Citation
(2001), "Improving service quality: a tale of two operations", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 5 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2001.26705aaf.011
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Improving service quality: a tale of two operations
Improving service quality: a tale of two operations
C.O. Longenecker and J.A. Scazzero, Managing Service Quality (UK), Vol. 10 No. 4, 2000
Stresses the importance and unpredictability of human factors in the pursuit of quality improvement in the service sector and investigates through case studies two operations that were in all other respects – of work environment, processes and systems – identical, but exhibited significantly different levels of quality and performance; outlines the operations and quality performance measures of two warehousing/distribution operations in the US midwest, and presents the results of a survey of both workforces to gauge their opinions of how well the organization had implemented 15 key factors necessary to support ongoing quality improvement. From the discrepancies in the survey results between the two locations, distils several factors that are seen as contributing to the differences and summarizes five lessons arising, including the critical need for management support and teamwork and the need for TQM systems to continuously improve TQM practices.
Quality focus says: A highly readable case study article