書摘：The Business Analyzer and Planner 5

Chapter 5 Navigating in the Management Dimension
Problem/Opportunity
Customer satisfaction has apparently dropped in one of the company's regions, as indicated by unusually poor marke on the most recent survey of customer attitudes. "Professional image" and "responsiveness to customer inquiries" showed the worst scores.

Phase 1: Define the Symptoms
A 20 percent rise in derogatory feedback from customers coincides with the recent merger that formed SLG Industries. Because the size of the technical service group has diminished as a result of the merger, it seems reasonable to suspect that the drop in customer satisfaction stems from the limitations of this smaller, perhaps overworked staff that has regular contact with customers.

Fig 5-1. Symptoms Analysis Worksheet.

Symptoms Analysis	Priority A
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERCEIVED ISSUE Compared to a normal situation	Problem: Feedback from customers shows dissatisfaction with our image and responsiveness: poor marks on surveys are up significantly by 20%.
IMMDIATE IMPACT In meaningful terms, such as funds, people, and time	Right now, the only visible impact is an increase in customer complaints, as evident from surveys. No known impact on sales yet, although this could be next.
DURATION OF IMPACT In terms of the past and the future	Customer dissatisfaction cannot continue; if it does, sales could start declining as soon as 3-6 months from now.
PERCEIVED RESOLUTION Best guess or hunch	Early retirement program apparently hit the technical service ranks too hard. Probably need to raise the staffing level.
TIME SENSITIVITY How long you can afford to wait before acting	Lead time to hire and train is rather long (3-6 months). Must begin the process as soon as we are sure that this is the problem.

Phase 2: Evaluate Underlying Cause
A detailed staffing analysis shows the source of dissatisfaction to be the clerical, rather than the technical, workforce. Because of over-consolidation and staff reductions resulting from the merger, clerical activities in the support and sales areas have been strained. This has made it very difficult for customers to get timely, informed responses to their requires.
Fig 5-2. The MATRIX: Management Dimension.

Dimension: Activity:	Management	Finance	Marketing	Economics
Organize	Goals, structure, staffing plan, and procedures.   1	Business plan, debt-equity structure, accounting practices.     2	Marketing management, sales force.                 3	Micro, macro.                 4
Prioritize	The actual staffing, operations, and control functions.                 5	Cash flow, debt repayment, asset management, equity.        6	Research, testing, production, delivery, service.                 7	Timing, commitment.                 8
Analyze	Compensation, measurement system, and feedback from stockholder.                 9	Rations, trends, opportunity costs.                  10	Target market, product, price, promotion, distribution, competition, strategy.     11	Industry, marketplace, competition, supply-demand, make or buy.      12
Execute	Authority, responsibility, and decisiveness.                13	Control, security, clear responsibility, life-cycle factors.      14	Sales, marketing, research.                15	Acumen, patience.                16
Communicate	Vertical, horizontal, internal, and external.                17	Timely information, timely analysis, accuracy, flexibility.   18	Accurate, timely, internal, external.                19	Openness, sensitivity.                20
Anticipate	Contingencies, pulling out and growth plans.                21	Insolvency, bankruptcy, acquisition, growth, sale.22	Life cycle, strategy, technology.                23	New laws, new trends, growth.                24

Usage: First find the word or phase above that best describes the nature of the problem or opportunity to be resolved. Next, using the number in the lower right of its cell, find details on the ward or phase by turning to the expanded cell. Third, perform the research or analysis suggested by the expanded cell.

Fig 5-5 Staffing plan: SLG Industries prior to merger.

Staffing plan (prior to merger) Distribution by Function and Element
Element: Function:	Professional	Technical	Clerical	Unskilled	Total
Research					0
Production	6	43	2	2	53
Sales	40		7		47
Distribution	2	8	3		13
Support		13	9		22
Service	5	77	11		93
Total	53	141	32	2	228

Fig 5-6 Staffing plan: SLG Industries after merger.

