The PDCA Model for Solving Customer Complaints in a PR Organization

This document discusses the PDCA model and how it can be used to solve customer complaints in a PR organization. It explains the steps of the model - Plan, Do, Check, Act - and provides insights on each step. The document also explores the use of mobile communication tools in the PR industry and discusses the challenges and strategies in the airline industry.

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Response Paper
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Question 1
The need for an organization to prevent work processes from recurring mistakes may
have prompted Walter Stewart and William Deming to develop the PDCA model. Organizations
can today solve most of their interior and exterior challenges thanks to Stewart and Deming1.
Subsequently, the PDCA can today be used to solve some challenges through a systematic and
planned procedure of testing, analyzing and improving the process. For instance, in our case, we
will explore how we can handle customer complaint issue is a PR organization. For purposes of
solving the customer complaint, the following procedure will be needed for a successful
complain solving approach;
Plan
At this stage, the first measure to complaint approach is to plan on how to tackle the
complaints. As an organization, handling the complaints will, of course, be done as a team and
not on an individual basis2. Planning will, therefore, take the major part of the team’s effort
considering that to reach on concrete problem-solving criteria plan has to be well established.
For instance, before taking any action, it would be better to lay down some primary concerns
like;
Identifying the core problem that needs to be fixed
• The kind of resources need
• The type of resources present
1 Mentzer et al., Defining supply chain management, 112.
2 Heineken and Davis, Operations Management, 240.

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• What could be the best solution for setting such an occurrence especially with the available
resources?
• How to determine the answer was a success?
When trying to solve customer complaint issues, it is also essential that the problem-
solving team go through all the chief complaint before responding to any criticism. A thorough
assessment could provide root course and how these complaints can be solved. Subsequently,
maintaining open feedback loops may also aid in identifying the root cause and what the
customers need. Techniques such as Hoshin Kanri Catchball could also be used when seeking for
the solutions.
Do
This stage entails taking action as planned in the previous step. It is applying what was
agreed upon in the first phase3. However, it is essential for the implementation process done with
caution to avoid any unnecessary challenges that may arise during the process. It is also
necessary that the team stay organized and focused during the implementations process.
Maintaining roles and responsibilities will as well enhance the effectiveness of the application
process.
Check
The check stage or phase is the most critical phase of the PDCA. Paying enough attention
at this phase can determine many factors including the success or the failure of the PDCA. It is
necessary to audit the execution of the plan and identify all the drawbacks during the process.
3 Tranfield et al., British Journal of management, 45.

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Eliminating any challenges on the way will be useful in determining the success of the
implementation phase.
Act
After developing, applying and checking, the final step that follows is to act. At this
stage, the problem-solving team will put together all the goals and measure which will be used in
the auction process. After identifying the root cause of the problem and coming up with
solutions, acting as the last step will then follow.
Question 2
Companies that embrace the latest technological developments stand a better chance in a
competitive market that their counterpart companies that don't use the modest technologies.
Talking of market control, it is evident that an effective communication process plays as an
integral factor for the success of companies4. A PR company is dealing with the public hence
interacting with a large number of people. As a service industry, the PR organization will invest
in the modest communication process to serve its large number of clientele. In our case, the PR
company is using a mobile communication tool as a channel for communication processes. First
of all, going with the latest trends, we can say that almost 60% of the world's population use
mobile phones for communication. For this reason, using phones as a channel for the
communication process is an added advantage since the company doesn’t have to incur any cost
supplying its clients with this gadget. With this factor in consideration, the mobile device will,
therefore, help the PR company in some ways;
4 Schmenner et al., On theory in operations management, 29.

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Question 3
Differing communication options
• As a public service company, communication plays a critical role in bridging the gap between
the customers and the service provider. Subsequently, the same mobile phone can also be of real
help especially for communication purposes within a workplace. Phones are cheap and efficient
to use. There are too many options of communication modes as one can choose to make a voice
call, send a text or even make a video call.
• Phones can also be useful in acting as a reminder, for instance reminding staff of a
particularly important meeting scheduled on a specific time5.
• Meetings can also be conducted through web conferencing, and all the information passed to
all the employees. In this case, it would save the company from preparation cost and other
unnecessary expenses that may arise as a result of planning.
• Phones can also be useful in communicating emergencies and other related phenomena. For
instance, handling an emergency complaint.
Services industry experience a lot of challenges in the context that services exhibit some
unique characteristics that cannot be reversed. An Airline in one of those service providing
industry which operates by selling their services to their clients. Talking of service
characteristics, let’s see how they impact airline operation and how they are dealt with;
Perishability
5 Bozarth et al., Introduction to operations and supply chain, 93.

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Services are highly perishable in the context that they cannot be stored for future use. The
same happens in the service industry, and airlines are a good example. Let's assume that a plane
has 300 seats which need to be sold before the flight takes off6. If it's only 5 hours remaining and
the plane takes off, but in the real sense, it has only managed to sell 250 seats. This would mean
that if the plane takes off with 250 occupied seats, the other 50 places will go unoccupied, and of
course, that would be a loss as they cannot be stored for another day. To cut reduce this loss; the
airline management can decide to slice the rates down so that those who are still willing can
occupy the empty seats.
Homogeneity
It is challenging to grade services as they are highly perishable and can neither be
touched nor graded. For this reason, it will be difficult when it comes to choosing a type of plane
to use especially when more than one plane is heading to your destination. However, there is
only one factor that can differentiate these planes from one another7. The quality of services must
always differ no matter how similar the planes might look8. Today, people choose the best
quality services when it comes to services delivery as a measure for value for money. Different
planes, therefore, strive to offer the best service delivery to their clients to maintain their loyal
customer base.
6 Wang et al., International Journal of Production Economics,56.
7 Shumsky, Robert and Fuqiang Zhang, Dynamic capacity management with substitution, 114.
8 Eisenhardt et al., Strategic management journal, 74.

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