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Operations Management Final Project

Organization: JS Bank Limited
Submitted to: Dr. Rizwan Ahmed
6th December 2022

By
Aalizae Yazdani
Amania Kamran
Tahseen Saleem
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 3
Company Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4
Objectives of the Project ........................................................................................................................ 4
Introduction of the Company ................................................................................................................ 4
Company’s Competitive Priorities in Operations ................................................................................ 4
Competitive Strategy of JS bank ........................................................................................................... 5
Analysis of Operations ................................................................................................................................ 5
Transformation Process of JS Bank ...................................................................................................... 5
Operations in an Organization .............................................................................................................. 6
Role of an Operations Manager............................................................................................................. 6
Operations Strategy Framework ........................................................................................................... 6
Strategic Decisions in Operations of JS Bank ...................................................................................... 7
Service Design and Process Analysis of JS Bank ................................................................................. 7
JS bank – High-contact Services........................................................................................................ 7
Service Design Process (Refer to Figure 5 in Appendix) ................................................................. 8
Process Mapping ................................................................................................................................. 9
Service Blueprint ................................................................................................................................. 9
Facility Location Decisions for JS Bank ............................................................................................... 9
Facility Layout Decisions.................................................................................................................... 9
Capacity Management Decisions ......................................................................................................... 10
Inventory Management Decisions ....................................................................................................... 11
Issues and Their Effects on the Operations of a Firm ....................................................................... 11
Recommendations and Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 12
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................... 14
Process Flow Chart of JS Bank-Figure 1 ............................................................................................ 14
Service Blue Print of JS Bank-Figure 2 .............................................................................................. 15
Location Factor Rating Technique- Figure 3 ..................................................................................... 16
Process Layout of JS Bank Head Office Branch-Figure 4 ................................................................ 16
Service Design Process-Figure 5 .......................................................................................................... 17
Interview Questions .............................................................................................................................. 18
References .................................................................................................................................................. 21
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Executive Summary

This report examines the operations of JS Bank Limited Pakistan with the use of primary and secondary

data to enhance the research. The report is divided into three sections, which includes the Introduction of

the Company, Analysis of the Operations and the Recommendations for solving the identified issues. The

introduction entails the competitive priorities and strategies of JS Bank, highlighting how it gains a

popular name within the banking industry of Pakistan. The analysis of the operations revolves around the

transformation process of the bank, the strategic decisions being taken, the process analysis and service

design process which includes diagrams focused on the Service Blue Print and the Process Flow Chart.

Furthermore, the analysis also discusses the decisions JS Bank has to take with regards to location and

layout strategies, along with capacity and inventory decisions. The location and layout decisions were

further analyzed using the Location Factor Rating technique and Process Layout of JS Bank. The analysis

of operations also explored the issues identified within the operations of JS Bank and how they effected

their systems, which we used in order to make recommendations that prove to be beneficial to them and

help them gain a competitive advantage in the market.

