Providing and maintaining customer satisfaction is one of the most important challenges facing business today. However, this is a relatively new concept. In the 1950s and 1960s the demand for consumer goods was so great that businesses could be successful even when producing mediocre products and services.
However, increased global competition in the 1970s and 1980s from Japan and Europe drew customers away from U.S. firms.
During the 1970s firms did not recognise customer satisfaction as a problem. The United States was still succeeding reasonably well in providing acceptable levels of satisfaction to the buying public. Consumers were finding enjoyment and satisfaction in their buying experiences considerably more often than they found difficulty and discontent. As a result demand was met by technical product innovations rather than service improvement. In recent years the idea that the level of customer satisfaction is not at an acceptable level was seen as a growing concern.
To compensate American organisations took the lead from Japan and turned to Total Quality Management (TQM). Companies who implemented TQM include Ford Motor Company, Phillips Semiconductor, SGL Carbon, Motorola and Toyota Motor Company.
Research into this area has grown since the early 1980s. For example, a clear trade off between customer satisfaction and potential repeat business has been demonstrated. In the airline business it has been shown that each 0.2 increase in overall rating on a standard five point scale indicates a 6-12 percent higher level of repeat business, depending on the different classes of service.
In most industries the battle for customers moves from tangibles to intangibles. As the market matures competitors offer similar features and the battle moves to price. Inefficient operators drop out and quality becomes the most important consideration. Thereafter the emphasis turns to customer service as a way of satisfying customers.
What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
TOTAL Quality involves everyone and all activities in the company
QUALITY Conformance to Requirements (Meeting Customer Requirements).
MANAGEMENT Quality can and must be managed
TQM could therefore be defined as a process for managing quality; it must be a continuous way of life; a philosophy of perpetual improvement in everything we do.
TQM focuses on measuring standards of reliability and functionality while emphasising the quality of employees¡¦ work life. TQM is the concept that quality can be managed and that it is a process. The concept and principles, though simple are seeping into every day use by "bits and pieces" through the evolution of the ISO9001 Management Quality System standard.
Implementation of ISO 9001:2000 standard¡¦s "Process Model" appears at present to complete the correlation .
What is ISO9001:2000?
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is the specialised international agency for standardisation, at present comprising the national standards bodies of 91 countries. ISO is made up of approximately 180 Technical Committees. Each Technical Committee is responsible for one of many areas of specialisation ranging from asbestos to zinc. The purpose of ISO is to promote the development of standardisation and related world activities to facilitate the international exchange of goods and services, and to develop co-operation in intellectual, scientific, technological, and economic activity. The results of ISO technical work are published as international standards.
ISO9001:2000 is an evolution of the ISO 9001:1994 Standard that was based on a life-cycle model. The 9001:2000 Standard is based on a process model. The process model emphasises managing key processes to continually improve them.
The key changes (between 9001:1994 and 9001:2000) to the quality management system standards are:
-- It emphasises a process model, continuous improvement, and the commitment of management.
-- It considers legal and regulatory requirements.
-- It establishes measurable objectives.
-- It presents permissible exclusions.
The new ISO9001:2000 standard is based on 8 Quality Management Principles, and repositions the existing 20 elements of ISO9001:1994 into 4 main areas of:
-- Management Responsibility
-- Resource Management
-- Product (Service) Realisation
-- Measurement, Analysis & Improvement
The existing common place ISO9001/ISO9002/ISO9003 Standards have all been replaced by the new revised International Standard (ISO 9001:2000). Now that the ISO 9001:2000 standard has been issued, all registered/certified organisations will have three years to comply with the new standard.
What is the Process Model?
The process model is based on the idea that an organisation is a system of inter-linked processes. ISO 9001:2000 Standard is designed to manage and improve those processes.
1. Identification of key processes.
2. Define quality standards for those processes.
3. Decide how process quality will be measured.
4. Document the approach to achieving the desired quality, as determined by the measurements.
5. Evaluate quality and continuously improve.
There has been a veritable explosion of interest in TQM and quality in general as organisations become more customer orientated and as a subject more knowledge becomes available ¡V this is reflected in the amount of material written and available on the subject.
However, the hospitality industry has been slow to accept quality-management techniques, in part because managers have viewed service quality as intangible and, as such, difficult to measure.
Adapted from various sources by Russell Parrott, mailto:
[email protected]
