Instructional Design Document

Project Name: PJ Enterprises Product Knowledge & Customer Service Improvement

Brief Project Description

Aljelijo, LLC has been hired to design, develop, and deliver a learning program for the telephone operators
and customer service supervisors of PJ Enterprises. This training will both enhance product knowledge and
increase customer service skills in order to reduce customer complaints and increase sales. In addition,
Aljelijo has determined that management training for supervisors and a recommendation for the creation of a
product database are necessary in order for PJ Enterprises to achieve the business objectives.

Instructional Need
Based on system-generated reports and customer service survey data, management of PJ Enterprises has
identified a need for an increase in the knowledge and skills of its telephone operators and customer service
supervisors in order to increase catalog sales and reduce customer complaints. Aljelijo, LLC has determined
that a searchable product database is a necessary tool for helping to achieve these business goals. It will
make a final recommendation for the creation of such a database.
Because management has also identified a problem in the form of telephone operator turnover and retention,
Aljelijo, LLC has determined (after researching the common causes for operator turnover) that improving
customer service supervisors management knowledge and skills is also a requirement for achieving the
business goals.

Target Audience
The target audience consists of 25 full-time telephone operators and 4 full-time customer service supervisors.
The training and recommendations will be reviewed and approved by the project owner, project sponsor, and
other primary stakeholders.

Learner Characteristics
Gender: 85% female; 15% male

Age: 18-63
Education: all have a high school diploma; 20% have an Associates Degree; 10% have a Bachelors Degree
Experience: roughly 40% have previous customer service experience; the remaining 60% do not; supervisors
have at minimum 3-5 years customer service experience

Entry Characteristics
Prerequisite skill and knowledge: A
ll have completed at least 1 product knowledge training session and
have a basic understanding of the telephone ordering system.
Attitudinal and motivational characteristics: Over 50% have expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs to
the point of leaving. Management has indicated that a majority of telephone operators and their supervisors
display substandard motivation for performance improvement and investment in the success of the company.

Learning Environment
This information was obtained by the project team conducting three visits to the site.
Onsite Facilities
On-site training room with 20 individual work stations, a presentation stand with PC, overhead projector
and screen, and wall-mounted speakers. Telephone operator training will need to split into two groups
and the trainees will need to be rotated to accommodate all 25 trainees plus the 4 supervisors.
Ergonomically appropriate seats and tables will be used for each workstation.
The training room does not have a controllable thermostat. Since the room gets direct sunlight in the
afternoon and gets very hot, training will be scheduled for mornings.
Constraints and Recommendations
PJ Enterprises does not typically support professional development (recommend an initial meeting with
management to convey the value of the training relative to business goals).
The majority of employees are resistant to additional training because of time commitment or lack of
overtime pay (recommend confirming training will be paid and communicating that to all employees prior
to the training).
The overhead projector speaker will closely follow the text presented on the screen so that
hearing-impaired learners receive the same information as those who can both see and hear clearly.
Morning training scheduled due to unalterable climate factors.

Training Format
Both the customer service training and management training consist of blended instructional strategies, the
main two being on-site/web-based synchronous sessions with asynchronous training modules delivered online.
The reason for this particular blend is that unless we block out time on TOs and CSSs calendars for the
synchronous sessions, many are unlikely to be willing to or able to prioritize taking the time for this training. On
the other hand, having training modules that are online and available at any time will be helpful for those who

need a refresher months after the synchronous sessions, or for those hired after the synchronous sessions
have taken place.

1. Terminal Objective: During a mock situation, telephone operators can efficiently and effectively handle customer
complaints resolving the situation within 8 minutes to the customers and supervisors satisfaction.
Enabling Objective

Demonstrate use of the

10 steps involved in
solving a customer
problem/issue.

Absorb Activity
Video presentation based off
article, 10 Steps to Effective
Problems Solving for Call
Center Agents

Assessment: Participant will

put the problem solving steps
in order (computer based
quiz).

Practice responding to
upset or difficult
customers using
multiple strategies.

Video presentation similar to

one here. Video needs to
address all 7 tactics.

Do Activity
Wagon wheel with partner
activity (switching partners
every 6 minutes). 2 minutes
listen to your partners
problem. You get 30
seconds to succinctly identify
the problem/issue. Next, you
have 2 minutes to describe
your drawn problem to your
partner. Partner gets 30
seconds to describe it back.
Switch partners.
Assessment: Discussion
(formative)

Connect Activity
In small groups, participants
will be given a scenario to
work through steps 1-8/9, as
possible.

In small groups, participants

will be given several
situations. For each
situation, the group will need
to identify 2 positive things
you can do for the customer.

In pairs, participants will role

play with one another angry
customer/call center
scenarios. Discussion will
focus on how this applies to
their day-to-day work.

Assessment: Discussion
(formative). 8 minute role
play test at the end of the
session.

Assessment: Discussion (formative). 8 minute role play test at the end of the session.

Utilize strategies to
maintain self-control
and manage ones own
emotions during a
verbal attack by a
customer.

Read this article on Managing

Emotions

Online module with branching

scenario to practice making
good emotional management
choices.

In pairs, participants will role

play with one another an
attacking customer/call center
scenario. Discuss techniques
used toward emotional self
control when under attack.

Assessment: Formative quiz

Assessment: Module will

provide feedback and loop as
many times as needed until
completion (formative).

Assessment: Discussion
(formative). 8 minute role
play test at the end of the
session.

2. [Management Training] Terminal Objective: In a role-playing scenario, demonstrate understanding of

techniques for motivating employees by receiving an overall rating of 2 from at least two employees in the
role-playing context

Enabling Objectives

Describe three ways to

engage different types
of employees

Demonstrate how to
set SMART (specific,
measureable,
achievable, realistic,
timely) goals.

