Best Process To Redesign Internally And Customer Facing Jobs - Case Study TK Ceramics

Process to Redesign Internally and Customer Facing Jobs

1.Best process to redesign the internally facing and customer-facing jobs?

2.Advantages and disadvantages of drawing at least some of the shop workers from existing staff?

3.Creating job descriptions and person descriptions for jobs in the shops that do not yet exist?

4.Finding the relevancy of skills in between the field sales representatives and shop staffs?     

1. Internally facing jobs mean all kind of works that executives and staffs do it internally. Such operation is not open to customers. It can be termed as back-end operation. This may include various like quality management, process designing, human resource management and others (Timming 2017). On the other hand, customer-facing jobs are all those that involve interacting with the customers. This can be while the executive teams are in their field operation or this can also be when customers are in the shop (Timming 2017). However, the different nature of customer-facing jobs requires distinguished kind of expertise. The staffs that are there in shops to help their customers reach to a certain area of the shop or guide them on products that they like to see. This may also include helping customer until the time the customer purchases their desired product (Timming 2017).  

The case study organization TK Ceramics which has now the largest importer in Victoria is eyeing an entry to Indonesia. There are few very valid reasons for it. Cost of tiles which the case study organization sells to the wholesale clients is expensive in Italy. The owners Tim and Kate had recently visited Indonesia and found that cost of tiles is comparatively cheaper in Indonesia. The fact has compelled them to import tiles from Indonesia and target the retail sector which is a radical shift from wholesale to retail sales. However, the company has few challenges like the quality of ceramic tiles which needs to meet the guidelines of Australian Standards ISO 13006: 1998 10545 Test Methods (Bernzen & Braun 2014). The tiles that were being imported from Italy had met the guidelines of Australian Standards. However, it is very challenging to meet the same criteria for the tiles in Indonesia. There are plans to recruit professionals who could take care of several roles like designing, implementing and monitoring of quality procedures. 

The human resource manager Renee now has a challenging task ahead of her. She has to design jobs for a long list of professionals who could stay there in Indonesia for at least a year. There are several techniques like motivational work design, socio-technical systems, Hackman & Oldman Theory and others. However, choosing one design could be the most viable decision.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Drawing from Existing Staff

The case study organization may be benefitted if the company’s HRM uses the Hackman & Oldman Theory followed by motivational work design for designing jobs to take care of the operation in Indonesia. The Hackman & Oldman Theory encourages employees to have direct contact with the client which is good in regards to the case company as this may keep the newly recruited professionals engaged in their work. Additionally, the theory also talks about specialized work which is very important for the case organization as the HRM has planned to recruit professionals for specialized positions (Christina et al. 2017). In addition to this process, the motivational work design may also be helpful in motivating the appointed professionals who will be sent to Indonesia to take care of the proposed operation in the country. Such professionals may require motivation from the management; so that, they could patiently stay in the country for one year and energetically perform their task. Management can use the various kinds of rewards system which needs to be given to acknowledge the quality works of the professionals (Christina et al. 2017).

2. There can be an ample number of advantages and disadvantages also in drawing the shop workers from existing staffs. The first and foremost advantage of such process will be the lessening of pressure from the human resource department. A recruitment process attracts significant investments for conducting different activities like advertising the job vacancies in different media resources such as online websites, daily newspapers and others. In addition to this, there are expenses required for the induction and training process for those who have been selected for the interview. On top of all, those newly recruited professionals will be given a fresh set of pay scale which is an additional burden on the management (Shaikh 2014). These are all the few expenses which are required while opting to recruit new professionals for different positions. It also means that the case study human resource manager looks for picking up few staffs from existing professionals then this would be a straightforward saving in terms of investments. Followings are the advantages and disadvantages of drawing some workers from the existing office staffs (Chiang, Lema?ski & Birtch 2017):

Advantages:

Staffs who have proven track record of their performance can be sent to Indonesia for one year. Moreover, this will reduce the pressure which could have been the case while finding talented and experienced professionals from external resources.

Creating Job Descriptions and Person Descriptions for Non-Existent Shops

Such staffs have better knowledge of the case company’s insights and they are also aware of the operational objectives which matter a lot while venturing into a new market. Such staffs will be in better position to showcase the case company’s operational objectives.

The case company's HRM will have reduced work pressure and therefore, they would be able to focus on some other critical aspects of recruiting professionals for quality inspection position. This is indeed a critical requirement when the case company will be operating in Indonesia. It has already been suspected the tiles that are being manufactured in Indonesia lack in meeting the quality standard of Australian Standards - – ISO 13006: 1998 10545 Test Methods (Bernzen & Braun 2014).

Disadvantages:

Existing staffs are well settled with their roles and responsibilities in the existing operation. This is also why ‘TK Ceramics’ is the largest importer of ceramic tiles in Victoria. However, if some of them are being selected for the proposed operation in Indonesia then the HRM will be required to recruit fresh professionals to fill the gaps. They may or may not match the quality standard of those staffs that have been selected for operation in Indonesia (Ahammad 2017).

The shortlisted staffs for a new business operation in Indonesia may also face the challenge. They have always been facing the clients and selling them products at wholesale. However, in Indonesia, they will be required to interact with the retail customers which will be a pretty new experience for the staffs. They cannot approach the same way of interaction that they had used while interacting with the wholesale clients. They will be requiring to have an utmost level of customer service, so that, they could cater for the organizational values and deliver the expected service (Shukla 2014).

