Capstone Project: National Quality Awards, Satisfaction, and Impact

This capstone project, QLTY-495, examines the impact of national quality awards, such as the Dubai Quality Award (DQA), on customer and employee satisfaction. The research investigates the relationship between quality awards and key performance indicators like customer and employee satisfaction, emphasizing the role of Total Quality Management (TQM). The project explores the benefits of these awards in fostering organizational excellence, focusing on factors that contribute to employee and customer satisfaction. It reviews relevant literature, discusses research questions, objectives, and hypotheses, and highlights the importance of employee satisfaction in enhancing customer service and overall business performance. The study aims to provide insights for managers considering the path of excellence through quality awards, particularly within the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Done by:
Hasan Bin Abbod 200108928
Submitted on 29-April-2022
Capstone Project QLTY - 495
(Spring 2022) sec. 02
Submitted to: Dr. Bostjan Gomiscek
National Quality
Awards

Table
Introduction:

In the past years, organizations in global markets were subjected to very great pressures due
to competition between organizations in the world. But there was a very important factor if
the organization adhered to it, it would achieve success, and this work is quality, as quality
has become one of the important factors that achieve success, so in the past years the focus on
quality management has become a global matter as the whole world focuses on this
management. All companies noticed that the programs they used, such as re-engineering,
restructuring and other quality programs, had a major role in the company's survival in the
market, but also this matter is not enough because the company lacks distinctive quality. We
can say that quality management has become competitive among many companies, so we
must clarify the meaning of total quality management.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339405658_The_effectiveness_of_quality_awards_
on_the_company's_performance_-_the_case_of_Iran's_national_quality_awards/link/
5efaa6cfa6fdcc4ca43d89c7/download
Total Quality Management: It is the comprehensive effort made by the company, whether
from employees, suppliers, senior management and customers, as the company tries to
improve the quality of its products, works and services and has continuous improvement in
order to meet the expectations and needs of customers, so companies use the management
Total quality in order to improve its organizational performance.
https://www.cio.com/article/217660/what-is-tqm-a-company-wide-strategy-for-customer-
satisfaction.html
We can define job satisfaction as the employees’ feeling of happiness and stability in their
work, which leads to improved performance and increases the productivity of the company,
and this is what you are looking for in the end. In addition to the fact that job satisfaction has
an effective role in controlling turnover rates within the company, the employee who feels
comfortable in his workplace has little or no turnover. Companies benefit from this, as it
helps them save many burdens and costs.
https://www.custominsight.com/employee-engagement-survey/what-is-employee-
satisfaction.asp
Customer satisfaction is crucial to the success of your business. No matter how innovative
your product or competitive your pricing, if your customers are ultimately unhappy, they’re
not going to stick around. Customer satisfaction is a measure of how people feel when
interacting with your brand. It can be influenced by any number of factors. Every brand, no

matter how successful, wants to improve customer satisfaction.
https://neilpatel.com/blog/benefits-and-importance-of-customer-satisfaction/
Relevant problems and issues:
The state uses national quality awards in order to spread awareness among organizations to
know the importance of quality at the national level
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254348285_A_study_on_the_causal_relationships_
in_the_Korean_National_Quality_Award_model . Therefore, the purpose of this award,
which is used by the state, is to improve competitiveness between organizations, and the goal
of these awards is to ensure the long-term success of organizations through the organizations’
ability to meet the needs of employees, customers and others from the community, and this is
what makes organizations succeed in All of its works are of the required quality
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09544780710817874/full/html
At the beginning we defined what is the external and internal satisfaction, and now we will
explain what is the national quality awards in general, A national quality award is usually a
country’s most prestigious award for enterprises (private or public) in recognition of business
excellence and quality management. The framework is usually an integrated
performance/result-based approach translated into working guidelines called a performance
excellence framework (with operating criteria and core values). Such awards recognize
organizations, enterprises, or operating units with a unique mission and objectives. Award
systems are designed primarily to serve national interests by improving competitiveness or
enabling sustainable economic growth.
https://www.apo-tokyo.org/resources/p_glossary/national-quality-awards-2/
Total Quality Management (TQM) supports the organizations in their efforts to obtain
satisfied customers and employees. A major boost to the growth of TQM is the promotion of
quality award models like Deming Application Prize, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award, Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award and CII-EXIM Bank award.
https://informaticsjournals.com/index.php/sdmimd/article/view/2807
The relation between the national awards and consumer and employees’ satisfaction is
present and yes there is an impact, but the most important thing is to discover what kind of
impact is going to be present for them, is it a good impact that is going to benefit them or it is

