British Airways Quality Management: SERVQUAL, Benchmarking Report

This management report assesses the quality management practices of British Airways, highlighting issues and providing recommendations for improvement. It begins by defining quality management and its evolution through four stages: quality inspection, quality control, quality assurance, and total quality management. The report then applies the SERVQUAL model to identify specific challenges faced by British Airways, focusing on reliability, assurance, tangibles and responsiveness. Consumer feedback from Trustpilot is incorporated to support the analysis. The impact of benchmarking on effective quality management is also evaluated, emphasizing its potential to enhance service quality and customer satisfaction. The report concludes with recommendations for British Airways to adopt Juran's trinity of comprehensive quality management, improve service reliability, enhance employee competence and courtesy, and address tangible aspects of service delivery.

Management report

EXECUTIVE SUMARRY
To deliver the greatest service to its consumers, the hotel business must have a quality
management system in place. The success of a company is dependent on maintaining a high level
of quality and making constant improvements to that standard. As a consequence of the
company's poor service, British Airways has lost a significant portion of its consumer base. This
firm has been named the worst in Britain for seven years running. An efficient quality
management system is essential for a company's long-term existence. Benchmarking may assist
the organisation keep this system intact. British Airways can enhance its quality standards and
attract consumers by adopting Juran's trinity of comprehensive quality management.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMARRY..............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Identify and describe the concept of quality management.....................................................1
Issues faced by British Airways currently by application of five dimensions of SERVQUAL
................................................................................................................................................3
Assessment of the impact of Benchmarking on British Airways in relation to effective quality
management............................................................................................................................4
RECCOMENDATIONS..................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Offering high quality products and services to consumers is essential for gaining long
term success in the current corporate environment. This report looks and total quality
management at UK based Airline British Airways. British Airways was formed in the year and is
currently operating in. The company has employed a workforce of employees and was used to be
considered “The world's favoriate Airline” but the company has damaged its reputation recently
because of poor service quality management. This report aims to provide understanding about
the concept of quality management. SERVQUAL model is applied in this report in order to sum-
up the issues faced by British management related to quality management (Nguyen and et. al.,
2018). The role of Benchmarking is assessed in this report in delivering effective quality
management at British Airways. Recommendation to enhance quality management at British
Airways is also provided in this report.
MAIN BODY
Identify and describe the concept of quality management
Quality management is defined as the act of supervising activities, tasks and processes
which are utilized for developing a product or service so that the products and services have high
and consistent standards. The main elements of quality management are quality planning, quality
assurance, quality control and quality improvement (Jensen, Li and Uysal, 2017). Another
definition of quality management states that it refers to management activities and functions
which are associated with identification of quality policy and implementation of this policy
through means such as quality planning, quality assurance and quality control. The concept of
quality management has evolved over the years which includes four stages of quality inspection,
quality control, quality assurance and total quality management. Following the four stages of
supports business firms that high quality services and products are delivered. The four stages of
quality management are described below: Quality inspection: This is defined as the process of measuring, examining, and testing
single of multiple characteristics of a product, process or service and comparing the
results with specified requirements in order to determine weather conformity is achieved
for each attribute. This is the beginning of quality management and an essential stage as
it helps business firms determine any characteristics of the process, product or service
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which are not up to the mark in terms of quality. It helps business firms identify areas
which need to be improved so that further stages can take place. Quality control: This part of quality management focuses on fulfilling quality
requirements and ensuring that quality of business processes, operations products and
services which were identified in the first stage is improved. The main aspect of this
stage is creation of well-defined controls which helps standardize production and
reaction to quality issues. This is an important stage of quality management as it limits
room for error in process of improving and maintaining quality at the company. Quality assurance: The focus of this part of quality management centres around
providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled. Quality assurance
provides confidence to managers in twofold manner. This involves providing confidence
to employees internally and government agencies, regulators, customers, certifiers and
third parties externally.
 Total Quality management: This is the final sage of quality management which involves
developing a permanent climate in which employees continuously improve their ability
to provide on-demand products and services which are valued by the consumers.
