Notes on Action Research Project

Goal: Improve customer service on campus and, in turn, improve employee retention and student satisfaction.

   

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION – My site supervisor and the VP of Academic Affairs proposed a customer service initiative and placed me as lead of the project.   The goal is to improve customer service on our campus. This will involve organizing a committee and implementing change in daily operations for some departments on campus.  There is a great push to evolve higher education institutions toward offering more customer service techniques since students are no longer considered products of higher education but rather “customers” in higher education.

2. ANALYZING DATA – We will be collecting and analyzing data concerning employee turnovers over a span of time, yet to be determined, number of professional development trainings employees attend, employee attitudes (love of job, absences, confidence with duties, etc.), student satisfaction with customer service provided, employee satisfaction with colleague’s customer service, and employee and student retention rates.

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING – We will be collecting and analyzing data concerning employee turnovers over a span of time, yet to be determined, number of professional development trainings employees attend, employee attitudes (love of job, absences, confidence with duties, etc.), student satisfaction with customer service provided, employee satisfaction with colleague’s customer service, and employee and student retention rates. To grasp a deeper understanding, the committee will collect all the data, and begin reflecting on the results.  We will be looking at ‘x’ number of time span and comparing employee turnover in key offices and departments.  The committee will research what professional development options are offered at this time on campus and do employees utilize the opportunities given to them.  We will survey and collect data regarding employee attitudes including their love of their job, how many absences they incur each month, how confident they feel they are within their positions, what is their satisfaction of customer service among their colleagues, and other criteria to be determined.  A survey will provided to students asking for their satisfaction of customer service provided on campus.  We will study employee and student retention rates for a period of time.  Once we implement the action plan, we will run the same data collections and compare the before and after data.

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION – Who am I? I am a strong, motivated leader.  What biases do I have toward my action plan? I work beside some of the employees we are targeting and have a biased opinion of them.  What am I doing to understand my bias?  I will work toward treating all employees involved in the customer service initiative program the same.  I will put my past dealings aside and focus on training and empowering each employee to excel in providing great customer service. I will need to dig deeper in my beliefs and focus on what my personal mission is while focusing on our committee mission.  I will conduct extensive research regarding customer service in a higher education setting.  With that knowledge, I will continue, along with the committee members, to review, adapt, and revise the action plan. 

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS – One problem we foresee is employees not changing their attitudes or ways of customer service. Some will continue to perform as usual.  How will we deal with those employees?  Another issue will be the buy in of supervisors to support the needed changes our committee will implement.  Who will address this issue if it arises?  Will we receive enough data when conducting surveys?  Surveys will be our main source of data collection tools.  We will be dependent on the data received.  How can we ensure enough surveys and data will be collected?  If we offered an incentive, would that create a biased response?  Another issue is time.  All committee members, as well as employees, have full-time job responsibilities.  Who will implement mandatory training attendance? What will happen if attendance becomes an issue?  As a committee, we will explore other patterns as we collect data.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION –The goal of this action research plan is to raise the level of customer service we provide on campus for students and employees.  There is a hope that providing great customer service will impact positively to employee retention and student satisfaction on our campus and in turn, impact positively on student retention as well.  I will need to reflect and determine if I have the needed skills and resources to fulfill this action plan.  I will need to work with the committee and form a communication component to ensure sharing of all data and implementation with the campus.  The committee will need to reflect and evaluate all feedback to determine if changes need to be made based on feedback received.  Is the timeline set up realistically? If there is a bump in the road along the way, will we still be able to stay on track?  Would a deviation from the timeline hamper our goal?   We will discuss and brainstorm this area as a committee.  As a committee, we will need to setup a monitoring system to collect, receive, and analyze data.  What will determine our success, happier employees and happier students?  Will we determine a lesser turnover in key departments will measure our success?  Modifications to the original action plan will be evaluated as we move forward.  The committee will look at each suggestion or recommendation, determining its worth, and implementing if needed.  Much will be determined as the committee meets and collaborates.

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT –I have developed a plan of action that will be utilized during the research and implementation of this research action project. As a committee, we will update and make revisions to the action plan as needed.  We will develop committee reports and data analysis reports to present to my site supervisor and the campus community of our findings and recommendations for improvement initiatives regarding customer service provided to students and colleagues.  The committee will determine one focus group to work with at the beginning of implementation.  We will later move forward and include other focus groups and eventually make this action mandatory for all new hires campus wide.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT –Once implementation of the customer service initiative is underway, the committee will monitor and evaluate progress.  The committee will discuss concerns and recommendations and make future recommendations for continuing the customer service initiative.  We will make every effort to keep the campus well informed of all steps, evaluations, and progress.  I will continue to collaborate with my site supervisor and committee. I will create blogs and journal entries documenting the whole process and progression.