3. Creating job descriptions and person-specific job proficiencies for a shop that do not yet exist is a challenging task; however, this could be done if planned appropriately. A job description is a description of roles that a specific position will need. On the other hand, person-specific description means specifying the jobs based on individual’s proficiencies. Job descriptions and person descriptions can be created in following ways (Coelho et al. 2017):

Approaching the consulting agencies may provide a much-needed relief in this regard. The case study human resource management will then only be required to provide a brief of the works that they will be expecting from the newly recruited professionals. The specific consulting agency may be able to design jobs accordingly and create the specific positions as well. Moreover, they may also be able to describe the position specific jobs by discussing it further with the case study HRM (human resource management). The case study company will then be able to use the specification provided by the consulting agency. Moreover, the human resource management at the ‘TK Ceramics’ will be able to advertise the various job positions based on the specification provided by the specific agency. Additionally, they could also use the specifications as a checklist for making an evaluation of CVs and interviews. This may prove to be a real time saver for the recruiting panel at case study human resource department.

Finding Relevancy of Skills between Field Sales Representatives and Shop Staffs

The case study organization will be required to provide the several kinds of details to the specific consulting agency. A brief idea about the roles and responsibilities which the human resource management at the case study company is expecting needs to be explained to the consulting agency. In addition, job location is also required to be explained to the consulting agency. The qualifications, list of duties, required skills, salary benefits, kind of work and others need to be provided to the consulting agency.

The consulting agency may also be briefed on person-specific skills which the case study organization is looking for. Person-specific briefs will be like the technical, communicative, organizational and creative skills that the case company is expecting from newly recruited professionals. If they are also looking for specific qualification for some post like the quality inspection then they should also give the brief of such details to the specific consultancy. If they are looking for experienced professionals then they should also disclose this to the agency. The characteristics related traits if required needs to be discussed with the specific consulting agency, so that, they are able to construct an exactly the same person specific description as it is required from the ‘TK Ceramics’.

4. This is indeed a very complicated question; however, this is also much more transparent that executives are bound to find the different set of customers while being into the field or the shop. While being in the field, sales representatives proactively reach to customers though customers may or may not have any intention for such interactions. On the other hand, staffs in the shop are required to interact with customers who are intentionally visiting the shop (Botha, Van Vuuren & Kunene 2015). There are evident differences in between the skills of field executives and the shop staffs which are being highlighted below. Representatives who proactively approach customers in the field, they need to be well versed with the following set of skills (Denker et al. 2015):

They need to have the desires and the ability as well to sell the product.

They need also have presentable communication skills, so that, they could effectively present their brand and also establish a fair amount of interaction which is needed to accomplish the sale.

Such representatives must also have strong commercial awareness, so that, they could maintain the professionalism while avoiding any sort of emotional attachment to customers. There will be a customer who might not be capable of purchasing the product; however, being professional in approach could make it possible. Such customer if being realized about the importance of product they might feel like purchasing the product.

They also need to be resilient and are able to cope with rejections, so that; they do not get demoralized while not being able to make a sale. By being resilient to rejections, representatives will actually be able to make the sale.

They also need to have a high degree of drive and self-motivation. This will assist such representatives in times when they are not being able to make the sales. They will rather keep on trying which is necessary while interacting with customers in the field.

Shop staffs need to have the following skills (Bacon 2016):

The shop executives need to be well versed with basic numeracy and the literacy, so that; they could handle the queries of customers.

They need to have a high standard of customer service skills, so that, they could make the customer feel like in safe zones.

They need to have the selling skills as sometimes, the customer makes decisions which they have not planned it before. 

Staffs need to have the product knowledge, so that, they could explain the product details to customers. Customers might have several queries which could only be solved if the staff has the utmost knowledge of the concerned product.

References:

Ahammad, T., 2017. Personnel Management To Human Resource Management (HRM): How HRM Functions?. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 13(9), pp.412-420.

Bacon, D., 2016. Special Issue Call for Papers: The “Work-Ready” Marketing Graduate. Journal of Marketing Education, 38(1), pp.65-66.

Bernzen, A. and Braun, B., 2014. Conventions in cross-border trade coordination: the case of organic food imports to Germany and Australia. Environment and Planning A, 46(5), pp.1244-1262.

Botha, M., Van Vuuren, J.J. and Kunene, T., 2015. An integrated entrepreneurial performance model focusing on the importance and proficiency of competencies for start-up and established SMEs. South African Journal of Business Management, 46(3), pp.55-66.

Chiang, F.F., Lema?ski, M.K. and Birtch, T.A., 2017. The transfer and diffusion of HRM practices within MNCs: lessons learned and future research directions. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), pp.234-258.

Christina, S., Dainty, A., Daniels, K., Tregaskis, O. and Waterson, P., 2017. Shut the fridge door! HRM alignment, job redesign and energy performance. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(3), pp.382-402.

Coelho, F.A., Rodrigues, D.A., Fogaça, N., Teixeira, J.A. and Richter, L.D.D., 2017. Empirical relationships between support to informal learning, professional competences and human performance in a Brazilian public organisation. International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 14(1), pp.90-108.

Denker, A.L., Sherman, R.O., Hutton-Woodland, M., Brunell, M.L. and Medina, P., 2015. Florida Nurse Leader Survey findings: key leadership competencies, barriers to leadership, and succession planning needs. Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(7/8), pp.404-410.

Shaikh, M., 2014. Essentials of strategic HRM. Lulu. com.

Shukla, S., 2014. Emerging issues and challenges for HRM in public sectors banks of India. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 133, pp.358-363.

Timming, A.R., 2017. The effect of foreign accent on employability: a study of the aural dimensions of aesthetic labour in customer-facing and non-customer-facing jobs. Work, employment and society, 31(3), pp.409-428.