For large cellular service providers, maintaining their own customer service call center can be very expensive. Many have found they can save money by outsourcing their customer service calls to outside companies. TELECOMPROS is one such company.  It specializes in cell phone customer service, saving large cellular companies money by eliminating overhead costs associated with building a call center, installing additional telephone lines, and so on. Once TELECOMPROS is hired by large cellular service providers, TELECOMPROS employees are trained on the cellular service providers' systems, policies, and procedures. TELECOMPROS derives its income from charging a per-hour fee for each employee.

Six months ago, TELECOMPROS acquired a contract with Cell2U, a large cellular service provider serving the western United States. At the beginning of the contract, Cell2U was very pleased. As a call center, TELECOMPROS has a computer system in place that monitors the number of calls the center receives and how quickly the calls are answered. When Cell2U received its first report, the system showed that TELECOMPROS was a very productive call center and handled the call volume very well. A month later, however, Cell2U launched a nationwide marketing campaign. Suddenly, the call volume increased and TELECOMPROS customer service reps were unable to keep up. The phone-monitoring system showed that some customers were on hold for 45 minutes or longer, and at any given time throughout the day there were as many as 50 customers on hold. It was clear to Cell2U that the original number of customer service reps they had contracted for was not enough. They renegotiated with upper management at TELECOMPROS and hired additional customer service reps.

TELECOMPROS managers were pleased because they were now receiving more money from Cell2U for the extra employees, and Cell2U was happy because the call center volume was no longer overwhelming and its customers were happy with the attentive customer service.

Three months later, though, TELECOMPROS customer service supervisors noticed a decrease in the number of customer service calls. It seemed that the reps had done such a good job that Cell2U customers had fewer problems. There were too many people and not enough calls; with little to do, some reps were playing computer games or surfing the Internet while waiting for calls to come in.

Knowing that if Cell2U analyzed its customer service needs it would want to decrease the number of reps to save money, TELECOMPROS upper management made a decision. Rather than decrease its staff and lose the hourly pay from Cell2U, upper management told customer service supervisors to call the customer service line. Supervisors called in and spent enough time on the phone with reps to ensure that the computer registered the call and the time it took to "resolve" the call. They would then hang up and call the call center again. Thus, TELECOMPROS did not have to decrease its customer service reps, and Cell2U continued to pay for the allotted reps until the end of the contract.

Questions to answer:

1. Was the decision made by TELECOMPROS an ethical one? Why or why not?
2. Which of the Nonrational Models of Decision Making did managers at TELECOMPROS follow? Explain.
3. Which of the hindrances to rational decision-making listed in the textbook explain the decisions made by TELECOMPROS managers? Explain.
4. What is your recommended solution? Explain why you selected this alternative

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Ethical Evaluation The decision made by TELECOMPROS to artificially inflate call volume by having supervisors make unnecessary calls to keep excess ... View the full answer