1. Highlight the relevant facts and briefly explain at least four (4) key issues identified in the case that have impacted the organization. Caribbean Team Vibes and Whatever! Karen Brown sat in her office and thought about her 20-year career at Bright Lights Corporation (BLC). Her success at BLC has been from her own efforts and management. She had improved diversity for the team she led, launched new products and had taken on challenges which at times seemed insurmountable. Recently, she and her colleagues were part of a team that launched a number of products in the Caribbean region. The successful product launch had created a huge demand for the company’s products that required BLC to establish and centralize a call center in Trinidad and Tobago. The call center would create additional jobs, one of which was her own - Senior Vice President for Global Operations and Support, where she was based in Trinidad and was responsible for beefing up operations and customer service given the growing expansion of the business. As she sat in her office reviewing the latest department call logs, and reflected on the heated meeting she had with her team members this morning, she wondered whether she was competent enough get the job done and exceed the company’s expectations. She wondered whether her team fully supported her. The call response times were unsatisfactory and if the department continued on this path, her budgeted figures would turn red. The meeting this morning disturbed her as she realized that there were disagreements among her team members where there appeared to be a division along Caribbean and Non – Caribbean groups. The team comprised two Jamaicans, one Trinidadian from the Trinidad headquarters and one Panamanian from the Central American sales office. The two Jamaicans, already thinking about customer support, had spent the past few months working with product developers to create webbased training videos that provided step-by-step product use information, as well as testing competitor products. The employee from Panama had also spent time with the product development team and had been an outstanding sales representative. She had transferred from the Central American sales office to join the Trinidad call center. The problem was that the Jamaicans and the Trinidadian were angry about the work habits of the Panamanian member whose call times were longer than theirs, so they accused her of effectively lowering their pay. During that morning’s meeting, things had deteriorated into a verbal onslaught that culminated in one of the Caribbean members calling the Panamanian member a “chatty Latina.” After that, the conflict got personal and highly emotional. Was this the “cultural iceberg” she’d heard so much about? And what exactly should she do to steer the team away from it? Products at BLC When Karen had joined BLC 10 years earlier, it was a small Caribbean company selling unique light fixtures for modern homes. Since then, it had expanded to selling light fittings for hospital equipment. Aside from the light fixtures, BLC’s most profitable product lines included phototherapy devices for the treatment of jaundice (often called light boxes) and a sophisticated line of neonatal heart and breathing monitors. BLC’s institutional customers included hospitals and nongovernmental organizations that cared for at-risk populations and pregnant mothers. The company also sold smaller versions of the phototherapy devices to hospitals. All manufacturing and distribution took place in Jamaica. By 2011, BLC executives were ready to expand sales of phototherapy devices into Latin American markets. The decision was based largely on the region’s lack of competitors in the maternal product segments which, had a low entry barrier. Karen had been part of the team that executed the launch. They had decided to hire locals in each of their markets to create a Latin American sales unit and to focus on direct-marketing distribution channels to institutional customers (hospitals and NGOs). The product rollout to institutional customers in Latin America was a huge success. Within a year, BLC had established ten sales units: two in Mexico, three in Central America, and five in South America. During the first few months of the expansion, the sales representatives were able to provide some degree of customer support because their clients tended to be large hospitals— sales representatives would train a few hospital employees who, in turn, would be the support people in their hospitals (a train-the-trainers model). By the end of that year, however, the management team realized that it did not have the infrastructure to provide customer support for all of the sales it was generating. As customer volume grew, the sales force was too busy to provide reliable customer support. The sales force was paid on commission, so was less interested in providing adequate customer support and was not necessarily made up of the best people to do so.
1. Highlight the relevant facts and briefly explain at least four (4) key issues identified in
the case that have impacted the organization.
Caribbean Team Vibes and Whatever!
Karen Brown sat in her office and thought about her 20-year career at Bright Lights Corporation
(BLC). Her success at BLC has been from her own efforts and management. She had improved
diversity for the team she led, launched new products and had taken on challenges which at times
seemed insurmountable. Recently, she and her colleagues were part of a team that launched a
number of products in the Caribbean region. The successful product launch had created a huge
demand for the company’s products that required BLC to establish and centralize a call center in
Trinidad and Tobago. The call center would create additional jobs, one of which was her own -
Senior Vice President for Global Operations and Support, where she was based in Trinidad and
was responsible for beefing up operations and customer service given the growing expansion of
the business.
