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Part Three
Planning and control
There are many
definitions of quality
The operation’s view of quality
There are many definitions of quality; here we define it as ‘consistent conformance to customers’
expectations’.
The use of the word ‘conformance’ implies that there is a need to meet a clear specification.
Ensuring a product or service conforms to specification is a key operations task. ‘Consistent’
implies that conformance to specification is not an ad hoc event but that the product or
service meets the specification because quality requirements are used to design and run the
processes that produce products and services. The use of ‘customers’ expectations’ recognizes
that the product or service must take the views of customers into account, which may be
influenced by price. Also note the use of the word ‘expectations’ in this definition, rather
than ‘needs’ or ‘wants’.
Customers’ view of quality
Past experiences, individual knowledge and history will all shape customers’ expectations.
Furthermore, customers may each perceive a product or service in different ways. One person
may perceive a long-haul flight as an exciting part of a holiday; the person on the next seat may
see it as a necessary chore to get to a business meeting. So quality needs to be understood
from a customer’s point of view because, to the customer, the quality of a particular product
or service is whatever he or she perceives it to be. If the passengers on a skiing charter flight
perceive it to be of good quality, despite long queues at check-in or cramped seating and poor
meals, then the flight really is of good perceived quality. 3 Also customers may be unable to
judge the ‘technical’ specification of the service or product and so use surrogate measures
as a basis for their perception of quality. 4 For example, a customer may find it difficult to
judge the technical quality of dental treatment, except insofar as it does not give any more
trouble. The customer may therefore perceive quality in terms the attire and demeanour of
the dentist and technician, décor of the surgery, and how they were treated.
Reconciling the operation’s and the customer’s views of quality
Customer expectations
Customer perception
The operation’s view of quality is concerned with trying to meet customer expectations.
The customer’s view of quality is what he or she perceives the product or service to be. To
create a unified view, quality can be defined as the degree of fit between customers’ expectations
and customer perception of the product or service. 5 Using this idea allows us to see
the customers’ view of quality of (and, therefore, satisfaction with) the product or service
as the result of the customers comparing their expectations of the product or service with
Figure 17.3 Perceived quality is governed by the magnitude and direction of the gap
between customers’ expectations and their perceptions of the product or service