Role Play Analysis: Customer Service Executive Performance and Risks

This report analyzes two role-play scenarios involving a customer service executive, focusing on performance objectives, and risk management within an organization. The first scenario involves a peer manager, and the second involves a seconded employee. The report outlines expectations, informal feedback, and the required skills for the customer service representative role, specifically in a hardware and homeware department. It also discusses performance objectives, measurement criteria, and a work plan, including key result areas (KRAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs). The report identifies potential risks associated with the secondment of an employee, and proposes a risk management plan to mitigate these challenges, ensuring the right candidate is placed in the right role for achieving organizational goals. The report is valuable for understanding the dynamics of employee management, performance evaluation, and the importance of risk assessment in organizational settings.

Assessment Task 1: Role
play
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
4. Role play with the peer manager.............................................................................................3
5. Role play with seconded employee.........................................................................................5
6. Risk associated with secondment in organisation...................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
HR plays a vital role in every organisation. They perform various roles and responsibilities.
Also, they are responsible for putting right candidate at right place, providing them training and
development, solving issues, etc. However, there are various job roles in organisation. In all of
them it requires specific skills and knowledge to perform. The skill and knowledge requirement
depend on job position. Moreover, performance is measured with set objectives to find out weak
areas. There is set procedure specified by organisation to measure performance.
The assignment will describe about two role play. First one will be with manager and
employee and second will be manager and seconded employee. Also, it will discuss about
position description and gather feedback from employee. Moreover, it will be explained about
how performance is measured in organisation and then objectives are set. Alongside, risk will be
described related to job position.
4. Role play with the peer manager
An organisation expects certain things from each employee at every job post. These
expectations can be in terms of financial or behaviour. So, on basis of that expectation staff is
appointed to particular job role. Furthermore, in job description the expectations are clearly
defined. It also includes staff aptitude and other things. Likewise, in Wollongong store for the
role of customer service representative, expectations are stated as:
Expectation for employee:
The recruitment is to be made for the position of customer service and sales
representative for the Hardware and home product department of Wollongong store. The
employee at this position is expected to manage and prepare customer service strategies so that
satisfactory services can be provided to customers. They will also be required to process the sales
and queries of the customers so that good quality services can be provided and customer loyalty
can be increased (Noe and et.al., 2017). Since seconded employee is presently working in garden
products, employee will be required to develop complete understanding and knowledge of
hardware and homeware products, focus and needs of customer's which are more diverse and
broader as compare to garden product range.
The employee must have self directed and learning approach to learn various ups and
downs with clients and to process orders of clients quickly so that order can be processed quickly
(Mone and London, 2018). In the role of customer service representative employee will also be
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required to follow different procedures and policies so that all legal and organisational aspects
are fulfilled. The employee in this role must be positive attitude with capability to resolve the
customer issues and related challenges with ease and efficiency.
It is also expected from the candidate to have good communication and convincing skill
so that customers can be retained for the long term (Ahmed and et.al., 2016). The representative
is also expected to have good sense of relationship building which is vital for the long term
success and goal achievement of the organisation. As compare to the garden products,
Homeware and hardware products have completely different specifications and wide range. Thus
employee will also need to have complete and accurate knowledge of products and requirements
of that targeted customer segments.
Informal feedback:
As garden product employee the performance of Kim Smith has been satisfactory.
However in the new role of customer service representative Kim will be required to adopt new
skills and knowledge. The attitude of Kim has been very positive and thus it can help to manage
various types of customers and to build good relations with them. In garden department
employee has to follow different types of safety and legal measures. Thus lack of knowledge of
homewares can influence the productivity.
The relationship building skills are intensively used by customer service representatives
and thus for the efficient acquisition of job role and duties it is mandatory that this gap must be
filled (DeNisi and Murphy, 2017). In the new job role Kim will also have to be efficient in self
motivated learning and working under pressurised conditions. For generating monthly revenues
of $10,000 and other performance indicators new job role may demand for good problem solving
skills, creativity, effective communication and resource management abilities. In the garden
department Kim Smith used to have work independently, however in the new job roles team
work is an essential attribute to manage the customers. For providing effective services to the
clients Kim must also work in collaboration with various other functional units of the
organisations such as operational and finance team.
Kim has good communication skills and thus it can help to quickly fit into new job role.
Initially there may occur some issues in order processing but due to good grasping and learning
abilities these issues can be easily resolved by providing suitable training to the employee. Kim
also have very positive attitude towards feedback and thus it will assist in resolving client's
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issues in more productive manner and with positivity. In this way Kim can close the performance
gap that exist in Wollongong store.
