Operations Management Techniques of Starfield Hypermall - Term Paper Example

Competition is becoming more and more intense in the global business arena and with increased globalisation companies are being forced to span their wings far and wide. In this endeavour they are faced with challenges that need to be dealt with which can result to crippling of the entire business no matter how huge. The business in question has experienced customer complaints which need to be dealt with through employee training and streamlining of the supply chain which will be through reviewing the current suppliers as well as adopting better supplier selection methods. By doing this the company in question Starfield Hypermarket will see itself make it to greater heights in its new UK market. Introduction Customer satisfaction is a key concept that should be instilled in every organisation from the top management to the junior most staff. In service industry this need is emphasised and more so in the retail sector where direct customer contact is in the offing. In the retail market competition is usually high and losing customers is one risk that a firm cannot afford to take. Regaining customer confidence is seen as a huge and daunting task that is in many times not as successful. This therefore calls for measures to be put in place to solve customer complaints as well as avoiding them in future. Operations management in this case comes in handy to solve the various problems that a retail business may be facing with its customers and in other cases, its suppliers and staff. As the case may be operations management will entail the quality control measures, increase in efficiency and responsiveness to market needs (Hollins and Shinkins 2006). When these issues are exhaustively dealt with then a company will in no doubt gain competitive advantage. In this paper Starfield Hypermall will be taken as an example where operations management techniques are needed to uncover customer complaints, problem areas in the organisation and their solutions. The paper will further review current supplies’ methods and procedures as well as supplies selection. For the sake of this paper at some points the company under review i.e. Starfield Hypermall will be abbreviated: SH. Part I Complaints details and problems and solutions Complaints in a retail business are usually numerous and at times overwhelming. Managers are at times reluctant to look into others and this can be disastrous although it is a common practice. However, in the case of SH the manager is keen to uncover the exact complaints and the details behind each so as to resolve the underlying issues. The problems may be as a result of poor supply chain management or faulty procedures in the supply chain, mistakes by the staff, poor company policies and procedures and poor management towards customer satisfaction requirements. According to Slack et al. (2007) customer complaints should not be taken negatively by the management but rather as disguised blessings. A single customer’s complaint means that there is other numerous customers who are dissatisfied who never bothered to complain. What is important is to appreciate that a bad image is already out there and here is an opportunity to make things right for all. Each complaint mentioned above needs to be dealt with immediately it is aired out while looking into the root causes. SH customers have complained that the staff especially security staff have been harassing them and they act as if they do not have the retail concept surrounding a Hypermall in them. This complaint is quite grave considering that customers complained of being manhandled while actually they were supposed to be well cared for. Here, the contrary actually happened, meaning that losing customers this way can be quite easy. There major problem with this is the training that the security staff have. It seems that it is not specialised to the needs of a shopping mall like SH. Looking back at the hiring procedures that HS UK followed it is clear that they overlooked this aspect. The possible reason for this was the fact that they did not involve their usual partners who are rather experienced in this front. Now that the Hypermall is up and running the most efficient thing to do it to engage the security officers in training that makes them understand the SH customers and its business. Inadequately training the staff is a mistake that is made my not only SH but many other companies and businesses, asserts Bettley et al. (2005). The assumption here is that the security personnel were not adequately trained. The other complaint is directed towards the other staff members other than the security personnel. They are termed as rude while offering service to the customers. Rudeness is the other aspect that drives customers away like bush fire. Considering the sensitivity of the retail market and more so in UK and taking into account that the mall is just three months old, such habits need to be curtailed as soon as it is possible. According to Greasley (2007) customer care practices in an organisation operating in this line need to be superb and incidences of issues like rudeness need to be dealt with without delay. Customer consideration and understanding are key concepts to put in mind. The problem with staff rudeness can also be traced in staff dissatisfaction. SH may be having staff that is having internal issues that are unresolved and they may be using this avenue to seek attention. The other issue is the lack of adequate training on the part of employees on customer service. Considering that SH, UK employed its own staff without involving their partners may have given a loophole where inadequate training was instilled. This will above all include courtesy training and communication skills. SH should engage its staff in intense training so as to ensure that they serve the customers as required and as expected. The assumption here is that the staff members when being employed was not well trained in customer service. Quality of food was the other complaint that was expressed by many customers. Quality as an aspect that goes to serve customer satisfaction at this point is lacking. Quality to a huge extent deals with the products and services being of high reliability as stated by Bendoly et al. (2006). Food is a sensitive product to sell and the service involved is also of importance. Customer complaints can lead to loss of customers and law suits out of food poisoning or related cases. Quality is also associated with meeting customer expectations in the best way possible and obviously this is not being met in SH. The problem with this lies with the catering department and partly with the suppliers. The catering staff means they are either incompetent in producing quality food or/and they are not well trained on customer service. As concerning the suppliers, it has been mentioned that they are not reliable. They also provide poor quality products which translate to poor quality foods. Suppliers are also delivering their orders late. Considering that their deliveries comprise of perishable items, there is high likelihood that they go bad on the way. Supplies have also been providing wrong quantities meaning that some are less while others are brought being more than required. These two scenarios may cause the catering staff members to either reduce or increase the ingredients to various recipes which ultimately produce different results than expected. Retraining is also the best option in this respect for the catering personnel. The issue with suppliers will be exhaustively dealt with in the second part of this paper. This scenario assumes that the catering department employees not well equipped with knowledge of producing food of the expected standard. Customers are also complaining about the