The study of total qualitymanagement in service industry

1、Overseas Chinese CollegeUndergraduate ThesisABSTRACTDatabase Design, Implementation, and Management Gymnasium Database System Students Name ： Students ID ： College ： Major ： Instructor ： March 30, 200922The study of total quality management in service industryAbstract Purpose Proposes developing a c

2、onceptual model that can be used in understanding the relationships between sustaining structures that support the total quality service (TQS) philosophy and customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach Integrating the SERVQUAL instrument and other work in the service quality literature, especi

3、ally the Deming management model, this paper develops a model for understanding the interactions between customer satisfaction and sustaining structures.Findings This conceptual paper develops three constructs: leadership, organizational culture andemployee commitment, which are very important in ac

4、hieving total quality service objectives. Theproposed model links these three constructs with business processes and total quality service.Research limitations/ implications It is not an empirical investigation of customer satisfactionand sustaining structures. The paper does not review in detail th

5、e impact of the three constructs onbusiness processes. A researcher who plans to do a customer satisfaction study could benet from the proposed model as it will provide valuable insights about the interactions between customersatisfaction and sustaining structures.Originality/value This paper provid

6、es an important conceptual framework for evaluating therelationships between customer satisfaction and sustaining structures.【Key Words】 SERVQUAL, Customer satisfaction, Quality management, Customer service qualityPaper type Conceptual paperContents1. Introduction12.Quality management model33. The S

7、ERVQUAL instrument63.Visionary leadership, organizational culture and employee commitment84.Sustaining structures of the TQS model105. Organizational culture and TQS116. Leadership involvement and TQS137. Employee commitment and TQS158. Conclusion17References18List of FiguresFigure 1. Database appli

8、cation lifecycle . 8Figure 2. Data collection for gymnasium management database system . 12Figure 3. Data flow diagram for gymnasiums membership management .13Figure 4. Example of ER diagram .17Figure 5. Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio .24Figure 6. Report generated using Report Services in SQ

9、L Server 2005 .24Figure 7. Example of creating database .25Figure 8. Example of creating table .25Figure 9. Example of creating trigger .25Figure 10. Example of creating procedure .25Figure 11. The process of Test First Development .27Figure 12. Full&Log backup strategy . 31List of TablesTable 1

10、. Example of entity types .15Table 2. Example of relationship types .15Table 3. Example of attribute list 16Table 4. Example of transaction list 18Table 5. Example of physical data model 221.IntroductionOver the past few years, the service sector has become the dominant element in many economies inc

11、luding the economy of the USA. In many industrialized countries, service sector accounted for more that 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). For instance, in 1989 the service sector accounted for 69 percent of the USAs GDP; 67 percent of Frances GDP; 62 percent of the UKs GDP; 60 percent of G

12、ermanys GDP; and 56 percent of Japans GDP (World Bank, 1991). These gures represent only the service sectors contribution (Ghobadian et al., 1994) and in addition, many manufacturing companies have started to provide services traditionally not provided by them (Douglas and Fredendall, 2004). The emp

13、loyment in service industries in the USA has also increased from 30 percent in 1900 to over 85 percent in 2000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002). The service sector in many economies embraces a diverse and complex range of organizations and enterprises including:1、 national and local government: fo

14、r example, education, health, social security, police, the military, transport, legal, information, and credit;2、 non-prot private services: for example, charities, churches, research foundations, mutual societies, and art foundations; and3、 for-prot private services: for example, utilities, hotels,

15、 airlines, architects, restaurants, solicitors, retailers, entertainment, banks, insurance companies, advertising agencies, consultancy rms, market research companies, and communications (Ghobadian et al., 1994, p. 43).Customer service has become a distinct component of both product and service sect

16、ors and with the developments in information technology many business nd demanding and knowledgeable customers. The worldwide trend toward service quality was initiated in the 1880s when businesses realized that a quality product, in itself, is not guaranteed to maintain competitive advantage (van d

17、er Wal et al., 2002). Many researchers recognize that service quality can bring an organization a lasting competitive advantage (Moore, 1987; Lewis, 1989). Quality of services can be the difference between success and failure in both service and manufacturing rms. Service quality, customer satisfact

18、ion and customer value have become the main concern of both manufacturing and service organizations in the increasingly intensied competition for customers in todays customer-centered era (Wang et al., 2004).As a result, many organizations are paying increasing attention to improve service quality.

