Quality Management for Business Excellence

This assignment focuses on quality management and its significance in achieving organizational excellence. It examines various aspects of quality management, drawing upon scholarly literature and real-world case studies to illustrate its effects on service quality, innovation, and overall business performance across different industries.

Quality Management
in
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Definitions of quality in terms of business and services provision..................................1
1.2 Processes of assurance and inspection used in quality management...............................2
1.3, M1 and D1 Range of approach of quality management..................................................2
1.4 Similarities and difference between different methods....................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Customer satisfaction.......................................................................................................3
2.2 Continuous improvement in the quality management......................................................3
2.3 Types of added values gained by through efficient and effective operations..................4
2.4 and M2. Importance of effective marketing and types of information available to
customers................................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Measurement of quality management..............................................................................5
3.2 Benefit of non-user and user surveys in determining customer needs.............................5
3.3 Consultation methods......................................................................................................5
3.4 The value of complaints procedure..................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The level of customers satisfaction and service after using a product is defined by the
quality of the service and product. The increment in the satisfaction level of the customers leads
to increment in the demand, profits and the reputation of the company (Boyd and Tucker, 2012).
Therefore, company always focuses on quality of the service and products by redefining their
functions of the business. Quality assurance during inspection, factors affecting the controlling of
the quality management system and quality control are the methods which helps the quality
management in the company.
Starbucks is an American based coffee firm which was established in Seattle in 1971. In
“second wave coffee”, it acts as a main representative. Starbucks makes itself different from
other brands of coffee in terms of quality, customer experience and taste of their products.
This report includes various approaches of quality management, benefits of quality
management. It also shows the ways of improving customer services and principles of quality
management to improve organization's performance.
TASK 1
1.1 Definitions of quality in terms of business and services provision
To satisfy or fulfil all the requirement of the customers by the capacity and suitability of
the service and product is known as the Quality in term of service provision and business
(Chaffey and White, 2010). If a product or service is designed in such a manner that it satisfies
and solves all requirements of the customers to a particular extent then the service or product is
said to be a quality service or a quality product. For measuring the quality service and products,
there are several standards which are established by the standardizing bodies. These standards
cover different industries and wide range of services and products.
Starbucks mainly focuses on satisfaction of the customers therefore makes some extra
efforts to achieve quality of the service or product. Quality is the only thing which makes
Starbucks different from other coffee brands. Due to increase in the quality of products and
services, the people become more confident about the cited organization and the customer's
loyalty as well as organization's reputation increases (Goetsch and Davis, 2014).
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1.2 Processes of assurance and inspection used in quality management
Starbucks tries to deliver services and products of very high quality to their customers.
This high quality provided to the customers allows the organization to become the most reputed
brand in the field of coffee. There are basically two processes involved in quality management
which are as follows:
Quality control: The review of all components which are associated with the production
process of Starbucks, this process is known as quality control. Skill and knowledge of
employees, maintenance of quality in production process and other soft elements in process of
production such as motivation, team dynamics and organizational culture are maintained in this
process (Holschbach and Hofmann, 2011).
Quality assurance: This method ensures the avoidance of problems or defects of the
services or products which are provided by the company. The Starbucks conducts procedure
which ensures the service and the products are of the required quality and standards according to
reputation and the standard of the company.
1.3, M1 and D1 Range of approach of quality management
There are various approaches to improve the quality management of an organization.
Some approaches are applied by Starbucks which are mentioned below:
Six sigma: It is the process which mainly focuses on team efforts for competing the
particular task and as a result the organization gets better results and improved performance
(Kern, 2014). It eliminates the six types of wastes i.e. defects in production process, inventory,
transportation, waits, over processing, motion.
Total quality management: In an organization, the overall efficiency of production can be
improved by this method. It mainly emphasizes on the offered services and the improvement
needed in the product's quality. Starbucks should adopt this type of approach for managing the
quality.
Benchmarking: It specifies three factors i.e. quality improvement, quality control and the
quality planning. In this, they identify need of the customer, further they plan the development
process of product than the process is transferred to the operations (Kersten and Koch, 2010).
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1.4 Similarities and difference between different methods
There are various methods which are used by Starbucks to ensure their quality
management. These methods ensure whether the quality management system in the company is
running smoothly and effectively.
Six Sigma method and total quality management approach both eliminates the
dependence on the process of inspection of quality checking (Kim, Kumar and Kumar, 2012).
