John Mkize is a call centre teamleader at CellSolutions, a cellphone company with approximately

$28\%$ market share in South Africa. Since early this morning, call volumes into the call centre has

gone through the roof. They are receiving more than double the number of calls per hour that they

usually receive on a Tuesday. Because of that more clients have to hold on for long periods of time

before they get through to a call centre agent. Other clients abandon their calls after they have

been holding on for too long. Those who eventually get through to an agent are very angry and

then often demand to talk to a manager.

John has determined from one of his agents, Cindy Johnson, that many of the callers say that

they are calling because they have received an e$-$mail from CellSolutions informing them that

they are behind on their payments and that their service will be discontinued within $24$ hours.

Investigations consistently confirmed that callers were not behind with their payments. Nobody

could yet determine where that specific e$-$mail originated from, or how it got sent to all clients.

Question $2.$ Basic communication principles

$2\mathrm{.}1$ From the case study above, it is clear that communication has failed somewhere. Why

else would clients be irate and concerned? It is also clear that the call centre operators are

having a bad day at the office.

$2\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}1$ State three reasons for clients$$ irritation with CellSolutions. $(3)$

$2\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}2$ Draw Jacobson$$s model of communication as relevant to this case study. Draw it

from the perspective of the call centre operator, Cindy Johnson, speaking to a client.

Apply all the elements of the case study. $(10)$

$2\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}3$ Identify the category of communication that Cindy Johnson uses as a call centre

agent. $(2)$

$2\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}4$ Briefly explain what is meant by the category identified in QUESTION $2\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}3.(3)$

$2\mathrm{.}2$ This case study refers to complex communication between CellSolutions and clients. Consider

the following questions related to factors which could influence this communication.

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}1$ Name four factors that could influence this communication. $(4)$

$2\mathrm{.}2\mathrm{.}2$ Explain how two of these factors could potentially affect the communication

between a call centre agent and an irate client. $(2$ x $2)(4)$

$2\mathrm{.}3$ Phatic communication is important in the context of a call centre where call centre

operators have to deal with both friendly and unfriendly clients and build these

relationships.

$2\mathrm{.}3\mathrm{.}1$ Explain what is meant by phatic communication. $(2)$