Human Resource Management at Wedstbank Call Centre - Case Study Example

Report On Human Resource Management at Wedstbank Call Centre. Abstract Human resource management forms a crucial unit in the study of human behavior in relation to their response as far as situations and circumstances at the work place are concerned. Notably, the challenges facing human resource management cannot be solved through a universal application of a set of rules or guidelines since each situation will present itself differently according to the environment in which these challenges arise. There is need to advance as emerging trends continue to hit the market. The Westbank is one organization that may face the challenges of an evolving market in trying to set up a call centre especially owing to its age and the fact that there may exists some conservative ideologies within the management. This report will attempt to outline some of the challenges that face Westbank Call Centre as well as offer some recommendations. Introduction Organizations continue to adapt to new and emerging trends in the market as various aspects of business evolves. Call centres have become popular with businesses that look at responding to clients needs within the shortest time possible round the clock. Technology has aided this development in a great way and institutions seem to have put a great value to this technique given the heavy investments that they continue to channel into this direction (Bolman & Deal 2007). However, this being a relatively new idea, it has experienced a number of challenges especially in regard to human resource management. Some questions emerge as to what system of human resource management and what theories of human resource management may be most applicable under some circumstances. One goal of this study is to establish the challenges that the Westbank may be facing in its efforts to put up and effective Call Center. At the same time this study will raise some relevant recommendations that may be useful in aligning the call centre. Company Background In order to understand the strengths and weaknesses that may be presented by the case of the Westbank, it would be appropriate to have a background of the organization.Westbank is a subsidiary company of the larger Premier Banking Group whose history goes to as far back as the nineteenth century. The mother company, Premier Banking Group, has its headquarters in Birmingham while the Westbank still continues to hold its headquarters at Leeds where about three hundred employees handle its operations. The recent economic twists have seen the bank register massive losses that have almost threatened to diminish its existence. The current Chief Executive Officer, Ann Jones has continuously worked to retain and awaken the bank and enhance its profit margin. This has led the manager to explore ways of responding to customer needs in the best way possible. In this view, a call center has been set up at the company’s headquarters in Leeds despite prior pressure by the mother company to put it up in the Indian subcontinent where cheap labor is said be abundant. However, Ann Jonnes has insisted on having the call centre at Leeds and though a good amount has been pumped into making it technologically suitable, a myriad of challenges still face its human resource management system. With a staff of about five hundred people, these challenges are to be expected, somehow. The bank has also been cited as a pioneer in student banking services and despite the competition that has been experienced in this sector, it has continued to perform arguably well. Such strengths should be enhanced and more effort put in to ensure that it continues to bring in profits Analysis of the Westbank Call Centre Situation-The Report From the onset, it is deducible that staffs at the Westbank call centre have been given very high targets that they are supposed to hit. Here, it is expected that as much as 90% of the call be answered within fifteen seconds of the caller contacting. Additionally, it is expected that callers will be attended to at their first attempts to call. Again, 90% compliance to this target is expected. With this initial analysis it is evident that employees at the centre are expected to be alert to the duty at all times and well equipped with skills and ability to do the job. It has also been noted that since its inception, the call centre has had problems with its technical aspect particularly on the information technology (IT) sector. For a call centre department to work effectively, it would be expected that there would be a high standard of technological sustenance (DeCharms 2008). It is a well-known fact that when employees work with the best equipments, their levels of productivity would be expected to rise. In this case, if the staffs at Westbank Call Centre are challenged on the technical aspect, it may mean that callers may be supposed to wait for longer to be attended to. Under such circumstances, it would not be easy to hit the targets that have been set. This is further aggravated by the inexperience of the staff and more so the management team that has been put up to take care of the smooth running of the call center. In fact, it is reported that the management team here is responsible for laying out operational policies and those that the Human Resource should stick to. However, this team is also accused of creating policies that the local management has found to be inappropriate for this environment (Festinger 2007) Another factor that has been raised is the salary issue. It has also been established that going by the markets standards, the salary offered at the Westbank call centre is quite low. There is a general observation that the current remuneration structure can hardly attract employees with the level of skills and experience that would take the centre to the expected level of performance. Staff members have also been encouraged through incentives and this would of course reflect on their motivational levels that will definitely affect their productivity (Maslow 1993).Human resource management theories hold the view that people need organizations for intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and satisfaction that they provide. Salary is thus part of this reward and once it is not adequately looked into, employees will most likely feel unmotivated and may not perform as expected. Further, the call