Posts Tagged ‘Growth’

Effective Career management as a mechanism for personal and organizational Development and Growth

By Agaba Herbert

Introduction

According to wikipedia the career management process begins with setting goals/objectives. A relatively specific goal/objective must be formulated. This task may be quite difficult when the individual lacks knowledge of career opportunities and/or is not fully aware of their talents and abilities. However, the entire career management process is based on the establishment of defined goals/objectives whether specific or general in nature. Utilizing career assessments may be a critical step in identifying opportunities and career paths that most resonate with someone.

Ball (1997) notes that making career choices and decisions are the traditional focus of careers and interventions. The changed nature of work means that individuals may have to revisit this process more frequently now and in the future than in the past. Managing one’s organizational career concerns the career management tasks of individuals within the workplace such as decision making, life stage transitions, dealing with stress and so forth.Raddon (2005) (ed) notes that the changes in the drivers, form, content and structure of work have been evolving since the first exchange of goods and labor existed, but within the last century the pace of this evolution has accelerated, and information professions have been among some of the most rapidly changing areas. These changes have been taking place in a context of social, economic and technological flux…organizations have responded through the responding need of technologies, changing formal structures, decentralization, improved flexibility, structural alterations in the workforce, and different responses to issues of race and gender.

Career management at a Personal level

Sustainable career management starts when one is a child. It involves parenting styles and roles in a family. This means that both parents of a child should ensure that they closely monitor their child development in terms of the likes and dislikes, their thinking patterns; the way they socialize with others in terms of group activities with their friends. This stage is crucial because at that time the brain is growing so what the children do and like is deeply ingrained. It is the role of their parents to try and understand these patterns so that they can guide their children well. The challenge is that some parents seem to think that what worked for them will necessarily work for their children something which may not be the case. This has affected the careers of many people who have gone on to do “famous” courses something which is regretted at the latter years of their careers. At this level, career management involves setting personal goals and devising strategies to achieve these goals. It should be noted that career management is a an on-going process that involves self evaluation to find out if one is still on the same path s/he chose to take years back.

Organizational Development

Goodyear et.al (2006) note that the concept of organizational development (OD) is often used to represent the ability of an organization to continuously improve. French and Bell provided an academic and comprehensive definition of OD as “a long-term effort, led and supported by top management, to improve an organization’s visioning, empowerment, learning, and problem-solving processes, through an ongoing, collaborative management of organization culture…using the consultant/facilitator role and the theory and technology of applied behavioral science…. On a day-to-day level, a shorthand definition of OD is “an ongoing, thoughtfully planned effort by all members of an organization to improve how that organization operates, serves its stakeholders, fulfills its mission, and approaches its vision.

Career management is both an individual and organization concept. Organizational development enhances career management through visioning, empowerment and learning. This means that if these components of organizational development are well taken into account by both the employers and employees the individual will grow within the organizational framework and the long-term learning will help the individual even if s/he decides to join another organization.

Components of Effective Career Management both at Personal and Organizational level

Learning

Career management thus is primarily an individual responsibility. Career planning and pursuing the desired career is a life long process for an individual, where he continuously learns about his purpose, personality, skills and interests. The process of career management by an individual involves rigor and focus at each step. See (alagse.com)

Since individuals are looking for a favorable and competitive career paths continuous learning to improve their skills, change their perceptions and attitudes about work is paramount. The individual learns a lot through life experiences and is able to share the skills and knowledge to those who are willing to learn and apply them for the betterment of society and human kind. 

Personal and Organizational Change

In the current career environment, individuals with alternatives obtain more challenging and growth-oriented opportunities. Individuals with alternatives need not accept consequences; rather they create opportunities for themselves…Given the organizational changes that have occurred in recent years (downsizing, de-layering, decentralization, reorganization, cost-reduction, IT innovation, competency measurement, and performance related measurement), and their potential negative psychological impacts (anxiety, lowered self-esteem, competitive behaviors, frustration, stress, lowered self-efficacy, and low trust behaviors), a positive framework is required for approaching the future. see (Career Management Guide; career resources).

