Introduction - Managing Quality and Service Delivery
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Service quality and delivery management is the total process which helps in managing the quality of the product and that of its delivery to the customer. Managing quality is one of the most important facets of doing business and without the product having the required quality as expected by the customers it would be difficult to thrive in the market. Quality is the exact specification which the customer wants the product to be (Adeniran and Stephens, 2019). Quality can be defined in several ways but the simplest way of describing quality of the product is the degree of satisfaction which the customer gets by using the product. In simple words, a product's quality is dependent upon the requirement of the customers and how much the product has been able to fulfill those requirements. Now, from the initiation of the product’s production plan, to its production and finally to the customer, there are several steps; delivering is one of the most important steps which is often ignored by the common eye. In the case of Moss Outfitters which deals in clothing, the cloth is stitched and crafted according to the customer's needs but its deliverance holds an important place in the overall process as well. Service quality and delivery management is an essential process for any business to thrive or just simply function. Service quality can be managed and improved by strictly sticking to the concerns of the customers and the requirements which he or she wants the firm to look into. Service delivery can be properly managed by diminishing any communication gap; communicating with the customers is an efficient way to understand what the customer wants and that further helps in managing the product's quality in the required way. The service delivery management does not stop just after delivering the product but the firm must also be available for any future concerns which the customer might face; rectifying the product as per the future concerns of the customers is also an important part of service quality and delivery management (Alzaydi et al., 2018)
Task 1
Identification of Stakeholder
Stakeholder is an umbrella term which includes a wide variety of people; from the owner and shareholders, to employees and customers, anyone who is involved, is impacted by or has invested in a firm is included under the list of that organization's stakeholder. In the case of Moss Outfitters, the stakeholders would be the owner of the entire franchise, owner of the outlet, employees working for the firm, investors who have a share in the business and finally the customers. Stakeholders are anyone who is impacted by the actions of the company. The owner of a franchise is impacted by the actions of the outlet or firm as a part of the generated revenue would be sent to the owner; so that owner is affected by how the firm actually functions and performs. The owner of that particular outlet of a big franchise is obviously impacted by the functioning of the firm and everything which happens within the firm impacts its owner, be it financially, mentally, physically or socially. The employees are affected by and involved in the entire functioning of the organization; it is basically the employees who actually run the organization and the degree of their involvement decides the fate of an organization. A greater degree of involvement from the employees' side helps the organization to function better and a lower degree of participation lowers the effectiveness of the organization. Employees are an important element for the smooth functioning and success of any organization (Andal and Suganya). The customers are also important stakeholders of an organization doing business and the success of an organization depends upon the way it deals with its customers; meeting the requirements of the customers and keeping them satisfied is necessary for an organization to thrive. Suppliers are also important stakeholders for business organizations. Suppliers supply goods and service that are used for the products which are made and if that keeps happening on time with smooth financial transaction, then only the business can continue to properly operate.
Besides all of these basic and directly involved stakeholders, the overall society and even the government are stakeholders. The working of an organization in some ways or the other affects the society and the overall society's involvement, be it little, is there in the functioning of a firm. Then the government is also involved in the functioning of an organization. The taxes levied by the government and different regulations which the organizations are supposed to abide by becomes a significant source of impact and involvement in the overall functioning of a firm. The society's involvement as a stakeholder can be understood if the functioning of the organization is looked into deeply. It is basically the society which provides the de facto license for the working of an organization as they expect to get something in return from it; return in the form of employment, overall betterment of the society or due to a matter of requirement (Cheng, Chang and Chen, 2021).
Stakeholders are divided into two categories: primary and secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are those who are directly involved in the functioning and economic activities of an organization; employees, suppliers and customers are all examples of primary stakeholders. Secondary stakeholders are those who are not directly involved or linked to the functioning of an organization but only has some overall affect upon it. Government, business partners, regulators, pressure groups, trade unions, etc., are some of the examples of secondary stakeholders. Banks from where the finances of an organization is linked can also be counted under the examples of stakeholders.
Identification of different stakeholders and the degree of their involvement in the overall functioning of an organization is an important process for the success of the organization. Identification of stakeholders help in knowing how to deal with them in a specific manner so that the organization can function properly. Stakeholders are an important element of a business and meeting their needs is necessary for companies to thrive (Etuk et al., 2022).
