5) General administrative assistant - Performs administrative duties for first level service manager, catering service director, customer service relations advisor, marketing manager. Responsibilities may include screening calls, preparing reports and financial data, training and supervising other support staff, and customer relations. Requires strong computer and Internet research skills. Must have a high school diploma and two years experience.
“Training and development are essential features of organizations…training and development is geared toward various indices such as increase and efficient employee performance and greater productivity” (Hamilton &Oparanma, 2008). At Kudler we believe in the training paradox as an organization, we believe in intense training, as our turnover costs are detrimental we want to train our employees until the point we don’t want to loose them. To achieve this goal Kudler Fine Foods “should be able to provide adequate opportunities and resources where people are able to learn through training new concepts and techniques of management” (Al-Ajlouni, Athamneh, Jaradat, 2010, p. 2).
At Kudler our greatest asset is our employee, through our intensive recruitment
programs, once the right employees is found the struggle begins to ensure we have a low turnover rate. “Training process and knowing how to cultivate a positive and innovating workplace environment and culture. Satisfied and productive employees translate into consistent positive customer service engagements” (Tassy, Simancas, Hernandez, & Lane, 2010). It is not suffice just to group our newly developed team into training seminar and expect a positive results and increased productivity, consequently we have developed a training system that is position specific. First I have requested that each employee provide us with the areas that they believe they need more work on. In addition to providing the employees with their request each team member will receive the following training:
1) First Level Service Manager- This employee receives a basic course on conflict resolution skills, management behavior, and employment laws. In addition, every six months he/she will receive refresher courses on communication skills, business writing skills, and about Kudler policies (e.g. filling out paperwork,
2) Catering service director- as this position mainly deals with customer request courses in customer service skills and communication are essential to this position. In addition as timely responses are of the essence time-management training would be beneficial.
3) Customer service relations advisor- As this position is mostly concerned with customer complaints, training in business writing and customer service would be appropriate.
4) Marketing Manager- The marketing manager would receive training in business relations, time management, and customer service skills.
5) General administrative assistant- The position would need training in the Microsoft package to include Word and Excel, in addition regular customer service seminars would be essential in maximizing performance
Training alone does not increased productivity; the organization must support the training process and provide regular and consistent feedback. Supervisors must provide immediate feedback to employees. The first service line managers should give feedback to the cashiers, the customer service relations manager would give feedback to the customer service staff and so forth.
"Providing appropriate feedback is also crucial because direct communication from the leadership plays a significant part in creating an environment where an individual's contribution is understood and appreciated." ( Ashton, p.1., 2010). There are several methods of providing feedback; supervisors and managers will be given the task of not only performing semi-annual individual appraisal but team appraisal as well.
At Kudler Fine Foods individual appraisals will be conducted using the 360-degree evaluation method. Performance will be evaluated not only by direct supervisors but also by their co-workers and randomly selected clients. “The importance of communication extends to engagement on personal performance and development. Conversations about an individual's progress more than once a year can help to make him or her feel a valued part of the team. If there is a complaint, it is best unpicked on the spot to work out why an employee feels hard done by” (Ashton, p.1., 2010).
In conjunction with individual appraisal system a group evaluation will also conducted. The main differences between group appraisal and individual appraisal is that the group evaluation is performed based on social comparison. Each employee’s input and output is determined after careful comparison with their co-workers. “ Employees seek to maintain equity between the inputs they bring to a job and the outcome they receive from it against the perceived inputs and outcome of others” (Adams, 1965). An issue that may arise from team evaluation is social loafing. The more dominant team members may overrule the introverts. There are several steps management can take to discourage social loafing. Internally one of the ways to attack social loafing is to ensure that each team member has equal opportunity to voice their opinions, any employee that shows signs of premature dismal of another’s suggestion should be reprimanded. No matter what our employee’s titles or position they hold they are all equally important the managers would not manage if it weren’t for the cashiers! Managers can also play a hand in discouraging social loafing they should stress to their employees that all input/contributions will not only be individually assessed by also a group assessment will be performed as well.
Another difficulty of evaluating team performance is that one team member receives a greater portion of credit than their peers however they are all rewarded or punished for their end results. Team motivation and expectation need to be high in order to obtain high productivity. The most effective way to boost individual performance, which in-turn will create a more productive group is to give each employee more responsibility in the decision making process. For example, the administrative assistance should not just be given a set of orders and tasks to complete in a certain way, the marketing director can provide the assistant with the basics of the proposal and allow the assistance to create the proposal this will give him/her a sense of pride and ownership.
At the heart of any organization is the compensation and benefit packages provided to their employees. If our employees begin to feel that there is an unfair system in place there will be low morale, high turnover and lower productivity. Our pay is merit based; the rewards are closely tied to the team’s performance. To have an effective incentive program our system needs to be simple, specific, attainable and measurable. Studies show that employees tend to behave and perform in the manner in which they believe they will be compensated. Employees that reach their goals will be rewarded for their efforts, they will have enough financial reasons to perform well.
Kudler Fine Foods will provide educational opportunities for those employees that show interest all seminars and education courses that will assist the in their current position or a future position will be paid in full. To preserve our work force employees must stay employed for at least two years after a degree or educational program in completed. If an employee chooses to leave prior they will be responsible for full re-payment.
At Kudler we believe in internal recruitment for new positions, as our employees are familiar with our organizational culture. Employees that are interest in promotion need to express their interest to their supervisors. Internal recruiting will follow a strict set of guidelines in which all employees will be well aware of the processes. If an employee is declined a position we will inform them as the reasons why and provide assistance in the areas that need further development.
References:
Al-Ajlouni, M., Athamneh, S., & Jaradat, A. (2010). Methods of Evaluation: Training
Techniques. (37), 56-65. Retrieved from EconLit with Full Text database.
Grant, P. (1997). Job descriptions: What's missing. Industrial Management, 39(6), 9.
Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.
Hamilton, D., & Oparanma, A. (2008). Training, Development and Employee
Performance in the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria. European Journal of Scientific Research, 19(3), 510-520. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
James Ashton. (2010, July 18). Don't let the best walk away :Companies need to offer
a little something extra to retain their top talent - and it doesn't have to be money, writes James Ashton [Scot Region]. Sunday Times,2. Retrieved July 19, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 2083098251).
Tassy, A., Simancas, P., Hernandez, K., & Lane, S.(2010). CUSTOMER SERVICE
EMPLOYEE TRAINING IN HEALTHCARE. Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Health Care Management. Proceedings, 7(1), 34-38. Retrieved July 18, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2067167261).
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