Undercover Boss MBA

How Will ‘Undercover Boss’ Stay Undercover?

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:30:46 +0000

Will CBS be able to keep “Undercover Boss” undercover next season?
CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler told TheWrap the crew has some new tricks up its sleeve — but she won’t spill the beans until taping is completed.
“I’m not going to give away any secrets,” she told The Wrap.
At first she said the average employee in the field is too busy to be looking over their shoulder to see if the chief executive of the company has infiltrated their ranks. And then she said even if a camera is following a new employee, “If you hear hoof beats, you don’t necessarily see the horse.”
Then adding to the intrigue, she said, “The show has a very smart production team. I don’t think the employees will realize.”
When asked point blank if that meant hidden cameras, she paused and said, “I don’t want to give any secrets away, but it will be smartly done.”

1 800 Flowers – Undercover Boss Draws Wrong Conclusions

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 14:49:14 +0000

The Productivity Goal

Chris McCann mentions that he wants to increase productivity in the plant from ten million pounds to 16 – 20 million pounds. Goals are set by management and the machines speed up. Contact centers are managed in much the same way by management coming up with targets for the number of calls taken in a day.

The whole idea of a prescription of how many calls a contact center should take, the allotted AHT per call, and the service level given are rooted in how contact centers can reduce costs. This prescription seems logical enough and most contact centers subscribe to this approach. The problem is that focusing on costs always increases costs.

This isn’t a matter of making workers part of setting the productivity goal as Chris McCann concludes. This is a matter of understanding targets drive dysfunctional behavior.

Incentives Will Make Things Worse

Chris McCann concludes not only that the problem is that of workers being involved in setting goals, but decides incentives will make employees happier and more productive. None of these things are true.

Working together on understanding customer purpose and demand and getting rid of systemic failure demand should be the appropriate response. New measures emerge that are associated with what customers want from service as these drive the lagging financial and productivity measures up.

Read the full story on Customer Management IQ

‘Undercover Boss’ tribute race part of Arlington Park opening

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 04:12:57 +0000

Since becoming a jockey valet in 1988, Kenny Rice has spent a lot of time in the Arlington Park winner’s circle.

His job has him there often to help collect the riders’ equipment when they dismount their horses after each race.

But when Arlington Park opens its doors to start its 2010 meet today, Rice will be in the winner’s circle for a very special moment.

Thanks to an episode of the CBS television series “Undercover Boss,” there will be a race run today in honor of Rice’s daughter Meghan Samantha, who was born with a heart defect and died in March 2009 at the age of 20.

While going undercover to work with Rice on his job at Arlington Park last summer, Churchill Downs Chief Operating Officer Bill Carstanjen bonded with the valet’s story about his daughter during the taping of the show.

Carstanjen noticed the picture of Rice’s daughter and then realized it was in memoriam.

Read the full story on Daily Herald

‘Undercover’ Boosts Brands?

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:13:47 +0000

YouGov’s BrandIndex examined three establishments featured on the hit program to learn if the exposure persuaded consumers that these were places they’d consider working for.

• 7-Eleven took a decent ride upward and has actually settled above where it was before the show aired.

• White Castle experienced a substantial leap over a three-week period, which has since tumbled close to pre-show levels.

• Hooters enjoyed a mild bump, only to settle back to its previous level.

Undercover Boss Looks to Wall Street Firms

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:54:52 +0000

Undercover Boss, CBS’ unexpected reality hit, is heading to Wall Street, according to the Wall Street Journal. The show has reportedly begun calling financial firms hoping to find a senior executive willing to appear on the show, in which CEOs go “undercover” to see what it’s like to be an low-level employee at their firms.

Source: NY Magazine

TV Ratings: Golf, ‘Undercover Boss’ give CBS a Sunday win

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:28:09 +0000

As so often happens, CBS coverage of a popular sporting event carried over into primetime through much of the country and both bumped and boosted the network’s entire primetime lineup. In this case, it was ending of the Masters, which pushed 15 minutes into primetime and added luster to what would have already been a solid Sunday win for the network.

In the 9 p.m. hour, CBS’ “Undercover Boss” (and a bit of “The Amazing Race” for much of the country) did an 8.3/13 and a 4.0 demo rating. The first hour of ABC’s two-hour “Brothers & Sisters” had a 5.8/9 for second. NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” finished third, beating the 3.5/6 for FOX’s “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” which were second for the hour in the demo with a 2.9 rating.

Source: HitFix

‘Undercover Boss’ season finale recap: 1-800-Flowers wilts our sympathy

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:27:01 +0000

The season finale of Undercover Boss told us the thorny story of 1-800-Flowers. The show pumped up a rivalry between the two brothers who head up the company, Jim and Chris McCann. Jim (the CEO) asked Chris (the company president) to go undercover.

When we arrived at the show’s standard doling-out-the-rewards final segments, Undercover Boss seemed to address some of the criticisms that have aimed at the series. Instead of just giving Nciole, the employee lucky enough to come into contact with the (co-)boss, a raise, Chris announced an “incentive system” to be implemented for people throughout the company who exceed their goals.

Read the full recap on EW.

Brilliant PR Move for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM – Lessons from “Undercover Boss” (pamil-visions.net)

Marist alumnus is ‘Undercover Boss’ on season finale

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:45:02 +0000

Chris McCann, president and CEO of 1-800-flowers.com and a 1983 graduate of Marist College, goes undercover during the season finale of the CBS television show “Undercover Boss” on Sunday.
McCann’s turn on the show features an unexpected twist when his true identity is discovered by one of his employees.
“I am so grateful for CBS providing me with this exceptional opportunity,” McCann said in a prepared statement. “The opportunity to experience our company at all levels makes me a stronger leader and enables 1-800-flowers.com to continue to be the best in the business. Also, the show reaffirmed my appreciation for all our employees and their hard work — they are invaluable to us in our mission to help deliver smiles every day.”

Read the full story on Poughkeepsie Journal

TV Ratings: ‘Undercover Boss’ rules Easter Sunday for CBS

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:56:36 +0000

A holiday Sunday led to yet another low-rated primetime, but CBS’ lineup still triumphed, led by America’s love for the second half-hour of “Undercover Boss.”
In the 9 p.m. hour, CBS got a 7.3/12 for “Undercover Boss,” which also did a 3.9 demo rating. We’re a bit amused that “Undercover Boss” leaps from a 6.6/11 to an 8.0/13 half-hour to half-hour, as viewers tune in for the tear-filled ending. ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was up to a 5.2/9 in its second hour, better than the first hour of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” FOX was fourth with a repeat of “Family Guy” (2.7/4) and a new “Sons of Tucson” (1.9/3).

Source: HitFix

“Undercover Boss” Gets Emotional

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:55:08 +0000

Rick Arquilla, the president and COO of the plumbing and drain cleaning company Roto-Rooter, went undercover and saw the dirty part of his employees’ jobs – and revealed emotional parts of his own past – on Sunday’s “Undercover Boss.”

“This is probably more than I had bargained for,” the executive admitted after cramming a power water hose down a pipe leaking raw sewage in a New Orleans parking lot. When his co-worker, Chris, stepped away from the scene for a few minutes, Arquilla stopped working. Chris was surprised by his colleague’s lack of work ethic.

The revelation that Chris was a recovering alcoholic caused an emotional reaction for Arquilla, who admitted that his father, who had once worked on the factory floor at a Roto-Rooter plant, also battled alcoholism but died before he could turn his life around.

Read the full story on CBS News