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Company Introduction
Objectives of the Project
The focal objective of this project is to familiarize ourselves with the field of operations management and
the role it plays in the manufacturing of goods and services, leading toward the success and growth of an
organization. This project would allow us to identify and understand the cross-functional relationships of
operations with other areas within the organization, including the supply chain, production, marketing, and
finance. Moreover, we would be able to apply the important decisions an organization has to take with
respect to operations, ranging from the design of goods and services, selection of technology and
equipment, production layout, decision drivers behind the production layout of service and manufacturing
organizations, management of quality, to facility layout and facility location decisions. Hence, the project
would give us insight into the decisions, strategies, and techniques applied within an organization
concerning operations with the help of analytical tools and quantitative techniques.
Introduction of the Company
JS Bank is a Pakistani commercial bank headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. The bank is a major
majority-owned subsidiary of JS Group. It was established in April 2007 as a result of the merger of two
mega companies, Jahangir Siddiqui Investment Bank and American Express Bank. JS Bank products
include personal banking including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, loans, lockers, credit
cards, debit cards, and digital banking. Under the umbrella of business financing, the bank provides
Corporate Banking, Commercial Banking, Investment Banking, Trade, and SME solutions.
JS Bank, one of the fastest-growing banks in Pakistan has once again been recognized for its success in the
international banking world by winning the 'Most Innovative SME Bank' at the 8th Annual Global Business
Outlook Awards. It has received multiple other awards, certificates of merits, and recognitions, hence
making it one of the most popular banks in Pakistan. Due to JS Bank’s seamless services and prevalence
amongst the masses, we have selected it as the service organization for our project. Their vision is to become
the most innovative, customer-centric, and responsible bank in Pakistan. Their mission is to become a
world-class bank providing innovative financial services to their customers.
Company’s Competitive Priorities in Operations
Competitive priorities are a firm’s strategic preferences or the ways in which it chooses to compete in the
marketplace and support the demands of the market. The four main competitive priorities include low
cost, quality, delivery performance, and flexibility. Since our chosen firm is a bank, we will be relating
these competing priorities to the service sector and linking how each priority can be seen in such service
firms. A bank having competitive priority in quality may mean a high level of knowledge and skills that
employees may have in dealing with customers. JS Bank believes in providing consistent quality rather
than top quality due to its large customer base. It is not possible to provide top quality to only a few
customers whereas the rest get a consistent quality of services. One of the yardsticks used to evaluate
employee performance in JS Bank is to see if they have provided a consistent level of service to the
customer, not top quality. Another element in competitive priorities is speed. JS Bank prioritizes timely
delivery to customers, especially in the call center department. Here, the speed is all about how much time
it takes to process one customer. The time starts once the customer calls and stops once the call ends. This
duration is tightly monitored by the operations department and JS bank strives to keep this as low as
possible. During our visit to the JS Bank, we talked to the operations manager and asked him what he
thought their competitive strategy was. He believed that they had the upper hand as compared to their
competitors with respect to being flexible in terms of offering a wide range of products on a single
platform. Some of the JS digital products provided to customers include the JS Blink Digital Account
which offers a range of multi-currency and the JS Zindagi BVS App which allows customers to open a
fully digital account in under 10 minutes from anywhere in the world, and the JS Bot which allows is
named as a personal WhatsApp banking assistant. This allows direct and easy contact between the JS
bank representative and the customer if any issues are being faced. Similarly, JS internet banking also
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allows a variety of services. For example, through a JCash Account a customer is able to do Utility bill
payments, Mobile bill payments, Mobile & Internet top-ups, Funds transfer to CNIC, etc.

Competitive Strategy of JS bank

A company’s competitive strategy is set up only after it has established a mission and a vision that defines
the company’s business, its objectives, and its approaches to reach those objectives, as well as the desired
future position of the company. The vision of JS bank is to be the most innovative, customer-centric, and
responsible bank in Pakistan, while its mission is to be a world-class bank providing innovative financial
services to our customers through a motivated team of professionals, supported by the latest technology,
while maintaining high ethical standards, creating value for all our stakeholders, and contributing to the
society through responsible and sustainable development. The competitive strategy of the bank revolves
in alignment with its vision and mission around creating a more balanced approach to customer
acquisition and offering unique digital solutions to customers. The bank has made a substantial capital
investment in its digital proposition and launched a new brand ‘Zindagi’, which has been designed to tap
the market of Gen Z and millennials by offering them simple and user-friendly digital financial solutions.
Furthermore, the focus of the bank has been to optimize its cost structure, and build profitability around
the branch network and customer base, and to do so the bank has assembled an experienced and qualified
management team to head various departments. Moreover, in order to enhance the customer experience as
JS bank’s top priority, it has modernized its core banking platform with renowned IT Company NDcTech
as the implementation partner. Hence, it can be seen how JS bank has been taking initiatives like digital
transformation to keep following their competitive strategy which is to focus on customer-centricity and
deliver a premium customer experience.

