The National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance is facing a workplace problem caused by the processes in place for obtaining documents in a timely manner to sell the vehicles at auction. The main issue is that file owners are not following the correct procedure when starting a total loss claim and this is causing an extra workload on other departments and a delay in sale.
The file owners not following the procedures from the beginning of the claim causes the department to have a whole team of 25 people or more to just call lien holders every day to correct the addresses, provide addresses and or order lien releases from the lien holders. This is not cost-efficient paying thousands of dollars to employ a whole team to look for titles and lien releases but also the costs to the DMVs to order duplicate titles. This is also very time consuming, for the processing team, lien release team and delays the sale of the vehicle at auction. The root cause of the problem is that the owners of the files are not adhering to the appropriate procedures when they are establishing a total loss claim. How can the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance improve their processes to make sure that documents are obtained in a timely manner for the sale of salvaged vehicles?
Divergent Thinking Process
Divergent thinking is a creative problem-solving technique that encourages the creation of a wide range of potential solutions to a problem. This technique allows for the exploration of different perspectives and ideas and encourages the development of novel and innovative solutions. It is a valuable tool when trying to address complex problems, as it encourages creative and out-of-the-box thinking.
We engaged in a divergent thinking process to generate potential solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. We brainstormed ideas on how to address the issue of file owners not following the correct procedure when starting a total loss claim. After discussing the possible solutions, we identified the following ideas as potential solutions:
Total loss is our job, and our job revolves around it, but FO’s deal with a lot of scenarios and total loss is only a tiny portion. So, things that seem common sense to us, get missed by them it seems. They just need to have FO’s whose entire role is just total loss
Academy class – A training just on the total loss process for file owners
Changing the role of processors to handle more of the payments / beginning steps for total loss claims and can change the lien release team to handle more documents while processor take on more of the file owner responsibilities
More training for total loss for file owners, claims and salvage department
Having salvage department work on total losses sooner
Not send payment to lien holder / customer without having needed documents and promise to have title
Providing address with payment for title / lr
Create training manual for departments
Additional training for file owners
Utilize salvage site to efficiently obtain documents
Add responsibilities to processors role and lien release to make the process smoother and cut out the file owner sooner
Stricter repercussions for not following procedures
Closer relationships with lienholders in each state to send large spreadsheets with claims and addresses for titles / documents needed – not waiting for payments and file owner actions
Divergent thinking is an effective tool in addressing complex workplace problems. By engaging in a divergent thinking process, we were able to develop a list of potential solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. These solutions could help to ensure that file owners are following the correct procedure when starting a total loss claim, and thus reduce the workload on other departments and improve the efficiency of the salvage process.
Convergent Thinking
Convergent thinking is a problem-solving technique that involves narrowing down a range of potential solutions to identify the most promising ones. This technique allows us to make informed decisions about which solutions are likely to be the most successful and effective.
We engaged in a convergent thinking process to narrow down the list of potential solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. After considering the cost, feasibility, and effectiveness of each solution, we identified the following solutions as the most promising:
Establish File owners whose job revolves around just total loss claims
Academy class – A training just on the total loss process for file owners
Changing the role of processors to handle more of the payments / beginning steps for total loss claims and can change the lien release team to handle more documents while processor take on more of the file owner responsibilities
Closer relationships with lienholders in each state to send large spreadsheets with claims and addresses for titles / documents needed – not waiting for payments and file owner actions
Stricter repercussions for not following procedures
Convergent thinking is an essential tool in addressing workplace problems. This technique allows us to narrow down a range of potential solutions and identify the most promising ones. By engaging in a convergent thinking process, we were able to identify a narrowed-down list of solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. These solutions are likely to be effective and successful in ensuring that file owners are following the correct procedure when starting a total loss claim, and thus reduce the workload on other departments and improve the efficiency of the salvage process.
Devil’s Advocate
Devil’s Advocate thinking is a problem-solving technique that involves challenging potential solutions to a problem to identify the most viable ones. This technique allows us to consider different perspectives and identify potential issues with our solutions before implementing them.
