Information Technology Service Yakka Tech Pty Ltd - Essay Example

Case Study -- short report Table of Contents Introduction 2 Case analysis- Analysis of problems and linking theories to practice 3 Developing range of operations and recommendations 6 Conclusion 8 References 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction The project begins with a case study of the company known as Yakka Tech Pty Ltd. It is an information technology service firm comprising of 1500 employees from New Zealand and Australia. Its consulting division installs and upgrades software systems on the sites of the client. There are four customer service centres to serve clients of specific regions. The project analyses the problems confronting the company and recommends suitable solutions for overcoming the same. The primary focus of the case revolves around the present status of the customer service department of the company. It seems that despite having substantial employee strength, it is not being able to meet the standards as per the demands of its customers. The customer service department has been underperforming which is the present cause of concern for the company. The company has been stagnating and the number of customer complaints has been rising dramatically. This case provides a perfect situation for the identification of management loopholes. Accordingly suitable recommendations have be proposed for rectifying the situation. The underperformance of employees can be dealt with by applying various theories of management. Employee motivation has a key role to play in this regard. The company has also been facing the problem of employee turnover. A similar issue was raised in Cadbury’s where the turnover rates remained high because of unfavorable conditions and mal practices in the areas of human resource management. However, the situation was brought under control by restructuring the HR strategies. An ideal working environment was provided along with sick pays, holidays and other benefits for the employees (Pinnington, Macklin & Campbel, 2007, p.39). This is a critical human resource issue which requires careful understanding of the causes why the employees have been leaving the organization. It is important to make an in-depth analysis of the reasons of employee dissatisfaction, insecurity and lack of commitment (Taylor, 2002, p.60). High turnover rates results into significant costs to the company in the form of recruitment, training and productivity loss (Reichheld & Teal, 2001, p.96). Research reveals that the organizational hassles often affect the quality of work. The kind of supervision, operational hassles or disagreement about of how something requires to be done may be reflected through low productivity and poor performance (Basch & Fisher, 1998, p.6). The situation in Yakka Tech is also similar where the operational hassles results on lack of coordination of resources eventually lowering the level of performance. Each time the client tries to resolve a problem it is handled by a different employee. This causes the problem to persist and keep recurring. The entire situation speaks volumes about the mismanagement in the organization. Research also reveals that effective communication can act as a problem solver in organizations. It is more likely to solve a complex problem easily where the communication is high. However it requires participation of the members of the organization. Active participation of group members in enhancing the level of communication can reduce errors considerably (Hopkins & Baltimore, 2007). This practice would be an effective way of reducing customer complaints in Yakka Tech. Case analysis- Analysis of problems and linking theories to practice The company’s customer service has been expanding quickly over the years, but the problem is that along with this the number of customer complaints has also grown. There were complaints regarding the company’s poor quality of service. The employees also seemed to remain indifferent to the problems of the client. Conditions became more haphazard because most often addressing a certain problem required the involvement of a number of departments. The conditions of work seemed to remain low which seemed to create barriers between departments. Moreover the customer service operations were divided into four regional centres. The infrastructure also does not seem to be strong enough to amalgamate the regional offices effectively. There were several complaints regarding the employees’ knowledge about the IT systems. Yakka Tech’s employees had to be constantly educated about the details of the system. This shows lack of training and education of the employees. It is important that the customer service employees have complete knowledge about the service they are providing. Not only do they require skills to communicate but also technical knowledge about the services. The absence of a training program has left the employees unaware of the changes in technology and unfit for the position of customer service. Conducting training programs constitute an important part of the responsibilities of the human resource department. The requirement of the program also arises out of the fact that technology keeps changing rapidly and constantly. It is important that employees upgrade themselves with the changes in technology. The training programs developed should be in accordance to the requirements of the job and the employees as well (American Health Care Association, 2011). The company witnesses lack of coordination between departments which seems to the most important factor lowering the performance of employees. The result has severe consequences on the reaction of clients. It is seen that each time the client presents a problem it is handled by a different person in the customer service. This complicates the matter even further. The problems take more time to get resolved. The strategy of having four different customer centres is a reflection of unsound planning. Customer service is one such department which needs to be in touch with all other departments for effective and smooth functioning. Lack of synchronization between the works of each department causes untimely and improper execution of work. This ruins the firms attempt to meet its objectives and goals. There must also be coordination between the upper management and the employees at the lower levels. This is known as vertical coordination. The employees’ performance must be aligned to the objectives of the management. Also the management must be aware of the activities of the employees. Management plays a critical role in shaping the relationships and behavior of employees. “A functional organization fosters efficiency, teamwork, and coordination of activities within individual units” (Media Wiley, n.d.). Coordination also plays a major role in the case of generation and application of new ideas and initiatives. The success of any company does not depend on one particular department. It is the combined effect of each department. It must be realized that each department not only works towards achieving its individual goals but towards the organization’s goals. Most importantly the company has been witnessing excessive turnover rates. The number of resignation of employees had surpassed the industry average. High rates of turnover result into various other costs. It incurs costs of recruiting new employees and training of the new employees. The combined effect of all, result into poor productivity. Excessive turnover also increase anxiety among employees which enhances the problem even further. High turnover reflects the discontent of the employees. It can be