Customer Service Management BMKT 420

Customer Service Management

Sana’a Campus

Course Title               : Customer Service Management – BMKT 420

Textbook                    : Customer Service – TIMM 3rd edition.

Prerequisite courses: BMKT 300

Purpose of the Course: 

This course provides students with the basic concepts and current trends in the customer service industry.  Special areas of emphasis include problem-solving, development of a customer service strategy, creating customer service systems, coping with challenging customers, customer retention, and measuring satisfaction.

This course will develop student skills on how to identify and resolve internal and external customer complaints, handle difficult customers, and utilize effective verbal and nonverbal communication methods. Teach students how to contribute positively to the service culture of an organization. Emphasize the importance of effective customer service for business success, and examine the future trends and changes in work environments.

Course Objectives

            Upon successful completion of this Customer Service Management course the student should be able to demonstrate a working knowledge of the following customer service competencies:

 1.     Assess customer needs and expectations.

 2.     Explain behaviors and systems that lead to customer dissatisfaction.

 3.     Describe management and recovery of dissatisfied customers.

 4.     Explain ways to exceed customer expectations.

 5.     Discuss the relationship of an effective system to customer service quality.

 6.     Describe behaviors that build customer loyalty.

 7.     List key components of a strong customer service culture.

 8.     Explain effective use of technology to improve customer service relationships.

 9.     Describe effective customer retention practices.

 10.   Explain the role of customization in building and maintaining customer

         relationships.

Course Requirements: Customer Service Management

Students are expected to:

  1. Attend classes and participate positively in activities and discussions;
  2. Complete assigned readings.

  Participation:

Class participation points are earned through participation in class discussions and in-class exercises. Quality of participation will far outweigh quantity of participation in determining the student’s class participation score. Quality of participation is indicated through evidence of preparation, thoughtfulness, engagement with the material being covered, insight, ability to make linkages with prior material, and, in general, actions which further the learning of oneself as well as the other students in the course.  Students should expect to be called upon at random throughout the term, either to initiate class discussion or to respond to a question by the teacher.  

Grading Scale:

Project + Presentation : 25 %              Participation, Attend. & Homework  : 10 %

Midterm                      : 30 %              Final Exam                                          : 35 %

 

Academic Honesty

The following list describes the types of academic misconduct that will not be tolerated in any way in this class:

  1. Cheating: Use of an unauthorized “aid” while taking a test, having another person take an exam or quiz in the place of the student, stealing an examination, using learning team work as an individual student’s work, unauthorized use of assistance from a lab or computer technician. Note: If the instructor or an exam proctor sees/finds a paper or electronic device with course information during the exam, this will be considered as cheating and the student will receive a zero for the exam and possibly an “F” in the course. It is incumbent on the student to assure that all books, papers, notes, and electronic devices that contain course information are securely stored away — there is a no tolerance in this area.
  2. Fabrication: Falsifying data in laboratory results, inventing information for a report, falsifying citations to sources of information.
  3. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: Aiding another student in committing academic misconduct.
  4. Interference: Stealing, changing, destroying, or impeding another student’s work. Impeding includes stealing, defacing, or mutilating resources to deprive someone the use of resources.
  5. Plagiarism: Using the ideas, words, or statements of another person without giving credit to that person. A student shall give credit to the works of others if the student uses another person’s words, ideas, opinions, or theories or borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material unless the information is common knowledge.
  6. Violation of Course Rules: A student shall follow course rules in the course syllabus when those rules are related to the course content or to the enhancement of the learning process in the course.

“Students who commit any act of academic dishonesty may receive from the instructor a failing grade in that portion of the course work in which the act is detected or a failing grade in the course without possibility of withdrawal. The faculty member may also present the case to the office of student affairs for disciplinary sanctions.

Method of instruction and course requirements

 The teaching methodology of the course consists of the following:

  • Assigned Readings: Assignments drawn from the course textbook, and outside reading-articles extracted from journals or taken from other books.
  • Lectures: Power point presentations designed to clarify the assigned readings, case studies, and handouts. (if needed)
  • Class Participation: it includes active participation in materials introduced through subject discussions or personal experience.
  • Case Studies: Students will have to prepare and discuss cases in class. Cases will act as a support to the chapter discussed and it will highlight examples from today’s challenges.
  • Internet Exercise: Students will be given interactive Internet exercises to familiarize them with different ways to use the internet.
  • Review Questions: The review questions will be given as homework. This will enable students to understand key points in each chapter.
  • Individual Project & Learning Team Project: It is the research and fact- finding assignments, which constitute an integral part of the course, are designed to allow the student to apply course concepts, learn how to interact within the team, and understand the challenges of working in a competitive environment.

