Purchase Solution

Stars Hollow Hat Company Case job descriptions

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Stars Hollow Hat Company

Company History

The Stars Hollow Hat Company was founded in 2005. The company embroiders and sells hats to clients consisting of athletic organizations and other companies who want to give their employees hats with their company logo. Up until December of 2006, the company had 6 employees, including the owner. 1 Customer Service / Sales Representative and 4 Production staff (they make the hats). Since this time, the business has grown and the owner hired 6 additional customer service / sales representatives. In February of 2007, the Director promoted one of the customer service / sales representatives to Supervisor. Also, since February, each customer service / sales representative has taken on additional duties which vary between positions.

Community Profile

In 2007 the City of Stars Hollow had a population of 1,500 and County Milky Way, of which Stars Hollow City is the County Seat, had a population of 5,000. Given current trends, the City is expected to achieve a population of 2,300 by the year 2010. Stars Hollow City is located on the South West region of Wisconsin. Agriculture is the primary industry and a major component in the economy of the Stars Hollow City and the North East region.

Current Situation

Since the company has increased its customer base and added employees to meet the demand, the owner would like to have the jobs analyzed and determine a hierarchy (job family). She thinks that she will be adding even more reps in the next few months who will be focused more on the sales side.
The Customer Service / Sales Supervisor perceives that some of the sales/customer service representatives are not motivated to do the "sales" side of their job and up-sell current customers who call in to place orders. Those individuals who are not motivated to sell have shown excellent skills on the customer service side of the job (problem solving, managing conflict), but they don't necessarily possess the skills for sales. She thinks that possibly separating the duties and creating two job families, one for customer service and one for sales may be beneficial.
Today, the Company employs 1 Customer Service Supervisor, 6 customer service / sales representatives, 8 production staff, and one (1) administrative assistant. 3 months ago the owners niece, who is an HR Manager for a large company in Kansas, offered to help out and conducted a functional job analysis of the customer service / sales representative job. A copy of the job analysis may be found in Appendix "A." The functional job analysis consisted of an interview with the Customer Service Supervisor (Subject Matter Expert) who described the functions of the job, as well as the KSAs. In addition, as part of the analysis, the Customer Service Supervisor rated the importance and level of difficulty of each function and KSA. This allows the analyst to identify and prioritize the "essential" functions and KSAs. Only "essential" functions and KSAs are transferred to a job description.
As a next step in the project, the owner would like to use the information from the job analysis to create job descriptions. She would also like to establish Job Families: Customer Service and Sales. She needs your help!

Assignment:

The owner's niece does not have the time to complete the rest of this project. The owner has asked you to help her out. The owner thinks the company will continue to grow and she wants to be prepared for adding more staff. Therefore, it makes sense to her to create a job family that establishes a hierarchy and creates opportunity for promotions. Ultimately the job family will be used as a way to determine the level of compensation too. But, that is down the road. Today, the owner would like you to utilize the Functional Job Analysis, as well as the company information provided in the case, and outline what the job families may look like for both customer service and sales. She realizes that you will need to make some assumptions (how many levels), but would like an idea of what the job families could look like. Further she would like you to create one job description for customer service representatives and one for sales representatives.
Prepare:
 Job Description for Customer Service Representative
 Job Description for Sales Representative
 Sample Job Family for Customer Service
 Sample Job Family for Sales Representative

You'll find a Job Description Template under Appendix B below.

Appendix A
Job Analysis
Position Title: Customer Service / Sales Representative
Subject Matter Expert: Customer Service Supervisor, Stars Hollow Hat Company
This job analysis is based on input from the subject matter expert(s) (SME) named above. The purpose of this job analysis is to identify the functions (group of tasks) performed by the job, and the competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) necessary for successful performance at Stars Hollow Hat Company. Once the functions and associated competencies are confirmed by the SME, a job description will be created. Only those functions and KSAs that have CRIT scores of 15 or above are considered "essential." Essential functions are used as part of the Job Description. Further, if there is no incumbent in the position, selection exams (based on the criticality scores) may be created as part of the hiring process.
Functions: Functions performed by this position include, but are not limited to, the list that follows. The functions are to be rated by the subject matter expert on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 representing the lowest and 5 representing highest level for their importance to the job (IMP) and their difficulty of learning (DIFF). Their criticality (CRIT) is derived by multiplying the importance rating by the difficulty rating. Thus, if a function is important but easy to learn, it has a low criticality score and may not considered critical to include in a job description.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: The following is a list of the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to do the functions involved in the position. There are 22 KSAs included in the list; you may not need to use all the core KSAs or you may need to add additional KSAs.

