Managing Capacity and Demand

Question One

The number of full-time service representatives should be enough for weekday requiring the least service representatives. In this case, I would recommend four fulltime service representatives, since they will be enough for Friday, which requires the least number (four) of service representatives. That means more than four full-time representatives would render some staff redundant on Friday, which affects productivity (Figueiro, and White 18). Given that any weekday will have four full-time service representatives, the number of part-time representatives will depend on the demand for representatives each day. For instance, Monday will require three part-time employees since the demand is seven, against the four full-time employees. The number of part-time employees on other days is tabulated below.

• Minimum representatives = 4 on Friday
• Number of full-time representatives = 4
• Number of required part-time representatives:
  • Monday: 3
  • Tuesday: 4
  • Wednesday: 6
  • Thursday: 3
  • Friday: 0

Table 1 Part-Time Service Representatives Required

Question Two

It is critical to consider that part-time service representatives must work between three and four days a week. Taking them as A, B, C, D, E, and F, the following is a probable Decreasing Part-Time Histogram schedule in table format.

Table 2 Decreasing Part-Time Service Representatives Demand Histogram

Representatives
Required
6		A
5		B
4		C	A
3		D	B	A	B
2		E	C	D	E
1		F	D	E	F	–
		Wed.	Tue.	Mon.	Thu.	Fri.

The following table indicates the probable working schedule for part-time service representatives.

Table 3      Daily Part-Time Work Schedule, X = workday

Teller	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.
A		x	x	x
B		x	x
C		x	x
D	x	x	x
E	x		x	x
F	x		x	x

Question Three

I think this approach is applicable in the finance and communication industries. Examples of service organizations include a call center and a bank. There are hours when business peaks in a call center, and there are many customers requiring assistance in one way or another. Also, some days have more customers than others. Likewise, banks have hours where only a few customers seek services and others when people crowd at the waiting bay, which supports the need for a standard shiftwork schedule, as found in recent research (Costa, and Folkard 91). The scheduling system proposed above would ensure that morning, afternoon, and evening hours which have more people making inquiries and seeking bank services, have adequate service representatives. The two industries are likely to record very few service attendances, and others could be closed since commercial services are mostly delayed from Friday till Monday. Also, Monday morning should have enough representatives since many people seek services delayed on weekends. Other industries that could use this schedule are the hospitality and cosmetics industry.

Works Cited

Costa, Giovanni, and Simon Folkard. “Shift Work And Extended Hours Of Work”. Hunter’s Diseases Of Occupations, Tenth Edition, 2010, pp. 1233-1245. CRC Press, doi:10.1201/b13467-127. Accessed 6 Nov 2020.

Figueiro, M G, and R D White. “Health Consequences Of Shift Work And Implications For Structural Design”. Journal Of Perinatology, vol 33, no. S1, 2013, pp. S17-S23. Springer Science And Business Media LLC, doi:10.1038/jp.2013.7. Accessed 6 Nov 2020.