SERVICE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND CONTROL - A CUSTOMER-BASED APPROACH

Delivering consistently good service quality is an essential and difficult challenge for service organizations. Developing an understanding of how service quality improvement and control can be facilitated through the design and management of service delivery systems is the purpose of this article. First, techniques for evolving a set of valid, customer-based service quality specifications are presented. Second, the importance of accurately translating these specifications into a set of internal operating standards to guide service system design and quality control programs is emphasized. Third, the need to create a supportive internal service climate, reinforced by recruiting, training, and motivational approaches that serve to enhance service workers' desire and ability to meet and exceed customer expectations, is discussed. Literature from the organizational behavior and marketing fields is reviewed and integrated to develop insights and recommendations for improving the service firm's quality improvement and control programs. © 1989.