Role play:
Myself: Hi, we have been searching for customer service executive for our Hardware and
homeware department. Do you think Kim Smith from your department will be suitable for our
required profile?
Garden product manager: Kim is highly talented so can you specify what are you exactly
looking for so that we can review this work management.
Myself: As customer service executive I want someone with expertise in communication,
creativity, problem solving and relationship building. The employee will have to process
orders and manage clients for their long term retention.
Manager: In our garden department we have different products and different types of
customers so you will have to train Kim regarding products, order processing and other
aspects of client management.
Myself: Will Kim be able to meet our expectations?
Manager: Of course, he has good learning skills along with effective communication. It will
be very easy for Kim to interact with customers and to resolve their issues.
5. Role play with seconded employee
Performance objectives and measurement:
It is necessary for HR manager to measure performance of Kim so that it can be
identified whether goals and objectives are attained or not. Moreover, it gives insight about
decision take is effective or not. Besides that, plans or strategies are developed to attain those
objectives. Similarly, in Wollongong store the performance objective for the customer service
executive is to improve the customer services so that their retention can be improved and new
customer targets can be achieved (Richards, Yeoh Chong and Popovič, 2019). The performance
of the Kim Smith in the new role will be measured through variety of parameters. For instance,
Kim will be required to emphasis on increasing number of new customers as well as resolving
the complaints of existing customers. Thus number of customer complaints is one of the
measurement criteria to evaluate the performance of customer service representative (Bititci,
Cocca and Ates, 2016).
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Further as representative it will also be required to formulate and implement strategies
which ensure the quality customer services. For this purpose there is need to interact with
customers so that new products can be developed and service mechanisms can also be improved.
The valuable feedback from the customers and timely delivery of their services is also one of the
measures which reflect the successful performance of the customer services (Schleicher and
et.al., 2018). Thus it is also one of the criteria to meet the performance objectives. In order to
achieve these objectives service executives are also required to work in cooperation with finance
department, customers as well as research and development team of the organisation.
Work plan
The work plan for the job role of customer service executive is as follows:
KRA Activities/goals Measurement/ KPI Accountability/
Dependencies
Financial To enhance the sales
and profitability by
improving customer
services and retention.
The candidate will be
required to achieve
$10,000 revenue
monthly
Employee will be
accountable to
manager who set
strategic and
financial goals.
Internal process To make order
processing quick and
accurate.
The number delayed
order processing and
failure to meet product
deadline indicates the
effectiveness of
performance.
Accountability
towards customers
and order processing
team.
Customer focus To reduce the
customer complaints
and deliver high
quality and timely
services to customers.
Reduced number of
customer complaints
will be considered as
performance indicator.
Customer focus is
completely
dependent upon
response from
customer executive
and service quality.
Development To encourage the A critical comparison Development will
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development of new
service and products as
well as customer
retention strategies for
enhancing target
customers
of newly joined
customers will be used
as performance
indicator.
depend upon
organisational
resources as well as
customer
requirements.
Code of conduct and general expectations
As customer executive it is expected that employee must follow certain guidelines
regarding customer services. The customers must be treated respectfully and dignity. Customers
must also be informed about all organisational products and services so that they can make better
purchasing decisions. Customer service representatives must take initiatives to enhance the
customer loyalty towards organisation. However these goals cannot be achieved without delivery
of services in accordance with the customer needs.
Thus in the designated job role it is also expected that employee must have good
interaction with clients so that their needs can be fulfilled with suitable product. The employee
must have good understanding and knowledge to interpret the customer requirement and to
deliver an optimum solution. Customer representative must also have good team work skills
because there will be need of cooperation and coordination with other organisational departments
(Glaser, Stam and Takeuchi, 2016) . Thus employee must also follow all necessary policies of
organisation such as anti-discriminatory policies, adherence to work place culture and other
regulations related to work.
Role play
Myself: I am glad that you have shown interest in working as customer representative
executive. Why do you think that despite having expertise in the garden department you must
be given this opportunity?
Kim: I think I have great potential to handle customers and thus I can fit in this role as it will
give me an opportunity to fully explore my talent for the organisational benefit.
Myself: Will you be comfortable in the new role as we will have different performance
objectives and indicators.
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Kim: I would like to know what measures or expectations you have in Hardware department?
Myself: We will have various performance indicators such as monthly revenues, customer
feedback and complaints, time involved in processing customer orders and delivery as well as
achievement of targets for new customers. You will also have to coordinate with other
departments for successfully achieving these performance benchmarks.
Kim: I will need to work on my team work skills but with excellent communication and
relation building skills I think I can meet these requirements.
