For one assignment in Human Performance Improvement class I was given the assignment to create a Cause Analysis for a fictional organization to understand their work place environment to adjust it for the better taking into account all the stakeholders involved. Again, this is a fictional account with the details listed in an assignment and the parameters dealt with worst case scenario type issues in an organization so therefore with the idea of unlimited budgets and resources (I know when does that happens?) this assignment was crafted with those variables in mind. Please post any comments or questions to facilitate a discussion in the comments sections below.
Organizational Background
Omir University is a for-profit, online education institution that has recently experienced a disruption in the production and communication within its Financial Aid (FA) department specifically with the email team at the downtown Chicago office. The Chicago Financial Aid email team consist of ten representatives, two Financial Aid team lead team leads and a Manager designated especially for that team; there is also an Associate Financial Aid Director and the site Financial Aid Director that the entire team reports too. The Financial Aid department (organization-wide), is divided into teams based upon specific job assignment or into specialized roles to create a stronger focus on productivity and task completion.
The impact of this disruption has spilled over into other Financial Aid teams and other Organizational departments (Academics and Admissions). The original reason for specialization was to reduce errors and meet the 90% Student (survey) approval rating created as a standard or overall goal by the organization; now the team is barely at 63%. Other teams in Financial aid (such as verification) and the other departments have seen a 33% increase in “traffic” (communication) and an increased number of follow-up requests (2,731 emails) by students for the email team to address their concerns.
Omir University has a standard procedure in which management staff creates daily reports to detail and track performance scoring, individual employee production, and procedure comparison methods. Therefore, the management staff can track what methodologies, policies, and procedures from the past, and present assist in maintaining and meeting optimal levels expected by the organization, present, and future. But the breakdown of this process is at the currently implementing of action to bridge these performance gaps.
The emphasis of individual teams with the Financial Aid department has created a culture of competition and isolationism organization-wide. Therefore, employees and managers alike are no longer cross trained upon policies that role distinctive, and therefore the Email team cannot receive help or explain their issues properly from other Financial Aid officers or managers. This lack of knowledge deterred the FA email team from communicating with departments and individuals with their department or assigned management staff.
To overcome these issues and reduce the number of the email backlog of more than 5,000 emails an independent Gap Analysis has been completed to determine and compare past performance to the present performance of the Financial Aid email team. This way I can determine for the organization the best methodology close the gap between the current (Actual) performance and what is expected (desired) (Van Tiem, et al., 2012). During the Cause Analysis phase, since student surveys have inferred the problem that the organization is focusing on using that data and including pre-training session surveys of representatives and management (Van Tiem, et al., 2012). This method would fit more along the lines of a 360-degree feedback because as I aforementioned, I have have the organization produce past and present performance reports to be included for assessment by the FA email team. Included in this process are Focus groups which will be scheduled before the training sessions to determine the direction of the sessions from the information gathered (Van Tiem, et al., 2012). There will be an additional survey with the team a week and two weeks (identical each time) after as part of the follow-up process (Lavoie, 2017).
- Identifying and analyzing actual and desired performance
Actual performance (present-day)
- There is a lack of clarity and uniformity to information given to students regarding their Financial Aid questions via email.
- Management is unable to provide student or representatives with via solutions (responses) regarding Financial Aid questions.
- Management is unaware of how to reduce response turnaround time, by individual representatives.
- Financial Aid team representatives are responding to an average of barely under 18 emails a day.
- The low number of responses has caused a backlog of an approximate number of 5,000 emails that were ignored, with additional new 75 emails entering the Email Que per day.
- There are 1,000 emails that have been read therefore classified “lost” due to a lack of response as reported by the student surveys.
- There is little or no communication with the Financial Aid team management or Departmental leaders.
- Other departments in the organization are included in the “lack of communication” issue as students are reaching out requesting follow-ups to their emails. The 2,731 emails or 33% increase in the additional traffic which these the Admissions and Academics departments are reporting but cannot answer due to federal regulations.
- The Financial Aid team has a score for the month and this quarter an average of 63% on student surveys in regards to customer satisfaction of their Financial Aid inquiries.
Desired performance (to be met by the next quarter)
- The Financial Aid team needs to score the required average of 90 % for the month and this upcoming quarter on student surveys in regards to customer satisfaction of their Financial Aid inquiries.
- Financial Aid team representatives are expected, individually (not average) to complete a minimum of 25 email responses a day.
- Management must be knowledgeable of federal regulated, approved responses to student questions.
