Recommendations for Service Department based on the COPIS Model

Recommendations for Service Department based on the COPIS Model

BUS445: Total Quality Management

Recommendations for Service Department based on the COPIS Model

Customer complaints can ruin an organization if not handled properly. When complaints become problematic, a manager should be able to intervene and have the necessary tools to make improvements to make a turnaround within the organization. This paper will examine how to make changes within the service department of an organization that is receiving 7% of complaints from its customers by implementing quality improvements based on the COPIS model.

An organization has recently been made aware that their service department has been receiving complaints from 7% of its customers. The COPIS model evolved from SIPOC which stands form Supplier – Inputs – Process – Outputs – Customers. The COPIS model put the focus on the customer first instead of the supplier. The organization should make a quality improvement plan so that if the organization has social media outlets, negative comments made by customers will not have too big of an impact on their products. “Planning for improvement: Development and content of improvement plan, assessment and outcomes” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017, Ch. 10.2). To justify making improvements, management has provided samplings of how even with 7% customer complaints the organization is losing revenue, however to obtain the information will call for the organization to take customer surveys and collect data, since the service department do not have any detailed records of the issues or complaints.

The improvement plan will allow for development and improvement of the products that are causing negative comments from customers. The plan will make continually make changes when there is a need and do quarterly assessments to ensure that everything is working as it should. Implementing Pareto’s principle which is an 80/20 principle.

The 80/20 principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs or efforts usually lead to most of the results, outputs or rewards. In business, many examples of the 80/20 Principle have been validated. 20 per cent of products usually account for about 80 per cent of dollar sales value; so do 20 per cent of customers. 20 per cent of products or customers usually also account for about 80 per cent of an organization’s profits. (Koch, 2000, p. 4)

This method can help identify needed improvements to make with customer service, but first management must understand customer needs. “Organizations first need to understand the drivers of customer satisfaction—what do customers want or expect from our goods and services” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017, Ch. 3.3)?

When an organization has a 7% customer dissatisfaction rate, the organization must determine if the disapproval is with customer service or with the product itself. To figure out if the 7% rates falls under customer service or the product, management must “determine the purpose of the survey, shaping the questions, selecting types of sampling, interpreting the data and following up after the survey is completed and analyzed” (Feldman, 2009, p. 65). Once management has the information and it has been analyzed, they can ascertain what approaches can be taken to improving customer service needs. Several approaches to customer service implementations are well thought out partnerships, customer-focused technology and analytics, designing satisfaction surveys and analyzing and using customer feedback.

Customer relationship manager (CRM) is a “technology and analytics that are key enablers CRM software, which is designed to help organizations increase customer loyalty, target their most profitable customers, and streamline customer communication processes” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017, Ch. 3.6). Operations of tactics of the CRM system is “a strategy planning for changing thinking-way of enterprise management. When the CRM implementation faces with some difficulties, enterprise managers need to help CRM team to settle these

difficulties and improve CRM application” (Li & Ma, 2015, p. 537). There is also integrating “CRM strategies with corporate culture, customer-oriented management systems, training staff to learn CRM knowledge, enhance data quality of CRM systems and protecting customer information privacy. The following diagram provides examples of the 80/20 principles” (Koch, 2000, p. 5).

It will be beneficial for the organization to understand the output being experienced, and this will help gauge where the issues arise. “Compiling all complaints to see what issues the department has will pin point what issues there are” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017).

Management need to determine when the most complaints are received, how long does it take to answer each call and how long does each call last to make an assessment about training and adding additional customer service personnel to handle all complaints in a timely manner.

Contrasting process-improvements and management approaches “depends on the ability to effectively identify problems, develop good solutions, and implement them” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017, Ch. 9.1). A few process improvement methodologies are the Deming Cycle, DMAIC, Six-Sigma, and Lean tools for process improvements.

The implementation of Six Sigma is to determine what problem to address. Six Sigma uses “qualitative, quantitative and structured approach to business management, and it is a precise approach to improve key business processes for a reliability of more than 99.99%.” (50MINUTES.COM, 2015).

Six Sigma also addresses “immediate problems, provides an environment for individual learning, management development, and career advancement” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017, Ch. 4.4).

