Action Research Plan
|
||||
Goal: Improve
campus customer service while improving
employee and
student retention.
|
||||
Action Steps(s):
|
Person(s) Responsible:
|
Timeline: Start/End
|
Needed Resources
|
Evaluation
|
Form a customer
service initiative committee
|
Site Supervisor,
Myself
|
Oct. 2012 –
Nov 2012
|
Committee Members
|
Employees committed to
improving customer service on campus
|
State what the campus’
customer service mission will be.
|
Site Supervisor,
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Oct. 2012 –
Nov 2012
|
Committee
Brainstorming
|
Compare CSIC’s mission
with our campus mission
|
Compare other campuses
relating to customer service.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Oct. 2012 –
Dec 2012
|
Internet research and Interviews
with other campus members
|
Data gathered
explaining customer service initiatives from other campuses
|
Survey students,
staff, and faculty to determine their interpretation of good customer
service.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Dec 2012 –
Jan 2013
|
Survey created using
Google documents.
|
Spreadsheet with
answers received.
|
Examine student and
employee attitudes before initiative is implemented.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Dec 2012 –
Jan 2013
|
Surveys and interviews
of students and employees
|
Spreadsheet with
answers received.
|
Examine employee job performance
before initiative is implemented.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Dec 2012 –
Jan 2013
|
Surveys and interviews
of students, employees, and supervisors
|
Spreadsheet with
answers received.
|
Create a timeline of
projects based on student and employee needs.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Jan 2013 –
Feb 2013
|
Spreadsheets and
calendars
|
Committee
recommendations
|
Create office procedures
and customer service manuals for training workshops.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee and various department personnel
|
Feb 2013 –
April 2013
|
Internet resources for
ideas for customer service training and a department liaison to develop
training guidelines for their department
|
Training manuals and
guides
|
Conduct workshops and
seminar training for employees in the areas of job duties and customer
service.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee and employees
|
May 2013 –
Oct 2013
|
Training manuals and
other resources not yet defined
|
Attendance of employees
to workshops and seminars
|
Evaluate employee job
performance after attending workshops.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Nov 2013 –
Dec 2013
|
Surveys and interviews
of students, employees, and supervisors
|
Spreadsheet with
answers received
|
Develop and design
online tools for current employees as a refresher training and for new hires
as a reference.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Jan 2013 –
Mar 2013
|
Dedicated website page
for each department or a dedicated webpage on our campus website for employee
resources
|
Created webpage or
website and traffic to the page
|
Survey students,
staff, and faculty to measure their attitudes of good customer service after
implementing the customer service initiative.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Mar 2013 –
Apr 2013
|
Survey created using
Google documents.
|
Spreadsheet with
answers received.
|
Continue designing and
updating training materials.
|
Customer Service Initiative
Committee
|
Apr 2013 –
|
Training manuals and
other resources not yet defined
|
Improvement in student
and employee retention
|
Format based on Tool 7.1
from Examining What We Do to Improve Our
Schools
(Harris, Edmonson, and
Combs, 2010)
This looks like a monster ARP but I think you will be fine. What I like is you are being realistic about the timeline you want to follow. Give yourself as much time as you can to get r' done, but stay on task at the same time. You really are going after a lot of useful data but don't forget to take time out to reflect on the whole process and make sure the data is what you are looking for (even though it may tell you things you were hoping not to know) but then again, that is why we are doing all of this work!
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, Travis is right. This thing is HUGE. But it's doable. Do you have people in place already who can serve on your committee? Will they be competent to help with some of the legwork on things like promoting the design of webpages for the departments, putting together handbooks, training new hires, and the like? If you can get some good delegation of responsibilities going on, you'll change the face of the campus. One thing jumped out - you mentioned assessing employee job performance - can you take some piece of data as basic as an attendance report and glean anything about how much your employees LIKE coming to work? I mean, good customer service is very often a two-way street. If it's contrived, the customer will sense and won't bite. If it's genuine, it's often (in my experience) as affirming for the Customer Service Rep. as it is for the customer. Just a few thoughts from the old days of waiting tables, answering phones, selling men's fashions, and God knows what all. Hope something in here helps.
ReplyDeleteMy question to you will be if you have complete support from your site supervisor. If you do, then I think the project will not only be very successful but of great impact to the school. Your plan looks well organized and ambitious. My recommendation to you will be that if at anytime you feel the project is too much, do not feel afraid of narrowing the scope of the research. One thing I learned from Week 4 Introduction video is that according to Dr. Arterbury and Dr. Jenkins, you can always modify your research according to your circumstances, and that you will always find learning in what you had accomplished. I wish you the best and will be following your updates here.
ReplyDeleteBesides what the others have already stated I would say to think about surveying the parents.
ReplyDeleteThey should also be receiving good customer service too. I know as both a parent and teacher my biggest frustration is when no one in the office answers the phone
Hopefully, that doesnt happen at your school.
Travis~ haha .. I have to admit this is a monster ARP. Thank you for the reminder to reflect on the whole process and focus on relevant data. I will accept the good, the bad, and the ugly data. :) Thank you for your great suggestions and I will definitely keep them in mind as I move forward.
ReplyDeleteFarley~ haha True, this is a HUGE ARP. I agree it will be doable. As for the committee, we have an organization on campus called Staff Advisory Council. I am the current President. I have given permission by the Executive Board of that organization to form this committee from the council members. I have served on the council since 2003. I know the members well. Of course, I hand picked the members most likely to commit to this ARP and competent enough to see it through with me. You are right, our goal is to change the face of our campus regarding customer service. I agree with your comment about assessing employees attendance. That is an aspect of employee job performance we will be looking at. We will be looking at attitudes, perceptions, and turnovers. Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments.
Edwardo ~ I do have complete support of my site supervisor. Actually, he put me as the lead of this project before I started the Graduate program. I am happy I was approved to go forward with this topic as my ARP. Now, I am "forced" to focus and implement this plan. :) This project is an element of our campus' Long Range Planning Project. I am responsible for moving forward with this initiative by a deadline of May 31, 2013. I do not have to complete the project, but I do have to have a plan of action and some movement on it by the deadline in order to report to the LRP Committee chair. Thank you for suggesting I not get too bogged down and if I need to narrow the research, that is ok. I am sure there may be some modifications along the way. I think we will work with focus groups to start out. Start small and work toward bigger. :) I appreciate you taking the time to follow me and make suggestions.
Colleen ~ Thank you for your suggestion to include the parents. Actually, I thought of that at one time and didn't remember to include it in the ARP. I appreciate the reminder. I work in an advising center. Even though our students are in college, parents and family are involved with their student. We definitely need to consider parents and family in our customer service initiative. Thank you so much for your suggestions. I will add the suggested component to my ARP. :)
Good luck to everyone on your ARP journeys.
I look forward to following everyone's progress.
:)