As she sat in her office reviewing the latest department call logs, and reflected on the heated
meeting she had with her team members this morning, she wondered whether she was competent
enough get the job done and exceed the company’s expectations. She wondered whether her team
fully supported her. The call response times were unsatisfactory and if the department continued
on this path, her budgeted figures would turn red. The meeting this morning disturbed her as she
realized that there were disagreements among her team members where there appeared to be a
division along Caribbean and Non – Caribbean groups.
The team comprised two Jamaicans, one Trinidadian from the Trinidad headquarters and one
Panamanian from the Central American sales office. The two Jamaicans, already thinking about
customer support, had spent the past few months working with product developers to create webbased training videos that provided step-by-step product use information, as well as testing
competitor products. The employee from Panama had also spent time with the product
development team and had been an outstanding sales representative. She had transferred from the
Central American sales office to join the Trinidad call center.
The problem was that the Jamaicans and the Trinidadian were angry about the work habits of the Panamanian member whose call times were longer than theirs, so they accused her of effectively
lowering their pay. During that morning’s meeting, things had deteriorated into a verbal onslaught
that culminated in one of the Caribbean members calling the Panamanian member a “chatty
Latina.” After that, the conflict got personal and highly emotional. Was this the “cultural iceberg”
she’d heard so much about? And what exactly should she do to steer the team away from it?
Products at BLC
When Karen had joined BLC 10 years earlier, it was a small Caribbean company selling unique
light fixtures for modern homes. Since then, it had expanded to selling light fittings for hospital
equipment. Aside from the light fixtures, BLC’s most profitable product lines included
phototherapy devices for the treatment of jaundice (often called light boxes) and a sophisticated
line of neonatal heart and breathing monitors. BLC’s institutional customers included hospitals
and nongovernmental organizations that cared for at-risk populations and pregnant mothers. The
company also sold smaller versions of the phototherapy devices to hospitals. All manufacturing
and distribution took place in Jamaica. By 2011, BLC executives were ready to expand sales of
phototherapy devices into Latin American markets. The decision was based largely on the region’s
lack of competitors in the maternal product segments which, had a low entry barrier. Karen had
been part of the team that executed the launch. They had decided to hire locals in each of their
markets to create a Latin American sales unit and to focus on direct-
channels
The product rollout to institutional customers in Latin America was a huge success. Within a year,
BLC had established ten sales units: two in Mexico, three in Central America, and five in South
America. During the first few months of the expansion, the sales representatives were able to
provide some degree of customer support because their clients tended to be large hospitals— sales
representatives would train a few hospital employees who, in turn, would be the support people in
their hospitals (a train-the-trainers model). By the end of that year, however, the management team
realized that it did not have the infrastructure to provide customer support for all of the sales it was
generating. As customer volume grew, the sales force was too busy to provide reliable customer
support. The sales force was paid on commission, so was less interested in providing adequate
customer support and was not necessarily made up of the best people to do so.
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps
1. Pay selection: The pay selection is based on team performance. The idea behind designing such a payment system was to encourage collaboration among the team. One person's performance impacted the pay of other team members also. For instance, one team member Maria took an average of 15 minutes for each call, which made the average call time above the set target of 7 minutes of time. The payment is a $1 deduction for each extra minute spent on an average. Due to such pay selection, the issues happened and it impacted the organization.
2. Communication: The goal of the call center was to help the customers resolve their issues sooner and build trust. Maria was from a culture, where caring and helping to the end builds trust. She considered caring for the customers over the target time for a call. Moreover, she expected others to understand her culture before joining the team. Due to the communication barrier of clearly defining the goals, the problem occurred and it impacted the organization.
3. Measure of customer satisfaction: The customer satisfaction rating of Maria was higher than that of others. Due to such measures, Maria felt that her approach is correct. The quality score must include customer rating as well as the rating based on the company targets. Such a basis must be communicated to the employees.
4. Lack of proper call process: During the call, the video walkthrough should not be provided. Moreover, other rules to handle the call must be clearly defined. The calling process should be documented and the quality of the call should be measured as per the process followed.
Question
How would you recommend she address the four (4) issues identified above. Please be specific and realistic and indicate why you have chosen these recommendations for the 4 key issues.
by Bartleby Expert