centre has assumed a managerial system that is evidently quite comprehensive. The head of the center is the call centre manager who is assisted by section heads. There are also teams formed by the staff and each team is comprised of fifteen members. These teams are led by team leaders who coordinate and report to the Customer Services Manager. This manager has been bestowed the role of motivating the team leaders so that they can in return motivate their team members. From this description it is outright that the management system has a bureaucratic structure. McGregor (2000) observers that there can be two ways in which human resources can be looked at. In Theory X, he explains, human beings are generally lazy, passive and prefer to be led. On the other hand he describes through Theory Y that people are motivated, ambitious and prefer to lead. These two theories can be used to interrogate the situation at Westbank Call Center in some ways. Whereas it is important to put some leadership mechanisms in place, these channels need to be very well defined and not seem too many to an almost confusing point. The call center seems to be very keen on checking how well people are working by way of literally watching their every move. Theory Y tends to argue that human beings need to be given space to think and act independently since they can draw motivation from within (Sergiovanni, 2009). Human resource management theories emphasize on the importance of continued education in making the human resource effective and productive. David Owner, a seasoned entrepreneur of the eighteenth century believed that human capital can be enhanced through consistently educating them. Owen observed that there is need to provide life long training and he demonstrated this by training his managers in better ways of handling the human resource. The responsibility of identifying areas that need training at the call centre has been left to team leaders. However, the team leaders seem to have their hands already too full with responsibility that they may not adequately handle this area. This means that it may not be given the necessary attention. Over the years, it has been argued that there is some sense of strength in specialization of labour. When workers are used o a given task they tend to concentrate and bring out the best result out of it. The Westbank Call Centre managers and team leaders are tasked with several responsibilities At one time they are supposed to supervise their colleagues as they identify personal performances while at the same time they are expected to train newly recruited employees. Agrylis (2006) argued that when employees specialize on specific duties there is strict adherence to one line of work and one expects there to be a thorough performance in that area. Newly recruited employees at the call centre are the only ones expected to put their efforts in one line but as time goes by they are trained in diverging areas of performance. Although this is not entirely unproductive, it is necessary that workers perfect a specific area of duty. Westbank employees are reportedly members of a union known as Unite. The entire bank has about 50% subscription to this union .However, it has also been indicated that very few of the staff at the call centre are members of the Union. Unions provide forums for employees to air their grievances quite freely and without fear of intimidation. The issue of Unions is largely seen as a matter of taking care of the needs of the staff. The issue of employment at the Westbank has different facets since attention has also been drawn to the fact that the bank majorly engages in employment of employees on permanent basis while it hires agencies to recruit employees for pilot based project and on temporary terms Challenges Facing the Westbank Call Centre From the above analysis of the work situation and the working environment at the Westbank Call Centre, it is evident that are a number of issues that pose a challenge to the entire environment. To start with, there is the issue of staff inexperience. On one hand, one may argue that this should not be a big challenge since upon recruitment; staff members are taken through training to be able to handle their duties. However, a closer scrutiny of this subject will reversal that this is a challenge in that the customers expect any one responding to their need to be adequately informed and able to handle their concerns (Weick 1995). Experienced staff members are able to navigate through issues better out of their past dealings with clients in the same field. Lack of well defined hierarchy or system of leadership at the call centre also poses a challenge in that staff members may not know exactly know who to report to at what point and on what issue. Similarly, the means by which communication is passed to the members of staff may assume a complex shape and process. Human resource theories tend to advocate for very clear channels of passing information in the most convenient way and within the shortest time possible. The theories also acknowledge that the leader has a role of developing a relatioshioship with members of their team and assist in conflict resolution (Barnard 1998). Lack of such structures at the Call Center may hamper its smooth operations. As the report acknowledges, the salaries offered to the staff at the call center are considerably low. Employees draw motivation from proper remuneration. Besides salaries, human resource management theories also recognize factors such as hygiene as other factors that make employees feel well catered for (Herzberg et al. 1993).This would also include allowances and other incentives. Although it may be argued that the call centre is still new and reorganizing thus doesn’t have the capacity to offer salaries as offered else where in the same market, there is need to harmonize them and at lease bring them to a level that would be considered fair enough. The need to have an IT system that observes high operational levels cannot be overemphasized. The Westbank report sharply notes the deficiency in this area and therefore provides an opportunity to highlight why there may be a problem in hitting the targets that have been set for the employees. Besides the human resource, a call centre is almost entirely dependent on a reliable IT system for its operations. A technical difficult experienced in this area will lead to callers getting frustrated