Total Quality Management in Services

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[...] Companies that have implemented EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Model have based their Total Quality Management on customer focus, result orientation, continuous learning, innovation & improvement and corporate social responsibility. Thus, they have met their corporate goals by implementing quality-driven strategies effectively Challenges of TQM in Services Despite the benefits for any service provider that implements TQM effectively, Services sector faces two major challenges related to the quality delivered to customers. These are: Information Technology Information Technology is related to how well the service does what the customer thinks it is supposed to do. [...]

[...] Yet, in Services perceived quality refers to the benefits the customer will derive from the consumption of the service relative to the expectations attached to this service, while in Manufacturing perceived quality refers to the total benefits derived from the use of the product over the total cost of the product Benefits of TQM in Services The most important benefits of TQM for a service organization are described below. Intrinsic motivation of employees Research has shown that the more a task is linked to an expected reward the more the performance deteriorates as a result of a routine process used only to ensure compensation and not outperforming the task. [...]

[...] By establishing commitment, top management motivates employees to produce significant results in quality, cost, and delivery of services Benchmarking Every organization has customers and suppliers. However, a few companies manage to apply effectively performance practices. Benchmarking refers to the selection of the best practices to use as a standard for performance. The organization needs to collect and analyze information about rival companies as to determine which one uses the best practices in terms of quality control. After forming a benchmark team it takes action to match or exceed the benchmark TQM in Services vs. [...]

[...] What we should keep in mind is that both core and facilitating services are part of the value proposition which communicates to customers the total cluster of benefits the company promises to deliver. In other words, the value proposition is the statement of the resulting experience the customer will gain from the relationship with the supplier and as such it should include both core and facilitating services. Typically, services involve hospitality, tourism and travel services, financial services (home insurance, mortgage loan), professional services (lawyers, doctors), health services, sports, arts and entertainment services, retail and leasing services (time sharing resorts), educational and research services, telecommunication services, personal and repair / maintenance services (hairdresser, car service), governmental, and not-for-profit services (public sector). [...]

[...] The difference that deteriorates the situation in the Services sector is that this laziness cannot be hidden from the customer when it comes to the provision of a service due to the direct customer involvement Conclusions Total Quality Management is a component of strategic management, which improves an organization from top to bottom. Based on the concept of Kaizen technique, TQM evokes the need to keep any member of the organization educated and continuously improved. In that way, the organization increases the involvement of workforce in the decision-making process and promotes intrinsic employee motivation. [...]