Quality Management in CoffeeVille - Case Study Example

Running Head: Quality Management A Case Study Analysis: CoffeeVille Name Institution Date Contents Contents ii Quality Management in CoffeeVille 1 1.Introduction 1 2. Customer Requirements 2 2.1. Timelines 2 2.2. Quality 3 2.3. Cost 4 3. Plan for Quality Service 5 3.1. Quality standards 7 3.2. Additional Support 8 3.3. Procedure for solving complex customer service complains 8 4. Monitoring Quality Service 9 4.1. Resources required to meet quality standards 10 4.2. Important records 10 5. Conclusion 11 5.1. Recommendation 11 6. References 12 Quality Management in CoffeeVille 1. Introduction The management of quality customer service is absolutely essential for any organization desiring to succeed amidst increased competition. This calls for the management team to align the organizational goals, vision and mission with the needs of target customers (Mullins, 2005). In this case, customer’s voice and focus becomes of great importance. Unfortunately, most companies or organizations never realize the need for the management of quality customer service until it is too late or through costly omissions. This should not be the case as it may hinder the achievement of organizational goals. The quality of services and products being offered is determined by the degree to which the customer utilizing the services or products is satisfied (Schaper & Volery, 2004). It is qualitatively determined by the customer perception of such services. In CoffeeVille, offering quality services and products in terms of quality, timeliness and cost is of great importance especially in overcoming the pressure from already existing and well established hotels. This report includes a discussion of the customer requirement, the plan to achieve these requirements and quality standards and the monitoring systems to be put in place to ensure a continuation of quality services in CoffeeVille. A conclusion is then drawn from the overall discussion and recommendations given. 2. Customer Requirements The beginning point in management of quality customer service is an understanding of the nature of the service or/and products being provided, customer requirements and customer’s perception of Coffee Ville. Customer requirements in CoffeeVille can be looked at in terms of timelines, quality and speed. 2.1. Timelines Majority of CoffeeVille target customers are the working class who are more concerned with the time spent in service delivery. Since CoffeeVille targets customers aged between 20 and 60 years, one of the requirements of this customers is speed. CofffeeVille’s target customers are globally exposed and highly qualified. With the increased living cost, the speed with which a service is delivered has become of great concern for them. In most cases, they are not ready to lineup and wait for more than 10 minutes for a services. This has been mainly attributed to the realization of the need for quality by many service providers. If they are able to get a similar service elsewhere, they prefer to go to the next café than lineup. This has become a great concern especially with the increased number of customers coming to CoffeeVille owed to the good reputation. The need for speed must be met even with the growing market share. With the fast transformation of the world to a global village, there is increased need for provision of world class services or products based on timely delivery, competitive pricing and quality. The need for provision of quality services within the shortest time possible is noticeable during rush hour such as lunch time. To begin with, the customer is concerned about the time take to locate the café and receive attention. This is owed to the fact that most of our customers are very busy and have limited time for meals. Timelines with regard to CoffeeVille customers also involves accuracy in service delivery. This means that the customer receives what they have ordered for. It avoids wastage of time whereby a client does not have to wait for a rectification (Mullins, 2005). This not only gives the client value for their money but for their time as well. In addition, timely responsiveness is of great concern to our customers. In case of occurrence of an unusual situation, the customers desire that their fears be addressed immediately. Where customer care services are not established, a lot of time is likely to be wasted looking for a person to solve the problem. This happens especially when the manager is busy. 2.2. Quality In relation to quality, CoffeeVille customers are after getting services and products of the highest standards. One of their need in this respect is preparation of different pre-made foods is maintenance of the highest hygienic levels. This is also expected in serving and packaging of take away foods. Another customer need is reliability (Thompson, 2003). Our customers expect that the services and products will be available any time they need them. It is very frustrating for a customer to come all the way just to find that their choice products are unavailable. This can result to loss of clients to our competitors. The main goal for CoffeeVille is to maintain competitive advantage and continuous growth. However, continuous provision of the same products which are similar to those provided by our competitors might halt this goal. As our customers are widely exposed to the world class products, they need a place where they have a variety of products to choose from since they also desire to have a new experience each time they visit our café. Another need for our customers is aesthetics (Thompson, 2003). This refers to the look, smell and taste of our products. We have maintained our customers through provision of taste pre-made foods. Availability of different flavours and appealing packaging is of great concern. Good packaging and creative serving is by itself appetizing and likely to pull more customers to our café. According to Thompson (2003), the customer requirements also include the need for courtesy in service delivery, completeness and consistency. This means that all customers must be treated equally and in a way that they find value for their money. In relation to completeness, the customer expects to get all that they order. They do not expect to get some products and lack others. In addition, the customer is looking for a service provider who values him or her and offers the service in courtesy. This is especially for those employees interacting directly with the customers such as waiters, waitresses, cashiers and the customer care personnel. CoffeeVille has maintained a view that the customer is always right. Lastly, our customers need to be aware of information regarding every product or service offered in CoffeeVille. The picture created in them during advertisement will determine their retention or even attraction of more customers. It is for this reason that advertisement should be of the highest quality and in a way that necessary information is delivered. 