on failing to contact the centre efficiently. In the long run, customers will loose trust and loyalty to the services of the call centre and ultimately to the services of the bank. Strengths of the Bank Despite the many challenges that seem to face the Westbank as a whole, there are some points of strength that the bank can draw from to enhance its efficiency and even hit its targets as set by the CEO. One of them is the fact that the bank has belongs to a larger and well-established family under the Premier Banking Group. For this reason, it may be believed that funding for smooth running of the call centre should not be a major problem although there might be other activities that the group might have budgeted for. In modern times, call centre have become popular for institutions that intend to be in close contact with their customers at all times. The group should thus take it keenly to invest in the call centre. The bank was a pioneer in student banking services and it is credited with bringing policies that ensured students could still enjoy free operational accounts. Over the years, this sector has changed in several ways and more students are become more bankable and seeking other products from the banks. In this regard, the company can capitalize in introducing more friendly products that would enhance profitability from this section of clients thus ensuring that it sill remains competitive. The bank also enjoys the services of a strong-hearted leadership as demonstrated by the CEO, Anne Jones. The advantage of such an undertaking is that in spite of all other challenges, the team can still draw motivation from the leadership and endeavor to work towards achieving their objective, Anne Jones successfully agitated for the setting p of the call centre at the UK. This may thus be looked at as her project and one that she would like too see running smoothly. Conclusion There is indeed a strong will and capacity to make the Westbank call centres a successful entity. This is anchored on the background of having the will to reach to clients in the best way possible. It has been highlighted that the major reason for setting up the call centre is to improve the services and help customers access the bank at any time of day or night. This gives the call centre a strong basis for operation in that its objectives and mandate is very clear. This picture has to be sustained by putting in p[lace all the necessary mechanisms that will enhance productivity of employees. Since the bank has a strong historical background, it may be argued that it is not new to employee requirements and needs. In that case, the bank may need to scrutinize its employee management system and redefine the aspects that may be missing. This may not necessarily mean that the bank requires an overhaul over the human resource management structure but rather a looking into the most urgent and basic needs of the employees for the moment. Recommendations The challenges facing the institutions can be termed as outright in the sense that they are well visible without much scrutiny. In this respect, the call centre needs an approach that will bring it to some sense of stability .Firstly, the bank will need to provide the staff with a thoroughly performing IT system. To this end, it may require the services of specialized information technicians to install the appropriate technological system. There could also be need to ensure that there is a technician or a number of technicians on stand by to take care of any mishaps that may be experienced. In addition, the organization will need to undertake focused training programs or the staff. This will include training for the managers specially tailored to enable them handle the human resource in the best way possible (DeCharms 2008). The other members of staff who need to undergo a thorough training program are the members of the tam handling calls. This will also take various aspects where they will need to undergo training on customer relationship as well as technical training to be able to handle the tools in terms of computers or any other that may be necessary for the job.It might also be necessary to bring in a number of employees who might have some experience in this genre of customer relations. This will ensure that the company brings in some practices that may be common in other companies within the region. The advantage f doing this is that the company will not necessarily need to come up with its own ways of doing things but rather shape the practices in the market to suit its market and environment. Although it has been indicated that team leaders will need to evaluate the performance of individuals from time to time, it will be necessarily to take stock of the progress made within a given period of time (Argyris 2006) This will assist the whole team in improving on areas that might not have been given enough effort while still looking into strengthening team work. It has been noted that employees are encouraged to socialize outside the worn environment. However, this may not be enough to make bold and comprehensive bonds that will make work easier for the employees. Generally, the call centre will need a through and close follow up n all issues from human resources to equipment and other facilitation points. This then calls for a great deal of investment. References Argyris, C. 2006, Individual Actualization In Complex Organizations, Academic Press, New York Barnard, C. I 1998, The Functions Of The Executive. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Bolman, L. G., Deal, T. E. 2007, Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice and leadership, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco DeCharms, P 2008, Personal Causation, Academic Press, New York Festinger, L 2007, A Theory Of Cognitive Dissonance, Stanford University Press Stanford, CA Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B 1993, The Motivation To Work, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ Maslow, A. H 1993, A Theory Of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, Academic Press, New York McGregor, D2000, The human side of organization, McGraw Hill, New York Sergiovanni, T. J 2009, Informing professional practice in educational administration. Journal of Educational Administration, 27(2), p. 186. Weick, K. E 1995, Sensemaking in organizations, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA Read More