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2019 | Book

The Operations Puzzle Read chapter Read first chapter

How to Get Things Right

A Guide to Finding and Fixing Service Delivery Problems

Author: Prof. Beatriz Muñoz-Seca

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : IESE Business Collection

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

In How to Make Things Happen, we learnt that knowledge is the fundamental driver of service efficiency. In this new book, the author follows four very different companies in the finance, gas and tourism sectors as they implement the Service Problem Driven Management Model (SPDM) to improve their operations. With real examples and plenty of practical tips, anecdotes and actionable ideas for real life implementation, this book will teach you how to:

Explore hidden capacity Implement new ideas by transforming pop-ups into prototypes Discover knowledge pills to accelerate learning Develop service modules and problem tracks Put problem solving at the heart of excellent service delivery

Offering a rare insight into how to unblock service problems and the realistic challenges you will encounter along the way, this book shows you how to make things happen and more importantly, how to get them right.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
1. The Operations Puzzle
Abstract
Operations lead from an idea to a satisfied customer. They are company strategy translated into reality. This chapter shows how the four leading players in this book have translated their strategies into operational priorities. The first step of this journey is Promise, essence and flame red.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
2. No Hire, No Fire: Address Sustainable Efficiency Before Headcount
Abstract
The motto “no hire, no fire” becomes an absolute must to make brainpower concentrate on value-added tasks that sustain their employability and the company’s competitive edge. Our companies understand and act upon the need to address efficiency before they even consider getting new people on board. Technology becomes one of the great allies in freeing up brainpower from nonadded value tasks.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
3. Unlocking Capacity to Tackle Higher Value-Added Tasks
Abstract
Capacity analysis allows all our brainpower to be aware of how they perform their tasks, the time they consume in each one, and provides benchmarks in the form of efficient problem-solving agents. The challenge is to find optimal consumption and learn from it. Based mainly on two of our companies, the chapter shows how to perform a capacity analysis matrix and reveals the added value results that the companies achieved.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
4. The Contribution Margin and Tribes
Abstract
A client should no longer be viewed demographically but anthropologically, according to their behavior. Operations efficiency is assessed using the contribution margin, and a key aspect of it is spotting the client’s ethnographic needs and their customer journey. By using the SPDM version of the customer journey, two companies show how they used this tool and how such methodology provided a concrete plan to enhance their service.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
5. What Shall We Do with the Popups? On-the-Spot Innovation Can Create Unforeseen Problems
Abstract
A popup is an innovation that is born of frustration. Service agents see things that do not work and ask for improvements, but the company fails to respond. Their answer is to create an innovation to smash the problem. Such innovations may be excellent, or counterproductive, because while they solve a specific problem they might also do greater damage to the organization as a whole. The chapter shows how to resolve this dilemma, as well as introducing the three agents of innovation (innovator, innomanager and innosufferer) and showing concrete ways to implement new ideas. It also depicts a hitherto undiagnosed brainpower syndrome, the “Himalayan syndrome”.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
6. The Five-Star Constellation and Knowledge Pills
Abstract
The Five-Star Constellation blends capacity analysis with spotting the knowledge stock required to solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems. A knowledge pill is a focused training concept for a very particular set of tasks. It usually comes in two- to three-minute YouTube video clips. This chapter shows how our companies have implemented such concepts. Setting up “knowledge units” is also shown as a way to achieve sustainable efficiency.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
7. Problem-Solving Tracks and Service Modules
Abstract
This chapter shows how to focus brainpower on an efficient problem-solving approach. A track is a highway for specific types of service problems in which particular agents, who have the knowledge required to tackle those problems, solve them. It is articulate because it allows agents to skip from one highway to another, depending on demand. Tracks run through service modules. Any service is composed of a set of service modules that can either be located inside the company or the extended enterprise ecosystem. Service modularity makes for high flexibility. The chapter shows how one company has implemented both tracks and service modules.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
8. Altogether Now! We Need Everybody’s Effort Implementing the “9 Questions” Tool
Abstract
Win-win is the key approach in order to achieve results. This chapter addresses how our four companies have faced the win-win challenge with the help of the “9 questions” tool. This tool offers the basis for implementing SPDM operational culture. It provides nine concrete questions that any manager can offer his team, in order to destroy any blocking factors that the team might encounter, so as to achieve sustainable efficiency.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
9. Concluding Thoughts
Abstract
To round off the SPDM journey for our four companies, this chapter provides concluding thoughts on key elements that may be summarized as a short guide to fixing service delivery problems.
Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
How to Get Things Right
Author
Prof. Beatriz Muñoz-Seca
Copyright Year
2019
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-14088-5
Print ISBN
978-3-030-14087-8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14088-5