• Kandapon SBS (Kantor Daerah Telephone Surabaya Selatan) is a government owned telephone company in Indonesia servicing Surabaya. As of 1990 Kandapon SBS had 450 workers with70,000 line units.
• Kandapon SBS sent its subscribers their bill for the month on the 5th of the following month and they have until the 20th to settle their bill either at the telephone office or any of the company’s cooperating banks.
• After the 15 days grace period, the company disconnects telephone lines of the subscribers who have not paid their bills on time. The service will resume after the subscribers settled their account with an additional fee of R1,500 ($0.75) if they settled on the 30th. The longer they settle their account, the bigger fee they’ll have to pay.
• About 20% of their subscribers typically failed to meet the 20th deadline. By the end of the month, 90% of the subscribers have paid their bills. Subscribers expect their lines to be reconnected as soon as the payment as been made. Mistakes in disconnecting lines which were up to date on their payments will provoke noisy complaints. The more important the client, the greater the public airing of complaints and the higher the management level they reach.
CHARACTER PROFILES:
HIDAYAT, the Manager
• Performance oriented person who sets high standards not only for himself but also for the employees he’s working with.
• Assertive and quite tough. He demonstrated this when he confronted Billy.
• Objective and realistic when addressing an issue. He values fairness more than feelings.
BILLY, Collection Clerk
• He came from a well-to-do family, monetary reward from the company is not a motivational factor. He can get extra income from selling bekisar.
• His interest in growing bonsai brought him into contact with prominent people, including the Minister of Justice, who are engage in the hobby.
• A quite charming person, he had a knack for getting into good graces of his supervisors by giving a ticket to a bonsai exhibit or giving bonsai as a gift that he himself planted.
• He is over qualified for the job but he refused promotion as his current job gives him ample time to pursue his hobby of growing bonsai trees.
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO HIS POOR PERFORMANCE
• His supervisor, Bambang, allows him to leave the company during office hours.
• He tends to look down the job as he is too senior already for the position
• His hobby/interest does is not fit with his work (job compatibility issue)
• Not attentive to details and not concern about customer complaints
BAMBANG, Billy’s direct supervisor
• Low task, high relationship – someone who emphasize personal relationship rather than task. This was very evident when he did not impose discipline to Billy for not performing his job.
• A feeling person – does not want to hurt feelings of other people.
• He may be a good worker, but not a manager.
ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM:
The collection clerk in Kandapon SBS has to be someone who does not get easily bored with repetitive tasks for a long period of time, he should be patient, diligent and persistent. Billy is quite the opposite of what was required for the job; he is people oriented who likes meeting and dealing with people and gets easily bored with desk job. The job also does not require creativity which Billy poses, therefore, he finds the job boring. The job requires someone to be in the office to deal with irate customers, most of the time, Billy is not there to handle the complaints as he is too busy with his hobby. There is a mismatch in terms of job compatibility.
A supervisor has to be objective and practical when addressing issues, someone who does not only focus on creating and maintaining harmony among his subordinates, but has to make sure that he emphasize the work that needs to be done. He should not only be concerned with the welfare of the people his working with but the people he has to service as well, in this case, the telephone subscribers. Bambang did not demonstrate this. He did not emphasize the importance of setting work standards not even rules like being in the office during work hours and addressing the problem immediately, therefore, the company received too many complaints.