The importance of quality management is depicted by the fact this helps deliver superior
quality goods to consumers and gain competitive advantage in the industry. In addition to this
business firms are able to handle various crisis situations through effective quality management
by deliver services and goods which exceed consumer expectations which and recover from
crisis quickly (Morozov and et. al., 2017). Apart from this effective quality management
provides various benefits to business firms such as achieve greater consistency in activities
related to production of commodities and services. Increased efficiency, improved consumer
satisfaction, waste reduction and ability to exploit new markets are some of the advantages
gained through quality management.
Issues faced by British Airways currently by application of five dimensions of SERVQUAL
SERVQUAL model is a tool used for research with multiple dimensions which is created
for capturing consumer expectations and perceptions along five dimensions which act as
representation of service quality factors. British Airways is facing several issues related to
quality management which have harmed the reputation of the company and will also affect future
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success of the company. The SERVQUAL tool can be used to gain profound understanding of
the issues currently prevalent in British Airways which are provided below: Reliability: This refers to the ability of the company to perform the promised service in
an accurate moaner so that the consumer can depend on the service. One of the primary
challenges which have negatively affected brand image of British Airways is related to
refund of flight tickets which were cancelled because of the pandemic. The consumers
rightfully demanded refund of their tickets but the respective company was unable to
provide payment of their cancelled flight. This showcases lack of reliability as
consumers are not given accurate services which are expected from such international
and experienced organization (Chen and et. al., 2017). It is important for British Airways
to increase their service quality in terms of its quality factor in order to exceed consumer
expectations and become a company on which consumes can be depended. The company
needs to ensure that promised standards of services are delivered to consumers so that
reliability of the British Airways brand is enhanced.
From Trustpilot:
 “What am I able to say about British Airways only that they are liars. I booked
holidays on my account for my two daughters and paid for them to go on holiday
to go and see there mum but my daughter and one has refused to go. British
Airways can see I booked and paid for it and is not giving me money. British
Airways is not providing me timely refund or vouchers. Instead they have given
my daughter a voucher for a ticket that was booked on my account. I hope the
company goes bankrupt” (Don’t fly with British Airways and don’t book anything
with them as well, 2021).
 “It had been two years since my wife and I had traveled internationally. We were not our
normally attentive selves on details and missed the requirement to Covid test within 72
hours of departure. When Mr. Summerscales discovered this at check-in, he immediately
advised us precisely how to remedy it and literally escorted us to the testing site.
Following, when we had a further issue, he jumped into action again, exploring every
option and resolved the matter pleasantly and much to our greater satisfaction. As I am a
member of the clergy and my wife a psychotherapist, we especially appreciate someone
who conducts themselves both professionally and empathetically—and Mr.
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Summerscales excels on both points—and more. He has won us as lifetime fans of
British Airways. Bravo, Richard Summerscales and Bravissimo BA for fielding excellent
representatives like him!” Assurance: This quality factor focuses on the employee centric aspect of quality
management. The expertise and courteous behaviour of employees which increases
consumer trust and confidence is included in this quality factor. This is basically
considered under employees who should be able to instil confidence in customers. This is
mostly for the benefit of the company's employees, who will be more friendly to clients
and will be able to answer their inquiries more quickly. There are three C's in this
dimension: courtesy, credibility and competence as this is how it works. British Airways
fell short of the government-issued requirements for handling with the Covid-19
epidemic (Othman and et. al., 2019). Because to the bad service and meal quality, clients
had a difficult time remaining in the business. Repeated consumer complaints did not
result in the spots on the ceilings & bedsheets being removed, and guests who spoke
about their stay with British Airways only used the adjectives "bad considering" and
"obsolete". British Airways likewise has problems with personnel politeness and
expertise. This may be evident in situations like refunds being paid late or customer
concerns not being thoroughly investigated by the company's employees.
From Trustpilot:
 “Four flights in 48 hours on BA. First one was two hours late because of loading
problems. The company did not apologize for this. The company also did not
apologize for missing subsequent flight. Arrived for flight to London. to check.
