dont answer the questions on the case itself the questions are seperate.

7 Lax Case study 3 Topinhar Call Centre By Michele Fromholtz Some 195 call officers work at the Topinhar Insur about once every two months. In some cases, long- ance Co. call centre in Bangkok. Most of them term employees have presented special cases to get answer the phone constantly, responding to inquiries permission to work in just one shift period. For about new accounts, insurance claims, overdue pay example, some women prefer always to work the ments and other matters that arise with customers. night shift so they can look after their children The work is unceasing, and while the call officers co during the day. Their husbands or other members of not individually carry huge responsibility for each the family can look after the children well enough task they are required to have extensive knowledge of when they are asleep. The shifts are regular enough, the organisation, its insurance products, billing with a little juggling for employees on leave. Occa- systems and avenues for correcting problems. It is a sionally, such as when a new marketing campaign is job that also requires diplomacy and patience as cus launched, extra work is available for those who wish tomers are often annoved or angry when they call to work overtime to meet consumer demand. Many of those inquiring about new policies need to any of these call others wishes to move to be guided through some basic points before they can another shilt, they need to get approval from one or x 0 Some 195 call officers work at the Topinhar Insur- about once every two months. In some cases, long ance Co. call centre in Bangkok. Most of them term employees have presented special cases to get answer the phone constantly, responding to inquiries permission to work in just one shift period. For about new accounts, insurance claims, overdue pay- example, some women prefer always to work the ments and other matters that arise with customers. night shift so they can look after their children The work is unceasing, and while the call officers do during the day. Their husbands or other members of not individually carry huge responsibility for each the family can look after the children well enough task they are required to have extensive knowledge of when they are asleep. The shifts are regular enough the organisation, its insurance products, billing with a little juggling for employees on leave. Occa- systems and avenues for correcting problems. It is a sionally, such as when a new marketing campaign is job that also requires diplomacy and patience as cus launched, extra work is available for those who wish tomers are often annoyed or angry when they call to work overtime to meet consumer demand. Many of those inquiring about new policies need to If any of these call officers wishes to move to be guided through some basic points before they can another shift, they need to get approval from one of access useful information the nine supervisors who manage the workers. The The call centre is open 24 hours a day since people supervisor would usually approve arrangements by with urgent travel insurance problems may call from which employees plan their own swaps with each any part of the world at any time of the day. However, other (even when that means crossing between the since most customers are Thai people with other shift groups, such as day to evening). Where types of insurance, most calls occur during working emplovees have not sorted out such a swap, the hours in Thailand and most employees work during appropriate supervisor is expected to make arrange the day. Three groups of employees generally work ments, but they seldom try very hard unless there are on the day shift (8 am to 4.15 pm), the evening shift extenuating circumstances. Supervisors do not feel it (4 pm to 12.15 am), and the night shift (midnight to is their role to put pressure on employees to 8.15 am). The 15 minutes at the end of each shift is rearrange their lives. If the employees do it them- to enable smooth changeovers between call officers selves, supervisors are not put in the situation of and the sharing of any important information or cus making themselves unpopular. Because of this, the tomer details. They work with phone headsets and employees generally make their own arrangements computers in an open-plan office with cubicles. They and have them approved. share desks through the rosters so there is little In general. calls are routine but sometimes to u central-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/5cb82b70cb8/8/49901/response-content-ipon . . share desks through the rosters so there is little In general, calls are routine but sometimes, to chance to establish or control a personal space. resolve matters, call officers need to contact other Employees in each group work on a fortnightly employees in the organisation. For example, a call roster, working 10 days straight and then having four officer might need to ring the Accounts section to rostered days off. The day, evening and night shifts clarify the status of a customer's payment if the com- are allocated on a rotational basis, as the evening and puter records are not showing the latest transaction night shifts are normally not popular. Since there are indicated by the customer. On other occasions, such fewer night and evening