Service Quality Management

Globally, since the turn of the century, economic conditions have been very challenging, turning the market place into a highly competitive, cut throat environment. Service excellence has therefore become non-negotiable and service providers have no option other than to ensure that their service offering, which is translated in terms of various elements of customer service, is excellent and exceptionally creative to encourage customers' return intentions. This book discusses different perspectives of service quality as well as management and ways to improve SQ.

Providing clear guidance for anyone servicing internal or external customers, this book offers a framework for analyzing and managing quality using a comprehensive closed-loop approach. This book cuts through the complexities of the mantra ‘better, cheaper, faster’ (BCF) and offers procedures for the evaluation of customer needs, the determination of performance metrics, and the design of effective customer satisfaction surveys. It details basic statistical techniques and packages the framework, procedures, and methods into a management construct that includes external quality certification systems and internal performance management systems. Importantly, the book also describes how these systems can be implemented in a virtual workplace. This quality management book will be essential to service-oriented firms (financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, etc.), as well as any firm with internal customer service processes such as human resource management, purchasing, and accounting. Professionals at all levels, corporate trainers, and students will welcome this book’s common set of principles and tools, accompanied by many case studies that illustrate how they are applied in various environments.

Does your staff deliver the highest quality service possible? Customers today expect a very high overall level of service in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Competition in these fields will thus be driven by strategies focusing on quality of service to add value, as opposed to product or price differentiation. Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism, and Leisure highlights concepts and strategies that will improve the delivery of hospitality services, and provides clear and simple explanations of theoretical concepts as well as their practical applications! Practitioners and educators alike will find this book to be invaluable in their businesses and in preparing students for the business world. This essential book provides you with clear, comprehensive explanations of theoretical concepts and methods that will give you the competitive edge in this fast-changing field. Topics covered include: services management marketing operations management human resources management service quality management Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism, and Leisure brings together an array of pertinent materials that will measure and enhance customer satisfaction and help you provide superior hospitality services, and groups them in easy-to-use clusters for quick reference.

The last three decades have seen a dramatic increase in the attention businesses devote to their quality of service. Scholars and researchers in a number of disciplines, including marketing, human resources I/O psychology, sociology, and consumer behavior, have all made substantial contributions to understanding what service is, how service and service delivery quality are experienced by customers, and the role of employees and their organizations in service delivery. Service Quality: Research Perspectives presents a comprehensive overview and analysis of the field and its research, including its growth, emerging trends, and debates

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Introduction Are services millennium-proof? Certainly not. At least not at this moment. There is no thorough research needed to derive that conclusion, simply ask around. The evi dence is overwhelming. True horror stories exist of all types of services in all types of sectors. It is even becoming a business in itself. Television shows that are based on customer complaints about services are becoming more and more popular. As is the case in the millennium problem, management of service companies experiences a lot of problems in the hardware and the software of services. There are still prob lems in defining and developing the service, and problems in creating, realizing and managing weil defined services. Is there than no progress at all? We believe there iso The enormous attention for services has its advantages as weil. In various places innovations are realized, and what is more important are linked to theory. Only in this way learning becomes pos sible. Eventually innovative practice will reflect in the development of theory, and in turn good practice will be based on solid theory. This series tries to support this pro cess by presenting a number of innovative practices, and examples of testing theory in service quality marketing and management.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is shaping the management of the 1990s. This book is the first to present TQM concepts with social service administrators in mind. With examples drawn from public administration, gerontology, public health and non-profit-making organizations, the book provides sound background information on TQM for practitioners.