The check in process at Manchester Airport was so slow with 65 minutes wait in
Priority line. The company did not apologize for this too. This shows poor
operational planning of the company. The flight was also blocked by pallets which
further wasted my time. The bad flight crew led to late arrival at O’Hare airport.
The Pilot of BA was amused by this 40 minutes delay by saying “not the service
you’ve come to expect from BA”
I have news for you. It is EXACTLY what I’ve come to expect from BA, the most
arrogant, indifferent, top down bunch of amateur flyers in the business” ( We are
British Airways, we are sorry but we really don’t care, 2021 ).
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 On arriving at our hotel in St Lucia there were no reps available at all during our stay, we
could only contact by phone on a mobile via the UK at vast expense. The young man on
the hotel's tour desk gave us information on local covid restrictions and about the hotel.
We needed help with our covid tests and Passenger Locator Form but no help was
available. Not good enough British Airways. Tangibles: This part of the quality factor refers to the physical and visual aspect of the
employees along with the tools and equipment used by the employees. It is important to
create neat appearance and use advanced instruments effectively in order to enhance
consumer satisfaction, deliver good quality service and build positive consumer
perception (Tien and et. al., 2021). The physical look of the equipment, facilities, and
employees are all included in this definition. The employees must present themselves in a
professional and orderly manner, and the facilities must be visually attractive with
cutting-edge technology used in the provision of customer care. British Airways'
infrastructure did not satisfy the requirements outlined on official government websites.
The images shown on the internet turned out to be a misrepresentation of the real thing.
From Trustpilot:
 “I booked a flight to Seoul to depart March 2020 and cancelled a few days before due to
Covid 19. The return flight was cancelled. I accepted a voucher in good faith thinking I
could rebook in a few months' time. Now BA no longer offer a service to Seoul and I am
left with a voucher for a large sum of money that I have no other use for. I still need to go
there to see my daughter and would like my money back. Have gone to the CEDR in
hope of this - but why are they making me wait? I know that BA is having difficulties but
they could show some generosity of spirit and it would go a long way.”
 “Ba have insisted on using a third party app for COVID health checks so forcing you to
enter sensitive personal health data into some app developed in the u.s somewhere or not
being able to use online checkin even being an exec club member and travelled with BA
for years. And it seems even if you take a chance on the app it doesn’t work most of the
time. So with BA I go 10 years back in time to queue at an airport 2 hrs before the flight
to get a paper boarding pass. Unbelievable!” Empathy: This element of service quality is related with personalization and looks at
individuals care and attention given to each consumer. If each individual consumer is
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given equal attention, they feel valued by the company and gain better quality of service.
Personalized and caring attention is what it means when used in reference to the attention
an organisation must offer to each of its clients. If the firm wants to keep its consumers, it
has to make it easy for them to contact management, have effective communication
skills, and have a clear grasp of their demands (Wei and et. al., 2017). Unfortunately,
British Airways did not provide the fundamental needs of its customers in terms of food
and comfort, as every business is required to do by law. Many clients left negative
feedback about the difficulties they had when working with the organisation. As one
visitor put feedback, it was like being in a “bad shed”. The inexperienced workers gave
appalling customer service. When consumers complained about bad service, the
management seemed clueless.
From Trustpilot:
 “Really need to get more CS staff *amended to 3 stars as when you actually get through
the staff are good! I had to call outside of peak hours. I don't think it's acceptable that the
call centre is chronically understaffed. NB I would do online only, but they make such a
mess of the future travel vouchers that can only be redeemed online. I'm a loyal BA Exec
club member and feel it's a shame”
 “I have an urgent issue and need to travel in less than 24 hours. British Airways has
completely shut off all the support channels. The phone line says "try back later" and has
for over 24 hours now. I queued for 2 hours this morning and then was disconnected. I've
tried social media, online chat, email, phone and all give me a bot that doesn't solve my
issue. The online service tells me to call. I don't know what to do. This is the worst!”
 Responsiveness: This is one of the most important service quality factors as it focuses on
the ability and readiness of the company to quickly respond top consumer queries and
offer them punctual services. It relates to an organisation's readiness to meet client
requests quickly by reacting and aiding them as needed. Informing clients about the
services to be provided is also part of the process. British Airways employs personnel
that lacks expertise and is slow to react to client inquiries. When it came to hygiene, they
had major issues, and they protested over and over again, but the administration turned
out to be appalling.