The column labeled "Functions" contains the function number of the representative functions requiring the particular KSA. These function numbers are to be referenced to the function list above. If you do not need to use a particular KSA, you should indicate not applicable (n/a) in the functions column for that KSA.

The column labeled IMP contains the average importance rating of the KSA on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing most important to doing the job. The column labeled DIFF contains the average rating of the difficulty in learning or making a significant improvement in the KSA. The column labeled CRIT contains the criticality measure obtained by multiplying the importance rating by the difficulty rating. If a KSA is important and difficult to learn, it will be considered critical to include in an assessment for selection in this position.

The last column labeled ENTRY is the level of the KSA needed at hire. These will be rated on a 1 to 5, with 1 representing little or none of the KSA needed and 5 representing a high degree needed. Those KSA determined to be needed at hire will be weighted accordingly when scored.

Appendix B
Job Description Form
{Enter Company/Subsidiary Name}
Job Title ________________________________
Date ____________________
Department ________________________________________
O Exempt O Non-Exempt
Job Reports To _____________________________________
Job Summary (Briefly describe what the position was created to accomplish.)

Functions (List in order of importance the essential functions of the job and the approximate percentage of time spent on each of the activities; describe what must be accomplished, not how it must be done; include supervision or management responsibilities, quality and quantity standards, physical, mental and perceptual functions of the job.)
% Time

Essential KSAs

Essential Mental Functions

Essential Physical Functions

Working conditions

Equipment Used:

Minimum Education and Experience (type and number of years):

Additional Comments

Approved by _________________________________ Date ___________________
Note: Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

A human resource case analysis for Stars Hallow Hat Company is examined.

Solution Preview

Please refer to the attached file for the response.

Job Description
Company: Stars Hollow Hat Company
Job Title: Customer Service Representative
Date: 2011
Department: Customer Relations Department
O Exempt O Non-Exempt
Job Reports To: Customer Service Supervisor
Job Summary :
A CSR is an arm of the company in ensuring that the organization continues to be responsive to the needs of existing and potential customers through attending to their concerns at the right time; with an appropriate, adequate, and quality service that is more than their expectations.

Functions
% Time
1. Trouble shoots problems of customers who call in with questions and concerns. 35%
2. Take incoming calls from customers 25%
3. Key customer orders 20%
4. Email confirmation of orders 20%

Essential KSAs
Communication - Interpersonal skills
Communication - verbal skills
Decision making
Judgment
Problem solving

Essential Mental Functions

Synthesize/analyze customer needs and problems
Match the needs of customers with ...

Solution provided by:
Education
  • Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, University of the Philippines
  • Master in Business Administration, Saint Mary's University
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Education, University of the Philippines
  • Doctor in Business Adminstration (IP), Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Recent Feedback
  • "Excellent information thanks for the input"
  • "Thank you"
  • "Very thorough and informative. Thank you."
  • "Good response. Very detailed"
  • "This solution is excellent. Thank you"
Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Writing Business Plans

This quiz will test your understanding of how to write good business plans, the usual components of a good plan, purposes, terms, and writing style tips.

Employee Orientation

Test your knowledge of employee orientation with this fun and informative quiz. This quiz is meant for beginner and advanced students as well as professionals already working in the HR field.

Introduction to Finance

This quiz test introductory finance topics.

Paradigms and Frameworks of Management Research

This quiz evaluates your understanding of the paradigm-based and epistimological frameworks of research. It is intended for advanced students.

Cost Concepts: Analyzing Costs in Managerial Accounting

This quiz gives students the opportunity to assess their knowledge of cost concepts used in managerial accounting such as opportunity costs, marginal costs, relevant costs and the benefits and relationships that derive from them.