{"id":21659,"date":"2024-04-17T01:02:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T01:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/questions\/evaluation-of-two-new-assessment-methods-for-selecting-telephone-customer-service-representatives\/"},"modified":"2024-04-17T01:02:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T01:02:54","slug":"evaluation-of-two-new-assessment-methods-for-selecting-telephone-customer-service-representatives","status":"publish","type":"questions","link":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/questions\/evaluation-of-two-new-assessment-methods-for-selecting-telephone-customer-service-representatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluation of Two New Assessment Methods for Selecting Telephone Customer Service Representatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phonemin Company is a distributor of
\nmen\u2019s and women\u2019s casual clothing. It sells exclusively through its merchandise
\ncata log, which is published four times per year to coincide with seasonal
\nchanges in customers\u2019 apparel tastes. Customers may order merchandise from the
\ncatalog via mail or over the phone. Currently, 70% of orders are phone orders,
\nand the organization expects this to increase to 85% within the next few years.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The success of the organization is
\nobviously very dependent on the success of the <\/span><\/p>\n

telephone ordering system and
\nthe customer ser vice representatives (CSRs) who staff the system. There are
\ncurrently 185 CSRs; that number should increase to about 225 CSRs to handle the
\nanticipated growth in phone order sales. Though the CSRs are trained to use
\nstandardized methods and procedures for handling phone orders, there are still
\nseemingly large differences among them in their job performance. CSR performance
\nis routinely measured in terms of error rate, speed of order taking, and
\ncustomer complaints. The top 25% and lowest 25% of performers on each of these
\nmeasures differ by a factor of at least three (i.e., the error rate of the
\nbottom group is three times as high as that of the top group). Strategically,
\nthe organization knows that it could substantially enhance CSR performance (and
\nultimately sales) if it could improve its staffing \u201cbatting average\u201d by more
\naccurately identifying and hiring new CSRs who are likely to be top performers.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>The
\ncurrent staffing system for CSRs is straightforward. Applicants are recruited
\nthrough a combination of employee referrals and newspaper ads. Because turnover
\namong CSRs is so high (50% annually), recruitment is a continuous pro cess at
\nthe organization. Applicants complete a standard application blank, which asks
\nfor information about education and previous work experience. The information
\nis reviewed by the staffing specialist in the HR department. Only obvious
\nmisfits are rejected at this point; the others (95%) are asked to have an
\ninterview with the specialist. The interview lasts 20\u201330 minutes, and at the
\nconclusion the applicant is either rejected or offered a job. Due to the
\ntightness of the labor market and the constant presence of vacancies to be
\nfilled, 90% of the interviewees receive job offers. Most of those offers (95%)
\nare accepted, and the new hires attend a oneweek training program before being
\nplaced on the job. <\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization has decided to investigate the
\npossibilities of increasing CSR effectiveness through sounder staffing
\npractices. In particular, it is not pleased with its current methods of
\nassessing job applicants; it feels that neither the application blank nor the
\ninterview provides an accurate and in\u00ad depth assessment of the applicant KSAOs
\nthat are truly needed to be an effective CSR. Consequently, it engaged the ser
\nvices of a consulting firm that offers various methods of KSAO assessment,
\nalong with validation and installation ser vices. In cooperation with the HR
\nstaffing specialist, the consulting firm conducted the following study for the
\norganization. A special job analysis led to the identification of several
\nspecific KSAOs likely to be necessary for successful performance as a CSR.
\nThree of these (clerical speed, clerical accuracy, and interpersonal skills)
\nwere singled out for further consideration because of their <\/span><\/p>\n

seemingly high
\nimpact on job performance. <\/span><\/p>\n

Two new methods of assessment provided by
\nthe consulting firm were chosen for experimentation. The first is a paper\u00ad and\u00ad
\npencil clerical test assessing clerical speed and accuracy. It contains 50
\nitems and has a 30-minute time limit.<\/span>     The second is a brief work sample that
\ncould be administered as part of the interview process.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the work sample, the applicant must
\nrespond to four different phone calls: a customer who is irate about an out\u00ad of\u00ad
\nstock item, a customer who wants more product information about an item than
\nwas provided in the catalog, a customer who wants to change an order placed
\nyesterday, and a customer who has a routine order to place. Using a 1\u20135 rating
\nscale, the interviewer rates the applicant on tactfulness (T) and concern for
\ncustomers (C). The interviewer is provided with a rating manual containing
\nexamples of exceptional (5), average (3), and unacceptable (1) responses by the
\napplicant. A random sample of 50 current CSRs were chosen to participate in the
\nstudy.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>At
\nTime 1 they were administered the clerical test and the work sample;
\nperformance data were also gathered from company records for error rate (number
\nof errors per 100 orders), speed (number of orders filled per hour), and
\ncustomer complaints (number of complaints per week). At Time 2, one week later,
\nthe clerical test and the work sample were re\u00ad administered to the CSRs.A
\nmember of the consulting firm sat in on all the interviews and served as a
\nsecond rater of performance on the work sample at Time 1 and Time 2. It is
\nexpected that the clerical test and work sample will have positive correlations
\nwith speed and negative correlations with error rate and customer complaints.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

After reading the description of the study
\nand observing the results above, <\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

1. How do you interpret the reliability
\nresults for the clerical test and work sample? Are they favorable enough for
\nPhonemin to consider using them \u201cfor keeps\u201d in selecting new job applicants? <\/span><\/p>\n

2. How do you interpret the validity
\nresults for the clerical test and work sample? Are they favorable enough for
\nPhonemin to consider using them \u201cfor keeps\u201d in selecting new job applicants?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>3.
\nWhat limitations in the above study should be kept in mind when interpreting
\nthe results and deciding whether to use the clerical test and work sample?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phonemin Company is a distributor of men\u2019s and women\u2019s casual clothing. It sells exclusively through its merchandise cata log, which is published four times per year to coincide with seasonal changes in customers\u2019 apparel tastes. Customers may order merchandise from the catalog via mail or over the phone. Currently, 70% of orders are phone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"disciplines":[9],"paper_types":[],"tagged":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/21659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/questions"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/questions\/21659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"disciplines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disciplines?post=21659"},{"taxonomy":"paper_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper_types?post=21659"},{"taxonomy":"tagged","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writemyessays.app\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tagged?post=21659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}