CASE STUDY- ZEN COMPUTER REPAIRS

Zen Computer Repairs (ZCS) is a small computer repairs store in a local suburb in Sydney. Even though it has a small shop front it employs 10 staff, 6 of whom work remotely. 4 staff work in the store full-time. The owner of the store is Bill Clinton.

Bill has recently employed you as the Assistant Manager. You are required to work full time at the store. Your role is to manage and supervise the day-to-day operations of the store. As part of your role, you are required to also supervise the full-time staff at the store and remotely manage all the remote staff.

The following is a list of the team:

	NAME	POSITION	CONFIDENTIAL NOTES
1	Bill Clinton	Owner, Manager
2	YOU	Assistant Manager	Works in the store- Full time
3	Sarah	Receptionist	Works in the store- Full time
4	Alan	Computer Technician- 1	Works in the store- Full time Has hearing disability
5	Tee	Computer Technician- 2	Works in the store- Full time She has mobility issues. Uses a wheelchair
6	Mina	Computer Technician- 3	Works in the store- Full time She is a recently arrived migrant from Japan. She has excellent technical skills but has low English language proficiency.
7	Agnes	Computer Technician- 4	Works remotely
8	Ron	Marketing Manager	Works remotely
9	Sunita	Computer Technician- 5	Works remotely
10	James	Software Engineer	Works remotely James has a speech impairment.
11	Anna	Computer Technician- 6	Works remotely
12	Hamid	Website and Social Media Manager	Works remotely. He is a recent migrant from the Middle East.

The business has been operating for over 10 years and has an established clientele. Its social media has a following of over 6000 people, including approximately 3000 past clients. It has a database of over 4000 past and current clients.

It is a very busy workplace with at least 30- 40 customers coming to the store daily to drop-off or pick-up their computers.The telephone rings almost non-stop keeping the Receptionist very busy taking calls and responding to customer enquiries.

The core business workflow is as follows:

1. Customers contact the store and ask for general information and an estimate on computer repair costs. Sometimes, they ask about how long the repairs can take. The Receptionist takes all the calls.
   • (However, the Receptionist is quite new, and she has not been given any training on how to respond to customer enquiries. She does not have any guidelines on how to give estimates/ quotes on computer repairs. As the volume of calls is quite high, she gets quite frazzled and often gives the customers incorrect information. She wishes there was a communication checklist or manual that she could follow.
2. Customers bring their lap-top/ device to the store. The Receptionist asks one of the computer technicians to discuss the problem with the customer. If the customer is happy with the solution offered by the technician and the estimated cost for repairs, they leave the device with the technician. The computer technician carries the device to an inside office for repairs.
   • The technicians are often so busy that they just leave the devices piled on top of each other without completing the required logbook that records the details of the customer and their devices.
3. The technicians who work remotely come to the store twice a week to pick up and drop/off the devices for repairs.
   • They just randomly choose any devices that they see in front of them. There is no proper system of allocating work tasks and communicating with the remote technicians.
4. Once the repair is complete, the technician verbally tells the Receptionist to contact the customer to advise them to collect their device. The Receptionist contacts the customer who comes to the store to make the payment and pick up the device.
   • Sometimes the Receptionist forgets what she has been told verbally. This results in miscommunication with customers. It also results in conflicts between the Receptionist and the technicians who blame each other for the miscommunication.

The workflow sounds simple enough. However, there are many issues that the staff and customers are experiencing.

• CUSTOMER ISSUES
  • A number of customers are complaining about the lengthy delays in service.
  • A few customers have complained about their devices getting mixed up with other customer devices. This has resulted in incorrect billing, confusion over the orders, privacy concerns and general anger amongst customers about the poor management practices.
  • Three customers have recently complained about two staff members, Mina and Anna. They have reported that Mina spoke very abruptly to them when they asked her to help with an issue over the phone. They also said that Anna was very rude and dismissive of their request to recheck a problem they were having with a laptop she had recently fixed.
• STAFF ISSUES
  • Tee is frustrated as she thinks some of the technicians are overworked. She feels that most of the work is allocated to her as they she is more efficient and friendly with customers. They believe that Mina, Agnes and Anna are not allocated the same amount of work because Mina is new and the others pretend that they are already busy with pending work.
  • Also, Tee and Mina are constantly in conflict with one another. Sometimes it is related to work, while at other times it is related to personality differences that seems to cause conflict. Also, Tee sometimes jokes about other cultures and Mina and Hamid do not feel comfortable with such jokes.

• MANAGEMENT ISSUES
  • There are no documented policies and handbooks that can guide staff regarding communication protocols
  • Bill wants to increase the revenue and net profits of the business by 10% each year for the next three years. Given the increasing number of complaints from customers, this target is looking difficult.

The owner Bill is getting quite angry at the number of complaints he has received from customers recently. He is also getting frustrated with the lack of effective communication amongst the team members. He has asked you to help with setting up a streamlined communication system at the workplace.

Complete the tasks below:

PART A: ESTABLISH COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS AT ZEN COMPUTER REPAIRS (ZCS)

1. Complete the table below to analyse and develop new internal and external communication protocols at ZCS

	List 6 work activities that require internal or external communication between staff at Zen Computer Repairs	Identify the communication requirements for each activity	Allocate communication role for self and others to complete this activity (include the names of the staff members)	Explain the reason for allocating the role to the selected staff member	Develop and explain the new communication protocols that will be used to meet organisational requirements and goals
1
2
3
4
5
6

1. One of the first issues the owner wants you to fix is inefficient system of receiving customer devices at the front desk and assigning them to the relevant staff member. He wants you to review and fix the process and communication methods from the point the customer calls the store/ or walks into the store to drop off their faulty device for repairs till the time he/she picks up their repaired device.

Write your notes below to develop efficient communication strategies for each step in the process:

	CUSTOMER SERVICE PROCESS	Identify the communication requirements for each activity What should be done to provide excellent customer service?	What are the supporting documents that need to be developed to help with the communication
1	Customer calls the Receptionist to make an initial enquiry.
2	Customer walks into the store with a faulty device
3	Customer leaves the device with the technician
4	Manager allocates the work to the different technicians
5	Technician completes the repairs
6	Customer comes to the store to pick up their repaired device
7	Follow-up with the customer