Both of the methods focus on improvement of overall efficiency of the production to give better
results.
The difference in both the approaches is that total quality management views quality as
the conformance of the internal needs. On the other hand, the Six Sigma concentrates on quality
improvement by reducing the defects. Also, Six Sigma is used to reduce operational cost of the
Starbucks.
TASK 2
2.1 Customer satisfaction
The compliance of needs of the customers to the features of the services or products
which are offered by Starbucks is known as Customer satisfaction. The evaluation of the positive
after purchase response by customers ensures the high customer satisfaction. It increases loyalty
customer of the Starbucks and also increases its profit and sales as well as brand image also gets
strengthen (Lo and Chai, 2012). To satisfy the needs of the customers with the help of their
products and services, Starbucks have their own policies of customer satisfaction. For example,
In Starbucks, the newly recruited employees are instructed in their induction which describes the
guidelines to adhere with the policies of customer's satisfaction.
According to the behaviour of the buyer, people purchase some service or product to
fulfil the requirements and needs of the customer. It the product solves the issue or problem of
customer and completely satisfies them then positive feedback is build by the customers.
2.2 Continuous improvement in the quality management
The culture of an organization includes the activities which mainly focuses on improving
various factors of the company's procedure is defines as Continuous Improvement. Starbucks
makes new strategies and plans for improving various aspects continuously (Parast, Adams and
Jones, 2011). It helps in giving better quality of service and product as well as aids in improving
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organization’s performance. Continuous improvement leads to improvement in popularity and
reputation of the organization.
Basically, there are four steps of continuous improvement. In first step, the areas of
improvement are identified. In the second step, activities planning for the implementation of the
identified aspect of the company. In third step, plans are implemented which are proposed in the
second step. In fourth or final step, reviews of implemented plans are taken for the improvement
of the Starbucks.
2.3 Types of added values gained by through efficient and effective operations
The opportunity of improvement in development and training system for the workers of
Starbucks is identified by the continuous improvement activity (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully,
2013). It allows the identification of various opportunities of training program to improve the
specific skill set of the workers to another level. Due to continuous improvement plan, the
employees of the Starbucks get better level of skill set which helps the organization to set up new
processes according to the skills of the employees.
The added values due to the continuous improvement process are the cost of process is
reduced, benefits due to the reduced cost of the process and also increases organization's benefit
as the cost of the process remains same. Also, there are added values like repeat purchase,
increment in loyalty of customer, profit of Starbucks and brand image, etc.
2.4 and M2. Importance of effective marketing and types of information available to customers
There are various information which are available to the customers such as retailer's
location for a particular product, time of operation of retailers, price list of the products offered
by that retailer and the various discounts and offers provided by the retailers (Sallis, 2014). As a
result, this information which are provided to the customers increases their interest towards the
brand and overall sales of the product increases. Information is provided to the customers for
various company's procedure and quality management activities. The business of the Starbucks
increases due to the information shared by the company which builds more confidence and trusts
between organization and customers.
Information is communicated to the present customers and the potential buyers of the
Starbucks in more efficient and effective manner by the help of Effective marketing strategy
which further increases the company's reputation. Effective marketing strategies allows the
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Starbucks to anticipate, identify and satisfy the customer's need in a given time and specific
market.
TASK 3
3.1 Measurement of quality management
The process of organization which is responsible for the activities of firm which ensure
the service and product's high quality. The processes like quality assurance, quality control and
quality inspections are involved in the quality management system. Improvement in the
satisfaction level of the customers is the main goal of the quality management system (Wang,
Chen and Chen, 2012). For the determination of the quality management's success, survey of the
customer's satisfaction is the most effective way. Moreover, it contributes in the sales of the
services and products. The final quality of the service and product are the main aspects which
affects the quality management's success. The quality management process can be measured by
the interviews, questionnaires, surveys and opinion polls in inside as well as outside of the
Starbucks.
3.2 Benefit of non-user and user surveys in determining customer needs
To identify the requirements of the customer for a specific product range, there are
various methods of market research. Survey is the most popular method for the collection of
various quantitative data. In Starbucks, the survey includes different types of questions which are
asked to the people in the market, according to the answers of these question and feedback given
by the customers helps to understand the requirement of the people and also to analyze the
different situation in the market (Xu, 2011). In this, many of the people are asked some question
or interviewed regarding the usability and features of products. This type of market research
helps in getting large amount data relative to the product and also to gets advice for the
improvement of the services and products.
