There are many possible reasons for the notable increase in the number of calls at the call center. The first reason could be due to laxity in customer service. The health care providers could be offering unsatisfactory service to patients leading to an increase in clients’ complaints.
An increase in complaints can increase the number of calls to the call center. The call center attendants could also be giving unsatisfactory responses to clients’ calls thus leading to repeated calls. The number of calls to the call center is bound to increase if the same clients make repeated calls over unresolved or unsatisfactorily resolved issues. The second possible reason is the increase in the number of clients in the health care organization.
Poor customer service to patients such as slow movement of long service queues and unnecessary referrals can also increase the number of calls. In view of the above possible causes of the increase in the number of calls at the call center, the following management plan is proposed as a solution.
Review of the call center’s mission and goal objectives
The doubling of the number of calls at the call center is indicative of deterioration of customer service due to the above reasons. Therefore, as the call center manager, the first thing I will do is review of the vision and mission of the organization. This entails a review of the organization’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (Jasper & Crossan, 2012).
This include the expected number of calls each call center attendant should receive per day, the number of issues he is expected to resolve per day, the time taken to resolve each issue, and the effectiveness of the response given to the caller (Sharp, 2003). A review of the long-term vision of the organization is also essential in determining what might have happened along the way.
Review of Human Resource Objectives and Strategies
Human resource objectives are performance benchmarks and expectations from organizational members. A review of objectives and human resource strategies is essential in establishing the performance management system in place, motivational strategies employed in the organization, and human capital planning (Jasper& Crossan, 2012).
In this case, as the call center manager, I will review the above strategic management elements and assess them against the current performance of the call center. I will also encourage cooperation between the call center and the overall health care organization to establish the cause of crisis (Rosenberger & Kaiser, 1985). The findings of the review are essential in the decision-making process, in strategic planning.
Assessment of current human resources.
Human resources are people working in the organization. Assessment will entail establishing the number of call center attendants and their effectiveness against customer service expectations. The findings of this assessment will be factored in strategic planning process.
Forecasting human resource needs
Human resource forecasting is the estimation of future human resource requirements of an organization and their quality. The various methods of forecasting include trend analysis, workload analysis, and human resource budget and planning analysis among others (Lisa & Welker, 2011).
This will help establish the management strategies for solving the crisis in question. In this case, the human resource department has no provision for employing new call center attendants. However, there is an allocation of $ 20000 for customer service improvement. The findings of human resource forecasting will be compared with the current human resources in order to establish the most effective strategy to implement.
Strategic planning and implementation
From the available information, the organization has no provision for current employment. However, there is $ 20000 available for improving customer service. Depending on the research findings, the strategic plan will entail improving staff motivation, building effective teamwork at the call center, staff training, and implementation of a performance review system (Davis, 2011).
Staff training will entail professional coaching and mentorship on organizational vision and objectives. An external trainer will be invited once in a month, for a period of seven months, to carry out staff training. Each training session will be allocated $ 1000. Rosenberger and Kaiser (1985) argue that training employees on organizational objectives and job requirements improves their productivity. Motivation of employees will be undertaken by providing incentives that boost their productivity.
This Will include monetary and non-monetary rewarding and recognition of employees’ efforts (Davis, 2011). $ 2000 will be used to motivate employees. The implementation will be spread across a span of six months. Teamwork will be fostered through open door policy and effective communication(Davis, 2011). Effective communication will be implemented by carrying interpersonal interviews with all organizational members. This will develop a positive relationship and friendships among them.
According to Davis(2011), positive relationship and friendships among employees promote compassion and teamwork. Teamwork in return enhances high performance of workers. Teamwork will also be fostered by liaising with clinicians, nurses, and doctors in the organization to find the best way of offering high quality service to patients. Jasper and Crossan (2012) underscore that team work can be enhanced through team building sessions.
Therefore, I will allocate $ 6000 for team building events. This will be carried out once after every three months. There will be three sessions each costing $ 2000. Professional coaches will be invited during such events to offer team building training.
Teams are essential in health care management in enhancement of effective service delivery. Teamwork has been employed successfully in production, military, and aviation industries. In the military, unity of purpose and discipline are fundamental requirements in devising a winning strategy.
This can only be achieved through teamwork. Production in the aviation industry entails bringing together many professionals to work on one project. Teamwork allows effective management of the project scope. The completion of the manufacture of Airbus A380 by EADS Company in 2005 shows the effectiveness of teamwork in production. The project started in 1994 and not until January 2005 was the first plane completed.
The plane was manufactured in France with a work force of 6000 people. Production was done at 16 different assembly sites in Europe, Asia, and the United States of America (Pinto, 2010). The project brought together electrical, material, mechanical, aviation, and structural engineers from diverse backgrounds. The project would never have succeeded without teamwork.
The remaining $ 5000 will be used for implementing a performance review system. An automated queue management system is proposed. The system will track all calls handled by each call center attendants, the duration of time taken in resolving call issues, and customer feedback. This will enhance tracking and assessment of productivity of employees.
References
Davis, A. (2011). Leadership in the 21st Century. UNE Partnership Pty Limited, 1-170.
Jasper, M., & Crossan, F. (2012). What is strategic management? Journal of Nursing Management, vol 20, 838-846.
Pinto, J. (2010). Project Management:Achieving Competitive Advantage.2nd edition. New York : Prentice Hall.
Rosenberger, H.R., & Kaiser, K.M. (1985). Strategic Plannnig for Health Care Management Information Systems. Health Care Mangement Review ,7-17.
Sharp, D. (2003). Chapter 3: Organizing and Managing the Call Center. In D. Sharp, Call Center Operations:Design, Operation, and Maintenance ( 61-135). New York: Digital Press.
Welker, J., & Lisa, B. (2011). Bright-aid pharmacy: human resource forecasting and staff budgeting. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, vol 17(3), 65.