Telecom Call Center Research Technology Essay Example for Free

Telecom Call Center Research Technology Essay According to Malhotra (2004: 5-6) interview is defined as an unstructured, direct personal interview to uncover the underlying motivation, beliefs, attitudes and feelings on a topic. Thus if interviews are used in this case the gains will be; quick response from respondents, permits interviewer to delve deep into the topic, there is allowance to discuss confidential, sensitive even embarrassing issues concerning the topic, and good understanding of complicated behavior (consumer behavior). Interviews have also there following limitations; there costly, analysis of real time data is difficult to interpret, respondents bias like personal opinion concerning matter at hand, its generally time consuming. Survey; entail a structured questionnaire given to sample population and designed to elicit specific information from respondents. Three methods exist in survey; i. Telephone interview- involves calling a sample of respondents and asking them a series of questions. ii. Personal interviewing- can be through face to face, mall intercepted, computer assisted interview. iii. Mail interview – questionnaire is mailed to pre selected potential respondents. Through survey: data collection is simpler through administration of questionnaires, data reliability as responses are limited to the alternatives stated, analysis, coding and interpretation is relatively simpler. Its shortcomings include; respondents unwilling to provide desired information, none response to sensitive or personal questions, failure to capture certain types of data as beliefs and attitude due to fixed response alternatives. According to Zbikowski,(2007): there are five KPI`s that determine the performance of a call center and they are; cost per call, customer satisfaction, first contact resolution rate, agent utilization and aggregate call center performance. Thus in a call center, the most effective cost metric is cost per contact, and the best indicator of quality is customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is affected by a whole range of other performance variables, including Average Speed of Answer (ASA), Call Quality, and Handle Time, but the single biggest driver of customer satisfaction, by far, is, first contact resolution rate. The KPI`s are effective as they handle customer needs from the time they make first contact to the call center to during the conversation and all the process that lead up to them ending the call. Research design – is a plan according to which research participants are chosen, information collected and data analysis and interpretation done. (Kotler et . al, 2006: 100-105). This case the appropriate design to be used is descriptive study and both qualitative and quantitative approach. According to Malhotra et al (1996: 10-12), a descriptive study has its objective as a description of something in regards to who, what, where and how of a phenomenon which is the concern of the current study. The researcher should use survey method (questionnaires) to collect information from the respondents which will be recorded and findings reported. (Kotler et . al, 1999:20-25) explains that interviews are a technique that is primarily used to gain an understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations for people’s attitudes, preferences or behaviors. He further explains that they are good in that; are completed and immediate, use recording equipment, good response rate, possible in-depth questions, can investigate motives and feelings among others. These qualities of interviews facilitate the accurate collection of needed data as interviewee is on the spotlight thus tendency to relay accurate information. The main limitation of descriptive study is that you cannot identify the cause behind a phenomenon; you can just describe and report the observation. Informal Questions The following sets of questions are to be responded to by a manager of a call center. 1) Are call centers profitable to organizations? This is to establish if call centers are really needed. 2) What are the challenges of running call centers? To get the feel of the every day hustles at the call centers. 3) Are there any frequently asked questions from the customers? To identify if they keep a database of constantly asked questions (record keeping). 4) Is industry competitive? Establish if center is analyses there markets for factors that can affect there profitability 5) What is the level of innovation in the industry? To find out if the centers are constantly looking for better technologies to serve their customers. 