- All responses to all stakeholders (internal/external) by the Financial Aid email team must be uniform, clear and consistent.
- Management must assist in the reduction of the email backlog i.e.: determining which email that additional responses are not needed and therefore, eliminated from the overall scoring process.
- Reduction of the email backlog to under 1,000 emails maximum not responded to, 200 emails is the minimum.
- Increased involvement and communication between Financial Aid email team, their assigned manager, and team leads, along with the Associate Director of FA and site Director of FA.
- Increased communication with other departments by FA email team and site management to reduce the number of response requests gathered by these departments by at least 50%
- Identifying the gaps-present and future; positive, neutral or negative-between the actual and the desired performance state.
As aforementioned the student survey data will be included in determining of the performance gap as they are directly affected by the lack of productivity of the FA email team. In order, to increase their understanding of the impact and awareness of negative productivity, the FA email team will be engaged in a survey as well (Appendix C). This method will identify how they comprehend their team performance score and gain data on what factors have impacted their individual performance about the team score. These surveys were sent anonymously to gain the best (and accurate) response possible (Son, 2015). Identical surveys were sent to team management and their immediate directors to indicate that they are also held responsible for the FA email’s production and scoring on the student surveys (Appendix A).
Present gaps:
- Management involvement is minimal at the time and solutions to issues are not developed or implemented.
- Departmental specialization of all team and individual roles and assignments are intact and have not changed. The organizational culture of competitiveness and segregation is still intact.
- Email backlog is currently approximately more than 5,000 emails and increasing due to an average of 75 emails per representative per day. The Customer service score given to the FA email team by the students through anonymous surveys stands at 63%.
| Positive Gaps | Neutral Gaps | Negative Gaps |
| Management awareness of the issues that presently face the FA email team has increased | Organizational culture remains the same, all roles and assignments for the teams and individuals (divisions) in the Financial Aid department in Chicago endure. | Email backlog is above acceptable organizational standards, and the customer service score is currently below organizational standards. |
Future gaps:
- In the future, increased disconnect of communication with a student will lead to a reduction of enrollments and erode the current student body. As discontent amongst the customers/students grows, many will be deterred from attending the University, decreasing profits and the University’ market share.
- With further inaction, other departments will request a direct intervention by the Organization’s Executive staff (CEO, CFO, etc.) to solve the issues facing the Chicago FA department and specifically the FA email team. The organizational division between departments and the teams within will increase as a result.
- The Email backlog will increase in number, the FA email team’s Customer service score will decrease even further. As a result restructuring of the team and management staff will
| Positive Gaps | Neutral Gaps | Negative Gaps |
| The Organization’s Executive staff awareness of the issues that face the FA email team will increase. | Organizational culture along with all assignment and roles (divisions) in the Financial Aid department in Chicago will endure. | Email backlog will increase, and the customer service score will decrease even further below organizational standards. Restructuring of FA email team and management staff (termination) is inevitable. |
- Prioritizing the gaps
The entire team is under scrutiny due to limited skills and knowledge shown apparent through the performances of the Fa email team, their immediate management staff, and site directors. It is almost evident that interaction between the team and their immediate higher-ups is strained and limited to meet the minimum of organizational expectations.
The lack of communication between the FA email team and the management staff, site Directors and other departments affects the organization on the whole. The miscommunication or inconsistency of answers given by the FA email team to students regarding their questions compounds the problem as they ask other teams departments in search for a straight forward consistent answer.
Without clear answers about their Financial Aid plans, the students become frustrated and are likely to look at different educational opportunities. As students leave, the revenue that the for-profit institution brings in reduces, as for-profit institutions do not take in donations from alumni as non-profits do. Therefore, maintaining a positive social media presence, staying within the guidelines laid out by the Department of Education, and receiving high customer service ratings, in general, all translates into money or enrollments for the University. The issue facing the FA email team becomes a deterrent for Omir University and deviates from this medium.
The deviation then becomes a problem for the organization overall as a decline in revenue is inevitable, the problem ripples over the entire organization as enrollments and maintaining a healthy student body by the other departments becomes more challenging. The longer the problem exists means that the organization will be forced to restructure departments with higher demands upon individual/team performances. This problem also increases the percentage/number of employee turnovers as employees become more frustrated working towards unattainable goals inside an ineffective system.
With dwindling revenue becoming a steady trend because of not resolving the problem of inconsistent service will, in the end, compel the organization to resort to layoffs, thereby compounding the problem and leading to an increase in employee turnovers.