Analysis of Operations
As discussed in the previous section, the main objective of this project is to understand the main operations
and workings of a firm. We chose JS Bank, a service organization, as the subject of our project. To get
more in-depth knowledge and physical evidence regarding the activities surrounding the operations of the
bank, we visited the JS Bank located at the Upper Mall. During our visit, we were able to survey the branch,
which included a range of activities from analyzing the layout of different departments within the building
to watching the staff interact with their customers. We were given the opportunity to sit down with the
Operations Manager, Mr. Imran Mirza, and ask him several questions we had prepared regarding different
areas and how they are operating in the bank.
Transformation Process of JS Bank
The foundation that has to be laid first, in order to understand any kind of operations, is to understand
exactly what the transformation process of a bank, i.e. a service firm, looks like. This transformation
process includes what input is needed by JS Bank and what output is produced in the end. The
transformation process of JS Bank is an ongoing process, there’s always something going on. For
example, in their call centers, the people are always working there, getting feedback from the customers.
Similarly, for complaints, feedback, or for any tasks there are forms that can be filled out at designated
counters where the staff is ready to help you with anything you want to get done. Thus, the inputs to JS
Bank include the employees that are interacting with the customers, bank tellers, relationship managers,
checkbooks that are issued, the building itself, and the rent that is paid, etc. One of the most important
outputs of JS Bank is the satisfied customers that come out at the end of being processed by the bank.
Sometimes if the customers are not satisfied then they have the freedom to give their feedback and this
can be counted as an output for the bank as this can be used to improve whatever the customer felt that
they were lacking. These outputs are something that customers use to decide whether to go to the same
bank or change banks.
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Operations in an Organization
Moving on, as we know that within an organization there are several operations that are taking place in
various departments. Some of these departments include the Marketing, Finance, HR, and Operations
Department. The tasks of each department are laid out in such a way that they all align and work in
tandem to ensure the efficient running of the bank. Firstly, the marketing department of JS Bank is
responsible for making the product, which includes the business plan, the budget, and advertisement. The
Marketing department provides the operations department with customer feedback and it is the duty of the
operations department to schedule the deliveries, to execute the advertisements either on t.v or in the
newspaper. It is also the responsibility of Marketing to ensure that there is marketing collateral
everywhere the customer has easy access. Another department is the finance department. This department
usually does the backhand work. Their activities include looking at JS Bank’s overhead costs and making
the annual reports for the bank. The finance department provides the operations department with the
budgets and the cost analysis, and in return, the operations department may give plans for improvement in
technology. However, an even more important department than finance is the treasury department. This is
usually involved in bank-to-bank borrowing. They are the liaison of JS Bank to the State Bank of
Pakistan. They need to have knowledge of the current discount rates, and the current dollar rate at the
State Bank. Moving on, the Human Resources department is responsible for hiring, firing, conducting
appraisals, monitoring attendance, and making sure that all the staff is following the guidelines and the
code of ethics of JS Bank. The supply chain of JS Bank includes the vendors from where the bank gets all
the necessary items it needs. This can range from vendors who provide tea, and beverages to the bank to
vendors who are responsible for supplying ATM Machines, Air conditioners, computers, etc. Lastly, the
suppliers provide information about the material availability and delivery schedules to the operations, and
then they make orders for the materials and talk about quality requirements. Every bank has an operations
department that carries out different tasks. There are no fixed duties for them as operations are being
carried out in every department. Some people from this department may be responsible for giving service
to the customer, clearing and writing cheques. All the departments are linked with the operations
department.

Role of an Operations Manager

It is also important to understand what exactly the role of an Operations Manager entails and what type of
strategies he has to come up with in order to maintain a competitive advantage. A major role of Mr. Imran
is to monitor all the transactions that take place at JS Bank. It is also his duty to look after the cash
sourcing, i.e. from where to get the cash, where to use it and how much to keep. This is a very sensitive
task that requires a hundred percent accuracy, and there is no leverage for faults. This is directly related to
the satisfaction of the customers as using this single software the waiting time for the customer decreases.

Operations Strategy Framework

It is also important to point out what the order qualifiers and the order winners JS Bank are. When talking
about order qualifiers, these are the factors that allow the public to consider them as candidates for
purchase. Customers are very rate conscious. Hence, for JS Bank one of the things that qualify them to be
considered by the customers is the interest rate they offer. Secondly, the branch network is also something
that can be an order qualifier. They have 238 branches in 122 cities so a customer’s easy accessibility to
their branch is also what attracts them to JS Bank. Similarly, JS Bank believes that their customer service
has always been something that they are proud of. This is due to the technology and the software, as
mentioned before, that JS Bank is using. Moving on to order winners, these factors are what differentiate
a service from one bank to another. These factors may include the speed, price, and flexibility of the bank.
For JS Bank, speed is one of the factors which they consider to be their order winner. Their online
banking provides fast, high-tech, user-friendly, and quick services to the customer. JS Bank also has a
user-friendly app on WhatsApp known as the JS Bot. The purpose of this is that it acts like your own
personal banking assistant. This provides you with all types of services within your home.
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Strategic Decisions in Operations of JS Bank

There are nine strategic decisions that have to be taken in operations. The first is to categorize what type
of service industry a bank comes under. Banking comes under a mass service as it is providing services to
the mass market. The next decision that has to be made is regarding the capacity and facility of JS Bank.
These decisions are discussed in more detail while relating to JS bank later in the report. Another decision
involves Human Resources and these usually revolve around what skill set is required by JS Bank or what
selection criteria are being followed by them. Decisions on what type of quality to provide to the
customers also has to be made. Since this is a service sector there is no tangible output that can be
measured to check the quality, thus JS Bank believes that a satisfied customer is the type of quality it
strives for. Lastly, the operating systems of many banks include Temenosis T24. This is a major operating
system for JS bank also and works nationwide through which many transactions take place. Every
customer's account is maintained in this system and the bank can keep a check on these accounts easily.

