HRM Assignment: Importance Of Job Analysis Within Big Call Pty Ltd
Question
Task:
Case Study Foundations of HRM, Term 3 2020
Big Call Pty Ltd (‘BC’) is a large multinational call centre based in Dubai. BC has a large workforce of 600 call centre employees (customer service agents), who manage multiple banking and insurance queries and processes for their US-based clients.
One such process is credit card customer service. The process involves US-based customers of a US bank telephoning the bank’s customer service number which gets re-routed to the BC call centre in Dubai. BC customer service agents are expected to resolve customer queries related to issues such as credit card processing, new customer applications, product information, transaction-related information, cancellations etc. The performance of the entire team is rated based on the customer reviews (net promoter score or NPS) received at the end of each phone call and all processes are expected to achieve an average rating NPS score of 8 and above.
For the past 2 years, since the process started, the Manager, responsible for the entire call centre process has struggled to get the call centre teams to achieve the desired rating. No matter what they do, the ratings tend to remain between 6 to 6.5. The Manager consults a process quality specialist consultant.
The Manager told the consultant that the data suggests a significant correlation between poor English communication skills, especially strong accents, and low customer ratings. Because of this, they have continuously invested in training their employees in developing better English-speaking skills and adopting a clear American accent.
The HR department has been instructed to focus on English speaking skills and clear accents as a key skill for hiring candidates. However, despite such steps, the rating results have not improved. The specialist promised to return after having analysed the data.
The specialist observed that data, at a superficial level and confirmed what the Manager had communicated to him. However, upon deeper inspection, he realised that there were numerous cases where the customer ratings were higher, despite agents’ communication skills being the same. He observed that in those cases, the percentage of query resolution was significantly higher than the cases with lower ratings. Based on his findings, he made the following suggestions to the process head:
I. Reduce investment on English communication and accent training. Instead, divert a significant investment towards training agents in query resolution.
II. Modify the recruitment process to focus on hiring new agents who have a stronger aptitude and attitude towards query resolution along with continued attention to English speaking and accent skills.
HRM Assignment Task: Based on the above case, answer the following question (include a short introduction and conclusion, minimum 4 academic* references, use subheadings where appropriate):
1. “Job analysis is at the heart of every HR function” (Singh, 2008). Based on this statement, describe the importance of job analysis using examples from the Big Call Pty Ltd case study above. Include a short introduction and conclusion.
Answer
Introduction
The discussion presented in this HRM assignment would mainly focus on the components of HR planning and the role it plays in benefitting an organisation. Meanwhile, the use of Big Call’s case study eventually indicated that a better analysis of the components that led to the failure of the HRM functioning of the company are properly analysed and avoided in future stances.
Discussion
Job Analysis
The concept of job analysis mainly refers to a specific set of tasks and responsibilities and considers the identification of the KSAOs (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) that are available along with the qualifications that could assure the complete fulfilment of the job. According to Stone (2016), the key products of job analysis comprises of job descriptions and certain job specifications which ensures that the candidates who apply for the job are suitable and equip to the standards that had been described by the HR manager of an organisation. The aspect of job analysis is required to be carried out by the HR department of a company because they are the ones who know more about the requirements that are being anticipated by the company. However, it can be stated that in the case of Big Call none of the products of Job analysis was taken seriously or put up for quick specifications. For instance, if the job analysis had been done properly, then they would not have hired individuals who do not have a decent accent and communication range. If they had hired individuals with proper communication skills, then with proper training, they would have successfully managed to garner success in having a conversation with the clients. It is the reason for the significance of job analysis because it represents the initial stages of HR planning and other key activities of recruitment and selection are involved (Christina et al., 2017).
Training and Development
Another significant part of job analysis is to highlight the training period that would be necessary for both experienced and inexperienced individuals. Despite the sufficient range of knowledge that they have about the existing work and the one that they consider to pivotal for the company, it is important to have an equipped training and development program as well. According to Karim et al. (2019), training and development of a newly appointed individual ensure that high-performance HRM benefits are acquired extensively by the individuals. The aspect of training and development has a significant range of impact on the performance and motivation level of the employees, alongside their productivity. However, in the case of Big Call, it can be assumed that the training and development program was not sufficient. If a fresher employee has been hired then, they are assured that with extensive training and performance evaluation, they will be able to garner sufficient range of success in the work sphere (Kumah et al., 2018). For instance, in the case of Big Call, despite the amount of extensive training provided, the employees were not able to cause improvisation in their language or accent. As a result, there was no significant improvement in the ratings that were generated by the company.
The relation between Job analysis and training Provided
Even though the aspect of training and development comes much later but in the case of job analysis, it allows in determining a substantial training period for both fresher and experienced candidates. However, Fletcher et al. (2018), mentions that if a job description seeks only experienced individuals then, it is often ensured that a minimum training period is required for them as they are already aware of how the work is being done. On the contrary, in the case of the recruitment of fresher, they require a sufficient amount of practical knowledge because they have only managed to acquire theoretical knowledge through various institutions. In the case of Big Call, it can be said that most of the workforce was inexperienced in terms of their work range. One of the key examples that had been noticed was how the individuals failed to solve consumer queries repeatedly. Even after providing a sufficient range of training for improving their accent and communication skills, the employees failed to solve the essential queries of the callers. It indicates only one thing that the majority of the workforce was inexperienced and that their training also lacked some definitive measures.
Conclusion
This report permitted in acquiring sufficient knowledge about the functionality of HRM practices in Big Call Pty Ltd. It was evident that job analysis holds an important role. Otherwise, the desired candidate cannot be hired for an organisation. From a thorough analysis of the case study, it was found that the job analysis of Big Call was not carried out effectively and that the company also did not have a sophisticated training program. However, it was mainly due to the lack of ineffectiveness in job analysis that the company ended up with mostly inexperienced employees.
Reference List
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.
Fletcher, L., Alfes, K. and Robinson, D., 2018. The relationship between perceived training and development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(18), pp.2701-2728.
Karim, M.M., Choudhury, M.M. and Latif, W.B., 2019. The impact of training and development on employees’ Performance: An analysis of quantitative data. HRM assignment Noble International Journal of Business and Management Research, 3(2), pp.25-33.
Kumah, P., Yaokumah, W. and Buabeng-Andoh, C., 2018. Identifying HRM Practices for Improving Information Security Performance: An Importance-Performance Map Analysis. International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), 9(4), pp.23-43.
Stone, R. J. (2016). Part 1- Introducing HRM. [online] Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unisa/detail.action?docID=4748101. [Accessed 6th July 2020]