Performance gaps
- Be able to distribute clear, uniform statements to answer the concerns of the student body that is consistent with all FA email Team members and assigned management (as necessary).
- Student backlog of 5,000+ emails is 90% cleared by the end of the quarter, 33% by the end of the month.
- Increased communication and cooperation amongst the FA Email Team, assigned management, and site Directors.
- Management and site Directors will be able to identify and create solutions per DOE regulations for dealing with student issues. This same group can understand the policies and procedures that help and able to complete common tasks that face the FA email team.
- FA Team management will also streamline coordinate workflows that create the best practices for daily task completion for the team and reducing the Student email backlog.
Analyzing the causes.
We have confirmed that there is a limited time for training the small number of FA email team representatives, the assigned management team and the site Directors. Due to the specialization of the team’s roles allowing for no “backup” team of individuals to cover the team during a prolonged training period properly. To maximize this time there will be a combination of tools used, focus groups and the 360-degree feedback before the required training reflecting upon the data given by student surveys and what observations and experiences the team has had in the field.
- Identify the driver or cause of the performance gap:
Understanding that as in many organizations that the organization’s culture plays a major part within the issues of the dysfunctions and probe for environmental causes that are affecting performance we will use the tried and tested an adaptation of Gilbert’s Probe model (Appendix B). Specific individualized roles create an atmosphere of segregation from the rest of the FA department and organization not allowing for assistance on major issues from inside or outside the department.
This separation also exists between the team and the assigned team management as the management team is unaware of how to assist the representatives or plot strategies to clear the email backlog. Due to the specialization of their individualized role the FA email team, is considered almost “untouchable” and thereby immune to discipline as employee turnover for this team is highly feared. Hence, whether the FA email team performance is at 90% or 63% the everyday results for the team is the same.
- Classify the driver or cause by understanding the origin:
To understand where the origin of the cause, focus groups, and 360-degree feedback meetings consist of the entire team, for two weeks, and twice a week for two hours. We will present a review of the student surveys in the form of a “team Jeopardy” question-and-answer format, role-playing scenarios, and a review of Financial Aid job aids.
The entire FA email team (with site directors) will be allowed to reflect on student survey responses and why they occurred adding to that reflection of their team’s performance about its creation.
360 Degree meeting feedback consists of:
- Lack of management knowledge (cross-training) site directors included assisting the representatives with daily task completion and issues.
- Management does not engage the representatives on possible solutions, such as a standard email template for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) i.e.: proof of citizenship requests from DOE.
- FA email team requires direction as well as additional assistance around the University’s busy times, such as enrollment drives at the beginning of the school terms, to address student questions/emails.
- FA email team needs a simple, standardized uniformed message that is consistent to all students regarding solutions to student issues (i.e.: proof of citizenship requests from DOE).
- FA email team needs to increase daily email responses per representative, to meet the influx of incoming emails and decrease the probability of email backlog issues.
Focus Groups meeting feedback consists of:
- Understanding how student surveys affect the organization, the negative impact (possible layoffs) it will have on the department and the team.
- Dissemination to FA Email team, team management, and site directors to find online, solutions for FAQs and Job Aids created by the DOE; Introduction to ifap.ed.gov site (Appendix D).
- How segregation from the rest of the organization, department and specifically site directors created by the organizational culture, leads to a lack of leadership and understanding of the challenges that face the FA email team.
- Scheduling of future focus groups for Site Directors, FA email team and team management staff to discuss progress on the Student Email backlog, any new or consistent issues that representatives see the effects performance (Van Tiem, et al., 2012).
- Prioritize the drive or cause (in the performance environment):
To quickly address the lack of performance by the FA Email team, growing student email backlog and to take the first “baby” steps to solve the issue of the organization’s negative culture.
- The priority to create a highly functional inclusive atmosphere between the FA email team, its assigned team management, and the site director is the highest priority.
- Secondary to that priority is creating a uniform, consistent response(s) to student concerns that the can be easily understood and explained by every member of the team and if necessary the site directors (if involved).
- Cross training of daily tasks with the FA Team management staff are third in priority, but the cross training of site Directors are of medium priority due to scheduling and prioritization of their individualized daily tasks. Cross training will assist in assisting the representatives clear the backlog and help the management team gather data on effective strategies for the future.
- Generate cause examples:
- FA email team representatives, assigned team management or FA site directors do not face discipline for poor Therefore, the solutions for the poor customer service student have not created.
- Organizational culture divides the FA email team from (for example) the FA Verification team into responsibilities and job functions, when applying daily performance standards. Hence the focus and need to communicate with other departments or even other departments is not considered by the organization as completely necessary since you are in “competition” (production-wise) with them.
