Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE FINAL PAPER 1

Week 8 Reflection
BUS/700
Robert Greenleaf
February 09, 2021
Dr. Les Huffman

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Comprehensive Final Paper

The current job for the redesign of the management team is for a roadside assistance

company called Allied Dispatch Solutions. This company has many roadside clients that they use

to dispatch tow companies and road service providers to their members. Clients such as AT&T,

FIMC Home and Auto plus plan, Motor Club of America (via TVC Marketing) and even has a

center for members in Canada but under a different name which is Dominion Automobile

association (DAA). The company has a line of service providers for towing and for what is

called the “Soft services” for members that have roadside assistance through AT&T or if they

got a loan which features the Auto plus plan which is partnered through FIMC or is members got

a total security plan through MCA/TVC. With some plans depending on the client either the

member pays a monthly premium or adds the extra feature to their phone line (ATT) or gets a

plan through a loan (FIMC) and depending on the plan depends on the cost except for ATT

which is a flat rate per month.

When I first started they had management for every project there which to me is great but

before going into management how I would promote people would be first to train them on every

project there so that they know how each project operates to where the advocate will gain the

knowledge to dispatch every project as well to know the procedure to each project. I would have

the advocate train on each project for about 4-6 or until they have it down to where they know

about and then have them move onto the next one until they have the knowledge of every project

there is. In addition to training for the projects I would keep track of all employees that have

been on time and does not ever call out unless needed and not often. To me attendance is

important when it comes to a promotion for I feel a company should have employees that they
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can rely on and not hire anyone that just comes in and promotes them within just weeks of being

there which I feel has happened at this company. When those get promoted, they get a feel or

management power but as one of my favorite sayings or quotes go “With great power comes

great responsibility”. I feel that if someone is going to be a great manager then they should be

there to help their team out and there are several types of management styles which can really

make a team better. There are 2 different managerial styles that I would use that would not only

help my team excel in the job they are doing but also give them the ability to vice their own

opinion.

The first would be democratic. According to Clifford Chi (July 2018) There are a few

management styles that you want to use and there are some that are to be avoided. Democratic is

one that is to be used. This particular style is where the management his/her team member

participate and let their voice be heard. When it comes to this style it makes team members feel

very important and it shows that the manager does care abut their team when their voice can be

heard and opinions shared as well and with the participation of the team the decision the manager

makes is based on the influence of the team which makes the team feel even more important. The

other style that I would use is coaching. As in a lot of places of work employees are going to

make mistakes and it thus the reason for the coaching lifestyle. The same as a sports coach, a

coaching manager strives to help out his/her team members into developing better skills for their

position at work. In addition to that managers that do a lot of coaching also tend offer other

positions that may be even more suitable for the employees. By teach employees new things it

helps them develop new skills thus possibly creating future managers as long as work hard and

do very well. Now with good management styles there are those that can seem quite bad and the

styles that managers want to avoid. The Autocratic style seems to be the worst one to use period.
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This particular style is there the manager will instruct one to do a task as told and not to ask any

questions. Failure to follow such tasks can result in either a lashing out by management or even

go as far as the manager threatening that person’s job. The one thing I really cannot stand about

this particular style is that an employee feels like they are under a microscope for the manager is

always watching their every move and not allowing any breathing room or flexibility. This

happened to me when I was working there. I had a manager that would always do that especially

with me and it was a very uncomfortable situation. Not only was he like to me but to a lot of

people and he just pushed his weight but luckily, he was transferred to where it relieved a lot of

people.

The skills that would be necessary for the management position with this company are as

follows.

Project knowledge-one must know all of the project and how they operate. Each project has

different guidelines and must be followed. Depending on the project depends on the coverage for

the member whether up to so much or for so far for towing. As far as for the soft service such as

jump starts tire changes lockouts etc. they are a bit more lenient on those than towing but there

are still guidelines that have to be followed when it comes to coverage for each project as well.

