CASE I
A Reply Sent to an Erring Customer
Dear
Sir,
Your
letter of the 23rd, with a cheque for Rs. 25,000/- on account, is to hand. We
note what you say as to the difficulty you experience in collecting your
outstanding accounts, but we are compelled to remark that we do not think you
are treating us with the consideration we have a right to expect.
It
is true that small remittances have been forwarded from time to time, but the
debit balance against you has been steadily increasing during the past twelve
months until it now stands at the considerable total of Rs. 85,000/-
Having
regard to the many years during which you have been a customer of this house
and the, generally speaking, satisfactory character of your account, we are
reluctant to resort to harsh measures.
We
must, however, insist that the existing balance should be cleared off by
regular installments of say Rs. 10,000/- per month, the first installment to
reach us by the 7th. In the meantime you
shall pay cash for all further goods; we are allowing you an extra 3% discount
in lieu of credit. We shall be glad to hear from you about this arrangement, as
otherwise we shall have no alternative but definitely to close your account and
place the matter in other hands.
Yours
truly,
Questions:
1. Comment
on the appropriateness of the sender’s tone to a customer.
2. Point
out the old – fashioned phrases and expressions.
3. Rewrite the reply according to the
principles of effective writing in business.
Case II
Advertising Radio FM Brand
A young, gorgeous woman is
standing in front of her apartment window dancing to the 1970s tune, “All Right
Now” by the one – hit band free. Across
the street a young man looks out of his apartment window and notices her. He moves closer to the window, taking interest. She cranks up the volume and continues
dancing, looking out the window at the fellow, who smiles hopefully and waves
meekly. He holds up a bottle of wine and
waves it, apparently inviting her over for a drink. The lady waves back. He kisses the bottle and excitedly says,
“Yesss.” Then, he gazes around his
apartment and realizes that it is a mess. “No!” he exclaims in a worried tone
of voice.
Frantically, he does his
best to quickly clean up the place, stuffing papers under the sofa and putting
old food back in the refrigerator, He slips on a black shirt, slicks back his hair, sniffs his armpit, and lets
out an excited , “Yeahhh!” in eager anticipation of entertaining the young
lady. He goes back to the window and
sees the woman still dancing away. He
points to his watch, as if to say “Come on.
It is getting late.” As she just
continues dancing, he looks confused.
Then a look of sudden insight appears on his face, “Five,” he says to
himself. He turns on his radio, and it
too is playing “All Right Now.” The man
goes to his window and starts dancing as he watches his lady friend continue
stepping. “Five, yeah,” he says as he
makes the “okay” sign with his thumb and forefinger. He waves again. Everyone in the apartment building is dancing
by their window to “All Right Now.” A
super appears on the screen: “Are you on the right wavelength?”
Questions:
1.
What is non – verbal communication? Why
do you suppose that this commercial relies primarily on non-verbal
communication between a young man and a gorgeous woman? What types of non – verbal communication are
being used in this case?
2.
Would any of the non-verbal communications in this spot (ad) not work well in
another culture?
3.
What role does music play in this spot? Who is the target market?
4.
Is the music at all distracting from the message?
5.
How else are radio stations advertised on TV?
CASE
III
EMPLOYMENT
INTERVIEW OF R P SINHA
Mr. R P Sinha is a MBA. He is being interviewed for the position of
Management Trainee at a reputed company.
The selection committee’s is chaired by a lady Vice – President. Mr. Sinha’s interview was as follows :
Committee
: Good morning !
Mr.
Sinha : Good morning to Sirs and Madam !
Chairperson
: Please, sit down.
Mr.
Sinha : Thank you (sits down at the edge of the chair, keeps his portfolio on
the table)
Q.
Chairperson : You are Mr. R. P. Sinha
A
Sinha : Yes, Madam. This is how I am
called.
Q.
Chairperson : You have passed MBA with 1st Division.
A.
Sinha : Yes, Madam.
Q.
Chairperson : Why do you want to work in our organization ?
A
Sinha : It is just like that. Also,
because it has good reputation.
Q.
Member A : This job is considered to be quite stressful. Do you think you can manage the stress
involved.
A.
Sinha : I think there is too much talk about stress these days. Sir, would you tell clearly what you mean by
stress ? I am very strong for any stress.
Q.
Member B : What are your strengths ?
A.
Sinha : Sir, who am I talk boastfully about my strengths. You should tell me my strengths.
Q.
Member C : What are your weaknesses ?
A.
Sinha : I become angry very fast.
Q.
Member A : Do you want to ask us any questions ?
A
Sinha : Yes Sir ! What are the future
chances for one who starts as a management trainee ?
The member tells M. Sinha the typical
career path for those starting as Management Trainee. The Chairperson thanks Mr. Sinha. Mr. Sinha promptly says in reply, “you are
welcome,” and comes out.
Questions:
1. Do you
find Mr. Sinha’s responses to various questions effective? Give reasons for your view on each answer given by
Mr. Sinha.
2. Rewrite
the responses that you consider most effective to the above questions in a job
interview.
3. Mr.
Sinha has observed the norm of respectful behaviour and polite
conversation. But, do you think there is something gone wrong in his case ? Account for your general impression of Mr. Sinha’s performance at the interview.
conversation. But, do you think there is something gone wrong in his case ? Account for your general impression of Mr. Sinha’s performance at the interview.
Case
IV
Outsourcing
Backlash Gets Abusive, Ugly
I don’t want to speak to
you. Connect to your boss in the US,” hissed the American on the phone. The
young girl at a Bangalore call centre tried to be as polite as she could.
At another call centre,
another day, another yound girl had a Londoner unleashing himself on her, “
Yound lady do you know that because of you Indians we are losing jobs.”
The outsourcing backlash
is getting ugly. Handling irate callers is the new brief for the young men and
women taking calls at these outsourced job centers. Supervisors tell them to be
“cool”.
Avinash Vashistha,
managing partner of NEOIT, a leading US-based consultancy firm says,” Companies
involved in outsourcing both in the US and India are already getting a lot of
hate mail against outsourcing and it is hardly surprising that some people
should behave like this on the telephone.” Vashistha says Indian call centers
should train their operators how to handle such calls.
Indeed, the furore raised
by the western media over job losses because of outsourcing has made ordinary
citizens there sensitive to the fact that their call are being taken not from
their midst but in countries, such as India and the Philippines.
The angry outbursts the
operators face border on the racist and sexist, says the manager of a call
center in Hyderabad. But operators and senior executives of call centers reguse
to go on record for fear of kicking up a controversy that might result in their
companies’ losing clients overseas.
“It’s happening often
enough and so let’s face it,” says a senior executive of a Gurgaon call centre,
adding, “This doesn’t have any impact on business.”
Questions:
1. Assume you are working as an operator
at a call centre in India and are receiving irate calls from Americans and
Lodoners. How would you handle such calls? Conceive a short conversation
between you and your client, and put it on paper.
2. “Keep your cool.” What does this mean
in term of conversation control?
3. Do you agree with the view that such
abusive happenings on the telephone do not have any impact on business?
Justify.
ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS, PROJECT REPORTS
AND THESIS
ISBM / IIBMS
/ IIBM / ISMS / KSBM / NIPM
SMU / SYMBIOSIS / XAVIER / NIRM /
IGNOU
MBA - EMBA - BMS - GDM - MIS - MIB
DMS - MMS - DBM - PGDBM - DBA
ARAVIND
09901366442 – 09902787224
Competitive Price
Super Fast Mail Services
High Quality Standard
No comments:
Post a Comment