Russell and Bromley Retirment Homes - Case Study Example

Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes Introduction The story of Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes gives us important insights about the problems managers face in management of business. Especially when business is giving a particular service problems such as these arise regularly. It is very important to understand the issues that the retirement home is facing and only then we can apply the concept of operations management to elucidate on the possible solutions. The main emphasis of the contemporary literature on operations management is on both human and technical aspects (Chase, et.al 2001). This means that needs of human beings are to be identified in order to better understand and solve the management problems. The main issues that can be easily identified are cleanliness, parking and meal issues. Another important problem is that the house keeper is aiming to keep the area manager happy instead of focusing on people. This is a grave problem and without solving this problem there is little hope for any kind of improvement. If managers are busy in satisfying their superiors rather than customers then it will adversely affect the business because the needs of the customers will be ignored (Klenke, K. 2008). The case study of Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes also shows lack of trust and confidence in the leadership of the house keeper. The residents are also not happy because there needs are not met. The unhappiness of the resident is the consequence of the lack of leadership of the house keeper. A proper restructuring and redesigning of operations is required in order to improve the situation of the retirement home. Parking problem and meal issues can be resolved by properly defining tasks and changing the current process of servicing residents. Question 1(a) The definition of quality is often debated by management scholars. It will be useful to identify the different approaches used to define quality. There is a user based approach of quality which says that product or service should be without any error. This gives a perspective of quality from the end consumers of the product or service. Product based approach of quality argues that quality is providing perfect goods or services with particular characteristics. Then there is value based approach, manufacturing based approach and transcendent approach defines quality in terms of value, error free product or service and internal excellence respectively (Slack, Chambers & Johnson, 2010). All these approaches are valid and all of them give different perspective on quality. But however we will have to define quality in a general way too. Quality, in simplest of ways, is measured by degree of satisfaction which consumers derive from product or services (CBS Interactive Business Network, 2003). This definition is perfect with regards to the retirement home because perception of quality of the residents is not so positive. The key aspects of quality in Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes are cleanliness, timely meals, proper space for mobility, regular checkups and health care for retirees and cosy living conditions. All these can be considered as important aspects of quality. There are both implicit and explicit services that are related to the retirement home. Implicit services are those that have psychological effect like attitude of the cook or house keeper towards them and explicit services are those services that are visible to the consumers like cleanliness and good and diverse menu (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2007). The quality of both implicit and explicit services is important for the retirement home. Question 1(b) The quality assessment tool which will be perfect for assessing quality or perception of quality in the retirement home is short face to face interviews or surveys. These two are the best because quality in the retirement home can only be defined in terms of customer satisfaction. It is the consumer perception of the quality that matters and if it is to be known whether the consumers are satisfied with the services given to them or not the best way is to ask them directly. There are many reasons why short interviews or questionnaires are the best way to evaluate quality standards of the retirement home. The residents are retired people and they have some specific needs that should be fulfilled. Quality assessment tool can also be designed specifically for an organization (Schackmann, Jansen & Lichter, 2009). This is what that is required for Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes. Short interviews will help get valuable insight on the perception of the residents about quality of service. It is very important to understand that residents are retired people. They have specific needs, needs that may not be identified by an independent quality assessment organization or group. The service that is given in the retirement home is for a specific age group of people and it is only their opinion that matters. A simple example for this can be regarding the stairs of the homes. They may seem fine to a normal person but they may not be appropriate for old people or old people might find difficulty in using those stairs. This is why input from residents is required. Questionnaires are generally used for quality assessment in organizations. SERVQUAL and SERVPERF are two of the most used tools for quality assessment (Azam & Asif, 2008). Both of them are questionnaires that are designed specifically to assess the quality standard of a service. Questionnaires can also help to get specific information from the residents. An interview may not yield specific information so questionnaire will complement the understating of the quality standards of the retirement home. Another reason why questionnaire and interviews would be best suited for quality assessment is because the fact that customer care is very vital part of quality in the retirement home (Green & Puckett, 2004). This customer care includes the way employees communicate with the residents. The only way to find out about how much satisfied residents are regarding the attitude of the employees interviews and questionnaires are vital. The situation at the retirement home is not excellent and the residents are facing lot of difficulties. At the same time the house keeper has only one aim in her mind and that is to impress her superiors. In a situation like this in order to achieve any objectivity whatsoever it is important that opinions of the end consumers of the service are taken during assessment of quality. There is no way that any objective evaluation can be done under the house keeper so it imperative that interview is conducted so that the perception of residents regarding quality can be assessed. Question 2 There are many quality improvement models that can guide an organization to improve its quality of service. Total Quality Management (TQM), Continuous Improvement (CI), Benchmarking, Six Sigma are some of the famous models used for improvement of quality. Keeping in mind the specific needs of the retirement home and the service which is given by Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes continuous improvement or CI will the most appropriate quality improvement model. The needs of the old people are very diverse. They change with the passage of time because they get bored of things very quickly. They want special attention and that can be given to them if the process of assessing their needs and acting accordingly is done continuously. Moreover continuous improvement model will work in this case because there is no need for a complete overhaul of the retirement home. There are small changes that are to be made so the financial burden of these changes would not be that big. Because of this Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes can tolerate the financial pinch and can follow the model of continuous improvement to better serve their customers. There are small things that need attention and this attention should be given continuously in order to improve the quality of service. One justification for using the model of continuous improvement is that problems are never gone, they always remain in one form or another and that is why continuous improvement is best way to manage those problems (Lillrank & Kano, 1989). As the name suggest continuous improvement is defined as an ongoing process of betterment of quality standards. Moreover it also involves eradicating procedures that are futile and replacing them by efficient and relevant methods. Source: Borealis Official Website. 