6) What is level of regulation from concerned ministries? To establish if there set minimum threshold by the government they are required to abide by. Data Collection Mugenda (1999: 46-58) there exits two broad types of data collection methods; primary and secondary data. Where possible, data should be collected from several sources to crosscheck for errors. Primary data is data originated by the researcher for the purpose of research problem, this could be through; observation, focus groups, depth interview and survey methods. Secondary data is the type collected for other purposes other than the problem at hand. Secondary Data- can be further divided into external and internal data. Internal data is data available within the organization for which research is being conducted. In this case any information gathered from visit of one or numerous call centers is classified internal data. External data is data that originates from sources outside the organization, like from journals, books, newspapers, reports, magazines periodicals. For our case external sources form the backbone of all the data which translates into information regarding this research problem. Data Sampling Malhotra (2004: 20-33) data sampling is a definite plan for obtaining facts from a given population, its normally done so as to reduce number of subjects to be studied. Sampling method can either be probability based or non probability based. Probability based is a random sampling technique where every item of the population has an equal chance of inclusion in sample. Under probability based the researcher can use cluster sampling because it’s used when impossible to obtain a sampling frame because population is either too big or scattered over a large geographical area like collection of data from numerous call centers. Non probability is a method where the chance of selecting a population element is unknown. Under non probability researcher can use purposive sampling because it allows researcher to use cases that have required information with respect to the research problem, or snowball sampling where identified subjects with the desired characteristics help name others that they know have the required characteristics until researcher gets the number of cases he/she wants. Surveys Interviews Orodho (2000:15-18) explains that the choice of method is influenced by the data collection strategy, the type of variable, the accuracy required, the collection point and the skill of the enumerator. Call centers data is constantly changing and thus data collection should be conducted at sufficient intervals. Malhotra (2004: 6-7) For interviews the use of depth interviews will be appropriate which is an unstructured direct, personal interview in which a single respondent is probed by an interviewer to uncover underlying motivation, beliefs, attitudes and feelings on a topic. The use of structured questionnaires assist to collect some other data that interviews could not collect, thus avoidance of redundancy and errors. Research is basically collection of as much relevant raw data as possible and analysis of it to information. Mostly the upside is the personal gain in knowledge; discover findings/statistics, personal/societal recognition and some financial gain. The downside can be possession of information that can be a security risk, financial constrains and time management issues. Research therefore only lays down the facts; the interpretation should on individual basis, â€Å"like the recent study that shows persons are highly likely to contact diseases when taking a shower due to accumulation of micro organisms together with rust at the head of the shower†. (Harriet Copper: February, 2006) References: Donald, K. , and Delno, L. , (2006), Proposal and Thesis writing, Paulines Publications Africa, Nairobi, pp 156-158. Einwiller, S. and Will, M. (2002), â€Å"Towards an integrated approach to corporate branding – an empirical study†, Corporate Communications, Vol. 7 No. 2, p. 100. Kotler, P. , Armstrong, G. , (2002, Principles of marketing, 11th ed. , Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle river. Kotler, P. , Armstrong, G. , Saunders, J. and Wong, V. (1999), Principles of Marketing, 2nd ed. , Prentice Hall, Harlow. Leonard, B. , Parasuraman, A. , and Zeithmal, V. (1993), â€Å"Ten lessons of improving service quality,† MSI report, Cambridge marketing science institute. Malhotra, (1996), Research Methodology, Phoenix Publications, Africa Nairobi. Margulies, W. (1977). Make the most of your Corporate Identity. Harvard Business Review, pp 66-77. Mugenda, O. , and Mugenda, A. , (1999), Research methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, Acts press, Nairobi. Orodho, John Aluko (2000), Elements of Research Methods, Masola Publishers, Nairobi Kenya. www. cwu. edu/~jefferis www. callcentermagazine. com www. call-center-metrics. com www. metricnet. com www. alive. com

Anti-bullying Policies Essay -- Social Issues, Bullies

According to the work of psychologist David Smith, 57 percent of anti-bullying policies did nothing, 14 percent helped slightly, and 29 percent even made the problem worse (Smith, Schneider, Smith, and Ananiadou 547-560). Every day we see news of â€Å"innocent teasing† escalating into death threatening violence. Yet each day, year after year schools are using the same old methods, attempting to solve this very big problem with little temporary solutions. It is no secret that the bullying problem is not being handled correctly by American schools. The number one problem with America’s â€Å"anti-bullying programs† is that schools are helping the wrong person. The programs focus on helping bullies, mediating bullies, changing bullies. Bullies are not the ones who need help, bullies are not the ones getting hurt, victims are the ones who need help. Bullying will never stop, â€Å"it’s inevitable, a natural byproduct of human nature†(Morgan 1). Even if all bullies were eliminated new bullies would arise because it is all about the imbalance of power. Verbal bullying is not even against the law, in fact it is protected by the first amendment, freedom of speech. In this conundrum yet to be solved victims are the ones killing themselves. Victims are the ones bringing guns into schools and shooting people. Victims need to be taught to stand up for themselves. The only way bullying is going to stop is if we remove its power by teaching victims and leveling the playing field. The idea that American schools often fail to realize is that bullying is almost never just between two kids. There are often a pack of bullies or even more common bystanders that encourage and â€Å"add fuel to the fire.