Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
What is Management?
2
Nature of Management
A manager is given specific duties and also the authority. He has to achieve
certain results with the participation of others. He has to get the work done
through the others. A manager can achieve results through delegated
authority as per the need of the situation.
3
Characteristic features of Management:
Management takes place through people. A managers job is to get the things
done with the support and cooperation of subordinates. It is this human
element which gives management its special character.
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(4). Management is all persuasive:
5
Need for Management
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(4). Effective communication at all levels:
7
Importance of Management
8
(4). Expansion of business:
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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Meaning of Human Resource Management:
11
Characteristics of Human Resource Management:
12
Learning and career development raise the capacity of employees to work at
highest levels. They are given higher positions with monetary benefits.
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(7). Termination of Employment:
14
NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT:
HRM activities are needed for updating the quality of manpower as per
the growing and changing needs of an enterprise. This avoids managerial
obsolescence. Even the vacancies at higher levels can be filled in internally
due to HRM programmes as they provide training and opportunities of self-
development to employees working at lower levels.
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improvimg quality, reducing costs and avoiding wastages. All this is
possible through HRM.
16
Competent juniors must take their positions. HRM is needed in order to keep
ready a team of competent managers as a second line of defence.
17
SCOPE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
(1) Training:
18
employees is useful for developing their special qualities, which can be used
fruitfully along with the expansion and diversification of activities of the
company. Potential appraisal is possible by the superior with the help of
different methods.
19
(6). Rewards and incentives:
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(9). Human resource information system:
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS:
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organisations began to electronically automate many of these processes by
introducing innovative HRMS/HCM technology. Due to complexity in
programming, capabilities and limited technical resources, HR executives
rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop and maintain their
Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS). Before the "client-server"
architecture evolved in the late 1980s, every single HR automation process
came largely in form of mainframe computers that could handle large
amounts of data transactions. In consequence of the high capital investment
necessary to purchase or program proprietary software, these internally
developed HRMS were limited to medium to large organisations being able
to afford internal IT capabilities. The advent of client-server HRMS
authorised HR executives for the first time to take responsibility and
ownership of their systems. These client-server HRMS are characteristically
developed around four principal areas of HR functionalities: 1) "payroll", 2)
time and labour management 3) benefits administration and 4) HR
management.
23
The time and labour management module: applies new technology and
methods (time collection devices) to cost effectively gather and evaluate
employee time/work information. The most advanced modules provide
broad flexibility in data collection methods, as well as labour distribution
capabilities and data analysis features. This module is a key ingredient to
establish organisational cost accounting capabilities.
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or corporate intranet as a communication and workflow vehicle, the
HRMS/HCM technology can convert these into web-based HRMS
components of the ERP system and permit to reduce transaction costs,
leading to greater HR and organisational efficiency. Through employee or
manager self-service (ESS or MSS), HR activities shift away from paper
based processes to using self-service functionalities that benefit employees,
managers and HR professionals alike. Costly and time consuming HR
administrative tasks, such as travel reimbursement, personnel data change,
benefits enrolment, enrolment in training classes (employee side) and to
instruct a personnel action, authorise access to information for employees
(manager's side) are being individually handled and permit to reduce HR
transaction time, leading to HR and organisational effectiveness.
Consequently, HR professionals can spend fewer resources in managing
administrative HR activities and can apply freed time and resources to
concentrate on strategic HR issues, which lead to business innovation.
25
THE TWO THEORIES WHICH SUPPORT HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.
Theory X
In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will
avoid work if they can. Because of this workers need to be closely
supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. An
hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each level.
According to this theory employees will show little ambition without an
enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.
26
Theory Y
A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people
will want to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused creativity in
the workforce. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a
strong motivation in and of itself. A Theory Y manager will try to remove
the barriers that prevent workers from fully actualizing their potential.