2.3. Cost CoffeeVille customers are concerned about the cost of the product being purchased especially with the high inflation rates. They look for a product that is worth the associated cost. With increased availability and ease in accessing information, they tend to compare the quality and cost of products being offered by different companies. Competing on the basis of cost is therefore a good area of exploration (Schaper & Volery, 2004). We work hard to ensure that customers find value for their money. However, CoffeeVille is not ignorant of the rising competition whereby existing café’s are lowering their cost to compete with us. This is a great threat especially due to the fact that it is coming from already established hotels. Therefore, it is important to ensure that we meet the customers’ needs for cost effective services and products. 3. Plan for Quality Service To meet the customer requirements, several adjustments have to be made in CoffeeVille. To begin with, the number of chefs, waiters and waitresses will be increased to enhance speed in services delivery. This is owed to the increased number of customers served in the café every day. Other changes will also be required. For instance, in maintaining high hygienic standards which are of great concern for CoffeeVille customers, the café will be cleaned thoroughly everyday and there will be cleaners on gourd to wipe any mess. In addition, the café will be cleaned before and after the rush hour. In the kitchen, hygienic will be maintained in the preparation process through use of clean reparation utensils and prohibition of any other person apart from chefs, assistant chefs and the inspector from entering the kitchen. High quality and hygienic materials will also be used for packaging. To enhance reliability of our products and services, we intend to ensure continuous production of pre-made foods sold in the café. This will be possible especially with an added number of chefs responsible for this. When customers are assured of service availability, they are likely to keep on coming for our services. To meet the need for variety, we will encourage innovativeness among employees and also borrow suggestions from customers on the changes they desire to see in CoffeVille for better service provision (Bhattacharya & Wright, 2005). In addition, we will deploy a research team which consists of the management team and a research officer to investigate what our competitors are doing or intend to do so as to be ahead of them. Whenever a new product is identified, the chefs will be trained on how to make it. This will be done through development programs and training for staff members. In addition, CoffeeVille employees will be encouraged to pursue further education and more courses on upcoming menus (Bhattacharya & Wright, 2005). In addition, more diverse flavors will be added to our product to meet the needs of diverse customers. Health standards will be maintained in selecting the packaging materials. This means that the material used for packaging must not in any way endanger the health of our customers. In addition, the materials must be environmental friendly. CoffeeVille intends to intensify advertisement for her services and products so as to reach more customers(Schaper & Volery, 2004). In addition, she intends to improve on the quality of the materials used in advertisement to ensure that they are appealing and clear in communicating messages. This will also be enhanced by use of brand names that will differentiate us from our competitors. CoffeVille will also employee a specialized personnel to respond to customer concerns and assist in identifying solution to problems and challenges in customer service. This personnel will work hand in hand with the management and research team. Lastly, CoffeeVille employees will be trained on customer service to ensure effective communication with the customers and courtesy in service delivery. To meet the customers for cost, the management and research team will engage on research in identifying the cost of similar products offered by our competitors. The aim is to give the most competitive price to ensure customer retention as well as attraction of more customers. In addition, our focus will be on increasing our sale margins rather than the price. To ensure that our products are sold at the lowest price possible, raw materials will be purchased in bulk. This will reduce the production cost and hence the last sale price (Schaper & Volery, 2004). Moreover, cost effectiveness in production process will be enhanced through production of large quantities and enrollment of employees with diverse skills. A lot will also be invested in training our employees to offer diverse services. 3.1. Quality standards The quality standards that must be maintained in the café include: Maintenance of high hygienic standards Continuous improvement on service delivery Employee selection must be based on competent standards and without any form of discrimination Complaints, requests and enquiries from customers must be addresses politely and promptly Exercising courtesy by first greeting customers on arrival and responding to them in a polite manner. Employee health and safety To ensure that these standards are met and maintained, proper management of staffs will be required (Ryan, 2008). To begin with, each employee will be required to produce his or her medical records before being enrolled to ensure that all employees are healthy and free from communicable diseases. In addition, medical checkups will be conducted for all employees after every three months. Where an employee is found to be sick and a danger to our customers or fellow employees, a sick leave will be granted. The employees in the position of waiter/waitress and chef will have a supervisor who will continuously check on their performance and maintenance of hygiene during execution of duties. Lastly, the employees will be required to work as a teach with each concerned about the other employee. This will be enhanced through team building activities. 