Case Study Assignment | Buy Assignments Online
CASE QUESTIONS
You are assigned the challenge of designing the training program for the temporary
CSS employees who must complete training before they become permanent CSS
employees.
Tip: From the case information, it is clear that the KSAs lacking in the 18 people selected without the full complement of desired competencies, are those associated with problem solving and customer service. Thus, these should be the areas of focus in the questions.
1. What are the training objectives for the CSS training program? Indicate how these are tied to the KSA requirements. Assume that all trainees have college degrees but need KSAs in all other areas listed in the Qualifications section.
The purpose of this question is to have students make the connection between the KSAs required for a job and the duties and responsibilities of the job.
Customer service duties would include the following: (see top of page 259)
- Monitor and insure that customers perceive that customer service staff treats them with courtesy, respect, tact, and a sincere desire to meet their needs.
Related KSAs: Ability to communicate accurately and pleasantly with customers.
- Provide mediation and resolution to customer complaints and requests within delegated authority limits and consistent with departmental policies. Communicate to customers departmental policies and procedures.
Related KSAs: Effective conflict management skills. Ability to communicate moderately to highly complex policies, procedures, and regulations, and ensure customer understanding of these while working under pressure.
· Identify processes and procedures in the department that are causing problems for groups of customers (not individuals) and work with department management toward their improvement.
Related KSAs: Problem solving skills, communication skills
From the description of the duties and responsibilities, students should write training objectives that specify what the customer service trainees would be able to do at the conclusion of training, the conditions under which they would be able to do these things, and the standard of performance expected. Students’ objectives can be expected to vary considerably, depending on how they intend to measure training’s effectiveness.
- Based on the training objectives provide a training agenda, indicating the time
allocated and order of modules in your program.
The intent here is to get students thinking about what different types of training will be required, how they should be sequenced, and how long each component will take to complete. Here it is probably best to provide the customer service training modules first (e.g., communication, conflict resolution). This training can be used as a foundation for the problem solving training and it will likely be perceived by trainees as more directly related to the job. Once this set of KSAs has been learned, the connection with problem solving should become more evident.
3. For each module, describe the goals of the module and the training methods you will use to accomplish it. Provide your rationale.
In answering this question, students should refer back to the training objectives to identify what each module is supposed to accomplish. One or more of the training modules should address each training objective. Equally important is the student’s ability to match training methods with training objectives. That is, they should be using a method that is good at accomplishing the objective. Table 6.9 might be a good resource in doing this.
4. How will you evaluate whether each person in your training program has mastered the knowledge and skill levels needed to perform as a CSS? Describe the types of questions you would ask of those supervising the CSS employees graduating from your training program.
The first part of this question looks at the overall evaluation strategy—which of Kirkpatrick’s levels does the student think should be evaluated and how will they conduct the evaluation. The second part of the question focuses on the transfer of learning issue. Students should use their training objectives to develop the types of questions they would ask of the supervisors. Again, the importance of training objectives should be recognized here. The student should realize that they have gone a long way toward answering this question with their answer to question one.