shifts than day shifts, there as when a new product is being launched, new ques is not usually too much of a problem with this - tions emerge and the call officers have to make fur most workers are compelled to do such a shift only ther inquiries to increase their knowledge and to provide answers to customer questions. When new the call officers' calls on a random basis. The call products or major changes are introduced, the call officers were advised that this would be happening. officers are also paid overtime to attend special They were also advised to warn callers that the call training update sessions (usually only a half day in night be monitored and to ask whether this was duration). The call centre is the central interface acceptable. If the customer demurs the call officers between customers and the organisation, but behind must flag the call, which might otherwise be moni- the scenes there are other parts of the organisation tored by the supervisor on duty. The supervisor is - Accounts and Audit. Human Resources, Marlocated in a nearby office, visible to the call officers keting and Product Development. Claims and Inspec. through a glass partition, although it is not evident tions and 35 retail outlets around the country. The which call officer, if any, the supervisor is monitoring company is affiliated with a larger global company at any particular time. Since the monitoring was and many of its products are replicas of that com- introduced three months ago as a quality control and pany's offerings. corrective measure, call officers have been feeling In the previous vear, a survey of the call centre more stressed and less satisfied with their jobs, and workers conducted by the company's HR department some have left the company. Yet the number of com fund the call officers generally accepted the plaints as of varied. Although some individual call dual A X 49901 * G by michele tophinar call center - x + U-central-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/5cb82b70c5878/49901?response-content-dispositioninline%3B%20filename%2A%3DL In the previous year, a survey of the call centre more stressed and less satisfied with their jobs, and workers conducted by the company's HR department some have left the company. Yet the number of com. found that the call officers generally accepted the plaints has not varied. Although some individual call pay, working hours, supervisors, office layout and officers have been summoned to a supervisor's office facilities of their jobs without too much unhappiness. to discuss their methods and/or advised to attend Despite this, a large proportion of them felt bored training sessions to upgrade their phone techniques, because they did the same thing all day every day and most workers have been found to be performing well did not often have a real sense of the outcomes of and in accord with company requirements. their calls with customers. They also did not get Senior management believes that further moni- much chance to make friends with their co-workers toring should occur to get to the bottom of the since they were on the phone all day. problem - that is, monitoring should continue and Recently, the company has been concerned about become more frequent. an increasing number of customer complaints. These are mainly sent in written format as letters and emails to a generic company contact point. Once these com- 1. Do you think continuing and more frequent mon- plaints are received by the company, along with itoring has some chance of identifying the causes general inquiries about products, policies and other of the complaints: Explain your reason. matters, no particular section of the organisation has 2. How might certain aspects of the organisation and been allocated to deal with the matters. They tend to its practices be impeding the optimum perfor- go to the most relevant section, according to the mance of the call officers? nature of the complaint or inquiry. Many of the com 3. What changes could be introduced to overcome plainants say they only deal with a dissembodied voice some of the current problems you have identified? and/or that their problem is not resolved quickly The senior managers of the company were con Developed by Michele Fromholtz, Charles Sturt University cerned enough to institute a system of monitoring This case is tictional Help Search Layout References Mailings Review View 12 AA A A EEEEE X, * A.D.A . E 9 2017 . AaBlaaBbcede AaBbccdc Aabber 1 Normal 1 No Spac... Heading 2 Font Paragraph Styles QUESTION 1 - From the information provided in this case study, describe some of the issues (problems) faced by managers and employees in Call Centres. Explain Note: You are expected and encouraged to use any of the concept(s)\theories you learned in this course to support justify your answers 10 marks [150-400 words [Insert your answers in the space below. If need be, you can expand the space to fit your answer] / / / QUESTION 2 - In your opinion, what changes could be introduced to resolve some of the problems faced by Call Centres such as the Tropinhar Call Centre. Give justifications Note: You are expected and encouraged to use any of the concept(s)\theories you learned in this course to support'justify your answers 10 marks [150-400 words] [Insert your answers in the space below. If need be, you can expand the space to fit your answer]