Phone skills-Must have adequate phone skills and be able to handle calls even if the member is

distressed or upset. With roadside assistance member going to be upset for breaking down and

being stuck wherever it is they may be and may vent their frustrations out on you even if the

situation may not be your fault. Must be able to handle calls under pressure and be able to assist

the member to the best of your abilities. For management one must be able to answer questions
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to the best of his/her ability and take supervisor escalation calls when needed. Management team

also should be able to help out and assist with the call queue in case that it gets busy and in the

even that the company is short staffed. Must have the ability to bounce from one project to

another thus the reason to have knowledge in all projects within the company in case the

company is short on management for the evening as well. How these are related to other

organizations is actually quite easy. With the proper training and the right tools to do the job as

long as a good effort is made in training for a manager then that person training should be fine. A

lot of companies will take the time to invest in proper training for a management position as long

as the trainee is willing to learn what is needed to learn about how the company is managed. I

have seen hands down when it comes to hiring managers very little effort was made by

individuals and they were hired on the spot while those that know the projects and work really

hard at their job are passed up. One thing I have seen a lot of in not only this company but also

past companies that I have worked at would be favoritism. Sometimes the hiring director in

previous places I worked showed favoritism especially when it came to the female employees

which he promoted most to supervisor. The same thing happened at this company and the matter

of the deal is that they did not even know how to manage the projects there. Whether he thought

they knew of for more personal reasons is beyond me but if it were training for managers there

would be no favoritism regardless of who I know or who I was close to. I give anyone a fair

chance at it regardless of my personal feelings towards them. There are some that make good

friends outside of work but inside they are lousy workers that cannot do well. When it comes to

company business, I would have an image to maintain and to hire close friends or even family

would show favoritism so in my opinion I feel that anyone and everyone should get their fair

chance at becoming a manager for they could hire someone as a manager that they believe won’t
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do good then they show that they can do the job and then some. The leadership style that I feel

would be best for this particular job is coaching and here is why. In this particular company no

one is perfect, and mistakes are going to be made on a daily basis. It can simple things from

forgetting to notate an account or releasing payment to a service provider which these are

common errors that are made on a daily basis. One or twice on a simple mistake such as the 2

listed chance are that the management team would overlook it but more than that then comes the

coaching session which to me is a learning tool to where it can help the advocates learn from

their mistakes and make them better. Also, I would hold meeting on a weekly basis to where the

team advocates voices can be heard on different things that involve the company from different

strategies to getting calls completed quicker. I also want to be able to show that I care for my

team thus being able to bring these meeting to fruition as long as it is not taking a lot of their

work time up for too much of that can be considered what is called job avoidance and no one

wants that on their file. For industry standards I would want my candidates to work as hard just

like if they were in any other company regardless of the job. Like working in a plant, the

candidates would have a quota to meet and the more dispatches they get then chances are they

would get to move onto other projects quicker which in turn can lead to a promotion to

management.When it comes to communication here management has their company email

address that they will use to submit end of day reports or in the event that something were to

happen within the company such as equipment goes down or power goes out they will have a

way to communicate with each other via mobile devices in case. For mobile devices (cell

phones) only authorized management and other individuals will be allowed to have them on the

call floor due to the fact that with the way technology is growing nowadays advocates will view

sensitive information (company credit card info) and can easily gain that info via snapshot from
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a camera phone thus can easily max out a card. We use company credit cards to compensate and

pay our service providers for the services rendered. Although we pay a lot via credit card there

are those that elect to have payment set up via EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) which in the

provider information it has the service provider’s acct info which is also sensitive thus not

allowing mobile devices at advocates desks unless approved by management. In addition to

Dispatch advocates there are different departments there which involve finance quality provider

team and human resources. As stated, management can communicate via cell phones to the

directors and owners as well as make calls to the IT department in case that there are any service

interruptions or equipment malfunctions. Management also has access to mini notebooks or

laptops for when reports need to be ran or to help with claims cases. Higher level management

wants to be sure they find the right person that they feel can be responsible enough to do the job

and only have their mobile device out on the floor for company purposes only.

The objectives and goals of the company are simple. The company should not only treat

the members and clients well but also the service providers we use the advocates as well that

come in to work every day to make sure that are members are helped off the side of the road or

wherever they may be stranded. With this position we are looking for a greatly qualified

candidate that knows the responsibility of the job at hand and to be able to handle distress calls

from members and to be able to address any of their situations that may arise. Our mission is to

be the highest rated roadside assistance provider in the country. The company itself growing at a

fast pace and we want our management team to be able to flourish along with us as a company

therefore we only will accept those that are qualified. When it comes to the style of management

that will be used, I always stick with the coaching. The coaching style to me will always the best

even though I tend to also use the democratic lifestyle as well for this one allows the voice of the
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team members to be heard and their opinions said in conferences but here it’s going to be the

coaching style. Becoming a manager is something that will not happen overnight and will take a

lot of training and a bit of time to learn but with the proper training and enough time a good

manager can and will prosper in the end. No one will be perfect on their first day as a manager

and there is a lot that has to be learned but as long as the candidate(s) are willing to learn accept

the responsibilities that come in tow then all will be fine. We are actually looking to expand the

company not only across the United States but into Canada as well. For those that have home and

auto plus plans within Canada will also be eligible for Roadside Assistance up there as well.