27
Characteristics of the X Theory Manager
28
• Seeks to apportion blame instead of focusing on learning from the
experience and preventing recurrence
• Does not invite or welcome suggestions
• Takes criticism badly and likely to retaliate if from below or peer
group
• Poor at proper delegating - but believes they delegate well
• Thinks giving orders is delegating
• Holds on to responsibility but shifts accountability to subordinates
• Relatively unconcerned with investing in anything to gain future
improvements
• Unhappy
Working for an X Theory boss isn't easy - some extreme X theory managers
can be extremely unpleasant - but there are ways of managing these people
upwards. Avoiding confrontation (unless you are genuinely being bullied)
and delivering results are the key tactics.
Theory X managers are facts and figures oriented - so cut out the incidentals,
be able to measure and substantiate anything you say and do for them,
especially reporting on results and activities.
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Theory X managers generally don't understand or have an interest in the
human issues, so don't try to appeal to their sense of humanity or morality.
Set your own objectives to meet their organisational aims and agree these
with the managers; be seen to be self-starting, self-motivating, self-
disciplined and well-organised - the more the X theory manager sees you are
managing yourself and producing results, the less they'll feel the need to do
it for you.
If an X theory boss tells you how to do things in ways that are not
comfortable or right for you, then don't question the process, simply confirm
the end-result that is required, and check that it's okay to 'streamline the
process' or 'get things done more efficiently' if the chance arises - they'll
normally agree to this, which effectively gives you control over the 'how',
provided you deliver the 'what' and 'when'. And this is really the essence of
managing upwards X theory managers - focus and get agreement on the
results and deadlines - if you consistently deliver, you'll increasingly be
given more leeway on how you go about the tasks, which amounts to more
freedom. Be aware also that many X theory managers are forced to be X
theory by the short-term demands of the organisation and their own
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superiors - an X theory manager is usually someone with their own
problems, so try not to give them any more.
Criticisms
Today the theories are seldom used. They are thought to express extreme
positions that are not realistic. Most employees fall somewhere in between
these extremes and the theories are of little help in everyday human resource
management decisions. However Theory X and Theory Y are still important
terms in the field of management and motivation. Recent studies have
questioned the rigidity of the model, but McGregor's X-Y Theory remains a
guiding principle of positive approaches to management, to organizational
development, and to improving organizational culture.
31
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN
BANKING:
What is a Bank?
The word bank is derived from the Italian banca, which is derived from
German language and means bench. The terms bankrupt and "broke" are
similarly derived from banca rotta, which refers to an out of business bank,
having its bench physically broken. Money lenders in Northern Italy
originally did business in open areas, or big open rooms, with each lender
working from his own bench or table.
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multi-national companies was practising the same.
With the growing realization of proper HRM in the corporate sector, it has
grown into an important activity. Now the head of HRM is an important
member of the senior teams of any thriving business.
Although the idea is new for many local businesses where entrepreneurs are
at the beginning of the learning curve yet in reality the theme is getting
support from the organized entrepreneurs.
The banking sector has grown from a few institutions primarily involved in
deposit acceptance and trade finance into a complex multi player markets
where large number of commercial banks, financial institutions and
specialized banks are operating with various products and activities.
The banking has become a complex activity within the financial market
linked directly and indirectly with an over-all national growth and its impact
as an integral part of regional segment of a global banking environment.
Thus even the high automation would require proper man behind the
machine to make things happen. This idea has been realized by top
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managements in progressive banks.
Like many other organized sectors, banking requires a multi layer manpower
for its various requirements of professionals and support staff. The range
may require reasonably educated security guards on the one end and a highly
educated and trained professional as head of corporate finance at the other.
With liberalization of activities within the banking sector, for example, more
emphasis on consumer and house finance and personal loans, etc. banking
has turned itself into a more market-based business where banks have
expanded their reach more to customers' door steps in a big way making
banking more practical. This has further highlighted the need for proper
deployment of man-power to run banks efficiently.
For many years, HRM banks like other institutions have been handling this
sensitive activity through respective personnel departments. This means
human resources were managed like other physical assets e.g. pieces of
furniture, calculators, equipment and appliances.
