Quality Management : Dimensions Of Quality And Service

13. Which of the following characteristics makes it EASIER to measure the quality of a service, relative to that of a product or facilitating good?

When the competition was growing in service sector the demand for service quality was understood. At this time a new question was emerged, if it is possible to apply the principles of TQM in service industry. The literatures and viewpoints of different researchers made the latest moderations to TQM concepts and made TQM adaptable for service sector also.(2) Today, customers have a wide choice of service providers and they would choose only the best service providers in terms of quality, reliability, and profitability and who are at par with international standards. Therefore, the quality of service plays a dominant role and is a primary factor in ensuring the survival of the service provider in the global market. The whole focus is now concentrated on providing services to customer beyond his expectations. This concept is applicable to all service industries and has given birth to the concept of TQM in service

The second dimension is tangibles which are things like physical facilities, equipment, personnel, communication materials, etc. The third dimension is responsiveness, as the company needs to make sure they are giving the customer the most adequate service, as well as promptly giving that service. The fourth dimension is assurance, which is when a company conveys trust and confidence so the consumer does not have to worry about their service being completed. The last dimension is empathy; because consumers do not want an uncaring person handling a mistake when they are stressed enough, but much rather have a caring employee deal with the matter. All of the quality dimensions are really focused around keeping your product or service where it has been without raising costs, as well as keeping a healthy customer service sector on board to work through troubling economic times where consumers do not want to worry about services that have been loyal to them in the past. (Hartlet et al., 2008, p. 34,36,121) (Hollis, 2008, p. 3-4)"

Carman, J. M. (1990). Consumer perceptions of service quality: An assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66 (1), 33-55.

The dimensions of service quality are listed in the text as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangible.

Verizon could improve better services if there representative know about the 5 service quality dimensions that will help to add an addition to the level of quality of service which the company can offer their customers. However, it will also make the service far more unique and satisfying. Also, every cable company wants to get loyal customers, which will add to repeating purchases of there different products they have to offer will cause increasing their maximum revenue. However, if Verizon don’t understand the factors of the 5 service quality dimensions, this will allow their service to be a part of the marketing mix.

Different customers have different expectation than others: one could like the same hotel and everything but another person can say that the same hotel isn’t good , so we could say everyone has their own way of how they perceive things. Service quality can cover meetings and exceeding customer expectations (Zeithaml and Gronroos,

The 5 core service dimensions are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. These five dimensions help to evaluate service quality. Tangibles are the physical facilities, equipment, employees, and materials for a company. In the case of Verizon, the tangibles of my service were the employee installing the initial service and the items that help transmit my service. Like most cable companies today, Verizon had a sleek cable box and internet router which were black. The employee was very nice, although he was tardy for the service installment. Although he was nice, I also have errands and classes to attend in my every day like, and I did not appreciate the tardiness presented. He explained to me that the apartment complex was difficult to find and navigate around. My zone of tolerance increased after he explained the problem which was good because the tardiness meant that Verizon was not off to a good start early in my experience with

Quality management is an act that monitor all activities that needed to maintain and sustain high quality output, continuous improvement of process and product to a desire level of excellence in order to create customer satisfaction (Flynn, Schroeder, & Sakakibara, 1994, p. 342). Nowadays, increase in globalization and international trade had led to the increase of competition in the global market. The increase of competition had forced companies to focus on the concept of quality in their business and discover that effective quality management can increase their competitive advantage in the global market (Anderson, Rungtusanatham, & Schroeder, 1994).

In the healthcare industry one of the health professional’s duty is to provide medical help and care to patients, and not create further injury or damage. Unfortunately accidents do happen in the healthcare industry, and as a result there has been a demand and need for quality and safety measures to be carried out (Iizuka, Munechika & Tsuru, 2009). Since quality can be somewhat subjective and relate to patient outcome, there are a number of ways to define quality. Iizuka, Munechika and Tsuru (2009) define quality as the ability to provide patients with effective health services with minimal utilisation of health resource. Alternatively Rose (2005) defines quality as fulfilling patient health needs while avoiding the repetition of staff and mechanical errors. Overall the quality of healthcare refers to the effectiveness and value of the health service.

The key to ensuring good quality service is meeting or exceeding what the customers expect from services. Judgements of high and low quality depend on how customers the actual service performance in the context of what they expected. Service quality, as perceived by the customers, can be defined as the extent of discrepancy but customers’ expectations or desires and their

In service selection, customer satisfaction is always the prime factor. The customer should be guaranteed a 5 star service. The provider must be honest and reliable. In addition, the best communication means should be maintained at all times. All inquiries should also be responded to in the least time possible.

To identifying and looking to rectify an error, it has to investigate the root source of the predicament. The procedure is alluded to as the root cause scrutiny. The rationale of the investigation is to annihilate or correct the source, thus preventing the inveterate of the predicament. The procedure should be done on an everyday basis. The application of new processes that are well known to produce a methodical and affirmed progress to the identification, indulgent and determination of main causes is what is alluded to as root source analysis.

There are two main aspects that describe and affect both service quality; the actual service customers expected (expected service) and services perceived (perceived service). Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons (2001) explains that the creation of customer satisfaction for a service can be identified through a comparison between service perceptions with service expectation, see Figure 1.

Service quality represents a fundamental aspect of delivery, which strongly influences consumer satisfaction and, as a result, loyalty. In today’s global market a customer’s service expectation has to be met and exceeded eventually in order to retain customers as well as achieve success. Perceived quality of a product or a service is becoming one of the major competitive factors in the business world and has led to the innovation of the ‘Quality Era’ (Peeler, 1996). In simple words, the comparison of customer expectations with service performance is service quality. On the other hand, customer satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable fulfilment response toward a good, service, benefit, or reward (Oliver, 1997). Both of these