[The following article appears in the November 1994 edition of
_TQM_in_Higher_Education_, pages 2, 3 and 8.]

              DEVELOPING A QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE PROCESS

[by] Shirley Beller, Ann Bolt, Curt Cearfoss, Terry Horner, Mary
Jenkins, LeRoy Joseph, Belinda Long, Mechele Martin, Richard
Pokrass, Joan Stoddard, Merilee Waters, Clarence Whittaker,
Cheryl Wolozyn, Robert Wahl, and Sandy Young.

     Every Burlington County College (NJ) employee's job
description includes the same one-sentence directive: "Our
primary and most important overall responsibility is to provide
service in a pleasant, helpful, and effective manner to our
students and other members of the college community."
     Such clear expectations help improve the quality of service
to the college's students and other customers. But it wasn't
always that way.
     Originally, student concerns were handled on an ad hoc
basis. Each department or area had its own informal method for
dealing with students needing help. And each department kept
records using various means--in some areas, no records were kept
at all.
     When responding to student requests, support staff attempted
to adhere to procedures, but the administrators--who had
originally decided on the procedure--would frequently overrule
them. This resulted in frontline staff feeling frustrated and
students not accepting their word.
     To solve the problem, staff representatives proposed a pilot
project that would address students' problems and define quality
customer service. The project involved all employee groups
--including the wholehearted support from President Robert
Messina, Jr. took two years to complete.

Giving Responsibility

     Messina took a bold step by selecting the team leader from
the group who recommended the project. This support staff member
was responsible for leading the development of a process that
required the cooperation of members of the executive staff,
administrators, faculty, instructional assistants, support staff,
and students.
     Messina made himself available to the team leader upon
request and promised all the necessary support systems; by
empowering the leader, he increased the level of trust within the
college.
     Rather than adopt a program from another institution, the
team decided to develop its own customer service philosophy. The
philosophy would include a step-by-step resolution process that
clearly defined the process flow and the responsibilities of
those involved.
     To ensure it met their needs, college employees authored the
customer service development manual, presented the training, and
wrote, acted, and produced the videotaped case studies.

The Team

     Fifteen members from across the college comprised the team.
Since the primary target training group was to include executive
and support staff, and administrators, the leader felt it was
imperative to use front-line employees as presenters.
     At the time the team was created, the entire college was
feeling its way through the changes brought about by a recently
adopted governance system. A new methodology for communicating
with the president, across departments, and among employee groups
was forged.
     The team's overall objective was broad based and systemwide;
as might be expected, team members and their respective
constituencies held strong and differing opinions.
     As a member of the support staff, the leader had some
concerns about guiding employees of greater authority. However,
those fears proved unfounded, and the team worked closely to
achieve their outcomes.
     Eliminating the fear surrounding the use of the information
gathered through the computer-based data collection program was
one major hurdle. Even though employees were aware that the data
would be used to make improvements in processes, some were afraid
the information would be used to punish them. Repeated reminders
helped calm fears.
     To understand how the team was to function, the members had
to first understand the total quality tenets: acceptance of
quality service as customer-defined,
     
     -- an ability to develop strong employee teams,
     -- a commitment to data-driven decision-making,
     -- a focus on organizational process improvement, and
     -- an investment in education and training of employees of
     all levels.
          
     Because of the accuracy of academic records, team members
chose the academic area as the first one to collect data on. In
the academic year selected for baseline research, 165 requests
for assistance had been recorded in the office of the vice
president of academic programs. The records were broken down by
category of problem, frequency, and the originating academic
division.
     This information helped the team gain a clearer insight into
the types of recurring problems, and helped them understand the
need for a systemwide method for collecting reliable data.
     In developing the process, the team designated the receiver
and owner of the problem, clearly defining the tasks of each.
Emphasis was placed on getting student concerns to the owner as
quickly as possible.
     Equally important was the process flow--the part of the
customer service system describing how an inquiry or complaint
moves through the organization. The flow utilizes the
chain-of-command concept reflective of supervisor/staff
relationships.
     Team members also reviewed quality service concepts such as
customer relations skills, security intervention, student
confidentiality, racial harassment and discrimination, sexual
harassment, and assisting disabled students.

Delivery of Employee Development Series

     The college considers its employees as its greatest asset.
By investing in training, BCC not only provides ever one with the
opportunity to develop professionally, it also increases the
college's productivity.
     In a series of small group, full-day workshops during fall
1993, employees heard about A Quality Improvement Customer
Service System and received a copy of the process manual.
     During the 1994 spring break, all employees were offered
three hours of follow-up training on the use of the mainframe
computer customer service system, designed specifically for data
collection.
     Those attending the workshops were treated as internal
customers for the day. It was fun for the participants to see
themselves or a co-worker acting out a role in one of the
videotaped case studies.
     Break-out teams, assigned the task of brainstorming better
outcomes, further involved employees. Workshop evaluations
clearly indicated an appreciation for efforts made to improve
morale.

Keeping the Momentum Going

     To guarantee the continuity of the new philosophy, team
members from communications helped create a video that gives an
overview of the customer service process. New employees are asked
to view the introductory video as well as review their copy of
the process manual.
     The project's overall goal was to improve the quality of
service to both our external and internal customers. With the
customer service system, we'll identify those processes causing
our customers the most problems and, using a team approach,
design improvement action plans.
     Selecting those processes on which to concentrate our
efforts is very important. Since we have limited resources, we'll
spend them where we can gain the most value.
     The most important lessons we've learned:
     
     -- Employee involvement is an essential component in
     defining and implementing quality service;
     -- Every employee must be encouraged to make quality service
     the driving force in his or her work;
     -- Quality can't be done alone--the use of cross-functional
     teams not only produces better outcomes, but provides the
     ownership necessary to motivate change;
     -- Organizational excellence doesn't just happen--continuous
     improvement must be structured and ongoing in order to
     achieve institutional excellence;
     -- Achieving quality improvement takes hard work and
     self-discipline.
     
     The benefits can be enormous--not only for our customers
--but for those employees who feel responsible for their
achievements and who are recognized and rewarded for their team
efforts.
     To obtain a free copy of the employee development manual, A
Quality Improvement Customer Service Process, contact: Robert
Messina, Jr., President, Burlington County College, County Route
530, Pemberton, NJ 08016-1599; Ph: 609/894-9311, ext. 329; Fax:
609/894-0183. A videotape of the two case studies is also
available upon request. 

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