Your dispatchers...how much power?

ed wallace

I would say the dispatcher has the authority to dispatch techs but saying that make sure the dispatcher knows the biz nothing worse then a dispatcher who has never worked in the field who has know idea how long a job should take

Rocky_3

What is the typical power structure at your business?

Who is "top dog" in your business? Besides yourself, who comes after you? Your office manager? Your field supervisor? Your dispatcher? Am needing to set up a "line of authority" as we are growing. Need to figure out who answers to whom. My field techs are starting to countermand the dispatchers scheduling somewhat. Am thinking I need to reinforce dispatchers authority to tell techs who is going where, not the other way around before this gets out of hand. What job descriptions do you al have at your business, and what is the "line of authority"?
Sometimes its nice to talk about the business side of things here on the Wall and get away from the technical side. I'm a lot better on the technical side than I am the business side.
Warm(er) regards from chilly Fairbanks,
Rocky

tim smith

I would say Dispatcher has the authority over scheduling, Field

supervisor has authority over how and what is done and also input as to critical path of scheduling. Office manager has authority over all paperwork oriented items, really office mgr is 2nd in charge I would say.

Erich_3

Listen to the Techs

Usually the people who are in the front know more than those who are sitting in an office. Listen to the techs they have good insight. When a tech disregards a dispatcher ask him why in a nice way. You will probably learn something valuable. Maybe he was 3 miles away from a call and the other call might have involved driving an hour to get to. Very often the tech is trying to save you time and money. Listen and learn. Thank him when he is right. It is good to be flexible and not have rules written in stone.

Mad Dog_2

in the military it is called the c.o.c.....

Or chain of command....and it is a real no-no to break it. I am going thru similar things right now too. Your dispatcher has to have enough basic knowledge of the trade to be able to assess who needs what, roughly how long it will take and who the best tech to send is....if not a more seasoned field tech will rip them apart and rightly so. If u don't have that...you need to "team" the two up via radio or cell. Mad dog

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Mad Dog_2

very sound advice erich

Mad dog

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bill_105

Just curios

We had a plumbing and heating guy at our house in Fairbanks a few times named Rocky. I believe the Co. was called Alaska's Best. Are you that Rocky. This was fifteen years ago.

Joannie_15

OR

Wouldn't it be better to train the techs to either follow the dispatcher, or question it if he thinks there's a better order of things at the time? (As opposed to the tech just doing what he knows is right, and not informing anyone?)

And train the dispatcher to have respect for the tech's knowledge, so that the dispatcher can change the course of action, and then everyone would be on the same page?

Paul Fredricks_9

They have to listen to the dispatcher. Obviously, the dispatcher has to know something about where they are sending the techs, but the last thing you want is a bunch of managers in the field. They have no idea of what's going on in the office and if there are special reasons they are being sent where they are. If they have a problem with where they are being sent, they need to bring it up with the service manager. He can handle it from there.

On occasion one of our techs will start giving dispatch a hard time about being sent to a different area than he is used to. For the next week he's sent where he doesn't want to be. They usually get the idea after that.

Erich_3

Spiteful Method

Do you think that acting in that spiteful manner will provide you with loyalty? It will not. It will give you employees who will do things to get back at you. Running a business using fear tactics will always result in unhappy employees and eventually in unhappy customers. My grandmother used to say that you can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. She was right.

Rocky_3

Bill,

I never worked for Alaska Best P & H. There was a Rocky M. who worked here in Fairbanks for several years doing P & H. I believe he worked for Paragon P & H. I have been doing this for 17 years, the first two years for Art Davis Service, and the rest for myself, Rocky's Heating Service, but I never worked for AK. Best.
Regards,
Rocky

Rocky_3

Am trying to stop the \"us versus them\" from developing

Once that happens, it is very difficult to correct. I do not want the techs to start looking at the office as "them" and the office to look at the techs as "them". Our dispatcher has only been doing this for about a year and a half, but she if very good and learning very quickly. She is unfailingly polite to all parties. I understand the techs may have intimate knowledge of a particular system, but I feel we have to have some chain of command. If you do not have written rules or chains of command, as Al Levi says, its not real. If its not written down, it doesn't count. Now I am not so naive as to think that there are not exceptions to every rule, but to not have any default operating rules to start with is asking for trouble. I guess I feel that the dispatcher should decide who goes where and when, and then if there is a particular issue with that then the tech can explain it (politely) as to why he thinks it should be different. But to allow the tech to decide willy-nilly, without knowing what the office deals with regarding upset, impatient, or downright hysterical customers, is asking for it. I feel the dispatcher should decide overall, with some input from the techs.

thanks for the good input,
rocky