Employability Skills - Assignment Example

? Employability Skills TASK 2 The process of setting personal responsibilities and performance objectives begins with the focus on the Job description. The “Tasks and Duties” stipulated in the job description should form the basis for designing personal responsibilities at the workplace. This is important in ensuring that the outcome of your daily operations do not overlook, interfere or go against the purpose to which you are employed. To perform effectively and efficiently every individual employee need to understand what is expected of him/her (Keller, 2010; p113). Working in the sales department with a team dealing with customer support is certainly a huge task that comes with huge responsibilities. Setting up personal responsibilities in this area is somehow similar to updating job description to increase tasks and responsibilities, which are congruent with the overall objective of the organization. One needs to ask him/herself the following questions before setting responsibilities; what have I done? What do I need to do in order to progress myself? Finally, how do I execute it? These three questions are important in ensuring that your personal responsibilities meet both personal and interests of the organization. My first personal responsibility as a customer support personnel involves satisfying the expectations of the client. The second responsibility involves coordinating with individual users of our service to assess their needs. The third responsibility involves providing adequate information to the clients all the time. The fourth responsibility involves developing effective rapport with other service colleagues. The fifth responsibility involves ensuring that you are up to date with current service delivery methods and procedures to increase customer satisfaction. Performance targets unlike personal responsibilities, which makes use job description, go beyond the tasks and duties stated in the job description. Armstrong, (2009; p6) elucidates that when an idea of high quality job performance crosses your mind then one starts to think about expected job outcomes. Everyone at the work is always expected to meet his or her job objectives and thus the need for personal performance targets. For instance, customer support staffs need to ask themselves the following question in order to effectively set personal performance goals. How am I expected to act with the customers and support center colleagues? What are the mandatory organization values? Finally what procedures, methods and process should I employ? My performance targets based on my experience in working as a customer support personnel include but not limited to the following: Responding to at least 90% of all the incoming enquiries either through main or telephone; Attending to at least 99% of all complaints from customers promptly; Enhancing my customer service and interpersonal skills within 3 months. Contact at least 60% of new customers to find out about satisfaction of the services. Contact at least 70% of the clients who received a repair to find out if they were satisfied by the services. Evaluating personal effectiveness against defined objectives is an important undertaking for every employee considering that it demonstrates areas where an individual employee effectively succeeded and where he/she requires improvements (Keller, 2010; p196). Self-assessment is applied in a wide range of professional settings including customer support services and therefore it is a noble idea for customer support personnel to undertake self-assessment to establish their effectiveness to meet customer care challenges and above all their competence in relation to customer service skills. An evaluation of my personal effectiveness against personal objectives played a significant role in knowing my level of performance with respect to competency in customer service skills. One of the biggest challenges that most employers face is how to motivate their employees to attain their full potential at work. It is unfortunate that some employers even overlook the power of motivating employees in their organization while others only think of monetary rewards and incentives as the only technique of motivation (Maxwell & Knox 2009; p895). This is not the case are a wide range on none monetary motivational techniques which can be used to effectively to enhance the performance of employees in an organization. Key among the techniques include offering freedom and responsibility, coaching and encouraging, Do not force but Reinforce, Offer gift of trust, Feedback and Response and Employee development. TASK 2 One early morning one of our loyal customers called Samantha walked into the office building and before greeting everyone as usual, she exploded into a rant, hurling verbal insults as to how the organization was ineffective. She even contemplated cancelling some of the Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) she had issued to the organization because she was dissatisfied with the service delivery. Ms Samantha was reacting to failure of the company to deliver a machine she had ordered on time. Failure of the company to deliver the machine did cost her business a great deal, as she lost a vital sale opportunity because she could not prove possession of the machine in the inventory. All the efforts to calm her down bore no fruit as she continued to be angrier and shouting at the top of her voice drawing a lot of attention but we finally managed to calm her down and explained the problem. The following are the action ideas that would be employed to deal with a work-based situation, which involves dealing with a difficult and upset customer. The first one is to avoid being drawn into the problem emotionally and instead pay attention actively non-defensively even if the customer is pained remarks. The essence is to stay cool and focus on the client to make her feel you are giving her attention. According to Morgan etal (2002; p115) the next action is to listen actively to what the client is saying because she wants to be heard in order to put across her grievances. The next action involves being empathetic and making apologies to the client. Demonstrate to the client that you understand why she is upset and try to ensure that your body language also communicate this understanding. Present a solution to the client, take an immediate action and inform the customer about the action. Finally build a rapport by steering the conversation towards the future rather than in the past. Dealing with wayward, angry and upset customer is one of the work problems that a customer support personnel have to deal with as part of their roles (Morgan etal 2002; p81). Present day consumers are often more curious about the products or services that they consume and this means that will always be quick