The CSR enhances the customer’s value and satisfaction thus, maintain productivity and quality standards that boost and attract financial return (Maley, 2011). The customer service team is responsible for adhering and supporting the company’s mission and vision. The team is in a strong position to influence and boost customers’ satisfaction and company’s prosperity. With this in mind, this position requires professionalism, sensitivity, and tact. The customer service team is accountable for meeting annual sales and revenue objectives of the company. In doing, customer care representatives foster pride in promoting customer satisfaction that in turn boost company’s sales and revenues. The customer service team and human resource team are in a strong position to enhance company prosperity (Melkman & Trotman, 2005).
The major tasks of the customer service representatives include the following. First, he should discuss and present the goods and services of the company in a way that express an image of quality and excellence. Secondly, a customer care representative should assist every client in a friendly and timely manner. To enhance customer’s satisfaction, he should process and meet clients’ orders in an efficient and courteous manner. It is important for a customer care representative to comprehend and suitably apply the company’s pricing policies and system to convert first time clients to frequent clients, and frequent ones to potential clients. In so doing, this boost the company’s growth in terms of sales and revenues. Lastly, it is important for the customer care team to support strategic marketing and sales plan outlined or implemented by the sales team. In this case, it is the duty of a customer care representative to convince clients that the company has the ability to meet and identify customers’ requirements and needs.
There are various specifications of customer care representatives. A customer care representative should hold a degree or a diploma in customer care or business management. He should have experience in customer care or sales services and have excellent command in communication skills. One should have the ability to meet and identify clients’ requirements and needs. It is significant for a customer care representative to have excellent interpersonal skills to communicate effectively with clients and fellow colleagues. One should demonstrate excellence in time management skills and be in a position to multitask effectively. The company regards the need for a customer care representative to meet or surpass minimum specification specified by the company. Lastly, it is important for a customer care representative to be a computer literate, and possess strong aptitude to details, solving problems, and preventing errors among others.
The company regards a customer care representative to meet the following job standards. First, this job position regards one to be friendly to all people regardless their differences in race, education, and social status. A customer care representative should diligently work hard to foster customers’ satisfaction, which in turn boost sales and revenues. Secondly, the job position regards one to perform his duties effectively and in a timely manner. In this case, a customer care representative should ensure that customers’ complaints and needs are met in a timely manner. In instances when clients order products with specific specification, a customer care team should ensure that the products are produced on time. Thirdly, customer care representatives should represent the organization image at all times both in their conducts and appearances. The company expects a customer care representative to be polite, friendly, and in appealing appearance. Fourthly, a customer care representative should be flexible to work in a fast-paced environment that is often subject to priority changes and short notice schedules. With this, the company expects a customer care representative to perform his duties effectively regardless the time given to complete his assigned tasks. In other words, he or she should not complain when given short notice tasks as many activities may emerge despite being unplanned. It is therefore important for a customer care representative to represent the company fully as requested by the human resource manager.
Other job specifications include being able to sit or stand for prolonged lengthy of time of up-to 7 hours per day. Additionally, he should offer feedback on the effectiveness and soundness of the customer care department’s procedures and policies. It is also expected of him to facilitate and compile information from other competitors in order to access and monitor business opportunities and trends. This creates a strong ground to understand how other competitors are operating in the market and coming up with ways that would profit the company to emerge the best from other competitors.
Lastly, it is important for a customer care representative to receive and confirms the accuracy of clients’ orders. By so doing, customer care representatives boost sales and revenue’ growth. Our company recognizes that, the two tasks of flourishing customer relations should be communicating effectively and developing strong relationships. The customer relationship is built with time and demands a huge effort. Positive communication or dialogue between customer care representatives and clients requires the former to comprehend the importance of satisfying the wants and needs of clients retain them.
Although customer care representatives have played a vital role in boosting the company’s goal, there is much that needs to be done to achieve excellence customer service. It is pertinent to note that, excellency customer service means increased profits, continued success, better teamwork, market expansion of goods and services. Still, it means high job satisfaction, high customer satisfaction, boost company’s morale, and converting first time clients to frequent and potential clients (Melkman & Trotman, 2005). Although there are various customer needs, the following needs are vital and customer care representatives should consider fulfilling them. These needs include friendliness often associated with politeness and courtesy, empathy where customers’ needs, and fairness where the customer needs to feel and be given adequate attention and answers to every question asked (Brown & National Strength & Conditioning Association (U.S.), 2007). Other needs include control where the client wants to feel her input has a strong influence on the company’s performance. With these needs in mind, it is the responsibility of a customer care representative to have adequate information about their goods and services for customers regard someone with company’s information. With the tasks, specification, and job standards of customer care representatives, there is a need to empower employees to satisfy and meet customers’ needs.
SECTION 3
Requirement and Selection Plan
As a human resource manager, I have established the need to equip employees with adequate knowledge of the company’s goods and services to deliver quality customer services. The decrease of the company’s revenues was due to poor customer care services. There is a need to create a platform where customer care representatives can deliver their services effectively and boost customer satisfaction. There is a strong need to set up a training program to improve customer care services that in turn will increase the company’s sales and revenues. Training will be vital since it will create awareness to employees on how to respond to customers’ needs, complaints, and feedbacks.
