workplace problem

Assignment Task for Unit: Solving Problems and Making Decisions

Background

The Cayman Islands Postal Service (CIPS) has long been an essential part of Island life. The organization provides a vital service to all businesses and households and is part of the global postal network. The organization’s vision is to be our customers’ chosen provider of worldwide distribution solutions. CIPS is unique because the organization can reach more residents in the Cayman Islands than any other business. Globally, we cater to international customers and non-residents. People trust CIPS’ ability to handle their letters and parcels safely. Every day the organization collects and processes more than 40,000 pieces of mail and delivers them to 11,000 post boxes across all three islands. The organization deals with customer queries daily and strives to deal with various customer inquiries and complaints, identifying recurrent problems, and providing management with information and advice in respect of the resolution of these problems. Therefore, communication is a crucial aspect of the services the organization provides.

Describe a problem, its nature, scope, and impact (12 marks)

Communication is the process by which people exchange information and establish a common understanding (French, Rayner, Rees, Rumbles 2015). Every aspect of customer service is filled with communication between the customer and the organization. Communicating in a clear, concise, and timely manner when working with customers is a crucial skill because miscommunications can result in disappointment and frustration. At CIPS, we receive high volumes of written via email, customer service portal, or WhatsApp or verbal communication via calls or face-to-face interaction to address our valued customers’queries and concerns. Recently, the Clerical Officer and Customer Service Officer retired, and one of our Postal Service Officers, “Wilma,” was placed in that role. This role requires the post holder to communicate with customers via multiple means. Wilma is hardworking, enthusiastic, and customer-driven; these are a few reasons she was considered for this position. However, it was discovered that while she responds to customers in a timely manner, there were written communication issues, particularly relating to such misinformation, grammatical errors with messages sent.

For example, Customer Alfred wanted to find out about a package that was delayed due to COVID-19. The Postmaster General had sent her an email detailing some information to share with customers about some of the ways that CIPS was trying to address customers’ various and unique queries. Rather than selecting the information that applied to Customer Alfred, Wilma copy and pasted the entire email from the PMG and sent it to Alfred. This presented a problem because, firstly, Alfred was sent information that he did not need. Secondly, it made him even more confused about what was taking place with his package because the message was not tailored to address his specific needs. Another problem with Wilma’s written communication is that it possesses many grammatical, spelling errors and a lack of appropriate punctuation. Additionally, the formatting of written messages made it difficult for some customers to comprehend the information. Moreover, lack of good spelling, correct grammar and the appropriate use of punctuation can reduct confidence in the organization communicating with them and the organization’s reputation.

Management brought this problem to my attention and began to gather data such as emails and WhatsApp messages Wilma sent to customers.

Gather and interpret information to identify possible solutions to a problem (24 marks)

To identify solutions to Wilma’s communication challenges, I reviewed the email correspondence that Wilma sent to staff and customers. The correspondences I reviewed revealed that she lacked formal written business communication skills such as letter writing and literacy and grammar concerns. I also spoke with Wilma, and she said that as a child, she missed about two years of primary school due to an illness and is aware that this is partially responsible for her writing skills gaps. Nevertheless, she was willing to implement to seek any opportunity and assistance to grow personally and professionally in writing and business communication. I also discovered that she did not have a clear job description that outlined the communication standards when addressing internal and external customers.

Based on the data and information, in addition to consultation with management and Wilma through the brainstorming technique, we identified the following solutions:

• Create a Personal Development Plan
• Provide one-on-one training sessions in business communication
• Provide one-on-one training sessions in grammar, spelling, and punctuation
• Provide time for online learning through the Civil Service College, LinkedIn or Coursera
• Provide access to Grammarly Premium account
• Provide a job description

Prepare a summary of the options providing facts and evidence (16 marks)

Personal development is a continuous lifelong process of nurturing, shaping, and improving skills and knowledge to ensure maximum effectiveness and ongoing employability. The Personal Development Plan provides Wilma’s opportunity to identify the specific areas for growth in writing skills. Upon evaluating her correspondences, the specific areas for improvement include:

• Sentence structure
• Grammar (Subject Verb Agreement, Homonyms & Homophones, etc.)
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Semantics
• Formal letter writing
• Proofreading techniques

The development plan includes one-on-one sessions in business communication, writing skills, and online courses that she would pursue independently.

Additionally, management agreed that she could use Grammarly because it checks for grammatical errors and provides vocabulary enhancement suggestions. It is an investment because it will allow Wilma to not only check the content of her emails but it also provides an explanation for the errors she makes in writing and reinforces what she learns from the blended learning approach. Wilma will so send samples of correspondences she has with customers for review.

Apply a simple decision-making technique to evaluate options to arrive at the best solution (24 marks)

The decision-making technique I consultation and brainstorming technique …

Plan the implementation and communication of the decision (16 marks)

Communication of Decision

According to the ILM workbook, the importance of communicating the decisions concerning problems to those key stakeholders cannot be overstressed. Effective communication is essential for the problem identified because it can potentially demotivate the party involved, i.e., Wilma, or other stakeholders such as management may have unrealistic expectations for the resolution of the challenge.

Describe which monitoring and review techniques could be used to evaluate outcomes (8 marks)

Firstly, the PDP allows Wilma and me to monitor her process because it includes a section for review. Secondly, once a week, Wilma will provide examples of messages she sent to customers for me to review for appropriateness, grammar, etc. The one-on-one training sessions using the website www.study.com to provides video resources, quizzes, and worksheets. These online quizzes and worksheets provide instant feedback upon their completion.

References

French, R., Rayner, C., Rees, G., & Rumbles, S. (2015). Organizational Behavior. Hoboken:

John Wiley & Sons.

ILM …