going to be a bad impact that will reflect the benefits to commercial companies? How does it
affect their satisfaction?
Purpose & aim of study:
Recently, the national quality awards and their impact on customer and employee satisfaction
have not been extensively researched. Although studies of national quality awards and their
benefits in fostering organizational excellence are ample in many countries, such relevant
studies are rare in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE launched its Business Excellence
Awards for the private and public sectors almost two decades ago. The purpose of this study,
therefore, is to shed light on benefits and the impact on the customer and employee
satisfaction that UAE organizations have experienced through the Dubai Quality Award
(DQA) and to understand the adoption of key DQA implementation factors. It also discusses
implications and provides direction for future research. This study would be useful for
managers considering whether to embark on the path of excellence through the DQA.
Through the discussions, it became clear that quality awards have a large and important role
in the behavior of satisfied employees, and customers also understand the interactions that are
in trade. Therefore, this understanding is that the companies that received quality awards
have an understanding and awareness of the importance of employee satisfaction, and this is
what makes the employees feel more satisfied at the job level, which makes them believe that
they are able to provide distinguished services. Also, when employee satisfaction is achieved,
the employee becomes a positive person and has a positive energy. He can share this positive
energy with customers so that he provides the best service to them and makes the customer
satisfied with the services that are provided. For example, in companies that specialize in
retail sales, the employee has a big and important role Very high in customer satisfaction
because the employee is the link between the company and the customer, so the impact of
employee satisfaction plays a major role in customer satisfaction. The more employee
satisfaction is improved, it will directly affect the improvement of customer satisfaction
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342705120_The_impact_of_employee_satisfaction
_on_customer_satisfaction_Theoretical_and_empirical_underpinning

Research questions and objectives:
 What is the relationship between Quality awards and customer satisfaction and
employee satisfaction?
 How can the Quality awards improve the satisfaction of customers and employees?
Objectives:
 The relationship of the quality award in customer and employee satisfaction.
 Factors that help Quality awards improve the satisfaction of customers and employees
Framework:
Hypotheses:
H1: The use of the Quality Award will have a positive impact on customer and employee satisfaction.
H2: Satisfying employees will make it easier to satisfy customers.
Literature Review:
In the past, quality was not widely used in services and products, as in the past, companies
were not interested in improving their quality due to the high cost. But after a period of time,
everything changed, as companies started trying to improve their quality and performance in
the market in order to compete with other companies.
The IBF management confirmed that the success of companies in the current environment is
that companies must provide a competitive advantage in order to compete with other
National
Quality Awards
Employee
Satisfaction
Quality Award
criteria
Internal factors
Customer
Satisfaction
Customer
service