Identification of Stakeholder's Needs
Every stakeholder related to an organization have their needs which they expect to get met. Meeting the needs and requirements of the stakeholders is important for the success of the organization as meeting their needs would result in a greater degree of their participation in the overall process of the business. However, to be able to meet the requirements of the stakeholders, it would first be necessary to identify those needs. The first part of this study was dedicated to the analysis of identifying the different stakeholders and to be able to meet their needs and requirements, the organization must first try to identify the different needs of the stakeholders. Stakeholder analysis is a the process which helps in identifying different stakeholder groups, their needs and how those needs can be satisfied. The first part of the stakeholder analysis is to identify the different stakeholders. Any firm related to any industry have two primary groups of stakeholders: primary and secondary (Faulina, Putri and Sanjaya, 2021). The primary stakeholders are the ones who are directly linked, involved and affected by the functioning of the organization. Customers, employees and suppliers are the primary stakeholders as they are directly involved and affected by the functioning of a firm. Pressure groups, government agencies and others are examples of secondary stakeholders as they are not as directly linked to the organization as the primary stakeholders.
After the identification of the stakeholders themselves, the next step in the stakeholder's analysis is to identify the interest of the stakeholders in the projects which the organization initiates or the entire organization itself. Different stakeholders have different interests of varying degrees with respect to the organization. The stakeholders might want something from the organization and the organization might want something from them; the organization would need to determine the degree of each other's needs. If the needs of the stakeholders are higher than the organization's needs from them, the bargaining power of the organization would be stronger and vice versa (Mugure, Rintari and Laititi, 2021) . The interest of the employees in the organization is that of employment and getting financial compensation in return. The needs of the employees are stronger than the needs of the organization as there are several employees who would be willing to work for an organization in this age of unemployment and hyper-inflation. The organization has a greater bargaining power in this regard therefore the employees do not need a lot of engagement in terms of the company's success. The case of the customers is the opposite as there are many firms in the market who are providing similar services at the cost of minimal difference. The customers have a lot of scope of switching to a different organization, therefore the bargaining power of the customers is high.
When the interest of the stakeholders and its degree of involvement is determined, the organization would then be required to identify the ways in which it will engage with different stakeholders. A different set of activities or way of interaction would be prepared for each stakeholder group. The activities and interaction would be dependent upon the degree of importance which a stakeholder group holds in the functioning and overall success of the company. Employees form a stakeholder group and their involvement is high but their bargaining power is low due to the lack of employment opportunities; therefore, organizations usually do not engage in a lot of activities with the employees. Consumers on the other hand have a higher bargaining power in the functioning of the organization, so the organization formulates and devises several innovative ways and approaches to interact with them. Retaining the consumers is important for the profits of the company (Onga and Abbey, 2019).
The needs of the consumers is that the organization would meet their requirements in a proper manner. Meeting the requirements of the customers and addressing their needs carefully helps the company greatly in achieving success. The needs of the employees is that they find development in the scope of their employment and also financial advancement.
The department of stakeholders should be assessed carefully and on regular intervals so that the company can understand if the stakeholders are being catered to regular and if engagement is proper or not. Engaging with the stakeholders is a necessary part of identifying their needs and consequently meeting them.
Analysis of Concepts of Quality and Quality Standards
One of the foremost requirements in the process of service and quality management is the strict maintenance of the products' and service's quality. It is the quality offered by an organization which keeps the stakeholders happy. The primary stakeholder who is affected by the quality of the products and services of a company is the most reactionary about it, are the customers. Customers of a firm or organization are highly affected by and interested in the overall quality of the products. It is through the quality offered by a business that the customers are either retained and attracted or repelled away (Raza et al., 2019). Excellent quality of products and services not only helps in meeting the needs and requirements of the present customers but it also attracts future potential customers. Present customers after getting a satisfying service indulge in praising the quality of the company's service and that acts as a source of advertisement and promotion for the company. It is the quality of the products and services which is responsible for the number of customers it has or attracts.
