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QICID: 34264
Copyright: 1998, ASQ
Title: System Approach to Service Quality Management
Author: Sarkar, Ranbir
Organization: KPMG Peat Marwick, Mumbai, India
Subject: ISO 9000; Quality management; Service organizations; Strategic planning
Date: May 1998
Source: AQC
Sponsor: ASQ
Series: 52nd Annual Quality Congress Proceedings, May 4-6, 1998, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 675-687
Integration of service quality concepts with ISO 9000 standards is the basis for establishing quality management systems in service organizations. Many people in the service sector are not familiar enough with conceptual models of service quality management, while being of the opinion that ISO 9000 is meant for the manufacturing sector. Service quality concepts include models in which strategy, people, and the system focus on customers. The quality system structure needs tier 1 and tier 2 elements. Tier 1 systems use actions like acquisition, allocation, and appraisal to transform raw resources into refined resources. Tier 2 systems define day-to-day processes in the SERVQUAL dimensions of assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles. Quality planning is the key to effective operation of core customer-interfacing processes, administrative processes, and support processes. Process components include: enablers (logistics, communication, and value addition); definition and validation; and planning, measurement, and control. Planning also leads to meeting the process objectives of delivery, integrity, and profitability. A quality management system in the service sector should have characteristics such as robustness, adaptability, and strategic focus. For integration with ISO 9000, variables associated with all processes must satisfy standard requirements. This paper lists such variables for 20 elements, including management responsibility, quality system, and process control.
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