2010. The above model gives an action plan for the implementation of CI in the retirement home. All 5 steps are to be followed continuously in order to improve quality standards at the retirement homes. The first two steps have been performed by Rubina. She has defined and analyzed the issues that have come across in her survey. We now have to develop solutions now. At first the problem of the parking should be solved. It is imperative that the house keeper should not get a reserved parking space. This is disgruntling the residents so this should immediately be taken care of. Moreover parking space should be increased and this can be done by redesigning the parking place. One solution is to provide temporary parking place in hours of visitors. Utilization of any vacant place will be useful to achieve this goal. Diversification of menu is very important as many complaints have been regarding the menu. Cook should be given the authority to buy food supplies as before and he should also be allowed to experiment. Every two weeks menu should be changed to add flavour into the lives of the residents. This will not increase cost but at the same time will add flexibility which is considered very important by management experts (Weiss & Gershon, 1989). Queuing is another problem and that can be solved by asking residents before time about what they would like to have. This would reduce the burden on the cook at the time of the meal. He can prepare the meals beforehand so that residents will have to wait less in queue. Without hiring a person this problem can be solved and residents can get prepared meals on time. Matters of cleanliness and dining hall issues can be resolved by hiring a temporary worker. Temporary worker will clean the hallways and the dining room and will also serve residents with meals. This worker will help reduce the burden on everyone and will help in adding value to the retirement house. It is very important to cater to the changing needs of the residents and every action should add value to the quality of the service (Imai, 1997). This should be the main focus of the entire process of continuous improvement. The process of improvement should continue and the cycle indicated in the figure above should continue again. One thing should be kept in mind when following CI model. Every action should add value to the organization is that cost of the action should be less than the benefit. This principle should underlay continuous improvement model. Question 3 Supply chain management is very important in the service industry because the quality of the service is dependent on the timely supply of goods. It is vital that organizations develop cordial relationships with the supply lines in order to ensure that they get what they want in time. Any disruption in the supply chain can harm the clients of the business. Companies now devote great amount of funds to train and equip their suppliers. This concept is known as supplier development and it helps greatly in maintaining a smooth flow of raw materials and goods (Rhodes, Warren & Carter, 2006). The main items in the supply chain of the retirement home are poultry, meat, fruits and vegetables. These items are bought by the house keeper but this is affecting the quality of the food. There are two options for the retirement home. It can either outsource or ask the supplier to supply daily the necessary food items required or it can continue to buy the food items through its cook or house keeper. Outsourcing may not be a good option because quality can adversely affect through outsourcing (Outsource2India, 2011). Food is an important part of the service provided by the retirement home so it should be done carefully. It is best that the expert cook should buy the food items. He has the expertise to buy food items so his expertise should be utilized. There should be some suppliers that should be short listed and they should be asked to provide quality products. Multi sourcing is required in order to ensure that food items are also available at all time. Multi sourcing immune buyers from the threat of shortage of goods and in turn help establishing a reliable supply chain (Parker, A. 2007). The inventory system that should be used is Just in time inventory system (JIT). This system will help reduce storage cost and will reduce loss of inventory (Gilliland, M. 2002). Cook can ask 4 or 5 hours in advance about what the residents will have for lunch and dinner. Then he can buy the food items appropriately. This will diversify the menu and will give resident more choice. Residents will feel more satisfied and costs of storage can be reduced. This inventory system will require efficiency from everyone’s part but it will add tremendous value for the residents. Other items for the retirement house like soaps, towels, etc should be bought every month and they should be outsourced. The quality of such items does not vary too much so it will not be a problem. This will reduce hassle for the house keeper. Suppliers can also be asked to give discounts on these things as they are ordinary goods so this may be a cost effective method. Conclusion The retirement home is facing troubles because residents are not satisfied with the service that is being given. There are complains about long queues and parking issues. Some residents also complain about menu and cleanliness is also a problem. The house keeper is also not taking interest in solving the problems because she is more inclined to please her superiors than to please customers. It is vital that the perception of quality in the eyes of the residents is improved. Issues like cleanliness can be resolved easily by carefully supervising cleaning staff. The parking problems can be solved by providing temporary parking in the ground or in any other vacant area in rush hours. This will allow the additional space needed for the cars of the visitors. The parking reservation of house keeper should be cancelled immediately so that residents don’t feel that she is enjoying extra benefits. The quality assessment tool for the retirement home is short interviews and questionnaires. They can give valuable insight on the opinions of the residents on the quality of the service. Continuous improvement is the model that is appropriate for the retirement home because the needs of the old people will continue to change so it is better to be prepared for the changes. Supply chain management should also be handled different with limited outsourcing of non food items and multi sourcing of food items. Bibliography Azam & Asif. 2008. Library Service Quality Assessment. Journal of Quality and Technology Management, 4(1): 51-64. BNET. 2003. Quality and Operations Management. [Online] Borealis. 2010. Continuous Improvement in our Quality Standards. [Online] Chase et.al. 2001. Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. New Jersey: McGraw-Hill. Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons. 2007. Service Management. New York: McGraw Hill. Gilliland, M. 2002. Is Forecasting a Waste of Time? Supply Chain Management Review. Imai, M. 1997. Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Klenke, K. 2008. Qualitative Research in Leadership. 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