19、In some manufacturing industries “service quality” is considered a more important order winner than “product quality” (Ghobadian et al., 1994, p. 43). Service quality improvements will lead to customer satisfaction and cost management that result in improved prots (Stevenson, 2002). Literature sugge

20、sts that total quality philosophy can be usefully deployed in the service sector too. As an initial step in an empirical investigation of service quality management, this study incorporates the SERVQUAL model and the total quality management (TQM) model, and develops several hypotheses for empirical

21、 testing.2.Quality management modelThe development of quality management systems has substantially been inuenced by several American and Japanese quality experts: Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby and Ishikawa. The main theme of Deming is that by improving quality it is possible to increase producti

22、vity, which results in the improved competitiveness of a business enterprise (Kruger, 2001). According to Deming, the quality improvement of the companys work processes, both manufacturing and service, will result in less reworking and less waste of manpower, material resources and the number of err

23、ors will be reduced. Deming stressed the importance of constant and forever improvement of the system of production and service. Management must continuously reduce waste and improve the quality of every activity in the company and this includes all functions, such as procurement, engineering, trans

24、portation, sales, methods of distribution, accounting, service to customers, etc. (Kruger, 2001). Early quality gurus recognized that both product and service quality will create competitive advantages for rms.Juran contributed to TQM by highlighting the importance of quality Control. According to J

25、uran, once managing the quality issue was delegated to the subordinate hierarchy, it was no longer considered to be vital for the top management of the company to participate personally in managing quality and this progressive removal of the companys management from managing the quality issue led to

26、 negative effects on quality (Kruger, MSQ 15,4 3902001). The ultimate result is that in the end, nobody in the rm will be responsible for quality and the visible leadership and personal involvement of top management in inspiring quality is very important for the achievement of strategic and operatio

27、nal goals. Juran stresses that quality control should be an integral part of the management functions and the rm culture and leadership can play a major role in quality managementIshikawa provided four aspects of TQM quality circles, continuous training, the quality tool “Ishikawa diagram”, and the

28、quality chain. According to Ishikawa, to practice quality control is to develop, design, produce and service a quality product, which is most economical, most useful, and always satisfactory to the consumer. To meet this goal, everyone in the company should participate in and promote quality control

29、, including top executives, all divisions within the company, and all employees (Ishikawa, 1985). According Ishikawa, TQM is not limited to the quality department but involves all departments within the business organization and it stresses a clear customer orientation both internal and external (Kr

30、uger, 2001). The Deming Management Model has been tested in both manufacturing and service industries and the founders of total quality portrayed this management philosophy as universally oriented.Contemporary service sector rms are compelled by their nature to provide excellent service in order to

31、prosper in increasingly competitive domestic and global marketplaces (Sultan and Simpson, 2000). As service rms nd themselves in an increasingly competitive and complex business environment, they are inevitably driven to examine their service delivery processes critically. The focus of such internal

32、 analysis is ultimately about customer satisfaction, and how bottom-line results can be actualized through delivering quality services to customers via awless interface platforms. This is not only the case in the private sector, but it also is increasingly so in the public sector. Public sector rms

33、are trying to make administration more efcient and more citizen-oriented (Scharitzer and Korunka, 2000).Despite services being a large and important segment of the world economies the concepts and practices of service quality are not as well developed as those of manufacturing quality (Douglas and F

34、redendall, 2004, Ghobadian et al., 1994). The literature reveals that service organizations are lagging behind their manufacturing counterparts in terms of the effective use of TQM practices aimed at achieving organizational objectives (Yasin et al., 2004). The views of the quality gurus (i.e. Demin

35、g, Juran, Taguchi, Ishikawa, Crosby, and Feigenbaum) are prominent in the manufacturing literature and they can be easily deployed for services. There have been many such attempts in recent years.The theoretical foundations and methods of total quality, however, support its use for both manufacturin

36、g and services. Although the literature addressing the total quality management have been developed separately for products and service sectors, the founders of quality management reveal that quality concepts are universally applicable. In addition, quality awards have been established to generate a

37、wareness and interest in quality improvement in both service and manufacturing sectors. For example, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards (MBNQA) program, established by the US Congress in 1987, includes seven categories that could be applied to any organization, whether in manufacturing or

38、services (Bell and Keys, 1998). These seven categories on which applicants are evaluated are: leadership, information and analysis, strategic planning, human resource management, quality assurance of products and services, quality results, and customer satisfaction (Stevenson, 2002)Most organization

39、s have, however, become enamored with the framework, vision, and techniques subsumed in the rubric of TQM, because of the results it has reliably produced in a variety of business environments. However, the contemporary literature in regard to quality management tends to be overwhelmingly manufactur

