Evaluation of Transferable Skills Gained During its Completion - Case Study Example

Evaluation of transferable skills gained during its completion Introduction: Quality is an important element of a product or service for attaining customer satisfaction. In subjective terms, quality is the characteristic trait, or attribute of a thing or phenomenon, which cannot be measured in quantitative terms whereas it can be observed and interpreted. The term quality can be defined as “the ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by assessing, anticipating, and fulfilling stated and implied needs.” (Qual-ity: how do you defined it 2001). Quality of a product or service can be measured from the degree of discrepancy between the expectations and perceptions of customers in relation to that product or service. This is termed as view of quality. In the gap based view of quality, the quality can be achieved by overcoming the customer perceptions. In case of certain products, the quality is related to certain pre-defined standard level. Conformance to a standard or specification is treated as quality. The customer perceptions are mainly related to the pre-defined quality standards. By minimising the errors on product and service, the quality standards can be achieved, “From a production/operations point of view, customer satisfaction is about monitoring the quality of delivery of the product and service, the aim being to minimise production errors so saving money and making customers happy.” (Customer satisfaction 2009). Quality and customer satisfaction: Quality and customer satisfaction are closely related. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, quality is an essential factor. In order to measure the customer satisfaction, the examination of the complaints from the customers is an adoptable way. Customer satisfaction is a multidimensional concept. Customer satisfaction and service quality are closely related even though they are independent factors. Thus an increase in the quality level should increase the degree of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the mostly adopted tool for business growth and it is greatly related to factors such as quality and production measurement. The changes in the operational performance and product quality are mainly aimed at improving the degree of customer satisfaction towards them. Customers are the driving force in any business. To enhance the customer satisfaction continuous improvement in the quality level is required for the business. Process service and work environment are subjected to the quality concept. For balancing the needs of customers quality is an essential element. Quality policy: While producing high quality products and services, customer requirements and applicable standards are the basic factors. For ensuring continuous improvement in the quality of the products or service, it is necessary to have “understanding, fulfilling and exceeding customer needs and expectations by operating to the highest standards of quality at each and every opportunity.” (Customer satisfaction and quality 2009). Quality components contribute to customer satisfaction and at the same time maintain profitability through the following ways. “. Increased process yields; - Reduced downtime through more careful monitoring and maintenance; - More consistent and improved products; - Lower product cost.” (Quest concept 2001). Quality standard tools: 1. ISO 9002: The international organization for standardization is a Geneva-based world wide federation of national standard bodies. ISO standard facilitates the international exchange of goods and services. It publishes thousands of standards. The five documents in the ISO 9000 series i.e., ISO 9000 - ISO9004 are having a growing impact on international trade. It is a quality system standards awarded to those organisations that keep the specific standards in quality in products and services. It is an award on the total quality management system in the organisation. “ISO 9002 is best known to European countries that use the certification as a means of identifying companies dedicated to providing a customer with the best product and service possible.” (ISO 9002 certification). ISO 9002 describes the suppliers required capabilities in production and installation. It is awarded to those organisations which insist on specific standards. It would be helpful for improving the quality and customer satisfaction. ISO 9000 series of quality standards are adopted by more organisations for ensuring their quality standards. 2. EFQM: European Foundation for Quality Management is a non-profit membership foundation established with the intention of providing supports to organisations for designing and implementing quality strategies. EFQM have wide range of network in which over 600 organisations are members. The member organisations in the EFQM are objected to improve their quality standards for higher performance. EFQM is a globally recognised brand of quality and its principles are adopted by several organisations all over the world for formulating the business strategies and operations. Learning through exchange is the key principle of EFQM. The concepts under the EFQM model: The results of the operation should be capable of providing pleasure to the stakeholders of the organisation. Sustainable customer is required to develop. Leadership should be focused on constancy of purpose. Interdependent and interrelated system of organisational management should ensure the participation of employees. There should be continuous learning, innovation and enhancement by developing value adding partnerships. The organisation should have corporate social responsibility and thus has to follow regulatory requirements. To improve the operational performance and increase the bottom line of organization, EFQM is highly effective as it facilitates assessing the strengths and the areas to be improved. The continuous improvement policy is focused through innovation and learning. QUEST: “QuEST is a program focused on four areas that are critical for an organizations success and leads to world-class performance. Because of its operational and functional approaches, QuEST can be easily incorporated in a companys strategic plan. This advanced management method ensures the rapid decrease of the operational costs, better employee retention, and higher customer satisfaction rating.” (Quest concept 2001). In the Quest programme, the evaluation of operational performance is carried out by considering the feed back, and evaluating standards on quality systems. In UK, since 1998, Quest is used as a business excellence model by the public leisure sector. Introduction of Quest award helps to bring improvements in the employee performance as well as the customer satisfaction and improving the performance measures. Quest is an advanced approach towards quality management. Quest advantages: The advantages of Quest in the quality management programme are described below; 1. It helps to improve the operational performance in the most effective way. It improves the morale of the employees and thus gets clear competitive advantage in the industry. 2. Better integration of the four basic organisational resources of a centralised system facilitates effective communication, facilitates mistake-proof mechanism. 