Attendance Policy

  1. Attendance in all classes during the entire time is required. There are no exceptions to this policy. If you are not in class, then you missed the material discussed in class. While students may encounter very extenuating circumstances (sickness of such severity that it prevents the student from attending classes, serious illness or death in the family), the fact that you are not in class means that you have missed the discussed topics.
  2. A “sign-in” sheet will be passed every class.  If you do not sign the sheet, you will be marked as absent even if you attended part or all the class session.  If you walk into the class late or leave early, the instructor may still mark you absent.  Your signature has to be clear and consistent every time you sign, if the signature does not match your previous ones, you may also be marked as absent.  Signing for another student is considered a breach to the honesty policy, under no circumstances a student may sign on behalf of someone else.

 

Participation, Homework, and Quizzes:

Participation is expected during all classes. Students need to read their book chapters ahead of the class. Students need to conduct research related to the material in order to gain an understanding of the subject.

Periodical homework will be assigned. All homework should be submitted on the due date, any late homework will be deducted 20% per each day it is late. Homework cannot be submitted later than three days after the deadline. Please follow the MLA style of writing in all submitted homework or papers.

Pop up quizzes will be conducted from time to time in class in order to make sure that students have read the material assigned for the class on that date. Students also are expected to have reviewed previous material and last class discussion.

Pop up quizzes cannot be made-up if you miss a class. Missing a class would affect your attendance score. In addition, if a pop up quiz happens during a class in which you were absent, your quiz score will be zero. There are NO EXCEPTIONS. Your Quizzes score will be affected because of not being in class during the pop up quiz.

However, since things may come up, and life is not always as we want it to be, your lowest two quizzes grades will be waived when calculating your total Quizzes grade at the end of the course

Customer Service Management Exams:

  1. There will be one midterm exam and one final exam. Each exam will cover the material discussed in class plus reading assignments. Anything that takes place in class to include discussions, videos, guest speakers etc. is testable. The exams will cover the whole material as indicated by the instructor.
  2. Exams in this course are typically multiple choice, true/false, and/or short answer questions, essay form, and case studies.
  3. Students must be present for all exams. Students who miss exams for reasons other than those stated under the special circumstances provided under “Attendance Policy” above will automatically loose points off the make-up exam score for every day or part of a day the exam is not taken.
  4. Exam dates * are as follows:
  1. Midterm Exam:  Customer Service Management
  2. Final Exam: please refer to the university exams schedule.

*Dates are subject to change.

Project guidelines:

  1. Split in groups of 2-3 students who can agree on item 2.
  2. Choose a company that meet the following criteria:
  1. known to everyone in the class.
  2. has a large customer base, more than one branch.
  3. operate in the service and retail domains
  4. has several well-known competitors
  5. you have been a customer of this company
  6. examples may include telecommunication (GSM mobile company), banks, insurance companies, airlines, big restaurants, super stores, …
  • Visit the company (at least twice in different times) and look for
  1. Your personal experience with the Customer Service Management
  2. How do they service customers
  3. Identify problems and offer suggestions
  • Prepare a report that includes
  1. What you found in item # 2
  2. A brief description of the business, target customers, and market position
  3. Describe how the company service its external customers
  4. Describe how the company service its internal customers
  5. Describe your perceptions and expectations on the company’s services.
  6. Describe your satisfaction from the services offered by the company
  7. Why you chose this company
  • Visit a competitor of this company (at least twice in different times)
  1. Prepare a report of the competitor similar to item #4
  2. Compare and contrast your selected company and its competitor
  3. What are the strengths and weaknesses that your selected company has relative to the competitor
  • Provide conclusions and recommendations to the company.
  • Prepare everything above in 20 minutes presentation that can be addressed to executive manager of the selected company.
  • The analysis should reflect understanding of the theoretical issues discussed in class.