3.2. Additional Support To ensure that customer needs are met fully, a mentoring program will be necessary to ensure a high retention rate for employees resulting from increased employee satisfaction level. This is important to prevent frequent changes in staffing (Ryan, 2008). In addition, team work must be enhanced among the employees and also with the customers to establish a comfortable environment where customers are free to express their concerns. This will be of great help in determining the effectiveness of offered services as well as determining areas where improvement is needed. Lastly, financial support will be required so as to meet increased need for finances such as payment for extra staff members and conducting various activities such as training and mentoring. 3.3. Procedure for solving complex customer service complains The first step in solving complex customer complains is identifying the actual problem. This will be done by listening to the customer complaints. The customer care representative will listen to this and where he or she is unable to identify the actual problem, a discussion will be held with the management team in the absence of the customer. The next step is identification of possible causes of the problem resulting to customer complains (Mullins, 2005). This will be done through brainstorming where other employees are involved. After this, possible solutions will be identified to solving the problem. The senior manager will direct the group discussions and brainstorming sessions. From the identified possible solution, the best solution will be selected and executed. To ensure that customers do not move to other service providers, they will be assured of a solution which must be executed as a matter of urgency. 4. Monitoring Quality Service Monitoring is very important in the provision of quality services and maintenance of high quality services. One of the monitoring tools to be utilized is review checklists. The checklist will be used to monitor consistency in reporting , documentation, supervision, planning, competence and professional judgment in execution of duties (Mullins, 2005). This tool with them be analyzed as an internal auditing tool. In addition, an extensive audit by external personnel will be conducted every year to identify any shortcoming and judge the level to which customer needs are met. The customers will be requested to be involved in customer reviews which will enable us determine their satisfaction level (Ryan, 2008). In this regard, a review/comments box will be availed at the outlet. Customers will also be involved in customers surveys every year. In addition, records on sales will be kept safely for the purpose of comparison and in identifying the business trend. This is very important since a negative curve would mean that the customer’s need are not being met fully. A comparison of total sales and profit margins over a period of time will thus be very important (Thompson, 2003). In addition, total sales against profit margins will be important in assessing the value of projects undertaken. 4.1. Resources required to meet quality standards To meet the outlined quality standards, CoffeeVille will require more staff member to work as chefs, waiters and waitresses, research clue and lastly a customer care personnel. In addition, more capital to purchase raw materials to meet increased customer demands, pay extra staffs and cater for advertisement and staff training. In addition, more monetary resources will be required in conducting researches as well as external audits. Lastly, CoffeeVille will invest in the modern coffee making machine to improve the speed and quality of coffee produced. 4.2. Important records Continuous assessment of the current plan will be important in future to identify any need for change or adjustment. As a result financial records for every month must be kept safely to evaluate business trends. A database for such information with therefore be developed and maintained by our research and information clue. Records on research findings is also important in planning the future. Such data will be utilized in assessing the development of the company in meeting customer needs. According to Thompson (2003), research forms the basis for success in any given organization or company. Audit record will also be kept for the purpose of comparison and development of solution in future. Improvement will be deducted by comparing different audit results. Where a problem is found to be reoccurring, attention will be drawn as a matter of urgency. Lastly, the monthly records on the number of customers visiting the café every day will be developed and kept including the number of customer complaints received, number of complaints solved, employee job reporting time, total number of employees, performance rating and reports on reviews from customer surveys. 5. Conclusion Provision of poor quality is more expensive than investing in provision of quality services. This is because poor quality services of products result to customer dissatisfaction and eventually customer loss. A continuation of this will result to business failure. It is therefore important that CoffeeVille invests in meeting customer needs to their highest level of satisfaction. As discussed above, this can only result through a clear identification of their specific needs, a clear plan on how they are to be met and implementation of a monitoring system to ensure that this is maintained. Her role is to work hard towards the execution of set quality standards. 5.1. Recommendation CoffeeVille should employ more waiters/waitresses and chefs to meet the needs of her growing market share. More should be invested in research to identify new products and services so as to maintain competitive advantage CoffeeVille must invest in employee mentoring and training to reap the full benefits of the skills possessed. 6. References Bhattacharya, M., & Wright, P.M. (2005). Managing human assets in an uncertain world: applying real options theory to HRM. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(6), 929-948. Mullins, L. (2005). Management and organisational behaviour. Edinburgh: Prentice Hall: Pearson Education Ryan, R. (2008). Leadership development: A guide for HR and training professionals Oxford: Elselvier Limited. Thompson, A. (2003). Understanding the proof of business concept. Perth, Best entrepreneur. Schaper, M. and Volery, T. (2004). Entrepreneurship and small business: A pacific rim perspective. Milton, John Wiley and sons. Read More