Addressing Challenges of Groups and Teams James King, Allison Compton, Jeremy Severson, and Ann Williams LDR 531 March 8, 2011 Dr. Molly Smith
Addressing Challenges of Groups and Teams Competition and technology changes in the telecommunications industry has resulted in declining profits for Desert Communications Incorporated (DCI). The competitive business climate in the telecommunications industry requires DCI to initiate proactive strategies to drive profits. The conventional view of the customer contact center is as a cost center for supporting customer relations (Kaiser, 2011). Learning Team B will demonstrate
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Because there must be different levels of training for new and existing employees at DCI tailoring training sessions to capture every employee at DCI is essential (“Developing effective instruction…,” 2008). The proposed training topics include; (a) sales training, (b) customer support training, (c) service inquiry training, and (d) billing question training. Presentation and delivery of each topic in differing training platforms to warrant employee development and understanding is vital to success in implementation. With the addition of added services to DCI’s portfolio, it is imperative to add a sales department to assist the service and support department to maximize profits. Training and development implementation for the new sales division for every employee, regardless of the employees department must take place (Mayhew, 2012). This will ensure that every employee can assist customers who wish to purchase DCI’s products. Furthermore, it is necessary for current employees to complete monthly online scenario training and comprehensive training classes. Additionally, each of the new sales department teams will have a sales mentor available to provide guidance and feedback on an ongoing basis. Prior to completing extensive training and development, it is critical to develop teams so throughout the
The employee especially concerns management because in customer service, the success of the products depends on the delivery. Thus, service organizations rely on their employees to create memorable experiences that develop a loyal customer base and ultimately carry out the organization’s strategic initiatives (Longstreet, Sturman, & Walsh, p.4, 2010). The group that will be receiving training for the training needs analysis will be the front of house staff. This staff includes: hosts, servers, bartenders and takeaway. This staff is considered the “front lines” and is directly in contact with customers on a daily basis.
During the training, the new employees will learn a wide array skills and tips to create the loyalty and expectations our organization has. This will be done by learning interpersonal skills, adaptability, communication skills and professionalism. These skills will help them when they are interacting on the phone or in-person with customers. Not only does the training allows our employees to provide better service, it also allows them the opportunity to learn and grow at the same time. When the employees attend training, they
Contrary to the situation at E-Z RP, there is no linkage of customer service representatives to development teams. For instance, CRSs are often the last to gain access about new information or new products. In terms of the organization of customer service, E-Z RP uses a specialized call center where customer service representatives deal with a single product. At Datatronics, the call center is centralized and CRSs deal with all products. E-Z RP uses the second tier support while Datatronics uses a minimal second-tier support. In terms of the training of CSRs, Datatronics only provides minimal on-the-job training while E-Z RP provides extensive training. Datatronics hires employees with basic customer service ability while E-Z RP recruits employees based on customer service skills, business knowledge, and communication ability. The performance metric at E-Z RP is the level of customer satisfaction, while the metric at Datatronics is the time on call or between calls. Although Matt does not intend to reproduce E-Z RP’s customer service system at Datatronics, these are the key issues that he ought to consider in making recommendations for changes at Datatronics.
The support in developing members is through regular performance feedbacks, career development sessions and goal settings. Additional development in capabilities and skills opportunities are also offered through online modules, instructor-led training and on the job training. Throughout the year of 2013, approximately 38,228 online enrolments resulted in 18,265 online training hours also 9810 team members took part in 8734 hours of instructor-led development training.
The team would also learn a new skill of setting and working towards target setting and measuring outcomes.
Trainers need to self asses their guidance and support to the team and its structure throughout the learning and amend accordingly as stated earlier.
Coming into this class I was a bit wary about how this class would run and what we would learn, especially once I found it was to be team led. In the past twelve weeks I have gained more insight on myself and how I react to situations in group settings, especially being in a class that is described as management and not psychology. Within this essay, I will look do describe my experiences and thoughts with my team as well as how we progressed. I will also look to describe how my class has progressed from the early stages and has transformed into a well-oiled high performing team. One of the tools I will use to show and describe the development of both my team and the class will be Wheelan’s four stages of development.
I need to continue to hone in on members of my team and help them grow individually while taking the time to understand what they need in order to do so. Identification of strengths and weaknesses among all team members will not only help determine how I can help coach and mentor them but also how I delegate work. In order to have my team function at the highest level, I need to understand what each team member has to contribute and play my hand accordingly in order to achieve the best outcome. Knowing that I have put the best team in place and that we are functioning at our highest level, I have achieved success and the metrics, if attainable, will reflect
The objective of this training is to impart knowledge, references, and key concepts to new corporate trainers that will increase their effectiveness in a Training & Development (T&D) department. This will be accomplished by answering five key questions:
Employees within the organization are responsible for holding one another accountable for their actions. This training plan would be successful because every unique challenge has been addressed. Teamwork would allow employees to apply measures of the training to the organization, by considering all aspects, not just the delivery. This training plan provides strategies and implementations relative to an organizations developmental process. Applying the training plan strategies should have been WorldCom 's number one priority. Likewise, organizations must apply the strategies to ensure that the training plans will be sufficient enough for others to apply to their teams (Emprend, Inc, 2010). The application should be reflective of positive teamwork, thorough training plan knowledge, correct grammar use, and organizational skills. WorldCom could have succeeded with the use of this training plan because it would have better equip employees to run their business.
Tuckman’s (1965) Team Development Model; Forming is the first step and includes the process of;
According to Cummings and Worley (1997) there is a five-phase process for managing change, including: motivating change, creating vision, developing political support, managing the transition, and sustaining momentum. Motivating change involves creating a work environment that embraces change and developing approaches to overcome any resistance to change. The general guidelines include: enlightening members of the organization about the need for change, expressing the current status of the organization and where it should be in the future, and developing realistic approaches to change.
Several team development models and theories have been published, particularly over the last few decades. One of the most widely known and referred to models is the Tuckman and Jensen five-stage team development model (Miller, 2003). Tuckman, an educational psychologist and researcher born in 1938, first introduced his four stages of team development in 1965: forming, storming, norming and performing and along with Jensen in 1977, later modified it into a five-stage version through the addition of adjourning. Tuckman proposed that a team’s interactions, functions and efficacy altered between stages and that in order for team to be effective, it needs to go through the first three stages: forming, storming and norming. Since then, numerous other
the external customer and the employee. In today’s economy organizations like Walgreens are encouraging employees to devote more time assisting customers with prolonged disorders. Cable companies like Verizon and Comcast are giving their employees more professional development opportunities to ensure that the agents are thriving in customer service and satisfaction. Financial companies like American Express are intensifying agendas targeted to getting employees to create improved affiliations and interactions with all customers.”(Mattioli). This tells me that more companies are starting to realize that proper training is crucial to the success of their business.
A theory of team working that details the stages of team development that are typical to any type of team