Problems that Sarah Faced in Her New Role as Help Desk Manager - Assignment Example

CASE STUDY 1. Identify and analyze the problems that Sarah faced in her new role as Help Desk Manager. Are these technical or management problems? Give reasons for your answer. The problems she faced in her new role as a new desk manager were mostly management problems. She was to handle six support staff- each one had his own problems. Firstly, she had Mick who himself wanted to be the manager. Ron, on the other hand, was always on sick leave. Susan showed no willingness to work. Sam, who was older than others was a sort of independent person and designed his own job. Tim and Jean, though knowledgeable and overworked computer wiz kids, were little immature and could not manage the desk and handle the queries all by themselves. The support was constantly being complained about by the other departments. Her boss was himself very confused and just wanted an easy time from his peers numerous vocal complaints. The problem was not because the support was brilliant enough. There were several management problems which could be attributed to the lack of motivation. Attitude problems - According to Fernandez, "The reasons for a person having an attitude problem are so deep-rooted and complex that you don't want to solve any problem that you encounter." Communication problems - It seems that there was no communication amongst the team members. Because of this, there was no proper division of responsibilities amongst the members. There were no clear cut guidelines to follow, no plans to implement, no monitoring etc. Motivation problems - None of the members including Sarah herself had motivation to perform their duties. Sarah initially thought, that as she was not interested in the job given to her and as she was forcefully transferred to this profile, it is management’s problem that she has been provided the work in which she is least interested and she was not willing to work as per her true potential. Lack of coordination - There was complete lack of coordination amongst them. Looking at the team could have been a great team and yielded excellent results had there been coordination amongst them. Not only there were members with enough experience, but also there was young blood. Hence, there was clear lack of coordination. Lack of true leadership and direction - All six members were not tied by a single string of leadership. There was no unanimous leader who could control the remaining members, motivate them, direct them, monitor them, evaluate them and appraise them. Because of this, the potential of the team was not getting utilized properly. Irresponsible and undisciplined behavior - Because of lack of discipline, the desk looked a complete mess. People didn’t assumed their responsibilities, were regularly absent. There was no accountability towards anybody neither seniors nor boss. Also there was guidance from seniors towards juniors. 2. Before moving to the help desk, Sarah interviewed users to find out what they thought of the service being provided, both good and bad. Discuss why this was an effective action to take and how Sarah could use this information. Before moving to help desk, Sarah interviewed the users to know the perception about the desk and its members. She did not told them that she is going to join the desk, as this would have prevented users to provide proper information to Sarah. Because of this only she was able to understand what really problems are what the perception about service being provided by the desk members in the minds of the users is. Now this information along with her own observation made her able to take steps towards success. She herself noticed various problems in the group. There were fears of her being not accepted and liked, there were problems of lack of coordination, indiscipline, irresponsible behavior, lack of accountability, lack of motivation etc. This information in advance helped her prepare against the difficulties. She understood that lack of communication and coordination are the main culprits. So she focused on success. She realized that there must be more success than failure in support or it would have been reorganized out of existence by now. As she supported her members, members themselves got motivated to prove a point. Effect on morale and productivity was nothing short of dramatic. When Ron came back from illness, he was handed the most important work of improving department newsletter, the medium which Sarah needed. Also Sarah found that main complaint of the users was the reliability of the response to their queries. There were fears in the mind of users regarding whether query would be answered, when will it be answered, how will it be answered. Sarah when investigated found that 80% of the queries were handled by the already overworked Tim and Jean. She then after decided to divide the work so as to smoothen the process of resolving of queries. She roped in Mick and gave him the job that of watching that every incoming query is responded to within an hour. If the incoming query has not been answered for over more than one hour, he should ask the technician why it has not been done till now. This solved this very big problem of inadequate and improper response queries posted by users. This initiative from Sarah was very effective. She took the pains to change her style of working compared to previous boss. She investigated about how the desk works, what are the criticisms of desk and desk members. These efforts on the part of Sarah made her understand the problems and well equipped her to overcome those problems. She not only knew the internal problems, she also knew external perceptions and problems faced as well as demand. Because of these efforts she was able to completely bring a turnaround in the fate of desk and its functioning. Not only turnover increased of the department but also the image of the members changed to a better one. 3. Discuss the various strategies Sarah used to motivate and improve the help desk team of agents. Describe three important challenges and