companies operating in the same field.
https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/events/ncsw/
The changes that occurred in quality were caused by the Japanese. Since the eighties,
Japanese companies have been showing high quality in the services and products they
provide. For this reason, other international companies have begun to pay attention to quality
and develop their work, due to the competitive advantage created by Japan, as the matter has
led to the closure of the company. If it lacks quality. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-dubai-
quality-award/.
The Quality Award encourages the implementation of successful quality processes.
Therefore, the Quality Award is considered one of the important awards. After everyone is
motivated, the results of companies’ implementation of the Quality Award standards will be
announced, and thus, comparisons will be created for quality applications from various sides.
The culture of quality will also be disseminated. Directing the entities that implement the
quality to have continuous improvement. One of the things that the quality award can affect
on companies is performance improvement, organizational excellence, but the thing that
worries companies about organizational excellence is employee satisfaction, so employee
satisfaction has become very important in total quality management, because employee
satisfaction will facilitate the satisfaction of Customers in terms of providing services or
making products. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:990974/FULLTEXT01.pdf
There are objectives for quality awards, specifically in the governmental sector, the most
important of which is that it is considered the effective engine through which the concepts of
quality are applied, the needs and requirements of customers are determined, attention to
beneficiaries, the measure of customer satisfaction with the services and products that are
provided by the company, after which the needs are met and customer requirements, whether
current or future.
One of the systems offered by the Quality Awards is that it honors companies that have
implemented quality standards and practiced them in a distinctive way, so there is a positive
effect of these awards, which is that they stimulate continuous improvement and also
encourage the initiatives undertaken by companies. Through what was discussed, we will
conduct in this research accurate and detailed studies on the factors that can improve
employee and customer satisfaction through the quality award, as well as the relationship of
employee and customer satisfaction with the quality award.
A review of the literature in this study helps to know the factors of customer and employee
satisfaction, as we will discuss them in this research, the customer service that the

organization provides to customer satisfaction, the internal factors of employee satisfaction in
terms of the criteria that have been set for the quality award, in addition to all of that I will
examine some aspects of a country The Emirates as a world culture.
Many countries of the world have quality awards, so this award was established with the aim
of honoring companies that use and apply the standards of quality awards and apply them
well, and also in order to have competition between companies and thus raise the level of
quality, as the quality programs that are implemented in companies act as motivating tools
Helps improve business, increase productivity and profitability, and gain customer
satisfaction.
Quality awards are considered the main factor in continuous improvement, and they push
companies to develop the quality that they have. Companies use quality standards as a
roadmap for them to achieve excellence and quality in the company, so when the company
starts applying these standards, the work becomes very flexible and also the employees work
for the company because it started developing their skills from the workshops, thus producing
products or providing a service to the customer with high quality.
Quality Awards Criteria:
It can be defined as a set of principles that companies adhere to and good administrative work
that is applied in companies to achieve business excellence. Quality standards are carefully
selected in order to suit all companies in the world and to obtain global recognition by
adopting these standards, so we see that Most of the quality awards are similar in terms of
standards, basic concepts and values
These standards consist of 7 categories:
LEADERSHIP (Category 1)
Leadership is one of the most important criteria because it is the leader in guiding him on
how to lead and maintain the company, and also helps in defining values, vision and
performance expectations. The leadership criterion focuses on the method of communicating
with senior leaders in the organization with employees, and also on the leader’s interest in
developing the employees’ leadership skills and making them participate in workshops to
develop the spirit of leadership that they have, and to make employees focus on work and
also creates a work environment that encourages employees to provide high performance.
This category also includes the system of governance in terms of the company carrying out
its societal, ethical and legal responsibilities and contributing mainly to the support of the
community.
STRATEGY (Category 2)

Strategy is the second category of quality standards as it helps companies to implement plans
and strategic planning as well as work planning, and if circumstances require that the plan be
changed, the strategy helps to change it as needed and helps measure achievements. As this
category focuses a lot on organizational sustainability, and this sustainability is long-term,
and there must also be strategic issues for the company, as it should be a major part of the
overall planning, so the strategy helps to create a competitive environment for issues.
Decisions that are related to the company's core organizational efficiency must be an essential
part of organizational sustainability. Thus, the strategic decisions taken by the company are
key decisions. There are many companies that have sufficient experience in strategic
planning, but what may be a challenge for them is the implementation of these plans due to
market requirements as they put some plans in anticipation of any unexpected change such as
disruptive technologies and economic crises, that could pose some danger to Plans have been
developed in advance, but these risks can be foreseen in advance. This category focuses
mainly on developing your plans and also on your ability to implement these plans
CUSTOMERS (Category 3)
The company tries to know the requirements of customers and listen to their opinions and
know what satisfies them and provides products that suit their needs, so this category helps
companies to involve customers in their programs and how to satisfy them. There are some
points that make the customer have loyalty towards the company. First, the good relationship
between the customer and the company. Second, the special offers that the company offers to
the customer. Third, the brand, as it plays a major role in attracting new customers. This
category confirmed that the participation of customers is very important for the strategy of
excellence and performance, the results that put the reason for customer dissatisfaction and
the reason for their satisfaction help to understand customers more and know their needs, as
the voice of the customer has a great role in giving the company information that benefits
them and helps them develop themselves in the market is also trying to satisfy the customer.
MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (Category 4)
The main point in these standards is measurement, analysis and knowledge management, as it
works to collect information related to analysis, measurement, knowledge management and
performance improvement, as it works effectively and helps improve competitiveness.
Category 4 is considered the company's mastermind as it works to link the company's
strategic goals with its own operations. This category analyzes information and is also
considered a primary source of competitive advantage and helps in productivity growth.