As a human resource manager, I strongly believe that the following customer service training program will make a significant contribution to the company’s image and consistently provide best customer services to clients.
TRAINING PROGRAM MANUAL
| Training Lessons | Topics | Training outcomes |
| Lesson 1 (1 day) |
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| Lesson 2 (20hrs) | How to establish an appealing attitude to customers |
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| Lesson 3 (1 day) | How to identify and address clients’ needs |
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| Lesson 4 (1 day) | Generating frequent and potential clients. |
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| Lesson 5 (18 hrs) | In-person or individual customer service. |
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| Lesson 6 (16 hrs) | How to offer excellence customer service over the phone? |
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| Lesson 7 (12 hrs) | How to provide electronic customer services in the 21st century? |
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| Lesson 8 (1 day) | Recovering complicated or difficult clients. |
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| Lesson 9 (`1 day) | Understanding how to handle conflicts |
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| Lesson 10 (1 day) | Benefits of customer services to the company |
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For the above training to be effective, there are various things that the company will put into consideration. The first thing aspect is training setting, which will be appropriate and conducive for learning. In this case, the most preferable training setting will be a simulation that requires a company to develop a model that represents the key aspects of the entire process. In this case, training simulators include providing customer care representatives with adequate knowledge of how to respond to the challenges and opportunities they encounter when handling different clients from diverse backgrounds.
It is pertinent to note, there are benefits of using training simulations over traditional training programs. According to Sarwar, Muhammad & Akhtar (2011) training simulation is both cost and time savings and can be customized to meet any training or learning outcome. The company will utilize training simulation to promote effective leadership. In this case, customer care representatives will have to follow certain rules and procedures to learn new skills and knowledge to be effective and competent in their assigned duties and responsibilities.
In 2010, Kitson carried out an optimistic research that indicated that, training is the most profitable investment an organization can make as it both boost employee productivity and company’s growth. Based on this research, it is important for a human resource manager to develop a training need that respond to the needs of the company. With this knowledge in mind, I have established the need to execute training goals and objectives that are compatible with the company. The following steps will be vital for the training program to be efficient and effective.
The first step is to establish the training need analysis to validate the reason for its investment. To identify the training need, the company will gather data collection via observations, surveys, customers’ comments, and collects customers’ feedbacks, and complaints. The aim of this analysis will be to establish whether the training need is worth the investment. The second step is to establish a training program that enhances the development of current job standards, procedures, and descriptions. Once this is completed, the third step is to deliver the best training program. As a human resource manager, I will make sure that the company establish an effective trainee with an ability to motivate trainers. For training to be successful, the trainer will be a good planner, have strong communication skills, and a solid education background. These qualities are vital as they will determine how profitable and effective the training program will be.
The third step is evaluating the effectiveness of the training program. In this case, training evaluation will be vital as it will create a platform to gather customers’ feedbacks on the training performance allowing the company to understand the input it has imposed to customer case services. At this point, customers will be given a chance to air their thoughts on the customer services given by the company and start the improvement augmented by the training program. A research by Carrison (2012) indicates that, it is important to carry out an evaluation process after training. Without an evaluation process, Carrison affirm that the company cannot comprehend the true indications of its effectiveness to the organization.
To sum up, employee productivity, increasing sales and revenues, employee morale, and employee turnover, and creating a competitive workforce are some of the reasons for implementing and establishing training. For the company to be successful there is a need to have a strong customer service team that responds effectively to customers’ needs. For the training to be successful, the top management will fully participate and implement its effectiveness. Training customer care employees is worth consideration as it will create a strong ground to understand what customer service entails and how to generate best customer services. Still, training will be significant as it will develop and implement techniques to address clients’ needs. Employees will be in a better position to master techniques for customer service excellence over online devices and phone. Lastly, the employee will acquire tools for dealing with conflicts, confrontations, and insults. With these benefits in mind, I strongly believe the company will improve its sales, revenues, and customer satisfaction.
References
Brown, L. E., & National Strength & Conditioning Association (U.S.). (2007). Strength training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Carrison, D. (2012). The benefits of cross-training. Industrial Management, 54 (5), 6-6.
Kitson, G. (2010). Maximize benefits of on-the-job training. Impressions, 33 (10), 40-43.
Maley, J.F. (2011). The influence of various human resource management strategies on the performance management of subsidiary managers. Asia – Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 3 (1), 28-46. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17574321111116388
Melkman, A., & Trotman, J. (2005). Training international managers: Designing, deploying and delivering effective training for multi-cultural groups. Aldershot, Hants, England: GOWER.
Sarwar, S., Muhammad, S. A., & Akhtar, N. (2011). Impact of training patterns upon the social relations of employees (A meta analysis). Journal of Management Research, 3 (2), 1-21
Zuzeviciute, V., & Tereseviciene, M. (2010). The role of a human resource manager as a facilitator of learning. Baltic Journal of Management, 5 (1), 68-81.
Last Completed Projects
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