Managing service quality: The managers' orientations and their consequences – case study evidence of current practice

Abstract

Much of the existing research into the effectiveness of managing quality in both manufacturing and service organisations has tended to attribute the failure of quality-related programmes to factors such as limited resources, work overload, inadequate training or a lack of customer orientation. However, this study argues that explaining failure of service quality1 operations in terms of the aforementioned factors is far too simple. This study therefore aims to explore the linkage between management's approach and orientation and the effectiveness of service quality operations. In doing so, it takes a qualitative methodology in the form of 52 semi-structured interviews with different managerial levels in a sample of three service organisations. The findings reveal that the impact of quality initiatives on enhancing service quality is a direct function of, first, senior management's approach to the quality of service operations, and second, the existence of a certain degree of consistency between senior management's approach with that of middle and first line managers. The research findings present useful implications for both researchers and practitioners for better management of service quality operations which bring about increased productivity and performance at both individual and organisational levels.

Keywords:

• managing service quality
• total quality management (TQM)
• case study research

Acknowledgement

This paper is an updated version of the one presented at the 12th International Congress for Total Quality Management, Edinburgh, Scotland, 27–28 September 2007.

Notes

The terms ‘service quality’ or ‘quality of service’ are interchangeable and are often used as such throughout this paper, meaning the entirety of outcome and experience perceived by the customer.