3. Participation of all employees in the organisation helps to create loyalty among the employee attitude. The continuous improvement in the operational performance helps to attain sustainable growth. Charter mark: Charter mark is a certification regarding the quality of the organisation. It focuses on encouraging public service to the optimum manner. Charter mark quality standards are applicable to the services of government departments. It was started in 1991 by the British Government with the intention to improve the operational performance of the public departments in a sustainable manner. “Charter Mark is based on a set of six criteria. These are: setting the standards and conforming to the set standards; actively engaging with the customers, partners and staff; being fair and accessible to everyone; using resources optimally; improving opportunities for the community; and continuous improvement.” (Charter Mark for better governance 2009). Charter mark criteria are the basic guiding principles for improving the operational performance of government departments such as education, health, housing, courts etc under the six quality criteria. A self assessment scheme is provided in the Charter mark system. The research studies on the effectiveness of Charter mark revealed that implementation of Charter mark has led to operational performance improvement in the government organisations. The quality of services delivered by such departments seems to be of highly standardised compared to past performance. Advantages of Charter mark: “* The application process provides a framework for self assessment and a toolkit for improvement. * Assessment provides verbal and written feedback for future improvement. * Success improves staff motivation and morale. * Achieving Charter Mark gives external accreditation to a nationally recognised standard of public service excellence.” (Preparing for the Charter Mark, 2009). Michael porter’s Theory: According to the theory of Michael Porter, competitive strategy of firms are based on factors such as internal resources of the firm, capability to meet the changing requirements in market, and competitiveness of the firm to follow lower pricing strategy. The internal capability of the firm is essential for achieving competitiveness. According to Porter, companies are required to attain competency in the entire business functions. In the changed business environment, continuous improvement in quality and cost efficiency is require for maintaining the customers satisfactorily on a long term. The strategy should be based on the demands of the customers and changing market requirements. (Michael porter: What is strategy? (Competitive strategy analysis). 2002). Explain the relationships which existed between management, staff, and customers, which illustrate the importance of such quality management systems: Quality management system is an important element of business in the new century. In the extremely competitive business world, in order to sustain the profitability and business growth, customer satisfaction is an essential factor. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, quality is an essential factor and the TQM is focused on improving the quality standards of the products and services. The TQM is based on the principles such as leadership, commitment of all managerial levels, optimum customer satisfaction, employee empowerment, communication and reward and recognition focused on continuous improvement. In the implementation process of quality systems the participation of all managerial personnel is relevant. For this effective communication is necessary. The structure of quality management systems and how it works: Operational Performance of Teltronics; an ISO 9002 certified company: Teltronics is one of the famous software companies in UK. The company produces telephone switching system. This company deals with tiny business to big enterprise and government and other public safety communication centres. Teltronics is very helpful to all hardware and software enterprises. Teltronics was awarded ISO 9002 quality re-certification from the International organization for standardization. After awarded the ISO 9002, Teltronics improved and confirmed the efficient policies that ensure that all of its products are manufactured, installed and serviced under quality system and it focuses the worldwide standard and certified level of excellence. "The ISO 9002 re-certification confirms our commitment to excellence and enhances the marketability of our products worldwide," said Ewen Cameron, President and CEO of Teltronics. "The re-certification is a tribute to our employee’s dedication and commitment to ensuring that the highest quality standards are followed." (Teltronics awarded ISO 9002 quality re-certification 2009). Importance of good customer relations: Setting up of good customer relations would be helpful for sustaining the customers for a long term. It should be capable of generating loyalty customers. Satisfied customers will help to promote the business growth on a grater level. It should create satisfaction to the products and services. Maintaining customer relation is a function of the management and it is focused on providing customer satisfaction. Higher accessibility of the products and services by the customer is a challenge to the business firm to sustain them for long term. In this case loyalty customers are essential for sustainable business growth. Customers are more aware about the quality specifications for products and services and thus always demand higher quality at lower price. In order to influence the customers, better customer relation is necessary. Communications required within the organisation: In the total quality management system, the contribution of all levels of organisation is necessary. In this case information regarding the quality level, specifications, has to be communicated to all of the organisational personnel. “As business relationships become more remote, it becomes more important to constantly address the question of how people feel in terms of what they can contribute to the team and how they personally would develop. Proper feedback systems are vital here in order to avoid alienating the worker and, more positively, utilise their skills and personal qualities to the optimum.” (Communication in organisation-II 2000). Conclusion: In order to provide the report on organisational quality standards, better knowledge in the quality standards and their implications are necessary. For assessing the importance of quality systems through grasp over the quality standards such as ‘six sigma’ is required by the researcher. The discussion reveal that quality standards insist on reducing the defects on products and services at minimum level and most of the quality drivers are aimed at customer satisfaction. By the completion of this project, the skills relating to analysis and application of a particular factor in the real life situations becomes practised. In this project, the implications of quality concepts on the performance of business are analysed and it is derived that quality standards are essential for keeping the customer satisfaction on sustainable manner. Reference Charter Mark for better governance 2009, The Financial Express, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/charter-mark-for-better-governance/174583/ Communication in organisation-II 2000, Business Line, viewed 11 April 2009, http://hinduonnet.com/businessline/2000/06/26/stories/212677bo.htm Customer satisfaction: quality of design versus quality of delivery 2009, Dobney.com, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.dobney.com/Research/customer_satisfaction.htm Customer satisfaction and quality: quality policy 2009, Lockheed Martin, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/canada/about/CustomerSatisfactionQuality.html ISO 9002 certification, Scorpion Research Ltd, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.scorpionresearch.com/srl/srl_isoq.htm Michael porter: What is strategy? (Competitive strategy analysis). (2002). Access My Library. viewed 13 April 2009, http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-25331794_ITM Preparing for the Charter Mark 2009, The Free Library, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Preparing+for+the+charter+Mark-a0141751307 Teltronics awarded ISO 9002 quality re-certification 2009, All Business, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/financial-markets-investing/6723112-1.html Qual-ity: how do you defined it 2001, Quality Digest, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.qualitydigest.com/html/qualitydef.html Quest concept 2001, QuEST, viewed 11 April 2009, http://www.questsystem.com/ Read More