Improving service quality: a tale of two operations

Abstract

At two different warehousing/distribution facilities of the same organization, workers were surveyed about their experiences with the company’s TQM program. The facilities were nearly identical with respect to infrastructure, technology, and systems but only one was considered a success from a quality perspective. The survey indicated that the successful facility exhibited greater attention to the human aspects of the quality process than the unsuccessful facility, for example, a greater degree of management support for TQM, communication and teamwork between managers and workers, effective supervision, effective corrective action procedures, and follow‐up of quality problems. While this study was limited in scope to two operations within the same organization, lessons for the successful implementation of service quality can be drawn from this case study.