34
Success stories of large banking companies have been evident of the fact
that HRM is quite different from management of physical assets. Human
brain has its own peculiar chemistry.
On the one hand it is the assigned duty and task they are to perform and for
which they are paid by their employer, on the other they think of their long
run goals and objectives.
35
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE BANKING
INDUSTRY IN TERMS OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT:
A time-consuming and hectic job is to hunt the right talent. Its just sitting by
the river and waiting for the right fish to catch. Higher the professional value
of the vacancy, tougher is the search.
Ones who are outstanding professionals with high job hopping attitude -
these are those who come in - work for some time and then leave for better
prospects. Others are those who are keenly picked-up, trained and are some
how retained to be developed as future management within the bank.
Banking jobs being apparently lucrative for many, attract a large number of
candidates against advertised vacancies in media creating a large data base
36
management problem. This has been facilitated by specialised hiring
agencies who may take up the job of hiring in case of large number of
vacancies.
The most difficult agenda of HRM across the banking sector is to retain the
right people. Sudden growth of retail banking and other services has put
pressure on HR mangers in banks to engage more professionals within
shorter span of time thereby attracting manpower in other banks on attractive
packages has made the job market very competing.
A bank in a normal course invests time and money to hire and train the
appropriate work force for its own operations. This ready-made force is
often identified and subsequently picked-up on better terms by others.
(3). Compensation:
How much to pay to the right employee and how much to the outstanding
performer. Banks have traditionally followed pay scales with predetermined
increments, salary slabs, bonuses and time-based fringe benefits like car and
house advance, gratuity, pension, etc.
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A promise of future growth, learning culture and corporate loyalty is out of
dictionary and does not mean anything to this energetic and competent
performer today.
A waiting period of 3-4 years in each cadre haunts the incumbents who
strongly believe in immediate compensation. There are examples to this.
Thanks to the car financing modalities car is no more a fantasy item any
more.
What the HR manger cannot afford is the dissatisfied employee who not
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only disrupts the smooth working himself but also spreads the negativity to
others by his de-motivated attitude.
What has long been overlooked is the morale boosting of the employees by
the organizations. Human beings even if satisfied of material well being
need to be appraised and encouraged constantly.
Smart banks have realized this need and have taken steps to keep their work
force motivated through proper encouragement like man of the month
awards, repeat get-togethers, conferences, sports events, dinners, company
sponsored travel, reunions, etc. This is the way employees create a feeling of
belongingness.
39
AN EXTRACT FROM A LECTURE ORGANIZED
BY THE ACADEMY OF BANKING AND FINANCE
Milos Tucakovic, the Head of the Personnel and Training Division at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade, was the guest lecturer at the round table of
HR managers in the banking sector, held in NBS and organized by Academy
of Banking and Finance. Mr. Tucakovic presented his experience in
managing human resources in the 5-star hotel, 51 percent owned by the
famous Pritzker family and 49 percent owned by domestic shareholders, to
HR division managers from Serbia’s commercial banks and the central bank.
Adaptation of world standards to domestic conditions and local culture,
main corporate culture values and personnel quality standards required in
this prestigious hotel were only some of the issues addressed by Milos
Tucakovic in his lecture.
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abroad. The management of the Hyatt Regency Belgrade Hotel tends to
recruit its management personnel from the ranks of its own employees
whose characteristics, work, performance and professional training
demonstrate that they are ready to accept new challenges. Aside from
divisional training, intended for facilitating the performance of specific
tasks, all employees attend a compulsory training programme in the course
of which they become acquainted with the company and the hotel, hygiene
and general work safety standards, telephone communication skills,
provision of first-rate services, complaint resolution, selling skills.
Since the Hyatt Regency Belgrade was one of the first companies in this
region to invest in personnel selection and training in the modern sense, it
was interesting to learn about the characteristics required and developed in
its personnel.