WORKFORCE (Category 5)
In order to preserve the workforce, an appropriate work environment is created that helps the
workforce to adapt to any changes that occur and also adapt to success and this is what makes
them provide outstanding and high-quality performance. This category helps the company to
cover its capabilities needs and provides support to the workforce in the company where It
helps to develop the company's workforce and how it is managed in a distinctive way because
these points must be fully addressed in order to be compatible with the company's business
plans and strategic objectives.
OPERATIONS (Category 6)
The accomplishment of the company’s business is through operations, as operations manage,
improve and design the operations of the organization and the systems in which it operates. In
order for the operations to achieve organizational sustainability and achieve success, the
focus is on the efficiency of the company and how it can benefit from it because it requires
special attention in order to be prepared for some emergency situations and also in order to
ensure the continuity of operations. The company must be fast moving, so the design of work
systems must help the company in this matter. The term agility means that the company is
able to quickly adapt to the changes that occur and that there is flexibility in order to
implement the requirements of change, and flexibility means the company’s ability to change
from one product to another and from one service to another, according to market conditions.
It is possible to reduce the cost by agreeing with the main suppliers and also outsourcing. Six
Sigma helps reduce blemishes.
RESULTS (Category 7)
The last category is the results as it focuses on the evaluation of the company in general and
the customer evaluation of the products and offers offered by the company, and also the
company evaluates the improvement activities and its main operations, the results of the
workforce and the results focused on the customer as well as the results of the leadership and
governance system, this category provides all the required information Actual results,
processes are evaluated and improved in order to align with the organizational strategy. This
requires that there be a comprehensive review and audit of data and results in order for
improvement to be prioritized.
H1: The relationship of the quality award in customer and employee satisfaction.

There is a positive relationship between the national quality award and employee satisfaction,
when an organization is applying for any national quality award they will use the criteria of
the award and those criteria care about the employee satisfaction, the application of the
standards of quality awards is reflected on the reputation of the brand and its operator, and
also affects the work environment in terms of the vitality and effectiveness of employees and
supervisors of service provision and its future customers, the more the company raises the
best practices and quality standards. The more productive the work environment and the
greater the creativity of employees, which supports the company in achieving its strategic and
sales goals. National Award applicants have noted the following benefits on the employees:
 Energized employees
 Greater employee satisfaction and enjoyment of work.
 Improved team culture.
 Higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers.
 Increased retention of quality employees.
 Learning from the feedback: https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/benefits-applying
After you increase employee satisfaction by obtaining a quality award, you will also increase
customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction is as important as customer satisfaction. There’s
a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2019/05/31/employee-satisfaction-customer-
satisfaction/?sh=779aaaea5e2c
Award and quality marks can boost your organization's reputation, setting you "apart from
the crowd." They can also give your people a morale boost by highlighting their
achievements. If you're a young company, winning awards can signal to the world that you've
"arrived," and help to cement your credibility. For more established players, business marks
and awards not only showcase your heritage, but also prove you're still dynamic and
innovative. Awards can also be great for an organization's bottom line as well. Research
highlights that award-winning businesses can acquire a sales boost of 37 percent, as well as a
44 percent jump in their stock price. Being an award-winner can boost the chances of
customers buying your products, especially if you're a challenger brand (in other words, your
company has an expansion mindset, with business ambitions bigger than its conventional
resources) Quality Marks give consumers extra confidence in the quality or origin of your