Reference no: EM132290742

Make An "As-Is" flow chart of the process to be analyzed. (Target costumer service) and after improvement flow chart .

A description of the chosen process

Customer service which is "the behaviors and attitudes of a company and its personnel toward customers, during all interaction and communication with them" (Swartzlander, 2004, p. 1) is the heart of an organization. Our chosen process is delivering efficient and effective customer service. According to the wikipedia "A customer is someone who makes use of or receives the products or services of an individual or organization. " Thus customer uses the product or service of another individual or firm. This process is of utmost importance to Target as it's into retail industry where its direct clients are its consumers only. Thus the customer service is their core part of operations. The consumer goes to the Target stores with the expectation of exceptional customer service to him for selecting the right merchandise for herself.

In analyzing the "As Is" process, five lenses of analysis are used. The five lenses of analysis are customer satisfaction, software developer frustration, time, cost, and quality. Each lens reveals aspects of the process that are either working or not. Each lens is linked to a specific improvement methodology such as lean, Six Sigma, activity based costing, and reengineering.

For Customer service, the "As Is" flow chart will start with the operational departments, end at customer interface. This is necessary to identify the bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the customer service at Target. After identifying these processes, recommendations can be given to Target with respect to improving efficiencies by comparing the process with best practices in the industry.

Target will use this process to compare the performance and best practices with Walmart and other key competitors. The ultimate goal is to identify improvements that can make significant changes to the organization.

Estimate the level of improvement that could be realized and the value of implementing this process improvement.

Benchmarking opens organizations to new methods, ideas and tools to improve their effectiveness. It helps crack through resistance to change by demonstrating other methods of solving problems than the one currently employed, and demonstrating that they work, because they are being used by others.

Thus quality improvement process will improve the performance of the Target. It will significantly help in improving the customer satisfaction by assisting in improving the quality of services and reduction in costs. It will also assist in the creation of new and innovative products and services aimed at broadening its horizons. Moreover it will not only help the company in creating products which meets the utmost standards in quality and provide ultimate customer satisfaction, but also helps in improving company's bottom line profits by increasing operating efficiencies. This will help in achieving its strategic vision of providing the quality consulting services.

h. Finally, discuss your findings from the simulation activity and assess relevance to your process improvement project.

A successful customer service system should be focused or comprised of four characteristics which include the following:

Customer oriented - they should be designed to satisfy the customer's wants, needs and desires. Therefore the customer should be in mind when the system is designed as they are the heart of an organization.

Effective - The experience of the customer should be delivered in a consistent and effective manner. This would include an educated sales team and one that is attentive to the customer's demands.

Flexible - The retail market is changing on a continual basis thus ones customer service system should have the ability to change with these changes. As these changes are driven by the consumers which can change at a constant pace.

Cost Effective - Systems however should be cost effective to the organization. As these systems should be a benefit for the organization and not hinder the prosperity or growth of the company.

The quality improvement process will improve the performance of the department from many aspects. It will significantly help in improving the user satisfaction by assisting in improving the quality of products manufactured and reduction in costs. It will also assist in the creation of new and innovative products aimed at broadening its horizons.