The management and the owners of the Hyatt Regency Belgrade Hotel
believe that training is a type of employee benefit; hence, in addition to
various forms of training, the hotel also offers “Hyattrack”, the program of
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independent development of managers requiring the candidate to exercise
self-initiative.
The high level of services and business practice for which the Hyatt chain of
hotels is recognizable worldwide is also maintained by means of the
“Mystery Guest Audit” institution, which practically means the
unannounced visit by a “phantom” guest, as this visitor is called in the
Hyatt. This guest, whose identity and time of coming is not known, is a
person from the company who conducts an unannounced check of
compliance with standards.
It should also be noted that commendations by guests are taken into account
when evaluating employees, but with a view to providing an equal
opportunity for all employees, there are always two employee recognition
lists: one encompassing front-office personnel, who are in direct contact
with guests, and the other one including back-office personnel whose work
is also crucial for the proper functioning of the system.
42
The First Roundtable of Commercial Banks’ HR
Managers
The newly founded “Academy of Banking and Finance” has organized the
first in the series of planned round tables for HR managers working in the
banking industry. The meeting took place in the NBS Villa in Topcider on
16 September with representatives of 28 commercial banks. The HR
Managers were welcomed by Mr. Wolfgang Rautenberg, Senior Adviser in
the NBS, and Aleksandara Lujic and Jasmina Milosevic from the NBS. Mr.
Rautenberg said that the Academy, as a joint venture of the National Bank,
commercial banks and the Association of Serbian Banks, would particularly
assist in creating a joint strategy for the development of human resources in
this field, and would also facilitate daily work for the managers taking care
of the employees in the banking and finance industry.
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manner of organizing human resources and in education of employees in the
banking industry. They also stressed the need to find out more about
evaluating staff performance, efforts and availabilities and about motivation
and stimulation systems in business environment. The other topics of their
concern included the most reliable headhunting criteria, i.e. choice of new
professionals for the bank, but also the most desirable ways of parting with
employees who failed to meet the expectations or had to be made redundant.
The need for general managers to increase their awareness of the
significance of HR operations and investments in human capital was singled
out as a vital aspect of the education.
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The Second Roundtable of Commercial Banks’ HR
Managers
45
ARTICLE ON CASE STUDY- WESTPAC BANKING
CORPORATION.
ARTICLE WRITTEN BY SANDRA O’NEILL.
Bio-data sheets were issued and participants took part in mentoring skills
workshops. These workshops were augmented, two weeks later, by a "get
acquainted" breakfast.
On-going verbal and written guidance was offered by the project manager
and coordinator. Every effort was made to stay in telephone contact with all
participants, and their comments and input acted upon. Three sets of
evaluation questionnaires (at six weeks, mid-point and project conclusion)
were also used.
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Westpac encountered some unwillingness on the part of some mentors to
attend training. Their attitude seemed to be, "I already have communication
skills - that's why I'm a mentor."
Initial career progression indications are positive with a rise noted in the
number of internal job applications by participants, and this will need to be
tracked over time.
47
ROLE OF BANKS
The key performance numbers that retail bank management rely on to run
their franchise effectively are shifting along with wholesale changes in
technology, delivery channel choices, sales strategy, segmentation, and
management practices.
Managing branch effectiveness has been an elusive target for many banks
due to changing objectives, shifting resources, and varying tools that
individual bank managers use to react to the marketplace. The traditional
measures of performance that branch management has relied upon in the
past are becoming invalid since they are indicators of an obsolete
environment. In cases where solid management information is not
available, banks manage primarily by experience, based on previous
practices and existing rules.
The important issues taken from this discussion are that retail management
is searching for some solid ground in making management decisions, and
that they do not necessarily trust their own numbers.
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least once a month on average over the past year. Bank changes to
products, service offerings, and their approach to customer segments in
general, have yet to significantly impact (deflect) customer behaviors. The
primary responsibility of retail bank managers is to meet the service
expectations of customers.
