Service Operations Management - Research Paper Example

Service Operations Management Standard Chartered Bank evidently leads the way in Africa, Asia, and in the Middle East whereby it employs over 30,000 people in close to 550 locations in nearly 50 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific Region, South Asia, and United Kingdom as well as in the Americas. Standard Chartered Bank is among the world's largest international banks, and it has a competent management team that consists of over 70 nationalities. Standard Chartered Bank is both listed at the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, and in the London Stock Exchange where it is among the top 25 FTSE-100 companies I term of market capitalization. Standard Chartered Bank in the United Arab Emirates serves both the Consumer and the Wholesale Banking customers. The Consumer Banking section provides deposit taking, personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, and wealth management services to various individuals and to small to medium-sized enterprises. The Wholesale Banking section provides the corporate and institutional customers with services ranging from lending, trade finance, custody, cash management, debt capital markets, foreign exchange and corporate finance (Standard Chartered). This noble bank in the United Arabs Emirates is well established in the growth markets where it aims at being the right business partner, mainly for its clients. Standard Charted Bank in the United Arab Emirates combines in-depth local knowledge together with global capability to offer the best financial services to its customers. The Bank is well trusted across its numerous branches and networks for its high standards of governance as well as its commitment in making a huge difference in the various communities where it operates. Standard Chartered Bank is the world's leader in the emerging markets' banks, and its headquarters are in London. However, the bank’s businesses are always overwhelmingly international (Standard Chartered). The Operational structure of Standard Chartered Bank in UAE consists of the Group Regional Manager, Branch Managers who are in-charge of the branches, and the Branch Operations Managers who are responsible for the operations department at the various departments. Te branch operations managers are then followed by the Branch Cash Officers who are responsible for the back office of the branch operations followed by the bank tellers or cashiers who are responsible for the daily operations of depositing as well as withdrawing cash for the various clients in the bank. It is worth noting that these noble people always work in harmony in order to achieve the bank’s mission and vision statement whereby each employee is expected to fully know their various roles. Each employee of the bank has their individual targets, which they are supposed to attain in order to remain in employment, and this makes them to surpass their targets since there are bonuses and other incentives that are awarded by the bank if an employee surpasses their targets (Parker 03). There are various key Tactical and Strategic Challenges that are faced by the Operations Managers as they continue working on a daily basis. Such challenges include keeping a keen eye on the numerous transactions that the branch of the bank is undertaking. This is a paramount challenge since the bank deals with other people’s money, and any loss would result to diverse repercussions to the entire bank as well as ruining its reputation. A bank’s operations manager in Standard Chartered bank in UAE is not even supposed to deal with customers on a face-to-face basis since they will not be able to concentrate on their noble work effectively. They are also supposed to authorize various transactions, especially those that deal with a large amount of money. They have to know anti-money laundry laws, which the bank has to adhere to efficiently, govern the real source of the money since the bank. This is a key function of the bank’s operations manager and also a tactical and strategic challenge since any mistake can affect the bank negatively. It is paramount to note that a bank’s reputation is integral, and all the employees of the bank have to safeguard it since a breach of this could lead to detrimental factors as well as the loss of valuable business that the bank relies on heavily (Johnston and Graham 48). The other key tactical and strategic challenge faced by a bank's operations manager involves ensuing the float is available at all times as well as ensuring that the cash limit of the branch does not exceed its limit since this could be very dangerous in case of a bank robbery. Excess cash has to be transported to the bank’s headquarters for safekeeping as well as for forward transportation to its main headquarters in London. This is a huge challenge since the bank operations manager has to tackle security and logistical issues while performing this paramount task. The other tactical and strategic challenge concerns the overall management of the operations' staff since they have to be closely monitored in case they make any mistakes. Such mistakes include the bank tellers exceeding their cash limits or wrong entries being entered by the bank tellers as well as the back office staff who are in-charge of the back office transactions such as clearing cheques. This is also a huge function since the bank operations manager is in-charge of all the bank’s operations, which are undertaken by the operations' staff. Managing people is not an easy task while at the same time safeguarding the humongous amounts of cash that a bank’s branch handles (Hollins and Sadie 91). However, the bank operations manager through experience as well as being experts in the bank’s operations department eventually handles these numerous tactical and strategic challenges effectively. Standard Chartered Bank in UAE ensures that the bank operations manager are well trained, have the best and required expertise and the bank also ensures that they have many years of experience in the bank operations department. This is integral since the bank operations manager functions are very sensitive, and they, therefore, need to have the best expertise (Johnston and Graham 52). Customer satisfaction is one of the bank’s key pillars since the bank understands that the customer is king, and they are the sole-reason why the bank operates. This is the fundamental reason why the bank has evidently invested in a customer service department, which handles all the customers’ issues. The customers’ perspective of the bank is very high due to the banks high quality standard of services, products and the exemplary customer service that the customers are accorded. This is primarily evident from the customers’ feedback forms where they are requested to fill the customer feedback forms, and the customers ensure that they talk about their experience with the bank. The customer feedback forms present an opportunity for the bank to deliver superior customer value and satisfactions in accordance to the customers request as well as ensuring that any issues raised by the customers are handled effectively and swiftly. The bank has also benefitted from the customers’ feedback since it has been able to come up with innovative services and products that are tailor-made for the customers (Parker 17). In conclusion, as a first generation among the private banks, Standard Chartered Bank in UAE has come from far to reach its present status. The bank is indeed a pioneer of the private sector banking, and it is truly satisfying its customers fully. Additionally, in order for the bank to minimize any challenges, it must be careful in reshaping its venture and efforts in obtaining its goals and objectives. The noble meaning of service for the bank is to shape constantly itself. Standard Chartered Bank has already introduced a real-time all-time-case-line, online banking and telephone banking in its service fleet. Thus, the bank is following the customers demand for better services as well ensuring that they maintain the quality and quantity of its services. The bank has also introduced various cards that are issued by the bank that combines the Credit Card, A.T.M. Card, the Utility Bills payment Card and the Debit Card all in one single card as a noble way of improving its customer service (Standard Chartered). Works Citied Hollins, Bill, and Sadie Shinkins. Managing Service Operations. London: Sage Publications, 2006. Print. Johnston, Robert, and Graham Clark. Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery. Harlow, Essex, England: Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print. Parker, David. Service Operations Management: The Total Experience. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2012. Print. Standard Chartered. Standard Chartered Bank UAE, 2013. Web. 31 October, 2013. Read More