Unlike the company name in the states it will be under a different name but under the same

ownership as Allied. The name of the company will be call Dominion Automobile Association

or DAA for short. The company will run their DAA operations out their location in London,

Ontario. While their main contact center is in London ON the other centers in the states also help

out with the calls that come in just in case that the Canada team gets backed up. When it comes

to the service providers their procedures are done a bit differently there. Tow providers do not

tow by the mile but by the kilometer and for those that need a fuel delivery they bring it out by

the liter and the gallon like here in the states. As far as payment goes the providers in Canada are

paid via EFT which some of the service providers up there will not go out to assist unless virtual

currency (CC) is given to the provider which I feel is fair. A lot of service providers that get set

up on an EFT have to wait about 30-60 days before being they are paid and even at that time

there has been speculation that even then providers have not gotten paid which causes the

providers to suspend the company account until paid up. As I mentioned earlier there are many

different departments that one can manage, and the provider team could also use a good

manager. It is imperative that we help out our members as quick as possible but if our service
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providers are not happy with the company and will not service the calls then that leaves members

stranded for an even longer amount of time. What I would do if I was over the provider team is

that I would set them up on a virtual payment to where they are paid up front but also set it to

where they are only paid for the quoted cost of the service that way the provider can get paid and

we can also help the member. EFT might be a good way to pay providers for it is free to do bank

transfers but with virtual cards depending on which card vendor they use will charge a

percentage for providers to run cards through their terminals. Within this company everyone is

important for without the members we don’t have a job to go but with the advocates who will be

there to service the member and without the providers who will be there to save the members

from the road? In this case every person here is vital to the success of the company for without

one part we cannot get the job done as a whole company and therefore we would be out of

business and work no time flat.

Fir this section comes diversity. Within the company anyone is going to want to go for a

management position and will do what is necessary. No matter if it is male or female age color

etc. If one wants to be a manager then they will have to work hard for it and earn it the right way.

I have seen in the past as I mentioned earlier that within the company the directing management

have been known to show some sort of favoritism and hire their close friends or maybe even

close family that may have been there for just a few weeks over those that have been there for a

while and can do the job very well and know every project at hand. I have seen those that have

been for quite some time get promoted awfully quick thinking they will do the job well which

they do but they take a turn in their behavior. There is 1 man that has been there who once went

from being a really nice floor manager to once promoted to senior and then director was
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displaying an autocratic attitude. This is one of the worst management styles one could ever

develop. I understand that being a manager can be tough but when it gets to the point that you

feel like you are being put down by a manager then I feel it is time to hire a new manager. That

was the case with him to where he thought he was better than everyone there and even put down

employees and said offensive things to them. When it comes to getting a management position it

should not be about who you know but how well you know the projects and the company as a

whole. In today’s day and age of workplaces do tend to get short handed and will seem to hire

anyone right for management and I feel that is not right. I feel that in order to be a proper

manager one has to work hard and be trained properly and even have some sort of educational

background in management with some companies but today it just seems that they are hired off

the streets or I have even heard in this particular case. Let us say there is a male general manager

and wants to hire a female manager in exchange for a date night perhaps which to me is

definitely unacceptable. In these types of cases the matter should be looked into by Human

Resources and they to me should determine who would be the right candidate for the manager

position. A lot of people today assume that being a manager is a thing of power and it does tend

to be abused by a lot of individuals. Another style that is used often would be the transactional

style. This style pretty much is the “you do for me I’ll do for you” style. For instance, let us say

the company is giving out a brand new 65” flatscreen for the one that has the highest case count.

This might sound good but also it encourages people to work harder than before for a chance at

something they can simply go buy themselves. I feel no one should have to put so much effort

into a contest at work for something like this can cause one to lose their motivation to want to

succeed at work for all they care about is winning and if they lose then they feel that work was

all for nothing.

How I would redesign management here would be simple. Select the best candidates based on

knowledge of the projects their attendance and how well they perform at their job and put them

through a trial period and at the end of their trial period if they pass then they then a manager.

Regardless of who it may be not everyone is fit to be a manager.

References

Chi, Clifford (July 30, 2018) 4 Management Styles to Strive For, and 4 to Avoid

Ryan Liz (May 2020) Ten Skills Every Manager Needs, but 90% Of Managers Lack

Currin, Nathan (April 3, 2018) Financial Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask
Themselves

Mackenzie, Lori (January 11,2019) Why Most Performance Evaluations Are Biased, and How to

Fix Them