YouhaverecentlybeenpromotedtoapositionofCustomerServiceManagerofatravelcompany,OnYourWayTravels.Youhaveateamoffourandhalfwhoworkdirectlyunderyou.

JaneandPaulwork38hoursaweek(fulltime),Rickworks25hoursperweek(parttime),Sueworksaminimumof3hourspershiftupto30hoursaweek(casualhours)andisnotavailablefromWednesday to Friday. There is also a oater who works both the ticketing and is on the road forpromotions- Alex, they are full time and split their hours 40/60 between each team depending onneeds.Youareafulltimeemployee.

Janehasworkedforthecompanyfor3yearsandisusuallythenextinchargewhenthemanagerisnoton the oor. Paul has only been with the company for 3 months and is still learning. Rick hasintermittently been part of the company for three years, experiencing periods of on-and-offengagementduetofrequenttravels.Suehas2yearsexperienceandisstillatuniversity.

Janeisgoingonholidayduringthemonthfromthe15thtillthe25th.Paulneedstohavethreedaysofffromthe7thtillthe10th.Suehasletyouknowthatsheisnotavailableforthelastweekofthemonthdue to a university exam block. Rick has no commitments coming up so far. There is an increase inpromotions for the second week of the month, hence Alex will be on the road 60% of the time ratherthan40%.

Store hours are 9am till 5pm- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdayand Friday. Thursday is 9am till 9pm, Saturdayis9amtill3pmandSundayisclosed.Therostersincludeuptoanhourbeforeopeningforcleaningandsettingupthestoreanduptoanhourafterclosingduetocleaning,nishingoffwork,andpackingup.

Theremustalwaysbeatleastonepersonontoopenandtwotoclose.Lunchhappens4hoursafterastaffmemberstartsworkandcanbeeitherhalfanhouroranhourlong,dependingonthelengthofthe shift (5- 6 hours= half an hour, over 6 hours= 1 hour long). There should always be two people onover lunch break to cover for one staff member taking lunch. There have been problems in the pastwith staff so management updated the procedure to have two staff members close the store at alltimes.

Openingrequirescleaningofthestoreandorganisinganypromotionsormarketingmaterialsfortheday-printingorhangingofsuchmaterials.

Duringthedaythestaffarerequiredtomaintainthestoreareatobecleaned,takecareofcustomerseitheroverthephone,throughthewebsitechatfunctionorfacetofaceinthestore.

Closingconsistsofclosingdowntheregisters,makingsureallmoneytillsarebalancedandputinthesafeintheofce,nalcleaningofthestore,nishingupordersandshuttingdownthecomputers.

• Scenario 1- There is a surge in travel reservations for Week 2 of the month. This means thatprocessing times are very busy and customer wait times on the rst day of the week rose20mins.Howwillyouovercomethisissue?
• Scenario 2- In week 3 on day 4 the InternetWi went down and your team was unable tocomplete the internet booking of reservations. What will happen to this backlog of work andhowwillyouovercomethis?
• Scenario 3- Higher management are lookingat nances for your branch of the travel agencyanddeterminingwheretocutcosts.Theyhaveaskedifyoucanworkoutwhetheryouneedthecasual staff member to work as much as they do. You are to go through the roster anddetermineifyoucancutatleast5hoursaweekfromSueorproposeanalternative.Exampleofanalternativeproposal-haveAlexcompletemorehoursinthepromotionsteaminstead.
• Scenario 4- Higher management has askedyou to research ways to improve efciency andservicelevels,andwhetherthereareanyupdatedtechnologiesorsustainablepracticesthatyoucan implement. Explain how you would proactive consult with colleagues/ staff members andtheteamontheseissues.Includeinyouranswer
  • howyouwouldchallengeandtesttheideasinapositiveandcollaborativeway,

• howyouwouldencourageindividualswhoraiseproblemstohelpprovidesolutionsand
• whatfollowupactionsyouwouldtaketomonitortheeffectivenessofthesolutions.