Absorb Activity
Presentation with additional
reference materials and
video

Assessment: Participant
feedback to questions
throughout presentation
(formative) and quiz
(summative) with a variety
of multiple-choice and
short-response items.
Presentation with additional
reference materials

Assessment: Participant
feedback to questions
throughout presentation
(formative) and quiz
(summative) with a variety
of multiple-choice and
technology-enhanced items.

Articulate three signs

of burnout and at least
one method to
ameliorate burnout

Do Activity
Group activity in which
participants take turns
reading scripted
employee/manager
scenarios and discuss/come
to a consensus as to how to
best handle each scenario.

Connect Activity
Small group activity: participants discuss their
experiences with past/
current employees in
situations like the scripted
scenarios from the Do
Activity, what resources
they used in each situation,
and what the results were.
Assessment: Discussion (formative) and quiz (summative)
with a variety of multiple-choice and short-response items.

Small group activity:

participants evaluate
sample goals and 1)
determine whether each
one meets the SMART
criteria and 2) how to revise
any that do not meet the
criteria so that they do.
Assessment: Discussion
(formative) and quiz
(summative) with a variety
of multiple-choice and
technology-enhanced items.

Video: Burnout in the

Workplace: Prevention and
Remedies

Scenario-based group
activity in which participants
review a case study and
provide suggestions as to
how to ameliorate burnout.

Assessment: Discussion
(formative) and quiz
(summative) with a variety
of multiple-choice and
short-answer items.

Assessment: Discussion
(formative) and
multiple-choice quiz
(summative)

Group activity: participants

brainstorm about how to
create applicable SMART
goals for their teams.

Assessment: Discussion
(formative) and shortresponse question
(summative) in which
participants are asked to
select/provide 3 or more
SMART objectives for their
team for the current sales
year to be approved by
upper management.
Small group activity in which
participants discuss past
experiences with burnout
and run through a series of
questions to identify
potential burnout in current
team members.
Assessment: Discussion
(formative) and survey
(summative): participants
are asked to identify any
current/potential issues with
burnout among team
members and to offer
suggestions as to how to
remedy the current
situation/prevent future
issues [for review/approval
by upper management]

Assessment Summary

The use of formative assessments in the form of discussions throughout the training modules allows the
facilitator to measure trainees understanding of the concepts before applying them to the connect activities,

several of which require trainees to produce plans and statements to be approved by upper management. In
this way, facilitators are able to evaluate the training in real time and to correct any misconceptions or
misunderstandings of important concepts before the summative assessments. Additionally, some formative
assessments will use quizzes with feedback and loops that allow trainees to repeat the question until they
select the correct answer. The use of role plays is another technique that will allow for formative assessment
and feedback that will assist the trainees in advancing their skills that will ultimately result in greater customer
satisfaction.
For the summative assessments, quizzes were more applicable to certain objectives and surveys/written
statements were more applicable to others. For example, objectives that require the trainees to understand
and evaluate more objective concepts (e.g., SMART objectives) align well with multiple-choice and technologyenhanced items. Conversely, objectives that require the tailored application of certain concepts to specific
individuals and situations align much better to constructed-response assessments in the form of short-answer
quiz questions, survey responses, and other written statements. The written statements required for Terminal
Objective 2 will allow upper management to see a return on investment in the training in the form of practical
applications for improving employee engagement and helping with or preventing future burnout. For Terminal
Objective 1, the summative assessment will simply look at the number of the trainees who met the objective.
While it would be ideal for all employees to meet that objective, the actual number who do will provide us with
much information about the skill level of our staff.

Evaluation Plan
Formative
For customer service training, formative evaluation will take two forms:
1. Early in the development phase of the computer-based training, one customer service supervisor will be
required to do a usability test of the training modules.
2. Many of the in-person training modules require some kind of written statement from the customer service
representatives. These will be read by the trainers during training session breaks to determine what, if
anything, needs to be clarified.
For supervisor training, formative evaluation will be based on responses to quizzes and discussions. Quiz
responses will tell us whether any question is unclear and discussion question responses will tell us if our
questions, scenarios, etc. need to be modified.
Summative
Summative evaluation will include end of course survey instruments. These will be different for the telephone
operators and the supervisors, because the goal of these surveys is to determine how to improve the training,
under the assumption that the training will be repeated.
Confirmative
For telephone operators, confirmative evaluation will be conducted 6 months after the training. This
evaluation will consist of both quantitative and qualitative data and will be used to determine the long-term
effect of the training.

Quantitative data to be collected will include:

Number of complaints about operators' product knowledge (has it gone down?)

 The percentage of customers surveyed saying they are not inclined to do business with PJ Enterprises
(has it decreased?)
Qualitative data will be collected through a survey. Questions to be included in the survey of telephone
operators would include:
Do you feel you are better prepared to deal with customer complaints?
Do you feel you do a better job of dealing with customer complaints?
Compare your job satisfaction now to before training. Are you more satisfied, less satisfied, or about the
same?
Do you feel your supervisor is a better motivator now than before your training?
For customer service supervisors, confirmative evaluation will also be conducted 6 months after the training.
This evaluation will consist of both quantitative and qualitative data.
Quantitative data to be collected will include:
How many telephone operators quit in the last 6 months (how does this compare to any 6-month period
in the last two years?)
Qualitative data will be collected through a survey. Questions to be included in the survey would include:
Do you feel you are better prepared to motivate telephone operators?
Do you feel you do a better job of motivating telephone operators?