Case Study: South West Cross Bank (SWX)

Case study of SWX.

Case study: South West Cross Bank (SWX).

Answers to case study questions:-

Answer (1) By doing these changes of job design and work organization in South West Cross Bank (SWX) would influence the relationship between staff members, technology they use and the work methods which employed by the Branch Manager as an operation manager. Due to the introduction of centralization and regionalization of routine operations like telephony and correspondence, which had previously been carried out at branches were now transferred to specialized processing centers (Slack et al. 2007), that would help to revamp the total time and space of the service branch to customer facing activities by the branch manager through scientific management. The main challenge for branch manager was to simultaneously improve the customer service quality and to make the retail operation more efficient in driving down the costs using the latest state of art equipments. Which would affect the regular job of a branch manager, and to achieve that challenge proper balancing of managerial control and staff commitment, and engagement were required. To meet out the above challenges of business environment the branch manager should have following skills: Act as the planners of the work by analyzing jobs and standardizing the best method of doing the job in the changing scenario of market (Taylor, 2008). Good communicator and motivator to ensure the development of committed and motivated workforce by empowering them.
Case study of SWX.

Excellent convincing skills to grab the confidence of his workforce.
Answer (2) Behavioural models of job design are more concerned with individuals reactions to, and attitudes to, their job. It is argued that jobs which are designed to fulfil peoples need for self-esteem and personal development are more likely to achieve satisfactory work performance (Slack et al. 2007). Pycraft et al. (2000) also suggest that the concept of the individuals attitude to the job as an intervening variable which shown in figure 1.1. Figure 1.1
The behavioral philosophy of job Design shifts the approach
From. Job Design Performance
Performance To Job Design Motivation regarding the job
Source: Pycraft et al. (2000). Hackman and Oldham (1975) was suggested this approach to job design involves two conceptual steps which are as follows: First, exploring how the various characteristics of the job affect peoples motivation; second, exploring how individuals motivation towards the job affects their performance at that job.
Figure 1.2, shows the underline view of behavioural design model to analyse the effect of proposed job redesign on the branch employees of SWX, by following Hackman and Oldham those recommended number of techniques of job design in order to affect particular core characteristics of the
Case study of SWX.

job. Further these core characteristics of the job influence various positive mental states towards the job. In turn, these are assumed to give certain performance outcomes which shown in figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2: Behavioral job design model Exploring how the various characteristics of the job affect peoples motivation Exploring how individuals motivation towards the job affects their performance at that job Mental states Performance and personal outcomes
Techniques of job design
Core job characteristics
Combining tasks
Skill variety
Experienced Indifference in the meaningfulness of the work
Low internal work motivation
Forming natural work units
Task identity Low quality work performance Experienced isolated & constantly under pressure for the outcomes of the work
Establishing client relationships
Task significance
Low satisfaction with the work
Vertical loading
Autonomy Misunderstanding about the results of their efforts
High absenteeism and turnover
Opening feedback channels
Feedback
Source: Slack et al. 2007.
Case study of SWX.

According to Hackman and Oldham, these techniques of job design shape the core characteristics of the resulting job, and these core characteristics further influence the mental states of the person doing the job. Here mental states mean the attitude of the individuals towards their jobs, specifically in terms of how meaningful they find the job with how much of responsibility and control they feel when they have over the way the job was done, adding to that how much they understand about the results of their efforts. In a nut shell the high levels of all these mental states show the positively influence peoples performance at their job in terms of their quality of work, motivation, satisfaction with their works, turnover and absenteeism, also mentioned by Greasley (2008).
In context of the effect on the job design of branch employees of the proposed redesign under behavioral model define the mental state of the employees show the attitude of the employees towards their job which experienced the indifference in the meaningfulness of the work, experienced the feeling of isolation and constantly under pressure about the results of their efforts; lack of motivation also leads the misunderstanding about the results of their efforts. So the low levels of these mental states show the negative influence over the performance at their job in terms their quality of work, internal motivation, satisfaction with their works, turnover and absenteeism.
Answer (3) Bowen and Lawler (1992) suggested that the empowerment principle of job design has concentrated on increasing the autonomy which individuals have to shape the nature of their own jobs. Whereas autonomy means giving staff the ability to change how they do their jobs, empowerment means giving staff the authority to make changes to the job itself, as well as how it is performed, cited by Greasley(2008). There are three dimensions of empowerment to design the job: suggestion involvement, job involvement, high involvement:
Case study of SWX.