facilities that are in the Hypermall. This complaint in itself is strange considering that the Hypermall is only three months old meaning the facilities are still in superb shape. However, a customer complaint however vague needs to be looked into. The problem mostly with the SH is that their facilities are general to the European market but not necessarily serving the needs of the UK customers. It is this aspect that brings in the need for the SH management to have engaged partners who had ample experience on the UK market as they would have advised on the uniqueness posed by this market. Facilities as much at they are new and in good shape does not mean they will serve the needs of the UK market. SH at this point needs to do research on what are the unique needs that the UK customers have. This will be through questionnaires as well as visiting their competitors and seeing what they are providing. Considering that trying to change some facilities may proof expensive, measures to improvise can be implemented (Moersdorf and Nelson 2010). However, the bottom line here is that the customers have to see and use what they expect and in the long run the actual facilities have to be put in place. The assumption here is the UK customers do not prefer the facilities that other Europeans have evidently seemed to enjoy. Part II Methods of reviewing current suppliers and improving supplier selection Starfield Hypermall has had a number of problems with its suppliers which have gone ahead to affect its operations and more so toward customer service. It is high time that the management comes up with measures to review the current suppliers as well as coming up with selection methods that will ensure they associate with the most reliable and efficient suppliers. In reviewing the current suppliers it is important to consider the following: Price and value for money The management needs to evaluate whether it is receiving the best deal for the resources spent in dealing with the supplier. The prices should also be considered at which the suppliers are supplying products. This is in relation to discounts they are offering and what other favourable terms they are having. Hollins and Shinkins (2006) say that the prices have to be reflecting the goods and services offered. Quality Quality as mentioned above is one factor that is too important to overlook in business. The SH management needs to look into each supplier’s products and test their quality. This is one area that most are not dwelling on thereby frustrating the efforts of the company. Delivery This entails collecting data on individual supplier’s punctuality and whether at the time of delivery the products are in the expected condition (Bendoly et al. 2006). SH suppliers are failing in these two aspects miserably and this will be a good area to dig deeper into. Account management SH being a supplier’s client, the supplier needs to respond to the needs of SH in good time and in the best way possible. Some SH suppliers have been seen to be rude and non-responsive therefore such should not be the best to deal with as at the end of the day it is SH that is losing its customers as a result. Service Level Agreements These are agreements that SH should have signed with the current suppliers on the modalities of doing business and the general relationship standards expected. After their review it will be clear which supplier is in bleach and by what extent have they deviated from the agreement. Above are the most basic and most important aspects that the reviewing team needs to consider in trying to uncover the suppliers to continue business with and those to discontinue. Therefore, either way there will be the urgent need for the management to involve itself with intense supplier selection exercise so as to steer the Hypermall to the next level with minimal supplier challenges. The following are methods that can be put in place to improve on the supplier selection: Supplier status Supplier’s financial strength is of essence to consider. It offers a vivid idea on their prospects and their chances of offering competitive pricing. Financially sound suppliers also prove to be more compliant to schedules. Here it is important to consider the number of employees that the supplier and which particular employees are critical. This will help in knowing the supplier’s capacity since the more the employees the higher the chances of faster delivery. The supplier’s location is also important as regards their offices. The closer the suppliers the easier it is to deal with them due to their proximity since orders are fast acted upon according to Greasley (2007). Their credibility is also important where the management will consider supplier’s reputation, clients, partners, strategic direction i.e. their vision and the existing relationship if any. Delivery capability Under this the aspects to consider while selecting a supplier are whether they have ample evidence that they can offer quality products, whether they have enough resources to sustain their supply and what geographical constraints they may experience while supplying. Processes The issues to consider are whether the supplier is formally certified for example ISO9000. Also there is need to look into a suppliers robustness in creating deliverables to as to know whether they are able to offer consistent services. Technical status This is in respect to the supplier infrastructure in respect to security measures put in place for deliverables, environmental compatibility measures e.g. if they are farmers, do they have the required technology to sustain production in dry seasons or adverse weather patterns? Supplier culture This entails the level of commitment and flexibility that the supplier has. This is in respect to urgent orders, schedule upsets and other unexpected changes (Greasley 2007). The others under this are supplier integrity record, their understanding of the specific business environment and innovation in terms of solving problems as they arise. Support This entails whether the supplier is able to receive feedback quickly and efficiently and how fast they are able to act on it. A support system is essential as some issues may require urgent feedback and assistance e.g. times when urgent orders are to be made or urgent changes are to be made. A sound support system enhances efficiency. Conclusion Starfield Hypermall has not operated in UK for long and for it to receive many complaints is an indicator that there is need to recheck the systems operations once again so as to change how various aspects of operations. Employee training is the key issue that should be looked into so as to offer the best customer service. The other is dealing with the suppliers which will entail review of the current ones many of which are unreliable and costing the business a great deal. The management will thus need to engage new suppliers and various methods at this juncture will be applied to come up with the best suppliers they can have. All these when considered will definitely lead to a successful future of Starfield Hypermall in the UK market just as it has been in other European regions. References Bendoly, E, Donohu, K and Schultz, KL 2006, Behavior in operations management: Assessing recent findings and revisiting old assumptions, Journal of Operations Management, vol. 24, 6, pp. 737-752. Bettley, A, Mayle, D and Tantoush, T 2005, Operations management: A strategic approach, SAGE. Greasley, A 2007, Operations management, SAGE. Hollins, B and Shinkins, S 2006, Managing service operations: Design and implementation, SAGE. Moersdorf, P and Nelson, J. Concept of operations and operations management and coordination, viewed 28 Aug, 2010, . Slack. N, Chambers, S and Johnston, R 2007, Operations management, 5th edn, Prentice Hall/Financial Times. Read More