The buying behavior of the people who are non user of an organization can be analyzed
by the non user survey. The survey which is aimed to the particular users of a specif product is
referred to user survey.
3.3 Consultation methods
Participation under specific group can be can encourage by the help of several methods:
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Interview: For the interview, any of the person gets randomly selected from the represented
group.
Telephone survey: This survey is very effective tool, the group's problems, suggestions,
requirements, needs and expectations can be measured by this type of survey.
Survey: There are different types of question included in this survey, which is designed for the
fast reply of answer. The problems, requirements and expectations are easily analysed by this
type of survey.
Group Interview: In this, different types of questions are asked in the group of particular people
or group discussion.
Mail Survey: In this method, questions are sent in the pre paid envelops which requires
answering shortly for this few peoples get selected from the group.
Electronic Survey: In this method, e-mail is used to conduct the survey. It is similar to the mail
survey, but it is electronic.
3.4 The value of complaints procedure
This procedure ensures that the employees should have right to complaint against any
unfair or unethical action or event which is happening in an organization is referred to
complaints procedure (Yang, Hong and Modi, 2011). Employees are introduced to this procedure
during their induction time while joining the Starbucks. There is a direct communication between
employees and the higher authorities of the cited firm to sought out different types of complaints
and feedbacks. If any of the person does not take any appropriate actions against the issue which
is faced by an employee, then the worker can directly register his problem or complaint against
that person or superior. The committee in Starbucks analyse the complaints which is register by
the employee and if it is genuine then proper actions is taken against that person. The employee's
feedback on the action taken by the committee is the final step in process of continuous
improvement.
CONCLUSION
The report reveals that quality management is an important aspect contributing in the
growth of the organisation. Understanding of definition of quality management and the
procedures of inspection and assurance has been discussed in the report. Different approaches
towards quality management and similarities and differences between are proposed referring to
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which quality management can be practised in the organisations. The report is made in context to
Starbucks which is a leading brand in food sector. Customer satisfaction and continuous
improvements are defined and types of value added services are discussed. The report suggests
that by using various tools quality can be measured and on that basis improvements can be made.
Starbucks inspite of being a leading brand needs some improvements. It should enhance the
process and guidelines of communication.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Boyd, C. E. and Tucker, C. S., 2012. Pond aquaculture water quality management. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Chaffey, D. and White, G., 2010. Business information management: improving performance
using information systems. Pearson Education.
Goetsch, D. L. and Davis, S. B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Holschbach, E. and Hofmann, E., 2011. Exploring quality management for business services
from a buyer's perspective using multiple case study evidence. International Journal of
Operations & Production Management. 31(6). pp.648-685.
Kern, R., 2014. Introduction. In Dynamic Quality Management for Cloud Labor Services (pp. 3-
7). Springer International Publishing.
Kersten, W. and Koch, J., 2010. The effect of quality management on the service quality and
business success of logistics service providers. International Journal of Quality &
Reliability Management. 27(2). pp.185-200.
Kim, D. Y., Kumar, V. and Kumar, U., 2012. Relationship between quality management
practices and innovation. Journal of Operations Management. 30(4). pp.295-315.
Lo, Q. Q. and Chai, K. H., 2012. Quantitative analysis of quality management literature
published in total quality management and business excellence (1996–2010). Total Quality
Management & Business Excellence. 23(5-6). pp.629-651.
Parast, M. M., Adams, S. G. and Jones, E. C., 2011. Improving operational and business
performance in the petroleum industry through quality management. International journal
of quality & reliability management. 28(4). pp.426-450.
Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Sallis, E., 2014. Total quality management in education. Routledge.
Wang, C. H., Chen, K. Y. and Chen, S. C., 2012. Total quality management, market orientation
and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental
factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 31(1). pp.119-129.
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Wheelen, T. L. and Hunger, J. D., 2011. Concepts in strategic management and business policy.
Pearson Education India.
Xu, L. D., 2011. Information architecture for supply chain quality management. International
Journal of Production Research. 49(1). pp.183-198.
Yang, M. G. M., Hong, P. and Modi, S. B., 2011. Impact of lean manufacturing and
environmental management on business performance: An empirical study of
manufacturing firms. International Journal of Production Economics. 129(2). pp.251-261.
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