caused due to improper compensation structures and monotonous work. A large number of employees in Yakka Tech had complained of discontent with their work, conflicts with employees belonging to other departments and stress of serving the clients who are dissatisfied. The company had made an attempt to raise the pay rates of its customer service staff to control the problem of turnover. It even introduced a profit sharing plan for the same reason. But the attempts failed. It must be realized that it is impossible to retain employees by using monetary tools. It was important for the company to pay attention to the issues of human resource other than only their compensation structures. Developing range of operations and recommendations Firstly the company requires a restructuring of its HR strategies. It is apparent from the case of Cadbury’s that certain unfavorable conditions and mal practices proved to a demotivating factor for the employees. This reflected in their performance. The company must provide its employees an ideal and healthy working environment to achieve maximum participation from them. It has been mentioned that operational hassles often reflects through the quality of work. The company’s large number of employees and numerous departments is a cause behind poor performance of the employees. It is recommended that the company creates an organizational structure and a stable work culture which would help employees perform better. There must not be any complexity in the work procedures. The task of each department and individual must be made definite and precise so that there are no confusions regarding the job responsibilities. Each department would be led by a manager who would devise a standard set of procedures to be followed by all his subordinates (Media Wiley, n.d.). An important recommendation for the company would be overcome the communication barriers between departments. The customer service always needs to be in constant touch with other departments for effective functioning. The company can prepare a common platform which be used by all to share ideas. The problems faced by each individual and departments would also be communicated to everyone. The departments could also devise strategies and share it in the platform which would be accessed by all. The management could introduce the concept of job rotation in which the employees would rotate through other departments. This would help them to avoid monotonicity and also have a clear understanding about the activities of co-workers. Another alarming problem confronting the company is its high rate of turnover. It is important to make careful analysis of why employees have been leaving the organization. The company should enhance team work and reduce possible cause of conflicts between employees. Strained relationships can often cause stress which is why employees leave the organizations. The management should remove causes of discontent among the employees. This could come in the form of monetary and non monetary benefits. Praising the employees and giving them compliments would be one way of boosting their performance. The management should also encourage participation and involvement of employees in the organizational planning. Implementation of a proper rewards structure would be effective in motivating employees and thus improving their performance. Finally the management should develop and implement a proper training program as per the requirements of the employees. The failure of the customer service centres of Yakka Tech could be controlled to an extent by implementing training programs. The management could set targets for the employees and evaluate their performance before and after the trainings. The training would be devised and aligned with the organizational goals and strategies. The most effective way would be to train job specific skills. The training should also aim to upgrade people’s knowledge about information technology which keeps changing continuously. Conclusion It is apparent that despite being a large organization, Yakka Tech faces organizational issues. Most importantly, the company faces severe complaints from its clients regarding the performance of its customer service staff. The causes of these problems have been identified as follows. Firstly, the four customer service centres is said to have least coordination among them which further aggravates the problem. The lack of technical skills of the staff member is a major cause of embarrassment for the company. It is also been witnessing high turnover rates. This has been arising out of discontent among the employees, lack of motivation and lack of focus towards organization’s vision. Three cases have been identified to have similar resemblances with the company. Cadbury’s have been effective in controlling turnover rates by restructuring its HR policies. Providing a hassle free environment and benefits like sick pays and holidays was effective in curtailing the problem. The same strategies have been recommended for Yakka Tech as well. The division of customer service centres of the company appears to be a potential force behind its poor performance. However, research says that operational hassles causes blockage in the way of smooth functioning of a company. That is why it has been recommended that all departments must work in close coordination with each other. Research also reveals that an effective communication procedure helps to resolve complex situations. An important recommendation was to eradicate the presence of communication gaps between departments. The idea of job rotation and sharing of ideas and strategies through a common platform has been recommended in this context. Finally the development and implementation of training programs have been recommended to improve productivity of employees. References American Health Care Association. 2011. Employee Education and Training. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ahcancal.org/facility_operations/ComplianceProgram/Pages/TrainingEducation.aspx. [Accessed on January 6, 2011]. Hopkins, J. & Baltimore, U. 2007. Some effects of problem complexity upon problem solution efficiency in different communication nets. [Online]. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B8JB9-4NRM2M7-C&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F1954&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1598078143&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=aef430de34e02887b47e5db8add0751a&searchtype=a. [Accessed on January 6, 2011]. Media Wiley. No Date. Organizational Structure. [Online]. Available at: http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/78/EHEP0004/EHEP000478.pdf. [Accessed on January 6, 2011]. Pinnington, A. H., Macklin, R. & Campbell, T. 2007. Human Resource Management: Ethics and Employment. [Pdf]. Available at: http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/fullText;dn=989298382730375;res=IELHSS. [Accessed on January 6, 2011]. Reichheld, F. F. & Teal, T. 2001. The loyalty effect: the hidden force behind growth, profits, and lasting value. Harvard Business Press. Taylor, S. 2002. The employee retention handbook. CIPD Publishing. Bibliography Griffeth, R. W. & Hom, P. W. 2004. Innovative theory and empirical research on employee turnover. IAP. Jagels, M. G. & Ralston, C. E. 2006. Hospitality management accounting. John Wiley and Sons. Kusluvan, S. 2003. Managing employee attitudes and behaviors in the tourism and hospitality industry. Nova Publishers. O’Sullivan, M. 2000. Contests for corporate control: corporate governance and economic performance in the United States and Germany. Oxford University Press. Read More