With a volatile work environment as it is today many changes are happening and so managers, employers, employees, and other stakeholders should do all what they can in order to fit in this ever-changing environment. If this is not done then both the new and old companies will lose their footing. These changes do not only affect the structures and the ways of doing business but they also affect people’s careers.  In order to embrace these changes both the employers and employees should learn new skills, empower themselves in order to find their rightful place in this volatile work environment.

Skills Development

According toNoe (1996) in the study entitled “Is career management related to employee development and performance?”, career management process involves career exploration, development of career goals, and use of career strategies to obtain career goals. The relationship between different aspects of the career management process and employee development behavior and performance was examined in this study. Employees provided information concerning their personal characteristics, career management strategies, their manager’s support for career development, and willingness to participate in development activities. Managers provided ratings of each employee’s job performance and developmental behavior. Position, manager’s support for development, environmental exploration, and distance from career goal explained significant variance in employees’ willingness to participate in development activities and developmental behavior. Career management was not significantly related to performance ratings.

This is crucial in the sense that different individuals need skills to improve on their work and enhance their careers. That is why serious organizations throughout the world spend a lot of money in training both the old and new staff.  Training can be in from of on-job but the knowledge acquired could also be used in future projects and some times in other organizations since the individual may not stay in one workplace for life.

Organizational culture

According to Morris (1992) Organizational culture is the shared values or common perceptions that are held by each member of an organization. This may be a small team, an operating department, plant site or a large multinational organization. A value system has evolved (or perhaps formally defined and implemented) within the organization or group. Through corporate history, in-house training, speeches, tradition and informal story telling, these values are passed from senior members of a firm to new employees.

Organizational culture is a very important component of effective career management in that it helps in shaping one’s core values, common goals and teamwork. Values help in shaping a person’s character and different employees learn to work together and achieve their targets through teams. Individuals learn a lot through teams whose foundation is the organization through its culture and values. It should be noted that different organizations have different cultures something, which means that career management is not static it is dynamic. Development of one’s work ethic though is something that all serious organizations are expected to impart to their employees.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge management touches upon everything every person does at your firm. Since knowledge management is not a discrete function, the knowledge management organization cannot be viewed as an isolated administrative function. It must be able to implement initiatives across all functions and practice groups. It needs to establish strong relationship with key administrative functions to implement firm-wide knowledge management initiatives. Gretta (2003)

All departments within an organization should take information gathering and knowledge management seriously. Employees must be availed this knowledge in order to enhance their career prospects. This will be useful for the individual and the organization. The organization should be a learning one that is abreast with the changes that are taking place both in the internal and external environments. The organization should make sure that individuals are given the freedom to learn and adapt new ways of thinking in order improve their skills and worldviews.

Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching is a way to give employees instruction on how they can better use the skills and expertise they already have more effectively Bentley (1996).  Mentoring is a process of aiding another with transitions; it is about one person helping another Megginson (1995). It involves one person, the mentor, helping another person or mentee to reach his or her goals, through coaching, counseling, guidance, sponsoring, and the parlaying of knowledge Stueart (1993) Mentoring is usually “a three-way beneficial process,” which helps the mentor, the mentee, and the organization. The primary function of a mentoring relationship is to further the career of the mentee, but the person being mentored is not the only one who benefits from the relationship.

Coaching and mentoring are crucial in developing one’s career and cement the relationship between the employees and the organization. This also reinforces organizational strategy, and a more sustainable decision-making and problem solving mechanism.

Conclusion

A well-managed career helps the individual and the organization at large to realize goals and devise strategies for achieving them, development of leadership skills and builds a focused, determined and visionary employers and employees. It helps the organization to manage change for the betterment not for the detriment of its employees. It also helps individuals manage and grow up in better-organized environments at their homes, communities and workplace.

References

Ball, B (1997) Career Management Competencies: The individual Perspective. Career Development International 2 (2). 74-79

Bentley, Trevor J. 1996. Bridging the Performance Gap. Gower,  England.