Staffing plan (after merger) Distribution by Function and Element
Element: Function:	Professional	Technical	Clerical	Unskilled	Total
Research	1				1
Production	5	32	2	2	41
Sales	35		5		40
Distribution	1	7	3		11
Support		11	4		15
Service	4	67	9		80
Total	46	117	23	2	188

Fig 5-7 Ratio of Staffing after merger vs. before merger.

Staffing plan (after vs. before merger) Distribution by Function and Element
Element: Function:	Professional	Technical	Clerical	Unskilled	Total
Research	-				-
Production	.83	.74	1.00	1.00	.77
Sales	.88		.71		.85
Distribution	.50	.88	1.00		.85
Support		.85	.44		.68
Service	.80	.87	.81		.86
Total	.87	.83	.72	1.00	.82

Phase 3: Determine Available Resources
Internally, the human resources manager and key line managers must determine a new, more responsive level of clerical staffing. But action must be taken quickly because customer satisfaction is literally a daily issue. Therefore, external temporary support will be arranged as soon as possible.
Fig 5-8. Resource Assessment Summary.

Resource  Assessment	Internal	External
PEOPLE Key analysts and decision makers	Human resources manager, to recommend the best staffing level for the clerical support unit. Several managers and supervisors in key areas, to work with the human resources manager in gauging the level of needed re-staffing	Temporary administrative services will probably be needed from outside agencies until permanent hiring is completed.
FUNDs Quantity and source	Approximately $30,000-$50,000 will be needed for each permanent position to cover salary and all associated costs, including benefits.	The existing regional budget should be able to absorb the cost of temporary help without funding assistance from the company headquarters.
TIME Critical deadlines and milestones	Hiring plans for acquiring additional personal must be prepared over the next seven days. Mr. Bradex and the human resources manager will meet a week from today.	Temporary outside help should also be obtained this week as an interim measure.
INFORMATION Primary and secondary	Key managers and supervisors must advise the human resources manager on where and what types of individuals are most needed.	Feedback from customers on a weekly basis will be needed to confirm success and appropriateness of the plan.
RELATIONSHIP Formal and informal structures and politics	Managers and supervisors must scrutinize the telephone courtesy and proficiency of the new as well as the old staff.	Contact with customers should not deteriorate the way it has since the merger. Escalation procedures should help deter this.

Phase 4: Formulate Alternative Courses of Action
There are basically three alternative. The first, considered to be the ideal, suggest that administrative staffing in both the support and sales areas be returned to pre-merger levels.

The second alternative is a compromise to the ideal. It suggests that administrative staffing in the sales area remain unchanged but that the internal support area gain four additional positions.

The final alternative basically that nothing be done for one to three months, in the hope that SLG Industries is currently going through a peak period of customer contact and that telephone calls will slack off.

All three options, together with the problem/opportunity statement that he constructed in phase 2, on the alternative comparison worksheet (Fig 5-9).

Fig5-9. Alternatives Comparison Worksheet.
Problem/Opportunity Statement: Recent customer satisfaction survey shows growing discontent over the professionalism and responsiveness of the region. This dissatisfaction stems from the poor response that customers receive during initial contacts over the telephone. The cause behind this is inadequate administrative staffing, particularly in the internal support area.

Alternatives Comparison	Action  (Who)	Time Frame	Expected Results	Cross Cost	Risk H M L
Alternative 1 The ideal	Raise administrative staffing to the pre-merger level in the support and sales areas. (Human resource manager)	Begin this week.	Time delays for servicing customer calls should diminish by at least 75%.	Same as prior to merger	X
Alternative 2 A compromise	Double the current clerical staff in the support area, but leave staffing in the sales area as it is. (Human resources manager)	Begin this week.	Time delays in servicing customers should diminish by a solid 50%	Twice the existing costs.	X
Alternative 3 A compromise	At this point, no additional options seem appropriate.
Alternative 4 Status quo	Do nothing, but wait and see if things get better or worse.	1-3 months	Unknown, but maybe the current peak demand will subside.	Nothing out of pocket, but sales could drop.	X

Phase 5: Select and Implement the Primary Alternative
Fig 5-10 clearly reflects the substance of alternative 2 from fig 5-9, with the change recommended by Mr. Braden. As a result of that change, the overall level of risk has gone down from medium to low because initially hiring temporary help is viewed as a lower-risk option than bringing in four full-time permanent staff on the first day.

