Contents

• This report is based on the following assignment brief –
• Quality, quality control, total quality management and quality assurance are terms that managers find difficulties in defining. The confusion is compounded by the many approaches being advanced forward by several experts in this field as the best way for quality management suitable for commercial organisation. This has added to the dilemma of managers who are in a race to attract and retain customers who have become more sophisticated and more demanding, requiring superior performance from goods and services and a quicker response from suppliers
• Osotraco Ltd is a company facing the above dilemma and has invited you as a quality management consultant to present a paper to its senior managers to clarify the above confusion and to explain to them the different approaches to quality management appropriate to a commercial organisation like Osotraco Ltd. The managers are anxious to hear from you the importance and benefits of quality management to a company and expects you to discuss a range of quality control that it can adopt to improve its customer service. Concerned about its poor performance, the company has asked you to pay particular attention to how they can go about applying the principles of quality management to improve its performance.

Description

This assignment consists of four tasks:
Task 1:
Examine the different approaches to quality management appropriate to commercial operations.
1.1 Define the terms: quality, quality control, mass inspection and quality assurance[AC1.1]
1.2 Discuss the various approaches to quality management especially the work of Deming, Juran,
Feigenbaum, Crosby, Ishikawa etc, quality planning, control, measurement & improvement.
[AC1.2], M1
1.3 Discuss the similarities and differences of the above approaches in terms of structures,
applications, costs, implementation periods, actions required, assessment & effectiveness.
[AC1.3], D1
Task 2:
Explain the importance and benefits of quality management in a business and service context
2.1 Explain the benefits from customer satisfaction and the importance of the voice of the
customer, customer needs & expectation as well as added value and repeat custom. [AC2.1]
2.2 Discuss the concept of continuous improvement from customer needs to customer
expectations, quality gap and the associated problems. [AC2.2], M2
2.3 Illustrate the importance of added value and the benefits from lower costs, reduced waste,
time saved and customer loyalty. [AC2.3]
2.4 Mention the improvement of customer information like opening times, location, price list,
promotional materials, creating true image and value for money. [AC2.4,] D2
Task 3:
Discuss a range of quality controls and how they can improve service to customer.
3.1 Discuss different ways on how quality can and should be measured[AC3.1]
3.2 Explain the benefits from user and non-user surveys [AC3.2] M3
3.3 Identify list of consultation methods that can be adopted like questionnaires and discuss the
complain procedures to be put in place. [AC3.3]
Task 4
Explain how the company can apply the principles of quality management to improve its performance
4.1 Discuss the need, the importance and the process of self assessment[AC4.1]
4.2 Explain the importance of both horizontal & vertical communication across the
organisation[AC4.2]
4.3 Explain the rationale and the process of staff consultation and reporting mechanism[AC4.3]
D3
4.4 Explain the service improvement through application of concepts, documentation & KPI.
[AC4.4]