Service Design and Process Analysis of JS Bank

JS bank – High-contact Services

Design Decision High Contact Service

● Facility Location Proximity to the customer plays a vital role in determining the facility
location for JS bank.

● Facility layout JS bank was very well presentable and accommodating towards its
customers' needs and ease of communication.
● Workers' skill Employee’s interaction with customers at JS bank is very well, but
they are not allowed to make their own judgments and take decisions
based on those. Employees are provided with set standards that they
are obliged to follow except for situations where customers are
involved in STR (Suspicious Transaction Report).

● Quality Control If customers are present when any defects occur, employees are given
SOPs to follow in order to deal with customers, and these vary from
customer to customer.
● Capacity In times of peaks in demand Automated teller machines are set up in
the bank, and cues are arranged for customers and are facilitated even
if employees have to stay after work.

● Scheduling No commitment towards accommodating customer schedules because

the bank has its own timeline.

● Service Process Services at JS bank differ for every customer according to the category
they fall in and also vary during delivery in response to customers.

● Service package JS bank provides a variety of services and along with that, it gives a
comfortable environment for its customers such as a pleasant waiting
area.
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Service Design Process (Refer to Figure 5 in Appendix)

1) Service concept: The service concept defines the target customer and what the customer is
expecting to experience by availing of those services. In our case, it also defines how JS bank’s
services are different from others and through what strategies it will compete in the marketplace.
From the service concept, JS bank creates a service package to meet customer needs that take into
account a mixture of physical items, sensual benefits, and psychological benefits
2) Target customers: Customers play the most significant part at JS bank as they are an important
asset of the bank. The bank customer is the one who uses the banking services and judges the
quality of those services. To define the term banking relationship is a contract between the bank
and the customer. JS bank has a huger variety of customers that cover almost all types of bank
customers. These target customers can be identified as follows: Personal account holders, sole
proprietary firms, partnership firms, Limited liability partnerships, and companies (corporations).
3) Supporting facilities: These are the physical resources that must be in place before a service can
be offered as for JS bank it has numerous branches all over Pakistan that consists of buildings as
well as the parking area for employees as well as for the customers.
4) Physical Items: These are the materials purchased or consumed by the buyer, or the items
provided to the customer. As JS bank provides banking services, the physical items include the
checkbook, credit/debit card, vouchers, and user guide.
5) Explicit services: These are the essential or intrinsic features of the service and there is a wide
variety of such services provided by JS bank to its customers. The explicit services provided by
JS bank include personal services for private individuals as well as for businesses. Personal
services comprise personal accounts, consumer finance, mutual funds, remittance tracker, and JS
home remittance. While business services contain investment banking, agriculture finance
commercial banking. Corporate banking and trade services.
6) Implicit services: These are the sensual benefits or psychological benefits customer experiences
while enjoying the explicit service. JS bank places great importance on its customers hence when
any customer enters the premises of the bank a designated employee receives that customer and
greets them with great courtesy. Furthermore, the customer is treated with utmost respect during
each process, thus giving them feelings of satisfaction, importance, and great comfort.
7) Performance specifications: These are the expectations and requirements of all the customers of
JS bank that are converted into design specifications. The customers of JS bank expect and
require high-quality services provided to them, they also expect to be accommodated on time
without any delays and want the processes to be small and efficient so that they can get their work
done within the minimum time limit. Furthermore, the customers also expect JS bank to address
their concerns with sheer attention and they are completely satisfied by having a relationship with
JS bank.
8) Design specifications: it describes the services thoroughly, and in detail for the desired service
experience so that it could be altered for different customers at different locations. For JS bank
these specifications consist of the tasks to be performed at bank premises, the skills required for
different employees at each different level, and all the information or guidelines for the
employees directly dealing with customers such as window teller employees. It also takes into
account the estimation of costs and time involved in providing the services to the customers.
Other specifications that JS bank accounts for are the branch size which includes the parking lot
as well as the building, the location of JS bank, the layout as well as the equipment required to set
up the system.
9) Delivery specifications: These outline the steps required in the process of delivery of services to
the customers. JS bank delivery specification is the location where the service will be provided
that is the bank premises itself, then it includes deliverables for example when a customer
activates a new account an ATM card is to be delivered to the customer’s address after a certain
time period so that proper arrangements could be made for that purpose.
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Process Mapping
Referring to Figure 1 in Appendix where when the bank branch receives request from customer for
differential interest rate, the bank mails the general manager to get approval. If the general manager does
not approve interest rate the process is finished, but if approved the general manager sends request to
business head. If the business head does not approve the process is finishes, but if approved business head
sends request to group head. If group head does not approve the process finishes, but if approved
customer gets the request completed.