While each bank's key management numbers are unique to its conditions,
an examination of what is changing in the industry to gain competitive
perspective is valuable. The Robert E. Nolan Company conducts an annual
Efficiency Ratio Benchmarking Study. The results provide an excellent
starting point in establishing directional shifts. The study examines
differences between high-performing banks and average banks by each line
of business. The 2003 study includes data from 36 banks, thrifts and credit
unions with assets between $ 1 and $5 billion.
The retail branch Efficiency Ratio is currently 27.1 percent for the top-tier
performers and 47.5 percent for the average of all 36 participants. The
efficiency ratio is a common banking ratio which measures the cost to
generate a dollar of revenue. It is important to understand the essential
factors that make a difference and try to put them into perspective. The
differential is significant between the top performers and the average
banks, but we must comment that a high efficiency ratio by itself for any
given bank should not be viewed as an indictment of the retail management
of that bank. It is often, simply, a function of the work processes, systems,
policies, incentives, and marketing programs that the bank has chosen to
employ. We will examine the drivers beneath the key numbers to shed
some light on what the new numbers mean.
TECHNOLOGY
Banks are taking a variety of approaches in implementing technology to
make improvements in retail delivery. The methods differ, depending on
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the bank management's mindset toward the purpose of the software and its
valued place in the new business or service delivery processes.
Some banks are convinced that the software developers have had to
consider the effectiveness issues in their design, and see little value in
starting with process redesign. In those cases, the technology decision
starts with a traditional approach to define business requirements leading to
software selection and then implementation. Technology vendors prefer to
install their software in the easiest and most operationally effective way
possible. Vendors have become very effective in making this case. Banks
have opted to design the technology implementation process around
meeting the customers' needs and limiting the work effort required. The
challenge has been to accomplish straight-through processing in order to
eliminate potential errors and work duplication.
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process should allow the existing core systems to populate the appropriate
customer data whenever a customer opens a new product or service.
TELLER EFFECTIVENESS
Industry data is best used as directional information, not as a true measure
of what individual banks need to achieve to realize high performance.
Teller effectiveness is an area where banks have gone through cycles over
the past 20 years. In the 1980s, the operational focus was on security
factors, including balancing. Many banks fired tellers for being out of
balance. Those banks designed their transactions to include redundant steps
to help measure and track the balancing process, including triple counting
the cash back to customers, and a practice called "backing" deposit slips
and/or withdrawal slips. Backing referred to writing the exact currencies
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transferred on the back of the slip to potentially simplify the balancing
process later in the day (for example, ten 20s, five 10s, two 5s and five Is =
$265. 00). In these banks, the importance was on transaction accuracy. The
audit department often imposed security into the processing steps without
regard to timeliness and the service impact on customers.
Teller performance variables can include: the impact on training; the teller
turnover rate; the actual teller performance; the opportunity to perform at a
high rate related to staffing and scheduling; the use of part-time tellers and
teller pools that can support multiple branches due to illnesses and
vacations; the customer base being serviced; communications; and, the
sales referral policies and requirements.
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Wide variances exist in the time and effort banks put into teller training.
Some banks provide no formal training but have tellers work with a "teller
trainer" in the branch to learn the policies, procedures and systems. In these
cases, the trainer will influence the procedure with their individual biases
and not necessarily the bank's standard practices. Some banks institute a
three-week formal training process where tellers learn about the bank's
commitment to customers and how it supports the bank's strategy. They
train individual transactions in a uniform and controlled way and then, in
week four, assign them a branch teller monitor to assist in getting started.
The cost of effective training appears high on the surface; but, when
management considers that more tellers interact with customers daily than
any other position in the bank, it follows that service and transaction
training is essential to high performance. Effective training can cut errors
and help to ensure that the speed of processing is elevated through a
confident and competent staff.