Quality is a vague concept and there could be several definitions of it but the primary and most agreed upon definition of quality is that it is the state in which the products should be produced or kept which meets the specified needs and requirements of the customers. Quality is directly linked to one of the most important primary stakeholders of an organization and it is they, the customers, who determine if the product really has the required quality or not. The concept of quality was introduced by the Japanese during the Second World War. The concept of quality was later adopted by the American who used to assess the quality control of their businesses through statistical means. Experts and scholars opine that the primary step towards quality is to formulate a plan which leads towards quality. That plan can be formulated only in consultation with the customers who are the ultimate authority in assessing the quality of products. Knowing the requirements of the customers helps in creating a plan which can be followed and built upon in order to maintain quality. It is for this reason that most of the successful organizations often engage with their customers a lot so that they indirectly assess the quality control measures of the organization (Sarkawi et al., 2019).
For an organization to achieve quality in their products and services, it is important that it incorporates within its philosophy, aims and objectives so that a plan or model be formulated and quality be properly ensured across the operational procedure. Quality standards are those frameworks or policies which an organization formulates in order to uphold the quality of its products and services within an organization. Quality control cannot happen through the air and a standard procedure, aims or guidelines are necessary which the members of the organization can follow in order to maintain the overall quality of the services and products. Quality standard is set within the organization and must happen structurally so that the organization can adopt the plans for maintain quality standards. The primary aim of setting quality standards through planning and formulating is to acquire customer satisfaction.
Task 2
Role of Leaders and Managers in Quality Management
A leader is a component within an organization who helps it in advancing towards success in a smooth manner. No organization can smoothly function without the presence of a leader as it is the leader who gives substance to the working of the organization by being a guide and mentor. There are several styles of leaders; some leaders are strict disciplinarians while others are friendly and help the employees to improve through care and friendly behaviour. Every leader has its own way of leading and managing the situation around the firm. One of the most important functions of a leader within a company is quality control; a leader carefully assesses the quality of the employees' work as it is their work which determines the quality of the finished products and services offered by an organization (Wadhwa, 2019). The involvement of a leader in quality management is immense as it is a leader who helps in creating the environment which allows the employees to function in a proper manner to achieve quality. Different leaders and managers have their distinct style and a true leader knows which style to adopt keeping in mind the organizational structure of an organization. It is the leader who maintains the internal operations of the organization and has the responsibility of making everything function smoothly. A leader knows how to make the employees work efficiently towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization and consequently maintaining the quality standards set by it. The employees usually are unable to function independently and require a leader, mentor or a guide who would lead them towards the desired objectives of the organization. Some leaders also help in creating an environment of free-thinking and exchange of opinions among the employees; the employees are allowed to take part in the decision making process. Having the employees to express properly helps in shedding light to the different faults which might not be visible to the leadership and senior executives; that further leads to improvement in the overall quality of the organization and helps in maintaining the quality standards set by the organization (Zhang and Kim, 2021).
Continuous Improvements and Possible Solutions
Continuous improvement is a gradual process and there are several hurdles which could come the way of an organization and stop its growth towards achieving the set policies of quality standards. Some of the basic issues in maintaining quality are deficiency in supply or problems within the production units due to the deficiency in supply. For an organization to function smoothly it is necessary that the organizational processes of the company are functioning properly (Pambreni et al., 2019). There are several internal problems which can halt the growth of a company towards continuous improvements and quality management. Dissatisfaction among the employees is also among the primary reasons behind the slow growth of an organization; employees are considered to be the backbone of any organization and any inadequacy in their job can lead to problems for the company. Another issue which comes in the way of continuous improvement and quality management is the lack of planning and formulating policies or plans which the members of a company can follow to achieve the goals of quality standards. All of these internal problems and hurdles can lead to poor performance of the company and consequently results in dissatisfying the customers (Eniola et al., 2019).
The best way to deal with all the internal problems which an organization is facing with regards to maintaining quality and satisfying the needs of the customers is to have the organization undergo the process of Total Quality Management or TQM. Total quality management or just quality management has four steps or components following which an organization can solve the problems which are proving to be a hurdle in its cause of continuous improvement and meeting the requirements of the customers. Total quality management has important steps, four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. The process begins by formulating a plan and then an assurance is issued which motivates and staffs. The quality is controlled by the assistance of effective leadership and that consequently leads to further improvement in the quality of the processes and the products and services.
Conclusion
Service quality and delivery management is an important aspect for the smooth functioning of any organization and it helps the company in achieving success by meeting the requirements of the customers. There are several issues which could come in the way of quality control but effective leadership and total quality management are effective ways to maintain the quality standards.
Reference
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