40、ing oriented, as there are far fewer empirical studies regarding the service sector (Sureshchandaret al., 2001a). Because it is now well understood that the fabrication of products is quite different than the delivery of services (Robinson, 1999), the concept of total quality service (TQS) has gaine

41、d increased attention. TQS is often considered as having a long-range perspective, implying that organizations embracing TQS can achieve the rewards of their quality improvement initiatives only after many years of toil and hard work (Sureshchandar et al., 2003).In brief, TQS is TQM applied in servi

42、ce organizations. However, it is also much more than that, because of the complex implementation issues surrounding service delivery, as well as the increased number of variables involved in such delivery. Services differ from manufacturing goods on a number of dimensions: service intangibility, sim

43、ultaneity of production, delivery and consumption, perishability, variability of expectations of customers, and the participatory role of the customers in the service delivery (Sureshchandar et al., 2001b). Measuring the quality of service outputs is often more difcult than measuring the quality of

44、a good, because services are abstract rather than concrete, transient rather than permanent, and psychological rather than physical (Meredith and Shafer, 2002). Hence, because of the increased complexity regarding measuring service rather than manufacturing quality, TQM cannot be said to be purely s

45、ynonymous with TQS. Rather, a more malleable framework is needed to account for the intricacies of service delivery effectively in a variety of business settings. TQM concepts including the Deming management model does not measure customer satisfaction directly but they are relevant in developing a

46、visionary leadership structure and organizational culture which are very important for quality service. This research will incorporate TQM concepts with SERVQUAL, a widely used customer satisfaction instrument in developing sustaining structures for total quality services.3. The SERVQUAL instrumentT

47、he notion of service quality has produced considerable debate with regard to dening it as well as measuring it, with a lack of emerging consensus. The instrument that has become most prominent in attempting to operationalize service quality is the gap model of service or SERVQUAL (van der Wal et al.

48、, 2002; Wisniewski, 2001). Parasuraman et al. (1985) developed a conceptual framework for the SERVQUAL model to measure consumer perceptions of service quality and later rened the model.Although this model was originally developed for application within the nancial services sector, it has been deplo

49、yed to measure those components of services that generate satisfaction in other service sectors such as telecommunications, healthcare and hospitality (Curry and Sinclair, 2002; van der Wal et al., 2002; Sultan and Simpson, 2000; Saleh and Ryan, 1991). SERVQUAL assumes that service quality is critic

50、ally determined by the disparity between the expectations and perceptions of the customer, and the service actually delivered (Curry and Sinclair, 2002; Ninichuck, 2001). The Parasuraman et al. (1988) study rened the model and has ve dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and

51、 empathy.In recent years, SERVQUAL has frequently been used to measure customer satisfaction (Harvey, 1998; Curry and Sinclair, 2002; van der Wal et al., 2002; Gabbie and ONeill, 1997). Researchers support the continued use of SERVQUAL to measure customer satisfaction, although they recommend that m

52、ore work is needed to improve its scales (Eastwood et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2004; Landrum and Prybutok, 2004; Kettinger and Lee, 1999). SERVQUAL is based on the underlying premise that service quality can be dened as the extent to which a service meets a customers needs or expectations. Thus, serv

53、ice quality can be operationally dened as the difference between customer expectations of service and perceptions of actual service delivery (Wisniewski, 2001). Service quality is critical because such failure by management to interpret customer desires accurately can result in loss of business and

54、possible bankruptcy for some (Gabbie and ONeill, 1997). Many previously developed tools have tended to focus exclusively on customer perceptions of service, measuring what the customer thinks of present service delivery. SERVQUAL is seen as superior, because it also focuses on an adequate understand

55、ing of customer expectations. However, comprehending the expectations of customers is not an easy task, because often consumers either do not really know what they want, or do not tell you directly what they want (Lim and Tang, 2000). This is all the more reason to utilize a valid instrument such as

56、 SERVQUAL to focus on capturing the functional aspects of quality management in service rms.Although models explicating the essential elements of TQS will differ, consensus on the importance of TQS as a practical framework certainly exists. Thus, the question of how one effectively implements, monit

57、ors, and maintains TQS in a rm is crucial. Are there specic elements of the organizational environment that support the realization and preservation of TQS in all crucial processes of the business? Moreover, are there certain “sustaining structures” that buttress the TQS philosophy and make the implementation of such run smoothly? In this context, “sustaining structures” ref