From Trustpilot:
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 “Will never book a BA flight again. Booked a flight for my elderly mother and requested
assistance as she cannot manage on her own. The assistance was confirmed, only for my
mother to be told on arrival at Heathrow that no one could help her and they had no
wheelchair! Terrible experience...”.
 “The worst airline in the world. They are rude, don’t care about their customers and
basically awful. At their offices no one knows anything, you can never get through to
them when you phone and their when you get through they can never give you any
answer. They cancel your flight at the last moment and never give you an alternative
flight. Awful airline.”
Assessment of the impact of Benchmarking on British Airways in relation to effective quality
management
Today's businesses operate in a highly competitive climate where even a single firm must
compete aggressively to gain market share. In order to stay competitive, quality management is
of utmost importance (Meštrović, 2017). Issues faced by British Airways must be resolved for
the airline to be viable in the long run. British Airways may utilise benchmarking as a tool to
enhance its quality standard and win consumers' trust and confidence when it comes to offering
effective quality management.
Benchmarking is a quality approach that relies on quality and competition management
of performance. For this organisation, quality control management is of paramount importance,
and benchmarking will serve as an efficient and reliable instrument in this regard (Buhalis and
Leung, 2018). This method will assist the business in providing excellent customer service,
lowering expenses, and boosting output and competitiveness. British Airways benchmarking
involves the following steps: Planning- It entails figuring out what needs to be compared and with whom. As a
comparison rival, Ryanair will be used by British Airways for benchmarking in quality
management. Analysis- Assessing the existing state of performance as well as establishing goals for
improvement is part of the process. British Airways has struggled mightily to maintain a
level of excellence for its customers. Room service, meals, and even customer service are
all of poor quality (Ivanov and Webster, 2017). It will also make sure that rooms,
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restrooms, and even lobbies are kept clean on a regular basis due to its competitor's
success in quality maintenance. Integration- It comprises benchmark finding communication and functional goal setting.
The benchmarking approach may be used by British Airways employees who would be
in charge of implementing quality standards (Altuntas and Gok, 2021). Action- It entails creating strategies and monitoring their implementation. It is possible
for British Airways to define criteria for a variety of categories such as accommodations,
customer support, food, and so on, and then monitor those standards over time to see
whether they are being met.
 Maturity- It entails rising to the position of leadership and implementing best practises
along the way (Otoo, 2019). Each one of the aforementioned steps must be carried out in
order for British Airways to achieve the standards of quality necessary to earn the trust of
its consumers.
A very well fact is that consumer satisfaction is a crucial component of customer retention,
and customer happiness or satisfaction is critical for achieving this goal. British Airways will be
able to fix its quality management issue and regain the trust of its consumers by employing this
benchmarking approach.
The following are the benefits and drawbacks of using this strategy:
ADVANTAGES OF BENCHMARKING DISADVANTAGES OF
BENCHMARKING
 This strategy helps organisations in
setting realistic objectives and
identifying performance gaps that stand
in the way of reaching desired results
(Ngacha and Onyango, 2017).
 This technique aids productivity by
enhancing service quality to better meet
consumer needs.
 Benchmarking’s key drawback is the
difficulty in putting its approach into
practise, which may lead to the failure
of organisational objectives.
 This method necessitates the use of
expensive, highly skilled personnel
who can monitor and oversee the whole
process on a frequent basis.
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RECCOMENDATIONS
Using Juran's Trilogy of Total Quality Management as a solution, British Airways was
able to improve the quality of its products and services. TQM is a management concept aimed at
companies with a focus on their customers and the ability to develop by including their
employees. This method employs data, strategy, and clear communication to establish quality
discipline in the workplace. The quality of every activity and culture at British Airways must be
improved, hence this strategy is advised.
Dr. Joseph M. Juran established the Juran's trilogy in 1986 to oversee product quality.
That universal approach may be used at any degree or department or to any products or services.
