CASE STUDY

It is 7:15 a.m. in Hayward, California, and Marjorie Wong-Gillmore, a 32-year-old bank manager and mother of two, is driving down highway 17 toward the Milpitas branch of Security Pacific National Bank, where she usually arrives by 8a.m. To help her plan her typically hectic day, Wong-Gillmore already has a three-page list of things to do that she prepared the night before.

Deregulation of banks has increased the competitive pressures and made it much more necessary for bank managers to be proactive in attracting new business. As a result, Wong-Gillmore says that her number-one priority is customer service-keeping current customers satisfied and signing up new ones. In attempting to bring in new customers, she tries to make visits each day to potential business customers. Unless she finds time to make such visits, she is unlikely to meet her goal of building her business customer base. In fact, she already has scheduled several appointments for the afternoon. One visit will be to a Chinese restaurant whose proprietor is installing a new credit card imprinter that will deposit the credit slips into a Security Pacific acceptance account. She needs to provide bank supplies for use with the imprinter and to make sure that the operation runs smoothly for the new customer.

Near the top of her list is a new-customer campaign that has most recently been aimed at certified public accountants. She has already sent letters to CPAs in the area attempting to interest them in a special type of account that lets the account holder write himself or herself a loan as needed. Now, as she fights the traffic moving toward the heart of the Silicon Valley, Wong-Gillmore is trying to figure out when she can allocate time for follow-up phone calls.

Wong-Gillmore is also thinking about personnel problem that weighs heavily. One of her assistant managers, Yvonne Frechette, was recently promoted to a better job at a larger branch in nearby Sunnyvale. While she is happy for Frechette, the promotion has made it difficult for Wong-Gillmore because her branch now has only one assistant manager instead of the usual two. The situation makes Wong-Gillmore's job much more difficult because she has to absorb some of the extra work load. Hopefully, she will have a replacement soon.

As Wong-Gillmore arrives at her office at 8 a.m., she is quickly immersed in a flurry of activities. First, she goes to her desk to take care of the most immediate task of the day, reviewing her circulation file. The file contains new procedures she is to initiate at the branch, as well as information about new special promotions (such as discount on traveler's checks or incentives to open checking accounts) that must be implemented immediately. Next, Wong-Gillmore reviews reports from the previous day's activities. One report shows rejected debits, indicating insufficient funds. On the basis of a customer's account history, Wong-Gillmore must decide whether to cover a check or let it bounce, a task that would usually be handled by an assistant manager if the branch were not shorthanded because of Frechette's promotion.

The remaining assistant manager is busy coordinating the counting of the cash deposits from the bank's night depository. Since this is a Monday, there are large numbers of deposits that were made by business owners over the weekend. The counting of the deposits involves several people, since each locked canvas deposit bag must be opened and simultaneously counted by two people, a time-consuming process called "dual control." As a result, Mondays are usually especially busy.

On other days, Wong-Gillmore holds various staff meetings at 9 a.m., often to go over the banks' various products. For example, are at least seven different kinds of checking accounts. "Its gotten so diverse that you can get a customer in the door and spend 15 or 20 minutes just explaining all the options," she says. Wong-Gillmore has to expend considerable time and effort to ensure that the staff is well versed in the varied and constantly changing products of the bank.

At 10a.m the branch opens and customers begin pouring in. During the peak time in the middle of the day, Wong-Gillmore becomes what she calls "Utility player," pitching in wherever needed.She might review loan applications, talk with customers, and deal with the constant problems that arise, such as breakdown of automated teller machine. Sometimes she works at a teller window if customer lines get particularly long. She also must sometimes deal with irate customers who get upset if lines are long or a mistake is made.

Still, as much as possible, she likes to live the operations of the branch to her assistant managers. Otherwise, she might easily get completely caught up in the day-to-day problems and lose sight of the fact thather main task is getting more customers for the bank. Nevertheless, when things are not running smoothly at the branch, Wong-Gillmore must juggle her time schedule to help her resolve major problems. As a result, Wong-Gillmore is under constant time pressures.

An added pressure is the fact that the teller lines close at 3p.m each day and all paper records of the day's transactions must be ready to be picked up by the courier at 3.30 to be transferred to the bank's regional office. "From 3:00 to 3:30 its basically a mad house around here," Wong-Gillmore says. In addition to overseeing the transaction paperwork, Wong-Gillmore must have any of her own memos about interdepartmental dealings ready to go at 3.30 as well.

Often Wong-Gillmore is visiting customers in the afternoon, but if she happens to be in the bank instead, she might analyze customer credit requests, check current levels of supplies, and try to catch up on the things that have fallen behind due to unforeseen interruptions are problems. Requests for credit from businesses often take a great deal of complex analysis in order to come up with the right solution to a business credit need, another time-consuming job in her already hectic day. Nevertheless, Wong-Gillmore enjoys the many contacts she makes in the business community, and she likes "dealing with different companies and learning how they operate."

Wong-Gillmore also likes working with her staff. She says that when people do well, as Frechette did in getting promoted, "that's not only a reflection of their achievement, but a reflection of my achievement as well." Conversely, she states that when an employee does not do well, "you feel like you are failing too. This year we've had to let go of two or three people. That's not easy, especially when you know they are good people, and they were trying their best, but they just weren't careful enough." Generally, people are fired for having shortages in their cash drawer. Regardless of the reason for the shortages, she must lay off employees who have chronic shortages- a less than pleasant task. She also dislikes the paperwork and the constant changes in procedures. "We're constantly getting reviews of regulations, and we might get an indication of things that change one way, and the see them go the other way two months later."

QUESTION

Identify and explain the managerial methods and roles evident in Wong- Gillmore's activities of managing Pacific National Bank? Support your answers with illustrations from the case study. (20 Marks)