† In one study results, â€Å"showed that bystanders were involved in... ...chers have heavier workloads or have less support by their administrators they are usually less empathetic to victims. Now not only are teachers connected to bullying incidents but so are administrators. If we want to help bullying victims we must inspect every aspect of the problem. With school shootings and constant outbreaks of bullying in the media it is obvious that American schools are not approaching the bullying problem correctly. However there is hope for a brighter future. When going up against bullying we can not just concentrate on one piece of the puzzle. We have to mediate not only the bullies, but the victims, and any other factors contributing to the problem. If American schools reevaluate their programs, shift their focus towards changing old mindsets placed upon us at a young age, and look at the bigger picture, than we truly can be united as one.

Analysis of Lidl’s business strategies Essay

Lidl Stiftung & Co is an international discount supermarket that is located in Germany. The company was founded in the early 1940s by one member of the Schwarz family. The company has been operating in most parts of Europe, giving the other competing firms a very tough ground for retail business. Currently, the company has over 10,000 stores, most of which are in the UK. The company is the fifth best retailer in the world with a net income of $82.4 billion (Lidl, 2011). Apart from being active in the retail business, the company also carries out a number of services such as DVD rental, which was launched in 2009 and bakery services launched in 2012. According to Sillince (2006), resource based view in competitive advantage can help Lidl in achieving competitive advantage by looking at the internal factors that are within its system. For instance, the company has used its employees in ensuring that it achieves most of its goals within the shortest time possible. In addition, the company has achieved greater competitive advantage that has led to increase in the amount of profits and market share by internal tangible and intangible factors such as products and values respectively.In addition, the company uses heterogeneous and immobile resource-based views to ensure the achievement of the most effective competitive advantage in the market. Discourse and disruption have also affected the company hence making it work towards ensuring that it produces more to enable it sell better than other firms. The PESTEL analysis directly and comprehensively evaluates the industry’s external environment elements in order to identify the overall available opportunities and dangers of specific procedures, on the grounds that progressions in these elements can prompt the huge change of businesses, particularly as time goes on. Specifically, PESTEL mainly highlights Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental as well as Legal variables. The first aspect of PESTLE analysis is the political aspect. With over 10,000 stores in Europe alone, Lidl needs to manage unique political examples affecting its business operations. One of the major political components influencing the business is natural assurance laws to compel companies to comply with all the government requirements. The second imperative component is UK government vitality advance programs for innovative work of retail products. For this situation, numerous retail companies have been able to greatly undergo structural changes in order to fit in the government policies. In addition Lild uses economic internal and external factors. Financial elements incorporate monetary development in the option vitality commercial enterprises and increment in the expense of utilizing the automobiles fundamentally because of the ascent in fuel costs in the brief time. In this manner, the interest for more-proficient automobiles is higher than in the recent past. Consequently, recuperation of GDP and the rising rate in the majority of the slowly developing nations from the recessionary period that happened in 2008/2009 has a huge effect on the client buying power. The company also has a stable financial system that enables it to communicate effectively and favorably. Moreover, Social components are identified with expansion natural concerns, mentality and stress on items, which are eco-friendly. In addition, without a doubt the current society judge’s individuals focused around the sort of the automobile they buy and