SCENARIO

As a rapidly growing transport service provider, Groove Inc. has promised to double its efforts in improving customer satisfaction. The company has been around for a decade; and although it is currently among the top choices of consumers, the team has been struggling with aging company issues.

The customer service sector of the company is battling with outdated communications software that had already cost numerous losses. Team members claim that engaging with clients with their current system is frustrating, to say the least. High demand also calls for the need to hire even more company drivers, as data suggests that the number of daily customers exceeds service capacity. A concerning increase in resignations may potentially make the situation worse.

The project manager was tasked to solve these continuous improvement issues using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle.

During planning, the team was able to identify and affirm the problems. The outdated communications system has become too obsolete, causing inconvenience to both team members and clients. The lack of drivers and the need to improve compensation was also given attention.

The team immediately hired experts to transition to the most advanced communications system. A month-long trial commenced to test the efficiency of the newly adopted process. The human resources studied their strategies to locate and acquire quality candidates to keep up with customer demand. And finally, the entire management proposed better compensation for the entire team.

The following month, the solutions to the issues are now put into action. The new communications system is now fully operational, recruitment processes expanded, and the team has started to receive their improved benefits.

At the end of the cycle, the project manager was able to report positive results from the continuous improvement method. Communication issues are eliminated, resulting in staggering customer satisfaction reviews and better service over-all. The company is now able to accommodate ever-increasing demand and the teams morale higher than ever.

Questions

i. What are the problems encountered by the company? ii. What method was used by the project manager to solve the problems?

iii. What are the actions taken by the project team? iv. What are the results of the continuous improvement?