to complain when their expectations are not met. It is always the biggest desire of each customer care agent to provide excellent service delivery to either his or her internal and external clients. However, in the real world of business non-deliberate mistakes are common occurrences. Even the customers as well as suppliers make unintended mistakes and such dissatisfactions are common occurrence in every business. This means that complaints will be made from time to time. However, the most crucial thing is how the responsible staff will deal with them (Armstrong, 2009; p70). An organization will always stand out from the rest based on how it addressed complaints and customer issues especially difficult customers. To be sincere, it is never easy to deal with difficult and an upset customer especially when emotions are involved. Nevertheless, if you understand the situation better, you mind what you say and most significantly, how to put it across one may be able to salvage the situation at hand from worse to normalcy (Morgan etal 2002; p12). This is certainly a tough test considering that one’s ability to calm down a difficult customer is undoubtedly a great achievement considering that this can lead to even better relationship with the customer even more than how it was initially. Customers will often judge the service delivery of an organization based on how it handles its mistakes and complaints. If you respond to your mistakes very well then the clients will probably forgive you, even go to the extent of saying positive things about your organization, and if possible recommend your services/products to their friends and or relatives. Communication is one of the most fundamental requirements for effective relationship in the workplace (Downs, Adrian & Downs, 2004; p96). Irrespective of your position in the corporate ladder, everyone needs to get along with his or her juniors, peers, superiors, and all this can only be achieved through effective communication. However, what matters is how you communicate the problem to your peers and supervisors. For instance, One can use verbal and non verbal as well as written communication approaches to inform peers and supervisor about a problem and these may include creating awareness through face to face or telephone conversation, use of body language, and gestures as well as use of letters and emails in the event that the supervisor is not around. Communication with the supervisor must always be formal unlike with peers where one can use either formal or informal feedback to and from them. Downs, Adrian & Downs, (2004; p109) assert that it is always advisable that you be positive when things go wrong by demonstrating a positive attitude as this means a lot to your colleagues other people around you especially your superiors. You should never try to hide problems from your superiors or peers especially if you cannot solve it personally or it may affect others. Additionally you need to communicate with your supervisors through questions and or suggestions instead of making complaints. Time management is undoubtedly a valuable necessity in life considering that it enables one to juggle the daily demands of life, which range from school activities, job, household tasks, and leisure activities (Alexander & Dobson, 2009; p11). Ability to apply time management strategies is important to everyone because it makes one able to enhance his/her productivity and most importantly feel more relaxed. Key among the time management strategies that one can make use of include but not limited to prioritizing activities, breaking large activities into easier to handle smaller tasks, setting work objectives, scheduling activities, making and keeping appointments. Setting priorities, which involve noting down all the workload you wish to accomplish by the end of the day, week, and month or even within a year is one of the most indispensable strategies of efficient time management. The next important strategy is to break down all large workloads in to smaller manageable tasks and create a schedule for them by prioritizing your to do list. TASK 3 Teamwork is an important instrument in spurring effective performance of employees in any given organization. Teamwork has proved effective and productive in reaching to solutions for problems that face the organization. Members of the team exhibit great discipline and interpersonal respect that has seen establishment of cohesive and strong relationship in the work environment (West, 2012; p13). The strong relationship has enabled the members share each other’s problems and assisting in the best possible ways to find solutions. Furthermore, the discipline by the team members has influenced great portion of leadership on matters of institutional policy and regulations. The discipline and respect demonstrated by the members has been fundamental for the leaders to reach out to solutions for challenges and problems faced by the workers. Unlike in other organizations where workers have to strike or abscond work to report their grievances, the members’ discipline has encouraged high level of sobriety in case of any problem (West, 2012; p11). The team members also exhibit strong trust and interpersonal confidence that has seen development of strong bond between the members. The great level of trust exhibited by the team members has seen honest sharing of problems and challenges facing the members. The spirit of sharing problems has led to reduced cases of psychological depressions and physical damage that would result from depression. Moreover, the strong trust exhibited by the members has encouraged good collaboration that has seen sharing of technical ideas and information as regards to various instances of organizational development (Abeysinghe, 2009; p173). This has also helped in the reduction of work related risks and dangers that would occur to lack of sufficient information as to the operation and running of various organizational processes. Furthermore, the trust exhibited by the members of the teamwork has eased managerial works, as there is high level of understanding of the members. Members are usually ready to understand convictions of the leaders and help in the search for solutions rather than compounding given problems and challenges. The dynamic of the teamwork has also manifested through a show of high level of responsibility. Members are responsible for everything they do and take great caution to avoid mistakes. This characteristic has helped group members preserve and take good care of the tools and materials used in work. This has generally helped the organization cut costs on purchases and repairs of tools and materials needed for work. Another important characteristic demonstrated by the group is high level of accountability (Abeysinghe, 2009; p9). The members are usually accountable for their