Six Sigma is used when an organization would like to improve an existing product or service and you must comply with the DMAIC process, which is define, measure, analyze, improve and control. “Considering customer dissatisfaction as a defect, indicated by a distance from the optimal level of satisfaction, Six Sigma means there will only be 3.4 defects per one million opportunities. In this context, the company focuses on the quality that satisfies the customer to achieve near-perfection: the top of the µ curve” (50MINUTES.COM, 2015, p 10).

When developing a supplier -management approach to improve suppliers’ input, “managers can implement quality audits to work with suppliers to improve performance. Ensure customer satisfaction by meeting quality standards and adhering to ISO 9000 standards and guidelines” (Evans, & Lindsay, 2017). Suppliers selection and evaluation between the customer must be a solid relationship where both parties are comfortable and share the same integrity to survive. Wittinger (2019) states that “suppliers are part of the supply chain, the relationship between supplier and customer will have an influential effect on the whole supply chain, thus, we can treat supplier selection and evaluation as an optimization opportunity of the processes; such as problem-solving which requires the formulation of an objective measurement” (p. 38). Therefore, managers can work with suppliers to implement Six Sigma practices by instituting a quality policy, having mutual goals and keeping communication practices always open .

Recommendations for a customer-focused brand will be to implement different tools that can measure the intake of calls received in the customer service department. Management can “unify – uniting the team around visionary values & behavior from logistics, IT and customer service; Inspire each individual to insure sustained and ever improving competencies” (Beveridge, 2006, p. 8). Management along with team members should encourage each other to become better as well as have an incentive program in place for those who exceed performance daily. For an organization to stay competitive and keep customers satisfied, they must do a better job “at the beginning when designing the product or service. ” Denton (1994) “customer’s perspective must be ingrained into the very structure of the organization, and it must systematic” and it is shown that the blueprint to competitiveness is to focus attention on customers, not short-term profits” (p. 18). The usage of ISO 9000, Six Sigma, DMAIC are process improvement tools that ensures the organization continue to keep its competitive advantage and superior standards. Process owners, “are accountable for process performance and have the authority to control and improve their process and can range from high-level executives who manage cross-functional processes to workers who run a manufacturing cell or an assembly operation on the shop floor” (Evans & Lindsay, 2017, Ch 5.1) must focus their resources towards achieving a customer-focused environment. The organization continues to prosper by promoting customer alliances, commitments, and customer inputs. With customer inputs and cooperation, customer complaints will decrease, and customer loyalty will increase, which will be beneficial in long-lasting customer relationships and an increase in revenue. As the service department learn to use the administered tools, skills, and concepts to make decisions based on facts and quantifiable data, this will help the department see an improvement with a lower percentage rate of customer complaints while ensuring the company’s integrity and overall success as the customers attitude and viewpoint of the service department improves.

References

50MINUTES.COM (2015). The six-sigma method : Boost quality and consistency in your business. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu

Beveridge, D. (2006). How to Stay One Step Ahead of Customers to Build Demand. American Salesman, 51(8), 7. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=21792713&site=eds-live&scope=site

Denton, D. K. (1994). Designing in customer satisfaction: Key to competitiveness. Industrial Management, 36(1), 18. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/211626089?accountid=32521

Evans, J. R., & Lindsay, W. M. (2017). Managing for quality and performance excellence (10th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage

Feldman, M. A. (2009, 03). Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. Quality Progress, 42, 64-65. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/214754644?accountid=32521

Koch, R. (2000). The 80/20 Principle : The Secret of Achieving More with Less. London: Nicholas Brealey. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=54332&site=eds-live&scope=site

Li, C. and Ma, L. (2015). “Operation Design of Customer Relationship Management System,” 2015 8th International Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Design (ISCID), Hangzhou, 2015, pp. 536-538. doi: 10.1109/ISCID.2015.181

Wittinger, M. M. (2019). Features of supplier management and its mechanisms – Insights in Hungarian Practice: How to Enhance the Effectiveness of Procurement Procedures? Vezetéstudomány / Budapest Management Review, 50(11), 37–52. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.14267/ VEZ TUD.2019.11.03