Greetings

Hello BMGT-395 Students,

Welcome to "Customer Service Management". (Don't forget to search also for "Customer Relationship Management" on databases and the Web. CRM is a modern buzzword that covers much of the same turf as CSM.) I hope this course will help you determine where next to go with your academic and professional careers. Customer Service and Continual Quality Improvement go hand in glove. We will face both in this course and I am here to guide you.

Another UM term is underway and I am happy that you have chosen to spend the next four months with me - well part of them anyway. My name to all my students and colleagues is Phil. It is my pleasure to help you through BMGT-395 this DE Term 3. We need to get to know each other better before we start so I have gone first and shared something of myself with you if you follow the link above.

Please confirm to me that you have the required textbooks. If you do not have your books yet, please give me the estimated delivery date and then confirm upon arrival. Also, if you have access to a computerized statistical analysis package that handles multiple regression analysis (other than MS Excel), please let me know. Finally, if you have access to the MS Excel's Add-in "Analysis ToolPak", please also let me know. (This toolpak will place a "Data Analysis" menu item under the Tools pull down menu in Excel - and enable Multiple Regression analysis in Excel.)

When you scan Jon Anton's book, you will note that he uses - and provides instructions for - a statistical package called SPSS. For reasons stated in the course syllabus, I am not asking you to obtain a copy of SPSS, not even a demo or student copy. (If you do have a copy of SPSS, lucky you.) MS Excel with the Analysis ToolPak will give us the analytical capability we need. However, we will have to do more ourselves in the way of keeping track of variables, interpreting results and preparing graphs for management.

Module 3 of our Course Modules (see the Course Content area of our WebTycho classroom) has an excellent link to a statistical analysis help site, HyperStat Online.

Finally, if you do not have a multiple regression program, go to Download.com and search for a statistical package that handles multiple regression for your system. There are several shareware packages of varying quality.

Please do not panic if you lack extensive Math skills. You will see from Anton's work that it is much more important to ask the right questions in the right way of the right people - and then present the analysis after the number crunching - than it is to number crunch. I will lead you through the analysis and provide Excel templates to help you as well. As a minimum you will have to be able to use Excel, input data, manipulate templates, interpret results and create specified graphics for presentation of results. You will of course have the help menu for Excel and whatever on-line or hard copy manuals and aids you may have at hand. You may get help from friends and associates locally as needed except during exams. Don't forget to give explicitly acknowledge the work of others in your reports.

Those of you who do not look forward to conducting a customer survey - or perhaps more accurately, analyzing the results using advanced quantitative methods - may want to look at the alternative term project which would have your evaluate a customer service activity instead. (The quantitative methods required for this alternative are less sophisticated.) To help you understand the process, we will be using extracts from two optional books. I will post the extracts in the course content area of our classroom for you to download and study. See also my explanation of the project options and the schedule and assignments page which includes assignments from the optional books.

Back to course start up: Please complete the general part of your bio (include a picture if you have a smallish digital one - under 50K as a .jpg file or a link to your web site that might have one). Do this in your personal options part of WT. In the Student Bio part of our WT class conference area, put more specific information about your background and experience as it relates to this course.

For example, have you worked in the customer service area in a business or not-for-profit organization? If so, when, for how long, in what positions, etc. Do you have any comments on your experiences?
Have you had any special training in customer service? What about other management courses?
Have you ever conducted a survey? Have you ever created a survey instrument? Have you ever analyzed the results of a survey?
Do you work in or have current access to a customer service activity (not on-line, you need a physical bricks and mortar one)?

Have you completed a business or general statistics course or a business analytical methods course? How comfortable with MS Excel as an analytical tool (rather than a storehouse for numbers) are you? If you are not afraid of quantitative analysis, you can learn the basics here - with extra work.

Also, tell us why you are taking this course and, just as importantly, what it is that the other students and I can help you achieve this term. I also want you to post your special concerns about your preparation for taking this course and state your desires for areas we should emphasize over the next four months.

Your next assignment is to read the course syllabus, where I set the stage for the course, and various supplemental Guidance and handouts on my web site. I have posted a link to my site in our WebTycho virtual classroom, but you have one here as well. Please read through this information. You can use the site download feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer to download that part of my site related to this course and keep it on your own system if you use it carefully. Also, you can save a copy of any individual page you wish (Use BMGT-395 Index Page as your starting page. See your MSIE help menu as needed.) Alternatively, if you have Web Wacker software (a web site download utility program), you can download the same part of my site.

We will spend much of this first week confirming our skill with the WebTycho method, getting to know new colleagues and establishing a routine. I also want you to survey your local library and unit holdings to determine how much help they might be to you in this course. If you have a customer service function in your organization, you may find that it has some reference material you can probably get access to.

You will control the content and conduct of our exchanges, for I will concentrate first and perhaps principally on those concepts you ask me to cover. I will also ask you to comment on certain topics relevant to our subject during the course.

It is your responsibility to get each assignment to me on time. Start early. Complete major assignments a week or two in advance so you have a chance to critically review them for content and quality of ideas. If you just hit the cutoff date early in the course, you have an excellent chance of being late on subsequent assignments. Keep a copy of each assignment. If you cannot meet a deadline, please e-mail, fax or call me for an extension prior to the due date. The course is sequenced and timed reasonably as it is, and you can expect that if you are late on an assignment, you will just make it harder for yourself to complete the next portion of the course successfully.

Perhaps no assignment is more important than looking for one article or web site a week to share with the class. This can be an article or site on Customer Service (or Customer Relationship Management) or an example of an implementation that you critique. Ensure that you comment on the lessons you learned from reviewing the site or article.

Please also preview all of the course modules posted in the course content area.

I have a flexible personal schedule and work out of my home. See the contact details on this web site for how and when to get in touch with me.

I am frequently out for short periods (that sometimes become longer than I intended), so if your concern is urgent and I am not in, leave a message on my voice mail (hold on for at least seven rings) or fax me your question. Of course, watch out for my email response to you and continue trying to reach me directly by phone. If your email goes down temporarily, use a friend's account to email me or fax to keep in touch.

If you have a particular worry about your course of study or find yourself in difficult circumstances, contact me right now instead of waiting. (Naturally, should something come up later in the course, get in touch with me at that time.) I want to deal with your concerns now so we can get on with the task at hand - which I view as helping you learn as much as you want to learn.

Please email me your primary and any alternate email address, supporting UM center, your telephone and, if available, fax number.

Should you be unable to check your email and WebTycho at least once every 48 hours and respond to questions within that same period, please notify me.

Finally, ask for help from me sooner rather than later, while there is still time for such help to make a difference. Whether it is difficulty with the study material, finding adequate time or surroundings for your study, personal emergencies - whatever - I am truly here to help you succeed.

I look forward to hearing from you concerning questions asked and points raised above. We shall have an exciting and fruitful term with your help.

Yours Faithfully,

Phil

PS. To help you visualize the organization of this site, I have provided a Locator Page.