the thought of having electric vehicles enhances the societal position of a single person. The company has also considered a number of cultural elements that help in achievement of competitive advantage and in promotion of customer interests. For instance, the company stocks various items used by almost all the religions in Europe. With the rise in technology, Lidl has tried to improve its customer service platform to ensure that the new technological aspects are included in order to avoid any delays. In addition, the company has allowed customers to make purchases using credit cards and checks in order to make purchases easier and faster. Besides, in order to beat competitors and gain competitive advantage against other competitors in the retail industry. Currently, numerous retail stores have confronted the aggressive weight to produce eco-accommodating products. Natural components, for example, expanding attention to environmental change lead to changes in operations and organizations’ items and administrations, in light of the fact that clients are getting more mindful of ecological impacts of generation. Lidl has also ensured that it initiates various environmentally friendly aspects such as the use of the modernized ways of handling waste disposal such as recycling. Additionally, numerous regulations emanate from governments presenting vitality credit projects and putting weight on creation eco-accommodating products, for example, licensing companies to join the new techniques for green business and working towards reducing the effects of wastes from vehicles on the environment (Sillince, 2006). Porters Fiver Competitive forces are some of the most essential tools that Lidl has to use in ensuring that it achieves competitive advantage in the retail sector. The company needs to identify some of the most desirable strategies and use them towards achieving the best part of the market share. The first force is Threat of new entrants. Currently, the retail industry has the highest risk from the threat of new entrants. Having entered the industry in 1940s, Lidl also faced the difficulties of being a new entrant in a market that needed high capital and had increased problems that rose from building a brand name to indifferent distributors. However, Lidl managed to pass through this and is still on the verge to become the highest market holder in the industry. The general bargaining power vested on the buyers is uncertain and Lidl had to rely on their closeness with advertisers in order to please the buyers. These advertisers are some of the buyers of Lidl hence making it achieve competitive advantage in the market. Besides, the threat of substitution is relatively low since very few firms produce can match the market covered by Lidl. This has given Lidl an upper hand in the retail business hence increasing the advantage over other companies. In addition, in its bid to enter the US market, Lidl has to counteract the benefits that Wal-Mart has given to the consumers. Based on Suppliers’ bargaining power despite building strong relations with the main suppliers, Lidl has a hard time trying to win other suppliers. However, its ability to buy products in bulk has helped increase its bargaining power among the suppliers thereby giving it a higher competitive advantage (Clegg Et., al, 2006).Rivalry in the Industry is evident in the presence of competitors in the market.Despite having competitors such as Morison’s in the UK and Wal-Mart in the US, Lidl has managed to counteract rivalry in the market by using the best strategies that are aimed at improving the company’s image among the various international and local customers. References Balogun, J., Jacobs, C., Jarzabkowski, P., Mantere, S., &Vaara, E. (2014).Placing strategy discourse in context: Sociomateriality, sensemaking, and power.  Journal of Management Studies,  51(2), 175-201. Clegg, S. R., Kornberger, M., &Pitsis, T. (2011).  Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. , : Sage. Clegg, S. R., Hardy, C., Lawrence, T., & Nord, W. R. (Eds.).(2006).  The Sage handbook of organization studies.Sage.Colla, E. (2003). International expansion and strategies of discount grocery retailers: the winning models.  International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management,  31(1), 55-66. Hanf, J., &Hanf, C. H. (2007). Does food quality management create a competitive advantage.  Quality management in food chains, Wageningen, Wageningen Academic Publishers, 489-502.Hill, C., & Jones, G. (2009).  Strategic management theory: An integrated approach. Boston, ME: Cengage Learning. Morschett, D., Swoboda, B., & Schramm-Klein, H. (2006).Competitive strategies in retailing—an investigation of the applicability of Porter’s framework for food retailers.  Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,  13(4), 275-287. Porter, M. (2005).  Strategy as action : Competitive dynamics and competitive advantage: Competitive dynamics and competitive advantage. , : Oxford University Press. Porter, M. E. (1998).  Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. , : Free Press. Sillince, J. A. (2006). Resources and Organizational Identities The Role of Rhetoric in the Creation of Competitive Advantage.  Management Communication Quarterly,  20(2), 186-212. Source document