Gretta, Rusanow (2003) Knowledge management and the smarter lawyer ALM publishing New York.

Goodyear, Kathleen et. al (2006) Organizational Strategies for Fostering a Culture of Learning, Marilu. University of Kansas

Megginson, David, and David Clutterbuck. 1995. Mentoring in Action. Kogan page,  London.

Morris, Richard M., III (1992) Effective Organizational Culture is key to a company’s long-term success, Industrial Management

Noe, R. A. (1996), Is career management related to employee development and performance?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17: 119–133. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199603)17:2<119::AID-JOB736>3.0.CO;2-O

Raddon Rosemary (2005) (Ed) Your career, your life: career management for the information profession.  Ashgate Publishing, Burlington

Stueart, Robert D., and Barbara B. Moran. 1993. Library and Information Center Management. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Career_management.

Retrieved on 16.09.2010

www.cma-canada.org/…/Attachments/CareerGuide.pdf.

Retrieved on 16.09.2010

http://www.alagse.com/hr/hr4.php.

Retrieved on 16.09.2010

Contact Solutions Inc. Receives Investment from North Bridge Growth Equity

Contact Solutions Inc. Receives Investment from North Bridge Growth Equity
RESTON, Va. — Contact Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand contact automation solutions…

Read more on citybizlist Baltimore

Why Telemarketing Growth Took a Dip

The telemarketing industry has witnessed some sharp rises in the growth chart. Studies conducted on call center units by various independent surveys have validated that. It’s true that last year the BPO sector was not really working wonders for the employees or for the economy. Things started to change for the better during the early months of this year. The first quarter, from January to March, paid great dividends to the telemarketing services. Encouraged by their success, the call centers went all out in the second quarter to attain something bigger than it was last time. The efforts were not less than what was desired. However, things didn’t turn out well for the BPO service. The spike of the first quarter was followed by a dip in the next.

There are some valid reasons why the telemarketing sector couldn’t repeat the performance of the first quarter. The main reason is the amount of offshore BPO outsourcing that is happening on the global scene. Call centers in the developed countries are going dry because the projects are not really there for them to work on. Telemarketing services being outsourced to the developing countries meant that the domestic projects were not coming to them. The business firms would, of course, prefer offshore BPO service because of the cost cuts that they can avail. The money generated in these deals is less than what it would have been for call center units in the developed countries. The lesser sum of money involved is why the total revenue generated dipped in the second quarter.

Another reason is the Do Not Call (DNC) list. The telemarketing agents are hugely restricted by the growing importance of the DNC list. Telecom authorities across the world are coming down heavily on telemarketing services that violate the DNC list. Call centers are being burdened with law suits and penalties. Previously, the call center units could get away with these violations. The situation has changed in the present scenario. Now, you have the authorities enforcing the penalties in an active, aggressive way. Clients are wary about BPO units that have a legal hassle to deal with. No client would want to associate themselves with such a BPO service unit and bring harm to their brand image. That’s something that the business process outsourcing firms will have to be careful about.

The telemarketing sector may also have been hit with the increased dependence on the internet for lead generation. Voice calls are passé for many clients and companies. They want to use Web 2.0 tools for their sales lead generation. The result is that the call center units are relying on social media networks and websites to promote products/services. The search engine optimization (SEO) efforts of the BPO unit make them come off as the market leaders in BPO service. In fact, SEO is now a distinct part of the call center services. The outbound call center agents are spending more time in creating profiles and maintaining them on social media networks than in calling people.

The Significance of Call Center Outsourcing in the Growth of your Business

Cost effectiveness and quality of outsourced call center services are much talked about.  Irrespective of needs, requirements, types and sizes of the businesses, call centers have excelled the expectations of their clients and demands of market.

For a smooth run of your business, outsourcing to some extent has become mandatory. Call center outsourcing services have always been there when you needed them to increase the productivity, meet the ever changing and growing needs of your business and be in touch with your precious customers on 24/7 basis. Even if it were for technical support or remote assistance in real time, call centers and their workers deployed their skills, resources and technology to your aid.