The annualized teller turnover rate is typically one of the highest areas in a
bank, ranging from the mid teens in some banks to over 100 percent in
others. The national average is 33 to 35 percent. The teller turnover rate is
generally lower in a down economy. Banks that seem to have lower rates
of turnover often have practices in place to reward high performance.
Recruiting appropriate personnel from the branch location often helps in
keeping tellers with the bank longer.
Not many banks are equipped to measure the actual teller performance or
even relative performance within a branch or from branch to branch. One
of the reasons is that teller opportunities to perform are not equal. A drive-
up teller will usually handle more transactions per hour due to handling
two customers at a time and a limit on transaction types. Within the branch,
the teller at the head of the queue will service every customer in slow
periods, where a teller at either end of the teller line will not have as many
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opportunities. To analyze real teller performance, the bank would need
sophisticated modeling to calculate customer arrivals during the tellers'
working hours along with customers in line to determine teller opportunity.
The teller position is a "customer demand" work environment and while
management sometimes uses fill-in work to help the utilization, it typically
comes down to effective staffing and scheduling.
Banks must factor in tailored work standards and develop scenarios that
reflect the conditions of each branch location as close as possible to reality.
The flexibility of the model used is only one element in staffing and
scheduling success. The standards and the work measured must accurately
reflect the branch conditions as believed by branch management and then
used to develop schedules. Some banks tailor standards to location-type
such as urban, rural, shopping mall, university, etc. Differences in work are
attributable to a varying mix of transaction types due to customer base,
possibly differing cashing limits for tellers due to experience or branch
characteristics, physical location of bank checks and encoding equipment,
and potential use of cash dispensers in some locations. Banks must account
for all of these differences, as well as differences due to the actual
performance of standard work. High turnover branches will have lower real
performance due to more tellers who are in a learning curve. The learning
curve for tellers is typically three months; and with a bank turnover rate of
35 percent, that can lead to lower performance in selected branches. Banks
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can adjust the staffing model for effective service in locations with high
turnover until the time that problem is resolved. Staff modeling is a
dynamic process and the tools used should be dynamic as well.
In the past six years, retail banking has experienced a significant shift to
transform practices to primarily a sales orientation. Teller incentives are
largely weighted on paying for closed referrals over and above any
measure for service and productivity. This shift in many institutions has
contributed to difficulty in making any comparisons. Many banks have
trained their teller staff in how and what to refer with an expected volume
of two closed referrals per day. Incentive systems can direct tellers to
concentrate on referrals, which may also slow down the transaction
processing and resultant service levels.
The reported results from the recent Nolan Efficiency Ratio Benchmarking
Study show that top-performing banks' branch personnel are processing 13
percent more transactions per month than the average banks and are
supporting 39 percent more deposit accounts. The factors that prevent
banks from performing at the higher level relate to process efficiency,
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policy, deployment of staff through scheduling and staffing, and the
connectivity of software. Line of business performance is determined by
how people, process and technology are deployed, not the software.
CSR EFFECTIVENESS
There are a variety of issues that impact the performance of Customer
Service Representatives (CSRs) in the current environment. Banks have
wide differences in deployment. Some will limit the activities of the
"platform staff" to strictly new business and support service. Other banks
will view the CSRs as part of the retail branch sales and service team, and
will deploy their time to sales and service first with a component of teller
support in their mix of responsibilities. Some banks will establish an
objective for outside sales asking CSRs to have involvement in community
functions in the sales effort, while other banks see marketing as having a
primary role in driving potential customers into the branch. In any event,
the key is to establish the branch objectives in line with the bank's strategic
direction. The primary activities we see CSRs handling are sales/new
business, service, branch support, and administration.
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opening individual accounts and therefore open fewer accounts per month
than the time allows.