actions and takes full responsibility over all messes caused in the work process. This has helped in reducing blames and the trend of members to disown mistakes, which consequently helps in strengthening institutional cohesion and understanding. Alternative way that team members can work to achieve the goals and objectives of the group and organization as whole is through development of work program. Work program can be a document that highlights responsibilities and mandates of each member of the organization. Through work program, the group can allocate appropriate time for given tasks and avoid time wastage in the process of performing the duties of the group. The work program can also help guide the members in discharging their duties in a proper manner without leaving out any the important details. TASK 4 Problem solving skill is certainly a fundamental human requirement (Frigard, 2007; p15). Irrespective of one’s status in the society or at the workplace, he/she will at times face tough challenges. It is noteworthy that an individual’s success in life will be determined based on how he/she handles challenges both personal and those that arise at workplace. Many ways to solve problems are always at the disposal and one’s effectiveness to solve problems will depend on his/her attitude, situation, knowledge, nature of the problem at hand and or experience (Denton, 2013; p27). One of the work-based problems that we used to encounter at the customer support center was lack of confidence in the support team as there was constant demand by clients to speak to the manager. It is a strange that most clients who launch complaints about the product often ask to speak to the manager even after talking to them. When customers constantly ask to speak to the manager then this is a clear indication that the support team does not adequately address the concern of the client beyond the expectation. This was certainly a huge problem at our work environment that had to be given a lot of attention and after careful evaluation of the situation; the support team unanimously agreed that constant asking for the management intervention by the customers was major problem in the department. Now that the problem has been identified as lack of confidence in the support staff as clients constantly, ask for the intervention of the management the next major step is to develop a strategy for solving the problem. This process begins with specification of the problem and it involves two major initiatives, which are definition of the problem as well as analysis and clarification of the problem. Under definition of the problem the team concentrates on active diagnosis of the problem of the situation at hand so as to ensure that more emphasis is laid on the problem rather symptoms. The key initiative under this stage involves reviewing and documentation of all the operations as well as evaluation of possible change of policy. Analysis of the situation and clarification of the problem is a careful fact finding mission that aims at establishing what every stakeholder knows about the situation at hand (Mobley, 2012). For instance, it was discovered that customer support staff lacked adequate technical knowledge about the products. Addition most team operated with limited freedom and responsibility as their help was only restricted to what they read form the manuals provided by the technicians. The Next major phase in developing a strategy involves generating alternative solution. This step requires stakeholders to employ problem solving methods and tools in order to come up with multiple alternatives that will improve the value of the final solution. Key techniques employed here include brainstorming and research. The third phase in the effort to develop a strategy for solving the problem involves selection and implementation of the best alternative. The team needs to take into consideration all the alternatives that were generated and evaluate each alternative based on its merits and demerits until they will arrive at the final solution and eventually implement it by putting it into action (Denton, 2013; p29). For instance, technical training about operating the laboratory equipments was recommended for the support staff as the best alternative despite the numerous solutions suggested. The final phase involves evaluation. During evaluation supervisors will established whether the problem has been solved, as results will be measured against the desired outcome. For our case, the desired outcome was to reduce request for managers by the clients by at least 85% in the first three months and it was successfully achieved. SUMMARY OF THE ORGANIZATION Radiopharm is private limited company specializing in the distribution and marketing of medical radiology machines particularly digital X-ray, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Computer Axial Tomography (CAT). Most of the company products are imported while some are manufactured locally. For its 18 years of existence, Radiopharm has managed to curve its niche as a supplier of choice to most healthcare setups in the country, which carry out radiology services. The company specializes in both export and import of Radiology machines as it has different distributorship license with several world leading manufacturers of Radiology machines. References ABEYSINGHE, S 2009, “PHP team development easy and effective team work using MVC, agile development, source control, testing, bug tracking, and more”, Birmingham, UK, Packt Pub. ALEXANDER, R., & DOBSON, M. S 2009, “Real-world time management” New York, American Management Association.  ARMSTRONG, M 2009, “Armstrong's handbook of performance management an evidence-based guide to delivering high performance” London, Kogan Page. DENTON, D 2013, 'Teaching everyday problem-solving skills', Industrial Management, 55, 6, pp. 26-30, DOWNS, C. W., ADRIAN, A. D., & DOWNS, C. W 2004, “Assessing organizational communication: strategic communication audits”, New York, Guilford Press. FRIGARD, C. R 2007, Funthink: 12 tools for creative problem solving, Mound, MN., Treebones. KELLER, J. M 2010, “Motivational design for learning and performance the ARCS model approach” New York, Springer. Maxwell, R, & Knox, S 2009, 'Motivating employees to "live the brand": a comparative case study of employer brand attractiveness within the firm', Journal Of Marketing Management, 25, 9/10, pp. 893-907. MOBLEY, K 2012, “Problem-solving techniques for a high-performance team,” Retrieved Dec 7, 2013 from: http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/14690/high-performance-team MORGAN, R. L., etal 2002, Calming upset customers. Menlo Park, Calif, Crisp Publications. WEST, M. A 2012, “Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research” Chichester, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons. Read More