- Without standards for email responses also referred to as canned responses the FA email team are creating various responses to students in length, terminology, etc., to causing more confusion amongst the student body inquiring about their Financial Aid.
- When asked FA email team management expresses that they cannot schedule interventions for their team due to lack of task and procedural knowledge.
- Without communication or exposure to the rest of the organization (site directors, departments, etc.), comprehension or knowledge of how low production outputs (by the FA email team) impacts the organization overall is at an all-time low, this includes student requests and complaints about the team.
FA email team feels that they are an “island” alone within the “sea” known as Omir University. In other words, the team of representatives feel that they are not getting the proper support from management and other higher ups like the site directors, and therefore are performing their job functions aimlessly and individually.
- Verify causes with another performance improvement colleague by asking questions:
- What can be done to create and implement solutions among the members of the FA email team representatives, assigned team management, and site FA directors before corrective action (for low performance)?
- With a prevalent Organizational culture is including team management and FA site directors into daily activities of the FA email team the logical first step to broadening communication across the FA department and into other departments organization-wide?
- Will creating a standard email template for FAQs solve the problem of the inconsistent content in the email responses by the FA email team eliminating the confusion the lack of standards creates?
- Would cross-training the FA email team management bridge the gap in their task and procedural knowledge?
- Would daily reports and communication from team management and FA site directors increase the FA email team’s knowledge of student complaints, their team production, and the team’s impact on the organization?
- Increasing involvement through cross-training and discussing ideas to meet production requirements decrease the isolation and lack of support the FA email team feels and give them the direction they want?
Appendix A: Student satisfaction surveys that are sent immediately after sending an email via Omir University’s Financial Aid Portal Survey gauging customer satisfaction and informing the organization of performance gaps. The students are given a 10-question anonymous survey to understand their perspective on the service supplied by the FA email team (each survey is team specific) the questions are listed below:
- Was this the first time you contacted the Fa email team regarding this issue?
- Were you satisfied with the level of service you received today?
- Was the answer(s) to your questions clear and concise?
- Was the representative that answered your question knowledgeable about giving you a solution for your issue?
- Would you recommend Omir University to friends and family?
- If this was not your first time contacting the FA email team is it regarding a new issue?
- Did you have to, at any time contact an FA email team manager or team lead for assistance?
- Have you received consistent answers each time you contacted the FA email time?
- How likely are you to continue with Omir University for other educational opportunities after this experience?
- Have you contacted other departments or teams to follow up on an email request with the FA email team?
- How many times have you contacted the FA email team regarding the same issue without a solution?
- If this was not your first time contacting the FA email team how times did you have to contact the team to resolve your issue?
- What can we do to serve you better?
All the questions focus towards the service the student received and how clear the answers were to how difficult it was to receive a workable solution/clear answer for their issues Breaking it down further:
- Questions 1 to 7 is yes or no questions/answers.
- Question 8 was a scoring question,
- Question 9 yes or no question/answer
- Questions 10 to 12 were multiple choice questions/answers of how many times they contacted the FA email team or Omir University in general regarding their issue(s)
- and Question 13 was a “what can we do better” essay.
Please note: the survey starts with “Please take my survey” and ends with “Thank you for taking my survey,” you can take the survey yourself: https://surveyplanet.com/589b7475e7e2c70ac63e2f2a Created by Mart Pro, Consultant
Appendix B: A modified addition of Gilbert's Probe Model (King Jr, 2013).
| Questions | Yes | No |
Category: Information
|
| Has the organization clearly informed its employees the performance expectations of their assigned roles? | | |
| Do the organization’s employees comprehend facets of their position and the importance of daily task competition? | | |
| Does the organization give any distinct feedback in a structured and timely manner to its employees? | | |
| So that supervisor can inform employees of what are the tasks requirements, and the culmination of their work is there a performance management system in place to assist in this task? | | |
| Do employees have access to Job aids that are clear and relevant to performance expectations? | | |
| Category: Resources |
| Does the organization provide the necessary materials for employees to complete daily tasks? | | |
| Does the organization provide the necessary equipment for employees to complete daily tasks? | | |
| Does the organization provide the necessary time for employees to complete daily tasks? | | |
| Does the organization augment the performance of their employees by having specific processes and procedures that optimize it? | | |
Does the organization provide a safe, clean, and organized work environment that specifically favorable for professional and performance development?