Service Blueprint
Figure 2 of Appendix depicts the Service Blue Print pf JS Bank Account Activation which highlights the
service processes, points of customer contact and evidence of service from the bank’s customer point of
view. Building a service blueprint allowed us to understand how the services of a bank and related
experiences are delivered end to end, front to back and across channels.

Facility Location Decisions for JS Bank

JS Bank branches throughout Pakistan are all located at prime locations due to a number of factors which
significantly impact facility location, considering the fact that JS Bank provides services to a wide
consumer base. According to the data, proximity to customers plays a vital role in determining the facility
location for JS Bank, because if your location is not well-suited to the customers, then it would most
certainly lose out on them. For example, if the location of the branch does not provide proper parking
space, the customers are less likely to visit it. If the branch is located in an area which is difficult for
customers to reach due to heavy traffic routes, hefty constructions and high transportation costs, it is
plausible they would visit the branch of another bank whose location is more accessible. These are some
of the factors that JS Bank keeps in mind when choosing a location, keeping in mind proximity to
customers. Hence, when JS Bank opens up a branch, it makes sure that it is an urban or suburban area
where they do not face a lot of competition and are easily accessible to customers. According to the data,
other factors such as bad political situations within a certain area and electricity failures only affect the
location occasionally, however, they do not act as deciding factors for choosing a permanent location for
the branch. Availability of sites and infrastructure within these prime locations are other important
determining factors which are pivotal to JS Bank. The bank must keep an eye out for sites in prime
locations due to heavy competition from other banks, and a good infrastructure around the area would
attract more customers and employees.

Referring to Figure 3 in Appendix, the Operations Manager, Mr. Imran Mirza provided us with an
example of how they had to choose between two locations when opening up a branch within Badami
Bagh, Lahore, which we analyzed using the Location Factor Rating Technique. Location 1 was located
near a sewage system, with minimal parking space and heavy traffic, hence it is not easily accessible to
customers and the infrastructure is also considered average in this case. Location 2, which has the higher
score, has an expansive parking space, located within the main market of Badami Bagh, the surrounding
infrastructure is relatively better and the site is also easy available because Location 1 is preferred by
other banks as well because the rent for the building is low. As a result, Location 2 had a higher score and
was chosen as the final location for a new branch.

Facility Layout Decisions

The facility layout of banks is an equally important factor as is the facility location. According to the
Operations Manager of JS Bank, a good facility layout environment reduces avoidance behavior of bank
customers, reducing congestion and waiting time. JS Bank follows a process layout strategy, where the
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work stations are not arranged according to a particular sequence, but a number of similar operations are
grouped within a department.

The process layout of JS Bank Head Office Branch optimizes space in an effective way by combining the
different functions under different departments and allocating offices to each within two floors in the
same vicinity. According to the interviewee, Mr. Imran Mirza, the main objective when designing the
service layout for a JS Bank branch, is to manage the flow of customers, by setting up appropriate number
of customer service desks, provide a proper customer waiting area, adequate air-conditioning and wider
space around the office so the customer does not feel like he/she is in a “box”. Hence, another aim of JS
Bank layout is to maximize space so that all the departments can fit in an optimal way without making the
office looking too congested making a narrow pathway for customers. Most importantly, communication
plays an important role within a bank, thus, JS Bank designs its layout in such a way in which it can
facilitate communication easily between employees and customers, and between employees of different
departments. Lastly, JS Bank tries to minimize paperwork as much as possible, which is why it has
digitalized most of its systems through JS Mobile Banking App and JS Zindagi that are most popular.
Figure 4 in Appendix illustrates the process layout of JS Bank Head Office Branch, highlighting how the
different departments and offices are integrated together, carrying out the operations efficiently. The
diagram illustrates the process layout of a JS Bank branch, where a customer upon entering is first greeted
by the customer services department and then may wait in the customer services area for the purpose they
have visited. The customer service department of JS Bank may look after any issues that the customer is
facing with regards to processing withdrawals or deposits and cashing cheques. The Relationship
Manager, Mr. Rizwan Shah aids customers and the bank’s clients with their investments and financial
planning. The Operations Manager, Mr. Imran Mirza, heads the operations department and is responsible
for establishing, maintaining, and facilitating JS Bank’s operations. The Branch Manager, Mr. Ammad
Hussain is responsible for all the departments at the JS Bank branch, and manages the resources & staff,
develops and attains the sales goals, delivers services to customers, and grows the branch’s revenues. The
IT Department acts as a support system and the IT Department for the Head Office looks after the systems
of 16 other branches. Moreover, the Retail Department deals with the branch sales and retail operations
that is concerned with transactions. The Clearing Department is a centralized processing unit that deals
with cheques of all branches, and reports to the Retail Department. The Cash Counter deals with all
transactions related to cash such as cash receipts, payments, credit card payments and utility bill receipts.
The upper floor of the branch consists of the Trade Department and the SME Department.