I engaged in a devil’s advocate thinking process to identify the best possible solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. After considering the answers to the six devil’s advocate questions, I identified the following solutions as the most promising:
Devil’s advocate thinking is an important tool in addressing workplace problems. This technique allows us to challenge potential solutions to identify the most viable ones. By engaging in a devil’s advocate thinking process, we were able to identify the best possible solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. These solutions are likely to be effective and successful in ensuring that file owners are following the correct procedure when starting a total loss claim, and thus reduce the workload on other departments and improve the efficiency of the salvage process.
After engaging in divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and the devil’s advocate thinking process, we were able to identify the best possible solutions to the problem faced by the National Salvage Unit at Progressive Insurance. The primary solutions are to create a new file owner role that focus’s just on total loss claims. This will provide more comprehensive training to file owners on the salvage process. Create clear and easy to follow procedures for obtaining documents for sale of salvage, utilize the salvage site to efficiently obtain documents, and ensure that file owners obtain a letter of guarantee before sending payment.
The secondary solutions are to develop tools to make the process easier and ensure that file owners provide the correct address for the lien holders to send documents. By implementing these solutions, the salvage department can ensure that file owners are following the correct procedure when starting a total loss claim, and thus reduce the workload on other departments and improve the efficiency of the salvage process.
question:
Reflect on the work you have done so far on your workplace problem.
Consider the 3 or 4 best possible solutions from your divergent thinking process. Use the weighted ranking tool to mathematically and analytically determine which of these solutions is best. Build a weighted ranking matrix for your problem using the following guidelines:
Develop a list of criteria.
Assign a weighted percentage to each of the decision criteria based on importance. The total of all listed criteria must equal 1.0 (i.e., the total of the assigned criteria or weights must equal 100%). For example:
Criterion 1 = 0.3
Criterion 2 = 0.2
Criterion 3 = 0.4
Criterion 4 = 0.1
Therefore, 0.3 + 0.2 + 0.4 + 0.1 = 1.0 or 100%
Compare each solution to each criterion, and assign a numerical rating scale to each alternative. For example: 1 = the solution does not meet the criterion very well, and 5 = the solution does meet the criterion very well.
Evaluate and rate each solution against each criterion by multiplying the rating scale number by the weighted numerical criteria number. (e.g., the weighted criteria is 0.3 x 5 = 1.5. This is the criteria number 0.3 times the assigned alternative rating scale number of 5).
Add the weighted values and calculate the final score for each of your proposed problem solutions.
Select the alternative with the highest score.
Refer to the following videos for additional guidance:
Weighted RankingLinks to an external site.
Criteria Rating Form, Weighted RankingLinks to an external site.
After completing the weighted matrix table with your ratings, calculations, and rankings, explain each of these elements:
Description of the weighted ranking process and its benefits.
Justification for the criteria you used and why you weighted them the way you did.
Other observations of the process (such as the difficulty in selecting criteria, whether this mathematical technique has benefits over non-numerical reasoning, and benefits/limitations of using this technique).
Part 2: Implementation Plan
Review the process and techniques for developing an implementation plan for your proposed solution to the workplace problem. You will document your implementation plan in a diagram called the Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC).
Reflect on your individual problem for this course. Using a hierarchy template in the SmartArt feature of Microsoft Word, create a PDPC diagram illustrating the steps, action items, potential risks, and workarounds that will be encountered when implementing the solution to your problem. Keep the following points in mind in your PDPC work:
The PDPC starts with your proposed best solution that you found in the weighted ranking exercise.
The PDPC spells out steps or actions to take to implement the solution.
The PDPC identifies risks and obstacles or “what if” scenarios that may occur in implementation of your solution.
The PDPC spells out specific countermeasures or contingency plans to respond to the risks and obstacles, or the “what if” questions.
The PDPC ends with the assessment, if stated countermeasures or contingency plans are probable or not (mark with x/o).
After completing the PDPC diagram, describe the PDPC process and your results. Explain the following:
What is the PDPC diagram, what role does it play in the problem-solving process, and what steps and actions will it take to get your solution actually working?
What risks or challenges might you face as you try to implement the solution?
What countermeasures can you put into place?
