In the case of Melissa

Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Melissa

Dr. W. Edwards Deming would remark that Melissa is responding with short-term fixes if she is unable to properly please every client of the business. She doesn’t expect a long-term solution to the issue in her line of work because she ends some calls early and occasionally gives incorrect information. Giving technical advice that is insufficient or even incorrect has a significant impact on the success of the business she works for. Deming might also hint on the fact that this employee’s reactions have an immense impact on the quality of the organization in question in the eyes of the clients.

Part 2

Of the 14 points, Melissa breaks the first one that requires one to create a constant purpose towards improvement. Deming would have required the employee to raise the issue repeatedly with the management so that the facilities can be improved. Instead, she has no such plans in place. By resorting to provision of incomplete information and even wrong technical advice, she tends to react with short-term solutions, a practice that directly violates the first point (Gabay 10).

Part 3

The recommended solution to Melissa’s woes draws from appropriate use of the 1st and 11th points. Melissa needs to create a constant purpose towards improvement. She needs to communicate with the supervisor and suggest possible areas of improvement for efficiency purposes. For example, an upgrade of both the hardware and software versions that she uses. She might also request the supervisor to set a workable target in the meantime before an upgrade is done to the facilities. Secondly, the supervisor should eliminate management by objectives, but instead focus on quality. Setting a numerical target of 15 calls per hour directly compromises on the quality of such calls.

Question 2: Motorola, Inc.

The case of Motorola, Inc. is a clear case illustration of the application of the first principle; customer focus. Driven by the ambition to delight their customers and satisfy all their needs, the company applies unique and appropriate strategies towards assessing their needs. For instance, the case study states that the company periodically reaches out to direct sellers and customers to collect their views on the company’s products. The “total customer satisfaction” corporate objective incorporates the customers’ views in the process of producing the leading products and services to customers. The company also applies the principle of continual improvement. Despite its products and services leading in their class of products, Motorola Inc. is dedicated towards ensuring a continuity of the culture. By setting up a training center for employees and spending nearly $170 million on worker education between 1983 and 1987, the company’s objective of long-term quality sustainability is emergent (NIST 1). A continual improvement through employee training and empowerment has proven to be a successful tool for the company in an attempt to provide superior quality to its customers. Therefore, Motorola, Inc., from the case study, applies two of the principles directly; customer focus and continual improvement. There might be other principles in the case, but these two seem to have a direct output for the company in terms of customer satisfaction and quality improvement. Through its corporate culture of quality improvement and customer satisfaction, the company’s growth rates remain on the positive trend in accordance with the case study.

Question 3

Part 1

There are evident failures associated with the customer care experience in this airline company. To begin with, the company has very few customer representatives or the available assistants do not take their tasks seriously. The duration that it took for the customer’s call to be responded to is not usual. In addition, the procedures that the company has put in place for identification are not called for since this was an inquiry. Secondly, the communication channels are not appropriately laid out. Despite the fact that the customer dialed the line for international travels, the call was still directed to the domestic docket. The fact that the customers had not been informed of a new call line for international travels depicts the level of negligence on the part of the company in relation to customer care services. Having a new call line implies that the previous one ought to have been shut down, instead of making customers wait longer on the line.

Part 2

There are recommendations that can help improve customer experience for the travel agency. To begin with, there is need to recruit more customer service representatives. This will reduce the waiting time on the telephone for most customers (Solomon 21). Secondly, the agency needs to audit the existing customer service representatives to determine their levels of competence in handling customer calls. This is important since it would ensure that the waiting time is also reduced significantly. Thirdly, the communication infrastructure should be updated to represent the most current aspects of the company services. Redundant entries on calls should be eliminated and better verification means engraved into the Information Technology Systems. This will reduce the levels of dissatisfaction among customers.

Works Cited

NIST. Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Recipient Motorola Inc. Web. October 8, 2017. http://patapsco.nist.gov/Award_Recipients/PDF_files/1988_Motorola_Inc.pdf

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Solomon, Micah. High-tech, High-Touch Customer Service: Inspire Timeless Loyalty in the Demanding New World of Social Commerce. , 2012. Print

Gabay, Rita. Deming’s 14 Principles. 2014. Web. October 8, 2017. http://www.uoc.cw/qualitysite/images/stories/nieuwsbrief/Deming_14_principles.pdf

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