Capacity Management Decisions

Capacity Management Decisions play an important role for JS Bank when they have to deal with a high
number of customers during peak season, especially before Eid holidays begin. In such a situation, they
set up queue mated machines and try to accommodate as many customers as possible until 10pm which is
4-5 hours ahead of JS Bank closing time. The key to efficiency and fast customer service is the correct
and dynamic matching of demand and capacity. The services that a customer requires cannot be stored
and must be available to him/her when they require it. Moreover, there is also a high volatility of demand
for the services so they must be read to deal with the capacity management decisions that come with
during the peak season. In order to deal with such situations, JS Bank locates its branches which are at the
demand point of customers at prime locations, they separate the factory-like transactions which are more
or less standardized, like check encashment, withdrawals, and check deposits, from the personalized ones
like opening accounts, loan application, or marketing a new service. It should be recognized that the
former constitute the bulk of banking transactions. Factory-like transactions are fairly predictable in terms
of duration or cycle time, and occurrence. By matching the demand and capacity of its factory
transactions, JS Bank can decongest its lobby or ATM booths, improve over-all customer satisfaction, and
provide its staff with ample time and better composure to attend to the more personalized transactions.
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Inventory Management Decisions

Operations Manager Mr. Imran Mirza stated that they consider JS Bank’s documentation, cheque books
as a part of their inventory. The documentation and cheque books are provided to the bank’s customers at
a fee, so that is something they are storing as their inventory and selling it to customers, thus, considering
it an inventory. Moreover, JS Bank’s balance sheet does not contain inventories as they are providing
services and not providing any physical goods. They borrow the funds and lend them out, hence JS
Bank’s inventory management revolves around the inflow and outflow of cash. According to the data
provided, some of the inventory management techniques used by JS Bank include technological
innovations in order to track their inventory and maintain accurate records. They also handle their cash
through automated deposits which have proved to be quite beneficial for the bank as it maximizes their
cash management.

Issues and Their Effects on the Operations of a Firm

Employees play an important role in a company’s success especially when it comes to the service sector.
As customer-employee interaction is high in banks, it is really important that the employees are well-
trained in order to deal with all types of customers every day with great care. A business reputation for
quality services and professionalism is something that takes years to establish but poor employees can
derail all of this. On the visit to JS bank, something familiar was seen, an employee was not working and
was sitting in his booth using his mobile phone consistently till the visit ended. This action of that
employee shows extreme unprofessionalism that would put a negative impression on customers as well.
Customers might view the employees at JS bank as very unprofessional and negligent about their work
and as JS banks pose great importance to the customers, it is of utmost significance to keep in mind how
their customers will perceive employees’ actions. Along with that, in the service business employees’
salaries makes up a major proportion of the total cost, if there are abundant employees at JS bank that are
of no use, it just increases the cost of the bank without adding value to it. Moreover, another issue that we
witnessed was regarding the parking space. Parking is seen to be the first touch point a business has with
its customers. When that interaction is positive, starts the customer experience off on a good note, but if
the parking experience of a customer is poor, it displeases the customer before even actual interaction
takes place. Relating this to JS bank, the parking lot of JS bank is not very accommodating it was not
much spacious. In peak demand times customers using personal vehicles might find it very offensive if
appropriate parking space is not found and if any customer has a similar prior experience with JS bank
they would not choose to visit the bank and might also change their service providers with better
facilities. Furthermore, there is just one entry and exit that could also create problems for JS bank. In case
of emergencies, miss-haps could occur due to one door for both entering and exiting without any
emergency exits.
During our visit, we witnessed that the head office of JS Bank included a department that was responsible
for clearing the cheques from all branches in Lahore. This can become an issue as there were only two
people sitting in that office and as compared to the amount of work that this department asks for, this
means that this becomes a very slow process if a large number of cheques start to come in. Similarly,
during the time when the Bank has to do a background check on a customer to look for any criminal
activity, they have to refer to compliance departments. If the name of the customer they send is similar or
almost similar to someone else who already has their files in the compliance department, then this
department asks the customer for some extra documentation to further prove their identity. This makes the
process for the bank slow as they can only further process the customer once he/she has been approved by
the compliance department. Secondly, another bottleneck for JS Bank that arises is when a third party is
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involved like NADRA. NADRA has provided JS Bank with a biometric system. If this system is down
for NADRA this means that JS Bank also cannot use the system until NADRA repairs it.
Moreover, the IT Department of the Head Office Branch in Lahore controls the IT systems of 16 other
branches in Lahore, which is a major issue, because if there is a problem with the main IT system, it will
definitely affect the systems and operations of the other branches as well, since IT is the major support
system of all the other departments. This will slow down the bank's operations and the services that are
provided to the customers, hence, leaving the customers dissatisfied. Moreover, the Operation Manager
told us that when system failures take place, they have no appropriate corrective measures in place, other
than compensating the customers. System failures are also an issue because they result in missed
deadlines, accounting and data entry errors, disagreements with the vendor, inaccurate customer records,
losses in client assets through negligence, and operational losses for the bank.