High performing banks put on 152 new accounts per employee versus the
average bank's 139 new accounts, an increase of 9.35 percent. Looking
deeper into the data, high-performing banks open only 25 percent of new
deposits to the total deposit account balances with their efforts as opposed
to 32 percent for the average bank. When we further dissect the
information, we see the new non-time deposit account balances as a
percentage of total non-time deposit balances was 14 percent in top-tier
banks versus 20 percent on average. These measures support the
conclusion that the high performing banks do not need to open as much in
new deposit balances since they retain their existing deposits better than the
average banks. What are the underlying factors that might support this
outcome? They are likely the focus on new business in average performing
banks versus the focus on net new business in high-performing banks.
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vehicle and often the weight of the incentive to the product drives them,
not the need.
Not every bank has experienced the same success in terms of this change
translating directly to the bottom line. When banks examine the incentives
that are paid to CSRs there are a couple of telling characteristics to look
for. Many banks base incentives on the first sale, meaning banks are paying
for every new account regardless of how it was sold. The customer could
have been inclined to set up the account prior to walking into the branch, or
the CSR could have sold the account based on its features. Successful
banks establish both branch and individual sales thresholds before
incentives are earned.
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data may help banks to determine which customers have a product, but
unless they understand why the customer has that product, they may miss a
targeted marketing opportunity. The reason may be due to the specific
product offering which may not convert to an interest in other product
offerings. Applying science and analytics to the data suggests that the most
pertinent information will lead to selling new products to existing
customers.
This analysis also applies to the possible loss of customers. In this way,
banks may prevent the attrition of their customer base. Banks that see a gap
in their product offering often rush to put together a campaign before
understanding the potential customer acceptance and impact on existing
work processes. Often this happens with HELOC campaigns and the CSRs
cannot meet customer service expectations. This is an example of short-
term application with a potentially long-term strategic tool.
The work processes are as significant to the overall time success as any
factor in the performance equation. Many new business processes are
burdened at the point of the CSR, with too many unconnected information
inputs. As mentioned earlier, it is common that 65 percent to 80 percent of
new sales are due to existing customers, but ironically, processes are not
structured to take advantage ofthat information in an automated way. Often
banks profess to have their process integrated, but rather have a series of
largely manual steps.
For instance, they take an application for a retail loan and submit it for
credit approval. It is common to find that the input form or screen for credit
differs from the loan application, thus requiring a separate input. When the
loan is approved, there is a separate input form or screen for document
preparation. In many cases, the CSR needs to prepare a separate document
to show that they have properly completed an assessment of the customer's
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full investment, loan and deposit account needs with an entirely separate
input form and screen. After the loan is approved, a separate incentive form
or screen may need to be completed. Lastly, separate boarding documents
get the loan booked on the accounting system. Every step in the process
may be thought of as employing technology, but without integration, it
requires multiple inputs of the same information. A significant portion of
CSR effectiveness is in the details of the process.
SUMMARY
The findings noted here from the 2003 Nolan Efficiency Ratio
Benchmarking Study should not be surprising to most bankers since the
behavioral basis today is basically the same in the top-performing banks as
it has been for decades. What makes the difference between the top-
performing retail banks and the average performers is the way they design
and deploy their resources to achieve sales and service goals for their
customers. The numbers tell a story over time. The comparative gap in
efficiency ratio between the top performers, 27.1 percent, and the average
bank, 47.5 percent, is significant at 20.4 percent. Interestingly, of the 20.4
percent gap, the personnel cost gap is 10 percent and the other operating
expenses is 10.4 percent.
The ways people, processes and technology are designed, integrated and
deployed make the difference. The analysis conducted in the annual Nolan
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study of the top-performing banks year after year shows that improvements
are ongoing-thai is what makes a single target elusive. The key to success
is to understand that policy, process, technology and deployment should be
the source of your measures and the basis for your improvement
opportunities.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I Tulika Alva, the student of Jai Hind College pursuing my third year of
Bachelor of Management Studies (T.Y.B.B.I.), am very grateful to a lot of
people for guiding and helping me in the right direction throughout my
project.
First of all, I would like to sincerely like to thank Ms. Minu Madlani, our
co-ordinator for assisting in the project whenever help was required.
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