What Was the Crittenden Compromise

The Crittenden Compromise was an attempt to prevent the outbreak of the Civil War during the period when slave states were beginning to secede from the Union following the election of Abraham Lincoln. The attempt to broker a peaceful solution, which was led by a respected Kentucky politician in late 1860 and early 1861, would have required significant changes to the U.S. Constitution. Had the effort succeeded, the Crittenden Compromise would have been yet another in a series of compromises which preserved slavery in the United States in order to keep the Union together. The proposed compromise had proponents who may have been sincere in their efforts to preserve the Union through peaceful means. Yet it was mainly supported by southern politicians who saw it as a way to make slavery permanent. And for the legislation to pass through Congress, members of the Republican Party would have been required to surrender on matters of basic principles. The legislation drafted by Senator John J. Crittenden was complicated. And, it was also audacious, as it would have added six Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Despite those obvious obstacles, Congressional votes on the compromise were fairly close. Yet it was doomed when the president-elect, Abraham Lincoln, signaled his opposition to it. The failure of the Crittenden Compromise angered political leaders of the South. And deeply felt resentment contributed to the increasing intensity of feeling that led to the secession of more slave states and the eventual outbreak of war.   The Situation in Late 1860 The issue of slavery had been dividing Americans since the founding of the nation when the passage of the Constitution required compromises recognizing the legal enslavement of human beings. In the decade preceding the Civil War, slavery became the central political issue in America. The Compromise of 1850 had been intended to satisfy concerns over slavery in new territories. Yet it also brought forward a new Fugitive Slave Act, which infuriated citizens in the North, who felt compelled to not only accept but essentially participate in slavery. The novel Uncle Toms Cabin brought the issue of slavery into American living rooms when it appeared in 1852. Families would gather and read the book aloud, and its characters, all of them dealing with slavery and its moral implications, made the issue seem highly personal. Other events of the 1850s, including the Dred Scott Decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and John Browns raid on a federal arsenal, made slavery an inescapable issue. And the formation of the new Republican Party, which had opposition to the spread of slavery into new states and territories as a central principle, made slavery a central issue in electoral politics. When Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860, slave states in the South refused to accept the results of the election and began to threaten to leave the Union. In December, the state of South Carolina, which had long been a hotbed of pro-slavery sentiment, held a convention and declared it was seceding.   And it looked like the Union would already be split before the new presidents inauguration on March 4, 1861. Role of John J. Crittenden As the threats of slave states to leave the Union began to sound quite serious following Lincolns election, northerners reacted with surprise and increasing concern. In the South, motivated activists, dubbed Fire Eaters, stoked outrage and encouraged secession. An elderly senator from Kentucky, John J. Crittenden, stepped up to try to broker some solution. Crittenden, who was born in Kentucky in 1787, had been well educated and became a prominent lawyer. In 1860 he had been active in politics for 50 years and had represented Kentucky as both a member of the House of Representatives and a U.S. Senator. As a colleague of the late Henry Clay, a Kentuckian who had become known as the Great Compromiser, Crittenden felt a genuine desire to try to hold the Union together. Crittenden was widely respected on Capitol Hill and in political circles, but he was not a national figure of the stature of Clay, or his comrades in what had been known as the Great Triumvirate, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun. On December 18, 1860, Crittenden introduced his legislation in the Senate. His bill began by noting serious and alarming dissensions have arisen between the Northern and Southern States, concerning the rights and security of the rights of the slaveholding States... The bulk of his bill contained six articles, each of which Crittenden hoped to pass through both houses of Congress with a two-thirds vote so that they might become six new amendments to the U.S. Constitution. A central component of Crittendens legislation was that it would have used the same geographic line used in the Missouri Compromise, 36 degrees and 30 minutes of latitude. States and territories north of that line could not allow slavery, and states to the south of the line would have legal slavery. And the various articles also sharply curtailed the power of Congress to regulate slavery, or even abolish it at some future date. Some of the legislation proposed