Recommendations and Conclusion

In order to improves employee’s behavior at work, JS bank should arrange training programs for its
employees so that the managers could point out their faults or misconducts and give them coaching on
how to correct their actions. Training programs could also be used to provide new skills to its employees
that would later add value to JS bank in the long run. On the contrary, JS bank could use strict measures
redress employee’s false actions, such as accountability of employees’ actions on regular basis. Well
trained employees would demonstrate a great picture of JS bank towards the customers and change their
perception to a positive side.

The solution recommended for small parking space is that JS bank should consider facility location factor
by giving it high weightage and have a larger parking space for customers as well as its employees. For
the existing branch JS bank can expand its parking lot by over taking the abundant land in its
neighborhood. By making parking lot more spacious, it would facilitate more customers and increase their
satisfaction as well as attract new potential customers by having a competitive edge over other banks as
most of the banks usually have minimal space for parking lots.

For the issue of there being only one clearing department, it can be recommended to increase the size of
said department. In JS Bank, there were only two employees with only one computer who were handling
the checks that were flowing in from all branches of Lahore. If the size of the department is increased,
then the time it takes to clear a transaction can be minimized thus would lead to an increase in customer
satisfaction which is the main goal of JS Bank. This could become one of their competitive advantages as
the customers would be able to experience more efficient transactions. Moreover, to resolve the issue of
NADRA’s systems being down there is no definitive recommendation. There is nothing that banks can do
to overcome the lags that are caused by NADRA. However, this was a major issue that was faced by JS
Bank as we were told by the Operations Manager.
With regards to the IT Department, rather than the head office IT Department controlling the IT systems
of 16 other branches within a city, each area’s senior branch can take the responsibility of the IT systems
of other branches in the area. For instance, the Y Block, Phase 3, DHA Lahore branch is the senior branch
of all JS Bank branches in DHA, so it’s IT system can act as a support system for branches within the
area. This would improve the efficiency and speed of services of all the branches within the area. In terms
of competition within the market, other banks are facing the same issues as well so if JS Bank adopts such
a strategy, it will help it gain a competitive advantage in the market and more customers as a result.
Moreover, IT systems failures must also be dealt with as customers want speedy and efficient services.
They can keep a backup by offering payment systems in the cloud, which would also provide them with
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the benefit of flexibility to deal with high volume payments, hence resulting in satisfied customers. This
strategy is being used by big Fintech companies abroad, so bringing such data-driven technology to
Pakistan would help JS Bank become more competitive in the market.

To conclude, operations management plays a crucial role within JS bank. The current situation of JS bank
was analyzed by keeping in mind the theoretical concepts taught in the course. The overall performance of
JS bank was seen to be satisfactory from their vision and mission to their competitive priorities and
operations strategy, it was well defined and clear to all the branches of JS bank as well as the employees.
JS bank set their operations strategy according to its competitive priorities in order to gain competitive edge
from other banks in the market. Every decision is made by taking into account customers as the key factor
so that customer’s interests are protected and their satisfaction is maximized. This can be seen through the
operations of JS bank as well as the physical evidence. Service design process is designed to meet
customers’ requirements and expectations, facility location decisions are taken for customer’s utmost ease,
and facility layout is managed in such a way that customer’s requests are met as quickly as possible to ease
the congestion in peak hour. Despite having an organized operations going on, few problems were observed
within JS bank for which few solutions were proposed. If JS bank takes corrective measures to eliminate
those issues, it is certain that it could further outstand its competitors and improve its operational as well as
financial position.
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Appendix
Process Flow Chart of JS Bank-Figure 1
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Service Blue Print of JS Bank-Figure 2

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Location Factor Rating Technique- Figure 3

Factor Rating (Out of 10)

Factor Rating

Sr. Location Factor Rating Location 1 Location 2

No.