actions that she should take in future to make sure that team continues to work well and the Help Desk functions effectively. Sarah used various strategies to motivate the employees. These resulted in better and improved performance by the employees. She, herself was not happy for she was given the job in which she was not very much interested. So she was not willing to work properly. But then after she decided to give her best efforts for the improvement of the desk performance. She found out the various problems faced by the desk. She knew about each member of the desk and problem faced by each one of them. She quickly understood that if she wants to move successfully ahead she has to inculcate the habit of coordination amongst the members. She realized that if she adopted the autocratic kind of leader’s path, she will not only be disliked by the rest of the members, but also will not be able to steer the desk from failure toward success. She at first, enquired about individual problems of members. Then after she talked to each one of them. First of all she talked to Mick. She told her that without his support she will never be able to bring success to the desk. She also recognized and accepted that he was anticipating himself to be the leader, but was not made and Sarah was chosen instead of him. So Sarah asked Mick to prepare a list of he would have done, had he been the head of the desk. This step mitigated the cold war between the two. Then after, she also convinced Ron that he was an important part of the team and his role was influential in team’s success. She then talked to Susan and was successful to get her sincere criticisms. In this way, she was successful to get the team on her side. She was able avoid direct confrontation with the desk members. Also, because of these steps she was able to get dissolved into the group and hence was accepted by the group. After this, she took the brighter picture of the desk and members to the boss. This made her look optimistic about the prospects of the member’s efforts and teams future. Boss was also influenced by this positivity. This was then reflected back by desk members in the form of improved performance, as they were also believed by their organization. Challenges and Actions required- Conflict amongst members: It was one of the most important challenges before her as there were different kinds of people in her group. She became leader instead of Mick, Sam did not wanted to be directed, and Susan was not willing to work. To avoid these conflicts, Sarah should help maintain each member’s identity. Motivation: Members were not motivated enough to leave all their problems and work for the proper functioning of the desk. Besides, there was problem with every individual. To motivate them she should show continuous trust in them. Irresponsible behavior: Members need to be accountable to the organization. To achieve this objective, make them believe that group belonged to each one of them and success depended on each member. 4. Describe the term metrics, why they are useful to managers as well as their limitations. Discuss the metrics that Sarah used to analyze Help desk operations. Describe other metrics that could be relevant also. Definition- Metrics means a standard of measurement. It is used to measure something. It is useful for managers to measure some quantifiable variable. The term may also refer to the methods and the procedures of quantitative and periodical measurement and evaluation of a process or a function. Uses for managers- These are used in the determination of the company or the level of activity of any particular entity, usually a company. Metrics are at heart of good, consumer-focused management system and at any program directed at continuous development. Any quantifiable thing, for example, Return on Equity or per capita productivity provides a look into the state of the organization. Managers use metrics such as these to evaluate year on year performance. Now these metrics could be broken down into its constituents to get a sharper look. Metrics are very useful not only because they can be used to know the soundness of the organization but also compare it with other firms as well as itself. In other words, these are very important tools to analyze along the time as well as cross-sectional. These are also very reliable as numbers are the true picture of the efforts of the entity. Using these, managers can arrive at various important decisions. Limitations for managers- Metrics although very useful, suffer from limitations. This is because. Metrics could not show entire picture. There may be hidden information behind it. In other words, only quantitative analysis may not be sufficient every time. Qualitative judgment may also be required Metrics used by Sarah- Sarah understood the weaknesses, external perceptions, demands as well as strengths of the desk. She promoted a new and brighter picture of the desk as well as members which was never seen before. When Sarah put before the remaining staff, this new image, everybody was on her side. This changed the motivation levels of the members. Those members started performing well and brought about a change in the way desk performed. They were able to change the perceptions towards them. The metric used by Sarah was Performance metric which measures firm’s activities and performances. Other relevant metrics- 1. Business metrics- A business metric is any type of measurement used to gauge some quantifiable component of a company’s performance, such as return on investment, employee and customer churn rates, revenues, EBITDA and so on. Business metric comprises a wide variety of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. Systematic approaches, such as balanced card approach, could be employed to transform organization’s functioning. References: 1. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/metric 2. http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Do-a-Proper-Metrics-Process-Analysis&id=1619674 3. http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/business-metric Read More