by Crittenden would also toughen fugitive slave laws. Reading the text of Crittendens six articles, its hard to see what the North would achieve by accepting the proposals beyond avoiding a potential war. For the South, the Crittenden Compromise would have made slavery permanent. Defeat In Congress When it appeared obvious that Crittenden couldnt get his legislation through Congress, he proposed an alternative plan: the proposals would be submitted to the voting public as a referendum. The Republican president-elect, Abraham Lincoln, who was still in Springfield, Illinois, had indicated that he did not approve of Crittendens plan. When legislation to submit the referendum was introduced in Congress on January 1861, Republican legislators used delaying tactics to ensure that the matter got bogged down. A New Hampshire senator, Daniel Clark, made a motion that Crittendens legislation be tabled and another resolution substituted for it. That resolution stated that no changes to the Constitution were required to preserve the Union, that the Constitution as it was would suffice. In an increasingly contentious atmosphere on Capitol Hill, the southern legislators boycotted the votes on that measure. The Crittenden Compromise thus came to an end in Congress, though some supporters still tried to rally behind it. Crittendens plan, especially given its complicated nature, may have always been doomed. But the leadership of Lincoln, who was not yet president but was firmly in control of the Republican Party, was likely the main factor in ensuring that Crittendens effort failed. Efforts to Revive the Crittenden Compromise Oddly enough, a month after Crittendens effort came to an end on Capitol Hill, there were still efforts to revive it. The New York Herald, the influential newspaper published by the eccentric James Gordon Bennett, published an editorial urging a revival of the Crittenden Compromise. The editorial urged the unlikely prospect that president-elect Lincoln, in his inaugural address, should embrace the Crittenden Compromise. Before Lincoln took office, another attempt to forestall the outbreak of war occurred in Washington. A peace conference was arranged by politicians including former president John Tyler. That plan came to nothing. When Lincoln took office his inaugural address made mention of the ongoing secession crisis, of course, but he did not offer any grand compromises to the South. And, of course, when Fort Sumter was shelled in April 1861 the nation was on its way to war. The Crittenden Compromise was never entirely forgotten, however. Newspapers still tended to mention it for about a year after the outbreak of the war, as if it was somehow the last  chance to quickly end the conflict which was becoming more violent with each passing month. Legacy of the Crittenden Compromise Senator John J. Crittenden died on July 26, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. He never lived to see the Union restored, and his plan, of course, was never enacted. When General George McClellan ran for president in 1864, on a platform of essentially ending the war, there was the occasional talk of proposing a peace plan that would resemble the Crittenden Compromise. But Lincoln was reelection and Crittenden and his legislation faded into history. Crittenden had remained loyal to the Union and played a major part in keeping Kentucky, one of the crucial border states, in the Union. And though he was a frequent critic of the Lincoln administration, he was widely respected on Capitol Hill. An obituary of Crittenden appeared on the front page of the New York Times on July 28, 1863. After detailing his long career, it ended with an eloquent passage nothing his role in trying to keep the nation out of the Civil War: These propositions he advocated with all the art of oratory of which he was master; but his arguments failed to influence the opinions of a majority of members, and the resolutions were defeated. Throughout the trials and unhappiness that have since visited the nation, Mr. Crittenden has remained loyal to the Union and consistent to his views, eliciting from all men, even from those who differed most widely from him in opinion, the respect which is never withheld from those against whom the breath of slander has never been whispered. In the years following the war, Crittenden was remembered as a man who tried to be a peacemaker. An acorn, brought from his native Kentucky, was planted at the National Botanic Garden in Washington as a tribute to Crittenden. The acorn sprouted and the tree flourished. A 1928 article on the Crittenden Peace Oak appeared in the New York Times and described how the tree had grown into a large and beloved tribute to the man who tried to prevent the Civil War. Sources Crittenden Compromise.  American Eras: Primary Sources, edited by Rebecca Parks, vol. 2: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877, Gale, 2013, pp. 248-252.Crittenden, John Jordan.  Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Donna Batten, 3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2010, pp. 313-316.The Crittenden Peace Oak, New York Times, 13 May 1928, p. 80.Obituary. Hon. John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky. New York Times, 28 July 1863, p. 1.