1. Proximity to Customers 0.50 7x0.5=3.5 9x0.5=4.5

2. Infrastructure 0.25 6x0.25=1.5 8x0.25=2

3. Availability of sites 0.15 4x0.15=0.6 5x0.15=0.75

4. Transportation Costs 0.10 4x0.10=0.4 3x0.10=0.3

Total=6 Total=7.55

Process Layout of JS Bank Head Office Branch-Figure 4

Operations Manager Office Branch Manager Office Clearing Department and Cash
Counter

Relationship Manager Office Customer Waiting Area Retail Department

Customer Services Entrance Department

Department
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Service Design Process-Figure 5

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Interview Questions

1) In a service industry like a bank what does the transformation process of a bank look like? The
inputs and Outputs?
2) We have studied that the three basic functions of a business organization include marketing,
production/operations, and finance. What are the main activities that come under each function
while talking about banks? And how does each function interact with the others?
3) What is the role of an Operations manager of a bank? What type of strategies does he/she come
up with improve productivity and gain competitive advantage?
4) What would you say your order winners and order qualifiers are to differentiate you from your
rivals?
5) Walk us through the competitive priorities of JS Bank. These priorities include low cost, quality,
speed/time, and flexibility. Relate this to the service and the customer interactions the employee
have on a daily basis. Also share some examples where the bank changed priorities to gain a
competitive advantage in each priority.
6) Moving on to strategic decisions, what kind of decisions do you as a bank have to make
regarding:
-Service: what kind of service is provided? (professional service, service shop, mass service, service
factory)
-Capacity: When, how much, and in what form is the capacity of the bank altered?
-Facility: Should the facilities, in the case of the bank, focus on serving certain geographic regions, or
customers? Should there be a larger facility or several smaller ones to meet demand? Tell us why this
branch is located in this area.
-HR: What are the skill levels required? Selection criteria and training requirements? What are the
policies on performance evaluations, compensation, and incentives? Are employees paid a salary, piece
rate, or hourly rate? Is profit sharing allowed, if so then on what criteria? When workers perform in teams
are they self-managed or supervised? How many levels of management are required?
IT: How does IT support both customer and worker demands for rapid access, storage, and retrieval of
information?
-Quality: what is the target level of your service (this can be in terms of customer satisfaction or the
bank's own gains), and how is the target level measured? What is the role of the employees in improving
the quality of the service and how are these efforts evaluated? How are customer perceptions of quality
evaluated?
-Supply Chain Management: what is the supply chain in a bank?
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-Operating Systems: since OS are the set of procedures that are set to achieve something, how are the op.
Systems of the bank set so as to make sure all these strategic decisions are fulfilled?
7) Who are the target customers (Targets which segment the most? Like retail customers or business
clients)
8) What are the Essential or intrinsic features of your banking services. Ask about implicit services
(experience through senses or psychological benefits) for example customers feeling satisfied or being
well treated because of well trained staff.
9) Ask about all these points mentioned in diagram and their interrelationships such as what are
supporting facilities available to JS bank for this branch, what the activities that take place in the facility,
what are the skills of employees working in that branch…
10) What are the quality controls, if customers are present when defects occur what are the set standards
for such types of situations? Give any example from your past experience.
11) How do you deal with high number of customers during peak seasons for example before Eid
holidays? (From capacity point of view)
12) Process Mapping: How are decisions made under a level of hierarchy with interactions between more
than one department? Ask this example for reference.
13) What are the support process at the back that help to deliver services such as registration system? Tell
about your support process like these.
14) Is there estimated number of customers set on daily basis to be accommodated and if yes that standard
meets the actual number of customers?
15) What factors determine the Facility Location for JS Bank?
16) Give us an example of how you had to choose between two locations for setting up a branch and the
importance you gave to each factor. (In terms of Location Factor Rating Technique).
17) Explain the process layout of JS Bank Head Office branch.
18) What are the objectives kept in mind while designing the service layout of JS Bank?
19) What factors are taken into account when planning the service capacity of JS Bank?
20) How do you deal with high number of customers during peak seasons for example before Eid
holidays? (From capacity point of view)
21) What is the main inventory of JS Bank and what are the inventory management techniques used?
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Image of our Meeting with the Operations Manager of JS Bank Head Office Branch
 21

References

https://jsbl.com/about-us/our-vision-mission-

values/https://www.pacra.com/summary_report/RR_1462_10280_24-Jun-22.pdf

https://bankingdigests.com/blog/types-of-customers-in-banks/