Their up-selling and cross selling techniques help to sell more by convincing the customers to purchase value added extra benefits or discounts with the main product.

For product promotions, getting sales lead and business development through telemarketing, outbound call centers have worked to spread awareness and increase your visibility in the eyes of customers. Client interaction through telephone communication, chat, IM, email and faxing increases the credibility of customers on your products.  Being in touch with your representatives enables you to create an efficient and ‘always available’ image for them.

With the revolution of call center scene with advanced technology and monitoring techniques, call centers are now laced with all inclusive options to promote the growth of your services.  Services like predictive dialer, IVR, call tracking, and call details reporting services help to create a database that can boost your sales figures.

Call center workers address your extended business needs. You do not have to initiate recruitments, wait for an ideal candidate to come by or waste valuable time and money to train them the niceties of your business. You just hire them and send one of your representatives for a day or two to let them know what you want from them. You can choose to send a manual online as well. Call centers increase your ROI and decrease your costs. Moreover, they increase the productivity of your team by letting them   concentrate on the core and strategic parts of business.

Call Center Outsourcing Services: Promoting and Ensuring Growth of a business

In this back breaking market competition era, every segment of industry find comfort in the shelter of cost managed services of offshore call centers.  Outsourcing call center services provide impetus to the growth of the company by reducing the costs and increasing revenue. A call center company helps you to explore new horizons of growths by taking the burden of time consuming work practices and workload off your shoulders.  Your variable staffing needs reduce as you just simply process and transfer your request to a call center. You save overheads costs and expenses which you can spare on core market processes and promotion.

When you decide to outsource, your business witness a great transformation.  The processes get more streamlined; more focused and productive. Your in-house team does not have to spend time on time consuming business activities like handling customer calls or overseeing administration processes and maintaining track sheet of work done or pending.

The operational efficiency of business increases across all levels. You pay offshore money for on-shore standards of work and quality.  With core expertise and experience in services like help desk support services, back office support services, web enabled chat services, technical support services, call centers let you utilize their resources and man power for your business.

Call center outsourcing service providers serve as a platform where you can meet the best of cutting edge technology resources, talent and skills. They work as an offshoot for your business extending your organizational goals and value to fulfill business expectations.  However, they charge nominally.

Updating you on weekly and fortnightly terms and providing services on 24/7 basis, they work to create your brand presence and thus, promote your growth.  Your customers get to be in touch with them constantly.  Your business stats are managed efficiently and seamlessly.  

Call center outsourcing can be the wisest and smartest business decision only if you would have been careful and selective.  In the abundance of choices, you need to find one and right outsourcing service provider for you.  While a right call center outsourcing decision can give you cost effective and result oriented market growth, a wrong and hasty decision can dump your hard earned money, credibility and market reputation down to the rags.

Where Next for Global Contact Centers? New Market Opportunities, Growth Sectors and Effective Sales Strategies

The portfolio of technology management reports are designed to help you make well informed and timely business decisions. We understand the problems facing today’s technology executives when trying to drive your business forward, and appreciate the importance of accurate, up-to-date, incisive product, market and company analysis. We help you to crystallize your business decisions. The strength of our technology research and analysis is derived from access to unparalleled databases and libraries of information and the use of proprietary analytic techniques. This reports are authored by independent experts and contain findings garnered from dedicated primary research. Our authors’ leading positions secure them access to interview key executives and to establish which issues will be of greatest strategic significance for the industry. Our technology portfolio of reports can be used across a wide range of business functions to assess market conditions and devise future strategies. The order form on the back of this brochure lists recent titles available from the categories of CRM, Strategy, eCommerce, Information and Communications Technology and vertical markets including Finance and Healthcare.

Some key findings from this report…

Over 800,000 hosted AP’s will exist globally by 2010.

Contact center outsourcing deployments in mature vertical markets will rise from 0.87 to 1.25 million AP’s during the period 2006-12, although annual growth will fall by 8% in the same interval.