| | |
| Category: Incentives |
| Does the organization ensure optimal performance have in place a financial motivation system in place? | | |
| Does the organization ensure optimal performance have in place a non-financial motivation system in place? | | |
| Does the organization have systems in place for reporting and calibrating purposes so that expected activities and results are achievable? | | |
| Is the fulfillment of an employee’s higher level needs to be improved by job performance under current organizational expectations? | | |
| Does the organization provide opportunities for professional development? | | |
| Category: Motives |
| Do the employees and their environment within the organization have similar or identical motivations? | | |
| Are the employees self-motivated to execute their roles in the organization? | | |
| During the recruitment process are the best employees selected to match the circumstances of the workplace accurately? | | |
| Does the organization punish the top performing employee and rewards the inadequate performing employees? | | |
| Is the University viewed as a positive place to work by its employees? | | |
| Category: Capacity |
| Are there any employees with people with physical disabilities? | | |
| Have the employee aptitudes been tested to match their position? | | |
| Are employees proficient in understanding the policies and procedures to complete daily tasks as assigned to the job position and the requirements that follow? | | |
| Are there any employees with people with emotional or mental disabilities? | | |
| As part of professional development by the organization are employees hired, chosen and coordinated with the stressors and expectations of the position in mind? | | |
| Category: Knowledge and Skills |
| For successful job assignment and daily task completion do employees possess the required Financial Aid knowledge? | | |
| For successful job assignment and daily task completion do employees possess the required Financial Aid skills? | | |
| For successful job assignment and daily task completion do employees possess the required Financial Aid experience? | | |
| Does the organization have a standardized training program to improve the knowledge and skills for their employees? | | |
| Do the organization’s employees comprehend their importance in accomplishing their roles daily and what effect it has on overall organizational performance? | | |
Appendix C: Employee Engagement Survey a survey for the FA email team, and assigned management team to complete to gather data for the 360 Degree feedback and Focus Groups meetings. To gather the team’s perspective of the organization that relates to job functions they are assigned 20 questions listed below:
- The Communication between employees and senior management is great.
- I feel that I am very knowledgeable in my role within this organization.
- The work I do has an incredible impact on my organization.
- The students I come in contact with are completely satisfied with how I assist them
- I do my job with enthusiasm, and I am confident in meeting all the goals the organization assigns to me.
- There are opportunities for professional growth, and I have the support of the organization for development.
- My organization provides me the training and resources to do my job effectively.
- All the departments and teams within the departments communicate effectively on a periodical basis.
- The leaders of my organization keeps me well informed of my impact upon the organization.
- The leaders of my organization keeps me well informed of current events, and issues that have an impact on the organization.
- There are areas in which I feel that I could use additional training in.
- There are areas in which I feel that my team could use additional training in.
- The University’s students are satisfied with the services my team and department provide.
- The different departments communicate with each very well, and the organizational culture supports it.
- The different teams within my department communicate with each very well, and the organizational culture supports it.
- Would it be more effective to use predesignated email templates to complete your tasks.
- Would you be more productive if you used predesignated email templates to complete your tasks.
- Are there currently effective policies and procedures in place for you to complete your daily tasks effectively.
- Is there support within the organization for you to complete your daily tasks effectively.
- When you need assistance, your organization has resources in place to help in any situation.
The employee survey is scored “1” lowest through “5” highest, with the designation of “1” begin No not likely and “5” being definitely. Allowing for easier scoring of the FA email team’s satisfaction with environmental issues that impact their performance.
Please note: the survey starts with “Please take my survey” and ends with “Thank you for taking my survey,” you can take the survey yourself: https://surveyplanet.com/589b7475e7e2c70ac63e2f2a Created by Mart Pro, Consultant
Appendix D: Information for Financial Aid Professionals website an information resource to assist FA email team, assigned management team and FA site directors, to find and create solutions per Federal regulations for the University’s students.
References
King Jr, C. L. (2013). An exploration on the use of Gilberts behavior engineering model to identify barriers to technology integration in a public school.
Lavoie, Andre (2017) “4 Ways to Get Truly Honest Feedback From Employees” Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Retrieved on February 8, 2017, from:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246556
Son, Sabrina (2015) “Employee Engagement Surveys: The 20 Questions You Need To Ask” Oct 7, 2015, TinyPulse Retrieved on February 8, 2017, from:
https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/sk-employee-engagement-survey-questions
Van Tiem, D., Moseley, J. L., & Dessinger, J. C. (2012).
Fundamentals of performance improvement: Optimizing results through people, process, and organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
