Table 3.3 Tony Manages a Small Group of Customer Service Representatives and Representatives

question 104

Multiple Choice

Table 3.3
Tony manages a small group of customer service representatives and is responsible for all their training. His coaching style is to catch people doing this right, then offer praise and small rewards for proper performance. When Tony works with the customer service representatives who handle customer correspondence, he pays random surprise visits to each representative to encourage, coach, and correct behavior. He believes this keeps the representatives on their toes. With his customer service representatives who handle phone calls, Tony drops in on each one after they have taken between 50-100 calls. He's able to monitor their call rate from his computer terminal.
-B. F. Skinner's work on instrumental conditioning would be best able to explain which of the following?

• A) The tendency for people to continue playing slot machines although they are bound to lose money.
• B) The tendency for a supervisor's praise to increase a subordinate's good behavior.
• C) The tendency for a person chastised by his co-workers for wearing inappropriate clothing to the office to refrain from doing so again.
• D) All of the above.

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Definitions:

Systematic Approach

A methodical plan of action that follows a specific sequence of steps to solve a problem or achieve a goal.

Managing Diversity

The practice of acknowledging, understanding, accepting, and valuing differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status.

Competitive Advantage

A business's unique ability to perform better than its competitors due to superior products, services, or operations.

Strategic Advantage

A benefit that enables an organization to outperform its competitors.