BA 295 Quality Service and Management

Course Syllabus

May Term, 2005

Patrick Langan, Ph.D.

Office Phone: 352-8416

Home Phone: 233-0662

Email:  patrick.langan@wartburg.edu

 

 

MEETING TIMES

This course will meet on from 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Monday-Friday May 2-May 23.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

An overview of quality and its relationship to customer service with a focus on the measurement of customer expectations, providing quality customer service, and researching and measuring customer satisfaction in an effort to improve management and organizational quality.

 

COURSE FACILITATION

The class will spend a week at Wartburg West in Denver, CO where we will conduct research related to customer service.

COURSE INTRODUCTION

In a fast moving competitive business environment becoming market-oriented and customer-focused is essential to corporate growth. It is important to realize that retaining current customers is much less expensive than to finding new customers. While finding new customers is vital, few companies systematically cultivate their current customer base. The purpose of this course is to learn how companies can retain their current customers and develop long-term profitable relationships with them.

A study of customer services accompanying a core product and the service products themselves. Problems and issues related to the service mix, service-level decisions, the formulation of service policies, customer service management, the development of customer service staff, training, and evaluation are analyzed. Discussion covers customer information, customer surveys and suggestions, the handling of complaints and adjustments, techniques for dealing with difficult and angry customers, dissemination of information, credit services, maintenance, technical service, and the development of new programs.

We start this course with some survey and data analysis. Designing and implementing surveys are valuable skills, but by themselves insufficient. Once we find the answers to our questions, we will build upon the skills required to present the results to managers in a persuasive presentation, in order to capitalize on the feedback that we receive from customers as part of our field work in Denver, CO.

Prerequisite:            Sophomore Standing and two courses in the Department of Business Administration and Economics.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS

Lucas, Robert. Customer Service: Building Successful Skills for the Twenty-First Century, McGraw-Hill Irwin (2005). ISBN: 0-07-293805-6.

Harris, Elaine K. Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 3rd Ed., Pearson Education (2002). ISBN: 0-13-097853-1

Optional Texts:

Anton, Jon and Debra Perkins. Listening to the Voice of the Customer: 16 Steps to a successful Customer Satisfaction Measurement Program, The Customer Service Group (New York: 1997). ISBN: 0-915910-43-8.

Anton, Jon and Natalie L. Petouhoff. Customer Relationship Management: The Bottom Line to Optimizing your ROI, Prentice-Hall (2002). ISBN: 0-13-099069-8.

Proactive Customer Service - Brennan (McGraw Hill)

The Golden Rules of Customer Care - Sewell (Business Books)

The Complete Guide to Customer Care - L M Nash (Mercury)

 

 

 

COURSE OUTCOMES
Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

  1. Explain what the goal of customer service is.
  2. Describe what is necessary to provide quality customer service.
  3. Explain why keeping customer service employees motivated is important.
  4. Discuss the role that customer service plays within an organization.
  5. Explain the importance of training and development customer service employees.
  6. Describe how to properly manage difficult customers.
  7. Define what market-oriented means.
  8. Explain why customers defect.
  9. Calculate the cost of losing a customer.
  10. Design a measurement tool to determine the level of  product/service quality that customers require.
  11. Understand how to benefit from customer service mishaps.
  12. Explain the meaning of being market-oriented and customer-focused.
  13. Calculate the cost of losing a customer.
  14. Differentiate between internal & external customers.
  15. Create a plan for recovering from a customer service Mishap.
  16. Develop a plan for improving the quality of customer service in an organization.

 

 

Academic Requirements

  1. All students are expected to "attend" the course by completing all course assignments in an academic manner and with complete preparation.  This class will travel to Wartburg West in Denver, CO to visit businesses and complete field project research.
  2. Grammar, punctuation, spelling and overall composition will be included in the grading of all assignments.
  3. You are required to submit two case reports summarizing recent (last three years) innovative strategies organizations are using to exceed customer expectations. 
  4. You will work as a member of a team to conduct an original field study of customer service and retention strategy of a business in Denver, CO. Your task will be to analyze the current situation in the chosen company and suggest strategies to improve its customer service and customer retention rate. Consider that the company has hired you as a consultant and you will be paid for the job. To complete this project, you might have to analyze company records, customer complaint data, conduct customer survey, interview company personnel etc. You are expected to submit 15-20 page double-spaced typed professional report with headings and subheadings.  Your report should indicate learning from the course and will include recommendations to the client. 
  5. The final examination will be comprehensive and will include information from lecture, readings, and field work.

GRADING

Attendance and Participation          20 points

Case Analysis                              30 points

Field Research                            150 points

Final Examination                            100 points

Total Points                              300 points

A standard 90, 80, 70, 60 grading scale will be used in this course.

     

Course Schedule

 

May  2      Course Introduction

May 3      Chapters 1-4

May 4      Course Research Overview

May 5      Chapters 4-8

May 6      Course Research

 

May 8      Depart for Denver

May 13      Return from Denver

 

May 16      Recap and Research Summary

May 17      Pickles

May 18      Fish

May 19      Customer Service Video

May 20      Course Summary and Review for Final Exam

May 23      Final Exam