There are three steps in the quality management process. All these steps are given underneath: Quality Planning- The most common way to achieve this is to introduce a brand-new
product, process, or service into an organisation in order to mitigate the impact of
problems with the previous ones. It is possible for British Airways to both entice clients
with a new program like adventurous sport while improving the company's current
service. Quality Control- It entails deciding on quality objectives and getting the desired result.
An international quality standard is frequently established and worked toward. British
Airways may enhance its quality level to attract more consumers and battle competition
by setting a global convention such as ISO 9000.
 Quality Improvement- For a company to succeed, it has to be constantly improving.
British Airways is advised to focus on continuous progress rather than a major
breakthrough, since the latter would be more expensive and need the appointment of a
project manager to oversee the whole process. When compared to the former, the latter is
a constant process that monitors quality improvement every day, making it simpler to
identify and fix the same-day problems for good quality control.
As a result, it is suggested that British Airways make use of Juran's Trilogy to raise its
quality standards and provide its clients with the finest possible service. It's important to this
organisation that its customers be satisfied since customer loyalty and trust can only be gained
through enhancing quality management.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is concluded that the quality of service provided by the hospitality
industry to its consumers is the most important factor. Customer happiness or satisfaction is
critical for businesses since it determines whether they will be there in the long run. British
Airways has a problem with quality standards, and as a result it is losing customers and market
share, making it harder for the airline to remain in business. British Airways' primary issues
include a lack of quality in areas such as room service, cuisine, and customer service. It may
utilise the benchmarking approach for efficient quality management to overcome these issues
and identify a solution. A recommendation is useful for the Juran's triad regarding better quality
management.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Altuntas, F. and Gok, M.S., 2021. The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on domestic tourism: A
DEMATEL method analysis on quarantine decisions. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 92, p.102719.
Buhalis, D. and Leung, R., 2018. Smart hospitality—Interconnectivity and interoperability
towards an ecosystem. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 71, pp.41-50.
Chen, J.S and et. al., 2017. Business co-creation for service innovation in the hospitality and
tourism industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Ivanov, S.H. and Webster, C., 2017. Adoption of robots, artificial intelligence and service
automation by travel, tourism and hospitality companies–a cost-benefit
analysis. Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation by Travel, Tourism and
Hospitality Companies–A Cost-Benefit Analysis.
Jensen, Ø., Li, Y. and Uysal, M., 2017. Visitors’ satisfaction at managed tourist attractions in
Northern Norway: Do on-site factors matter?. Tourism Management, 63, pp.277-286.
Meštrović, D., 2017. Service quality, students’ satisfaction and behavioural intentions in stem
and ic higher education institutions. Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems:
INDECS, 15(1), pp.66-77.
Morozov, M.A and et. al., 2017. Tourism development of Russian territories: competitiveness,
effectiveness and sustainability. Journal of Environmental Management & Tourism, 8(4
(20)), pp.875-881.
Ngacha, W.J. and Onyango, F.E.V., 2017. The role of a customer-oriented service culture in
influencing customer retention in the hotel industry.
Nguyen, Q and et. al., 2018. Understanding customer satisfaction in the UK quick service
restaurant industry: The influence of the tangible attributes of perceived service
quality. British Food Journal.
Othman, B and et. al., 2019. The impact of Umrah service quality on customer satisfaction
towards Umrah travel agents in Malaysia. Management Science Letters, 9(11), pp.1763-
1772.
Otoo, F.N.K., 2019. Human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational
performance: The mediating role of employee competencies. Employee Relations: The
International Journal.
Tien, N.H and et. al., 2021. Sustainability of tourism development in Vietnam's coastal
provinces. World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable
Development, 17(5), pp.579-598.
Wei, W and et. al., 2017. The impacts of hotels’ error management culture on customer
engagement behaviors (CEBs). International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Online
Don’t fly with British Airways and don’t book anything with them as well, 2021.
[Online] Available through <
https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/616437dfb873f1f75f5cb704 >
We are British Airways, we are sorry but we really don’t care, 2021. [Online] Available
through https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/617f5eb0234f1b1fe56a5a21
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