In order to completely record his actions for future reference and adjustments, Mr. Braden reviews the support documents suggested in chapter 3 (Fig 3-2 through 3-8) and decides to create a risk analysis table (Fig 5-11). He also adds a new staffing table (Fig 5-12).

Fig 5-10. Primary Alternative.
Decision Statement: Double the current clerical staff in the support area, but leave staffing in the sales area as it is.

Plan	Action (Who)	Time Frame	Expected Results	Cross Cost	Risk HML
Complete Preliminary Activities.	Hire four temporary clerical staff in the general support area. (HR manager) Ask customers for feedback. (key managers)	Begin this week, for 2-3 weeks. After 2 weeks.	Immediate improvement in handling customer calls Noticeable improvement in our responsiveness and the customers’ comments	#3,000 per week.	X
Implement Primary Activities	Begin hiring full-time permanent staff. (HR manager)	Begin after 2 weeks; complete within 6 additional weeks.	Smooth transition from temporary to permanent staff.	$30,000-$50,000 per position, including all benefits.	X
Monitor Progress And Execute Necessary Contingency Plan.	Internally review telephone responsiveness and professionalism. (Managers) Revisit whole issue if little or no improvement is seen. (HR manager)	Daily 2 months	Decreasing need to oversee in order to ensure quality	Time

Supporting documents       ___ Gantt chart
  (as appropriate):            ___ Cost projection
                                ___ Contingency plans (decision tree, etc.)
                                _X_ Risk analysis table
                                _X_ Summary of required staffing
                                ___ Organization chart
                                ___ Formal business procedure

Phase 6: Closely Monitor the success or Failure of the Plan
Status report from HR manager after three weeks. The first item they review is the overall schedule:

• Are targets being met?
• What are the bottlenecks?
• Is it time to use contingency plans?

The next area for review concerns the labor costs anticipated for the primary alternative. A quick analysis show that this area looks good:

• How do actual costs to date compare with original targets?
• Are costs balanced across categories?
• Are costs in line with changing conditions?

The overall success of the plan is not yet clear. The HR manager feels that more time is required to achieve the expected results outlined in the primary alternative:

• Are the goals still logical?
• Is success sustainable?
• What level of failure is possible?

Next comes a realistic appraisal of failure to reach the expected results. Any early signs must undergo close scrutiny and an appropriate, immediate response:

• Is the failure correctable?
• Is the failure recurring or singular?
• Is the failure acceptable?

At the end of the report, briefly discusses the overall status, in order to maintaining a proper perspective:

• Periodically review the other alternatives.

• If there is a crisis, define when it is over.

• If the situation is hopeless, do not delay pulling out altogether.

Phase 7: Identify and Establish Failure Avoidance Procedures
Conducting a brief postmortem of the whole problem:

• History of symptoms and causes.
• Impact on his organization.
• Impact on other organizations.
• Financial impact.
• Lessons learned.

The final step in failure avoidance is to assign clear responsibility for responding to future signs of trouble:

• First level managers will be responsible for monitoring key indicators, such as customer satisfaction.
• The HR manager will be responsible for a contingency plan.  
• Key managers in serval organizations will be responsible for implementing and coordinating the escalation procedure.

Zambruski, M.S. (1999). The Business Analyzer and Planner. AMACOM, NY. p.147~167.