6. Risk associated with secondment in organisation
There can occur certain risk if Kim is appointed as customer service representative. This is
because for this role it requires specific skills and knowledge that he might not possesses. Also, it
is important to ensure that right candidate is placed at right place (Sadgrove, 2016). With this, it
is easy to achieve goals and objectives. besides that, by identifying risk it is easy to take
appropriate measures and mitigate its impact. The manager is able to get insight whether that
person can be appointed to job post or not. In addition to it, if degree of risk is high and not
included in organisation risk management plan than changes can be made in plan accordingly.
However, after role play between employee and manager there are different risks that is
identified. A plan is developed in which controls and monitoring factors are mentioned.
Alongside, it specified person name who is responsible for determining risk and reducing its
impact (Tiwari and Kumar, 2018). The risks are as follows :-
Risk management plan
Risk Risk
likelihood
Risk
impact
Controls Monitoring Timeline Responsible
Difficulty
in handling
customer
request
High Medium
to high
Regular
training of
staff
Providing
practical
knowledge
Taking
continuous
feedback from
customers
Effective
monitoring of
Weekly
or
monthly
HR manager
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related to
different
customer
request
cases
candidate
Poor
customer
service
High High Staff
training on
customer
sales
services
practices.
By monitoring
customer
complaint and
feedback
Taking
customer
feedback and
developing
report
Weekly General
manager,
sales
manager
Lack of
product
knowledge
High High Providing in
depth and
detailed
information
of different
products
Preparing a
product
brochure
Customer
complaints
monitoring
Auditing of
stock and
products
Monthly HR
manager,
Store
manager,
operation
manager
Low
customer
satisfaction
Low Medium preparing of
customer
feedback
sheet and
report
Setting
standards and
measuring
goals and
objectives.
Monthly
or
quarterly
Customer
sales
manager,
operation
manager
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Regular
update of
customer
records
Weekly taking
customer
feedback on
product quality
and customer
service
Decrease
in sales
Medium Low to
medium
Analysis of
financial
sheet and
sales
records
Measuring
goals and
objectives with
set targets.
Monitoring of
sales record
and procedure
Quarterly
or half
yearly.
Sales
manager,
general
manager
Failure to
comply
with laws
and
legislation
of
Australia
Low High Maintaining
of
legislation
register
Updating
and review
of policies
and
procedure
Proper
monitoring of
laws and rules
Use of triple
bottom line
and effective
communication
at all level
within
organisation.
Monthly CFO, CEO,
legal adviser
Risk of
technical
failure
High High By ensuring
proper
update and
security
check of
software
Monitoring
computer
system and
servers
Regular
Monthly CTO,
general
manager
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and
applications
inspection and
checking of
system, server,
etc.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarised from report that there it is expected from customer service
representative to manage and prepare customer service strategies so that satisfactory services can
be provided to customers. He or she will also be required to process the sales and queries of the
customers so that good quality services can be provided. The informal feedback given by Kim is
satisfactory. Moreover, there are certain performance criteria set by Wollongong store to
evaluate Kim performance. They are solving number of customer complaints, valuable feedback
from the customers and timely delivery of their services, etc. in addition there are several risks as
well associated with Kim role such as decrease in sales, decrease in customer satisfaction, poor
customer service, etc. these all will highly impact on Wollongong store operation in negative
way.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ahmed, T.M. and et.al., 2016, May. Studying the effectiveness of application performance
management (APM) tools for detecting performance regressions for web applications:
an experience report. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Mining
Software Repositories (pp. 1-12). ACM.
Bititci, U., Cocca, P. and Ates, A., 2016. Impact of visual performance management systems on
the performance management practices of organisations. International Journal of
Production Research. 54(6). pp.1571-1593.
DeNisi, A.S. and Murphy, K.R., 2017. Performance appraisal and performance management:
100 years of progress?. Journal of Applied Psychology. 102(3). p.421.
Glaser, L., Stam, W. and Takeuchi, R., 2016. Managing the risks of proactivity: A multilevel
study of initiative and performance in the middle management context. Academy of
Management Journal. 59(4). pp.1339-1360.
Mone, E.M. and London, M., 2018. Employee engagement through effective performance
management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.
Noe, R.A. and et.al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Richards, G., Yeoh, W., Chong, A.Y.L. and Popovič, A., 2019. Business intelligence
effectiveness and corporate performance management: an empirical analysis. Journal of
Computer Information Systems. 59(2). pp.188-196.
Sadgrove, K., 2016. The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge.
Tiwari, M. and Kumar, C., 2018, October. Role and Importance of Business Risk Management
in Developing Risk Management Plan and Steps Involved in it. In ICRTEMMS
Conference Proceedings (Vol. 617, No. 620, pp. 617-620). Swarna Bharathi lnstitute of
Science and Technology.
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