Total Quality Management - Assignment Example

Discussions questions Q 1. The actions of hostess were not consistent with the philosophy of customer-focused quality. The services offered by the hostess were not customers focused as they failed to consider the needs of the market as a client. The quality of the services delivered can be determined by the ability to meet the needs and the expectations of the customers. The expectations of Mark were not met as he was expecting to get high-quality services from the downtown hotel. Besides, the way the hostess was reacting to mark could not ensure excellent service excellence. The services of the hostess were poor considering the services that market received. Even after Mark missed the reservation, the hostess seemed not to care about the experience of Mark as one of the customers in the organization. The philosophy of customer focused quality embraces high-quality services that can help in meeting the expectations of the customers, but the hostess failed in meeting the needs of the mark. Customer focused quality philosophy is primarily aimed at making sure that the needs of the customers are met. The quality of services offered is determined by the service provider where it can be assessed while considering the best way of meeting the customer expectations. In the services industry, the service encounter between the service provider and the customer is responsible for determining the level of satisfaction. The focus on the customers is important in ensuring the services offered can meet the client’s needs (Dale, 2015). It is through the client's focus that an organization can make sure that the service delivery considers the needs of the clients. Any organization that has customer focus is likely to consider the interests of the customers in its operations. It is clear in the hotel the operations were not focusing on the needs of the customers considering the way the hostels treated mark after missing the reservation. Besides, the hotel did not have customer focus in its operations considering the fact that the customers had made a reservation but the moment of checking in was missing. The fact that the customers had made the reservations but were missing is an indication that the hotel operations were not focused. The philosophy of customer focused quality embraces the training of the employees in a way that can help in meeting the needs of the clients (Hung, et al. 2010). The hostel reacted to the missing reservation in a way that did not show any aspect of professionalism in service delivery. The management of the hotel seems to have failed in making sure that the employees have the necessary skills that can guarantee excellent service delivery to the clients. Therefore, the hostess lacked the necessary expertise of handling customers and ensuring excellent service experience through offering high-quality services. The hostess should have made sure that the expectations of Mark were met through looking for alternative ways of addressing the problem after missing the reservation. First, the hostess should have apologized to the customers for inconveniences and make the necessary reservations. In the hospitality industry customers are always considered right hence it is the role of the service provider to handle them with the necessary care. The service experience that the customers receive in an organization is responsible for determining whether they can be repeat customers. The hostess failed to show no concern for mark the moment he was asking to meet the manager. Instead, she should have ensured that the customer could realize her concern for her issues by making sure that a solution was found that could meet the needs of the Mark, Donna and the children. The hostess could have maintained a good relationship with the customers through maintaining her focus on looking for the best solution to the challenges that the customers were facing. For instance, she could have ensured that the problem is fixed by making a new reservation in a way that could ensure excellent service encounter despite the missing reservation. This can be crucial in ensuring an environment that can help in improving the quality of the services offered to the customers. Besides, she could have ensured that the customers were given complimentary for possible inconveniences. Offering complementary can make the customers satisfied and motivate them to be repeat clients to the hotel. Q 2 I would have reacted to the letter by suggesting the possible ways that I think are necessary for improving the service delivery especially to the customers making a reservation. Besides, I can ensure that I communicate the possible effects of such failure in service provision on the performance of the hotel. For instance, I can make the manager aware of the change in perception of the hotel and the number of people I have shared my bad experience in the hotel. As a result, the manager can be in a better position to realize adverse impacts of such poor service delivery in the marketing efforts of the hotel. The total quality lead could have responded differently with the major focus on improving the quality of the service experience. The primary aim of total quality is to achieve improvement in the service delivery where the needs and expectations of the clients are given priority (Sallis, 2014). In any organization where interests of the customers are paramount the level of satisfaction of the clients is usually high as their expectations can easily be met. Therefore, the total quality lead should have ensured that the concern for the customers is shown by being apologetic for the poor services. The response to Mark was not satisfactory considering his experience in the hotel. The total quality lead should have ensured despite Mark receiving poor services he remains to be a royal customer through addressing the issue in a better way. The fact that the hotel manager failed to respond to the client is an indication that the organization is not focused on customers. The management of the hotel seems not to be committed to ensuring that the needs of the customers are met. The failure of the hotel manager to respond to the client makes me feel that the management failed to ensure that the expectations of the customers are met. The hotel manager could be in a better position to address the issues as the hotel seem to be experiencing some challenges in serving customers. The company operations need a change to be in a position to be customer oriented where the services can be aligned with the interests of the customers to improve the level of client satisfaction. The management is reluctant in improving the service delivery as the hotel manager should have responded to the complaint from the customers with the aim of solving the challenges facing the hotel. Q 3 Other tools of quality Flowchart The downtown hotel can make use of flowcharts in the process of solving the problem. Flowcharts can be used in the course of establishing the relationship existing in the organizational operations. The relationship established can be useful in determining the cause of the problem hence helping the management to address the problem (Hung, et al. 2010). For instance, the work process can be documented used flowcharts hence helping in establishing the best solution that can address the problem facing the company. Flowcharts can be helpful in determining the breakdowns that can be associated with work processes where the necessary light can be a shade on the operations of the hotel to establish the problem. Therefore, the downtown hotel can make use of flowcharts in improving the operations of the hotel with the aim of solving the problem because quality can be enhanced. Fishbone diagram The downtown hotel can make use of fish bone diagram in the process of establishing the possible causes of the problem facing service delivery. The use of this quality tool involves identifying the problem that needs to be solved. Besides, the possible major causes that are linked to the problem also need to be established to help in solving the problem. When using this tool, the causes are mainly separated into the process, people, equipment, and materials. The fishbone diagram can help the management of the hotel in the process of brainstorming the causes of the problem by engaging the people who are familiar with the problem (Dale, 2015). The moment the relevant causes of the problem are identified, the team engaged in the process of identifying the solution can then develop the plan that can be employed to solve the problem. Therefore, fishbone diagram can be important in solving the hotel problem because it enables brainstorming of the possible causes to come up with the best solution. Check sheet The downtown hotel can make use of check sheet in the process of solving the problem facing the organization in service delivery. Check sheet can be used in the course of tracking the occurrence of a particular incidence. For instance, the management of the hotel can make use of check sheet in the course of identifying the number of times the customers have been complaining concerning poor service delivery in the organization. Therefore, check sheet can be important in the process of making sure that the problem facing the hotel is solved. References Dale, B., 2015. Total quality management. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Hung, R.Y.Y., Lien, B.Y.H., Fang, S.C. and McLean, G.N., 2010. Knowledge as a facilitator for enhancing innovation performance through total quality management. Total Quality Management, 21(4), pp.425-438. Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge. Read More