Suggestion Involvement is not really empowerment in its true form but does empower staff to contribute their suggestions for how the operation might be improved. At the branch level staff involvement in suggestions and improvements are required which is feasible to handle the differentdifferent kind of customers in minimizing the cost of operation and is desirable to enhance the quality of customer service. On the other hand at the CPC where high volume of operations are performed, it is desirable not to dilute their highly standardized task methods, so far they do want staff to be involved in how these methods are implemented, but most of the suggestions involve reprogramming. So it is not feasible because it involves long delays in getting the changes done. Job involvement goes much further and empowers staff to redesign their jobs. It is desirable at the branch level there should be some limits to the way each individual makes changes which could impact on the other staff and on the performance of the operation as a whole. On the other hand at the CPC it is feasible for the staff to join the process improvement team and it is desirable to CPC staff covering not only their own area but also the other areas of working. High involvement means including all staff in the strategic direction and performance of the whole organization. As SWX embarked on one of the most expensive operational change program ever conducted in the European banking industry was planned to roll out over two years and would redesign almost every process in the retail bank division which is feasible but it is desirable that it may be partly to motivate all staff, and it may be partly to ensure that the operation can capture everyones potentially useful ideas.On the other hand it is feasible and desirable at CPC to improve the performance of the team by emphasizing both commitment and group control.
Answer (4): Figure 1.3: Process flow chart for cheque-processing operation:
Case study of SWX.

Beginning of the Process Parcel of cheques delivered by a security firm
Reception Department
scanning, weighting & sign-in of parcels parcels are accumulated until trolley is full delivered through trolley
cheques vibirated in a special machine sorting, extracting metal staples, rubber band & perforation at the edges parcels cut and cheques extracted Preparation room
until trolley is full
prepared bundles placing from trays to trolleys waiting in a queue operative transferred first capture pass
OCR room
Moving towards OCR room machine record the image

Receptio n
Second pass sort

Sorted cheques packed Wait for batch balances Manual keying
If th en Else
Delivered by courier to London End of the process
Source: owners own finding.
There are four steps of value adding in cheque processing operations which are as follows: reception department, preparation room, OCR room and first capture pass.
Case study of SWX.

Reception department adds directly the value to the operation because this is a first contact point of the organization to scan the bar code, checking the weighed of the parcel and to register it in the system for further processing. Preparation room also adds value to the operation because it develops the basic frame work for the actual processing of the operation by cutting and opening the parcels, extracting the cheques and individually sort them , it also looking for the extraction of any metal or rubber bands and perforation of edges because it causes to block the OCR machine. OCR room also adds value because after the extraction of cheques and alignment of its edges bundles of cheques are ready for keying by OCR machine. First capture pass adds higher value because its directly control and monitor the flow of operation by deciding whether computer read the image or passed it for manual keying to make sure all cheques details should register in the system to generate the batch balances where credits and debits match exactly.
References: Tayler, F.W.(2008), The Principles of Scientific Management, A Digireads.com Books,Stilwell, USA. Slack, N., Chambers, S. & Johnston, R. (2007), Operations Management, (5TH ed.),Prentice hall, London. Hackman, J.R. and Oldham, G. (1975), A New Strategy for job Enrichment, California Management Review, Vol. 17, No.3.
Case study of SWX.

Bowen, D.E. and Lawler, E.E. (1992),The Empowerment of Service Workers: What, Why, How and When, Sloan Management Review, Vol.33, No.3, pp. 31-9. Greasley, A.(2008), Operations Management,SAGE publications Ltd, London. Pycraft, M., Singh, H., Phihlela, K. ,Harland, C. , Harrison, A., Slack, N., Chambers, S. & Johnston, R. (2000), Operations Management, Pearson Education, South Africa.
10

Case Study: South West Cross Bank (SWX)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Case Study: South West Cross Bank (SWX)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Case Study: South West Cross Bank (SWX)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Case study of SWX.