Remote (virtual) workers represent a significant expansion in contact center functionality, despite only constituting a small percentage of AP’s, encompassing 354,000 workers in 2007.

The Indian contact center market is suffering a decline in annual growth, falling by 30% between 2005 and 2009, due to the maturing market and increased competition from offshore locations.

The public sector is the fastest growing global vertical market.

AP’s in Central and Eastern Europe are set to grow by 71% to 308,800 between 2004 and 2009 with this growth driven by offshoring and outsourcing.

Where Next for Global Contact Centers?

New market opportunities, growth sectors and effective sales strategies
The growing contact center market continues to proffer new revenue potential for vendors in emerging and established markets. Contemporary communication channels, the advent of new business models presenting new delivery formats, advancements in working practises and data convergence all serve as testaments to the opportunistic possibilities. However, as developed markets begin to mature, effectively enhancing the strategic identification and exploitation of opportunities will become a requisite core competency for successful growth sustainability. Where Next for Global Contact Centers? New market opportunities, growth sectors and effective sales strategies is a new management report that provides a detailed examination of potential market opportunities and growth sectors on a global scale, investigates price and cost optimization and evaluates the efficacy of the latest strategies and business models. Use this report’s analysis of untapped opportunities and growth niches to enhance your strategic outlook and revenue sustainability

For more information plz visit – http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=82557

Higher Attrition Rates: Menacing the Growth of Call Center Industry

While call center industry is looking forward to the unstoppable growth, attrition rates are marring its prospects.  As per the data published in the leading newspaper after a statistical research of attrition rates in call center outsourcing industry it was concluded that Australian, European and Indian call centers reported 29 percent, 24 percent and 18 percent attrition respectively. On global average it came up to 24 percent. According to a research data, the attrition rate for voice-process is around 55-60 percent and 15-20 per cent for the non-voice schedules. It also predicts that there would be 1.1 million call center job requirements by the years to come whereas the shortage of around 2, 62,000 professionals dooms the call center industry this year.

As per a definition attrition attributes to the downsizing of a company in size or number. In call centers where a thumbs-up to a project takes the company a step ahead, attrition push them miles back.  Other then rigorous shifts, monotony of the work, workload and physical strain or no personal life things attached to it, there are some reasons for which employees leave their call center jobs:

1) Poaching: Another big call that needs to be resolved is “Poaching”. Poaching is to lure the candidate of one organization by offering bigger rewards or high salary. Poaching is a common exercise observed by almost every organization nowadays.

2) Psychological Stress: Working on weekends/holidays, the guilt of no time for spouse or family took toll on mental health of call center workers.

3) Policies at Work Place: Some of the call centers are termed as Coolie Centers by their employees. The workers join there for experience or in some need and then, flew off.

Attrition has become major threat to the boom experienced by call centers. Besides the lost efforts and wasted time, an organization suffers with monetary losses as well.

1) In case, if we calculate the post of a person in terms of expenses/salary/benefits and the profit he could have brought to the company and compare it with the time when the post was vacant and productivity was zero even the work was completed by another team members.  Also, include the cost of the time taken to interview the person, the administrative time and costs to begin and stop the payroll and other company benefits, the cost of manager’s time to understand and evaluate the situation to know what is pending, training costs, the cost of the impact on departmental work, the cost of knowledge/skills/ information that company entrusted in you and so on amount enough to weigh down a company under financial crunch.

2) The cost of advertisements like-job portals, in-house recruiters, referrals and internet posts range high to a call center.

3)  New hiring costs higher to a company than the previous one.

It is clear that the costs related to attrition are threat to the financial sanctity and credibility of any organization.  Some of the dangers are directly associated with the organizations some are not. However, all of them are real and HR should take desperate measures to attend the causes whatever they are.

To estimate, the cost of attrition to a company, the thumb rule mentioned below stands credible. Though, it depends on the category of the staff.

The cost of attrition = (Total staff x attrition rate in percentage) x (annual salary x 80 percent)