Regarding models of call centers, Rogelio Oliva, in his PhD thesis,
developed a model of a large UK banks back office retail and small
business lending operation, which was similar to a call center. Through
observation, interviews, collection of archival and statistical data, and
participation in the process, Rogelio developed a model to explore how
resources, training and mentoring, absenteeism, workload, overtime, and so
on interacted with demand, customer expectations, and worker norms for
service to determine the throughput and quality of work.
Rogelio found, surprisingly, that the standard of service that affects
customer quality could steadily erode over time even when the resources
available were, on average, sufficient to meet demand. A powerful floating
goal process was responsible: when, due to random variations in demand or
resources, the workload rose above normal, loan officers would both work
overtime and reduce the time they spent on each customer, thus speeding
throughput. Rogelio found that the workers were twice as willing to cut
corners (reduce the time spent with customers) as to work overtime. Over
time, their norm for the time they should spend with customers would drift
down, so the next time the workload increased, they were willing to cut the
time per customer still more. This goal erosion process was not countered
by pressure from reduced customer satisfaction because (1) customers rarely
complain about small dissatisfactions; and (2) management did not have
reliable and frequent market survey instruments in place to monitor and
report customer satisfaction or benchmark on competitors.
Finally, management interpreted the reduction in time spent per customer as
productivity improvements due to learning or technology, and then cut the
staff of the center to realize cost savings. The result: more work
pressure that encourages still further cuts in time per customer.
Rogelio argues convincingly that such quality erosion can be pervasive in a
wide variety of service settings.
Rogelio and I now have a paper on this work (see
http://web.mit.edu/jsterman/www or
http://www.people.hbs.edu
oliva
esearch/service/esq.html) and the model
is also available for download from that page. Comments are welcome.
John Sterman
From: John Sterman <
jsterman@MIT.EDU>