BSBINN601: Case Study Assessment Task 2
Case Study
As part of this assessment you are required to access the simulated business of ‘Bayside Call Centre’ and your role will be that of the Human Resources Manager.
For the purpose of this Case Study your Trainer will act as the CEO of ‘Bayside Call Centre.’ You can access the CEO to clarify any of the tasks or information provided to complete the Case Study.
The Board of Directors have been reviewing the current profit and loss statements of the business and have identified a decrease in profit. They have asked a staff member to develop a Strategic Plan for Bayside Call Centre, and this includes a decision that will change the business direction and capabilities regarding the services provided.
Due to the large amount of competition in the inbound call centre market, ‘Bayside Call Centre’ has not been able to gain a new client to increase revenue and grow the business as expected. The productivity of the Call Centre Representatives is low. They are often left waiting for calls to attend to.
The CEO and Board of Directors have announced that they have completed research and identified that the business will struggle to grow without making some changes to the services they provide. The Business Development manager has secured a client needing an outbound call centre which will change the current organisational requirements. This includes the technical and equipment requirements, the staff performance requirements, and general structure and operations of the business.
The Strategic Plan has been approved by the Board of Directors and indicates that Bayside Call Centre will now introduce the outbound call service.
The Business Development Manager has negotiated the new service agreement to commence in four weeks’ time. The details of the new service agreement are given below:
- This client requires 15 full time staff members per day to conduct outbound calls to promote and sell their product.
- Instead of allocating 15 permanent staff members to attend to this service contract the current staffing structure will be revised to include job rotation.
- This will mean that call centre representatives will no longer be allocated to one service contract and will be allocated to the different call centre teams.
- This will support the sharing of information and combat the issues of teams not being adequately staffed when people are away/ call in sick.
- A roster will be made and that will assign which project staff will be allocated to each day.
Management meetings and communications relating to the introduction of an outbound call centre have identified some areas of risk within the proposed changes. The initial staff feedback has indicated a resistance to having to make ‘outbound cold calls’. The CEO has indicated that they want to ensure the change does not reduce job satisfaction and cause staff turnover. It has been agreed that the change process to include an outbound call centre will have to be managed carefully to ensure a smooth introduction.
The decision for the changes to be made to the business was supported by the Finance Manager.
- They crunched all the numbers, and it is predicted that the inclusion of the outbound call services will increase the annual turnover from $1.2 million dollars per year to $1.8 Million.
- These figures have been based upon the higher costs that Bayside Call Centre can charge clients for outbound call services.
- Introducing job rotation is expected to increase productivity of the call centre as staff can be allocated to the differing service contracts as required and reduce the burden of staff leave or increased activity for a particular client.
- The Finance Manager expects that job rotation will save the company $25,000 in lost productivity each year.
The Board of Directors has committed a budget of $20,000 for the implementation of the organisational change. As the Human Resources Manager, you have been given full control over this budget to support the implementation of the operational changes. You should be aware of the following financial considerations:
- Each Call Centre Representative and the Call Centre Manager will require a police check to be able to conduct outbound calls. Police Checks cost $134 per person. Currently only 2 Call Centre Representatives hold a current Police Check.
- Training for each Call Centre Representative will involve 2 hours away from their work tasks. The loss in income, therefore the ‘cost’ of the training is averaged out $200 per Call Centre Representative.
You can access all required information to assist in completing the Case Study Tasks in the ‘Bayside Call Centre’ Organisational Portfolio. Relevant documents may include:
- Business Overview
- Position Descriptions
- Relevant Policies and Procedures
Part A
Now that you have been briefed on the organisational changes to be made, you have been requested to prepare a report with the purpose to promote the proposed changes to all members of the Senior Management Team.
The report is to:
- Outline the reasons for organisational change. Include strategic change needs, new vision and external factors.
- Communicate the expected benefits to ‘Bayside Call Centre’
- Review and explain the expected costs of implementation. Indicate if the costs are within the set budget and explain overall cost benefits
- Identify which existing policies and procedures/ documents relevant to the change need to be reviewed and updated
- Undertake cost-benefit analysis
- Identify the proposed changes. Include major operational changes, performance requirements and business opportunities.
- Identify risks associated with the change
- Review and prioritise change requirements or opportunities with relevant managers
Part B
In your simulated role of Human Resources Manager, you have also been requested to ensure you have a plan to manage the change process. The CEO has requested a ‘Change Management Project Plan’ to be developed that can be presented at the next Board meeting. This plan must gain approval from the Board prior to implementation:
The ‘Change Management Project Plan’ must include:
- Project timeline and timetable
- Identification of barriers to change and proposed mitigation strategies
- Resources required – human and material
- Management requirements
- Consultation, reporting and monitoring requirements
- Action interventions and activities
- Evaluation measures
As this ‘Change Management Project Plan’ is to be presented to the Board of Directors you are required to gain approval and confirm the change management process with the CEO. Your trainer will act as the CEO for this simulated environment and you are required to organise a time to meet with the CEO and discuss your Change Management Project Plan. The trainer (CEO) will use a checklist provided below to evaluate & discuss your Change Management Project Plan and its process and confirm if your plan has been approved for presentation to the Board of Directors.
The Change Management Project Plan has been approved by the CEO and the Board of directors. You are now required to undertake the Practical Demonstration (Task 3)
Part C
Your Change Management Project Plan has been approved by the CEO and Board of directors (Part B). You have also facilitated a meeting with a small group of Bayside Call Centre staff members to discuss the upcoming organisational changes (Task 3). As the Human Resources Manager, you will now implement the Change management action plan for Bayside Call Centre. Your implementation will include the following;
- Project timeline and timetable
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Performance indicators
- Reporting and monitoring
- Evaluation measures
- Review and opportunities for improvement
You can use the Implementation Plan template provided below to document your answer.
Part D
You are now to assume the changes have been implemented and the call centre has introduced the outbound calls service. Implementations of the business changes have been underway and the Change Management Project is now ¾ completed.
You have undertaken consultation with all staff and managers to review the commitment and progress to the Change Management Project Plan. It has been identified:
- 7 Call Centre Representatives have resigned due to not wanting to conduct outbound calls. This will mean that the Call Centre will be understaffed once the new client project commences in one week
- Many Call Centre Representatives feel ill- prepared and not adequately trained to conduct outbound calls. They have not participated in any training regarding the features and benefits of the new client’s products
- The IT Manager has realised that the computer and telephone system requires an upgrade to increase the number of outbound calls that are conducted concurrently by different Call Centre Representatives. The upgrade will cost $5000.
- The new client has indicated their satisfaction with the service and the increase in the cold call sales. This identifies the service is working.
The Board of Directors would like to know if the expected outcomes are on the way to being achieved. Write a Report and describe the issues, you will raise in your communications with the Board of Directors. You might include:
- Critical evaluation of how the change process is being managed
- Feedback from evaluation and review
- Unexpected outcomes
- Any project modifications
- The progress of strategies to implement the change