Constructio

n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

ASSIGNMENT
NICMAR / CODE OFFICE

1. Course No.

PGCM 22

Construction Quality Management

3. Assignment No. -

4. Date of Dispatch

2. Course Title.

5. Last date of receipt. of Assignment at CODE

Submitted By

Sandeep Sudhakar
Reg. No.
214-08-11-50107-2161

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Abstract:
In today's world Quality Management is of utmost importance in ensuring
that project deliverables meet certain quality standards so as to ensure
that all project outputs are ready/fit for use.It is the management of the
processes of the performing organization that determine quality policies,
objectives, and responsibilities so that project will satisfy the needs for
which it is undertaken. The basic principles for the Quality Management
philosophy of doing business are to satisfy the customer, satisfy the
supplier, and continuously improve the business processes.In this
knowledge paper I would discuss about how quality management came
into picture, how it is useful for various projects, why should it be
employed, and various activities of quality management (quality planning,
quality assurance, quality control).
Introduction:
One of the most important issues that businesses have focused on in the
last 20-30 years has been quality. As markets have become much more
competitive - quality has become widely regarded as a key ingredient for
success in business.
Producing products of the required quality does not happen by accident.
There has to be a production process which is properly managed. Ensuring
satisfactory quality is a vital part of the production process.A frequently
used definition of quality is Delighting the customer by fully meeting
their needs and expectations. These may include performance,
appearance, availability, delivery, reliability, maintainability, cost
effectiveness and price. It is, therefore, imperative that the organization
knows what these needs and expectations are. In addition, having
identified them, the organization must understand them, and measure its
own ability to meet them.Quality starts with market research to establish
the true requirements for the product or service and the true needs of the
customers. However, for an organization to be really effective, quality
2

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

must span all functions, all people, all departments and all activities and
be a common language for improvement. The cooperation of everyone at
every interface is necessary to achieve a total quality organization.
What is quality management?
Theorists have noted that Quality Management is the process of ensuring
that things are done right the first time, without any errors. Hannagan,
(2002, p.184) stated that Quality Management is "an intensive, long-term
effort to transform all parts of the organization in order to produce the
best product and service possible to meet customer needs". With this in
mind, restructuring of organizations must be implemented. This can be
achieved with Total Quality Management programme/s (TQM), otherwise
called Total Quality Control or Total Quality Improvement.

Quality

Management encompasses the entire organization and is implemented

from the top management level, which instils the shift. This requires
change - the redesign of the organizational structure, culture, and work
habits.

This is done through participative management, incorporating

internal customers in the process of decision making and planning.

Quality in terms of service:
Quality in service is defined by Bolton and Drew (1991) as the customers
assessment of the overall excellence or superiority of the service. As
Parasuraman et al. (1985) claimed that fully understanding of the three
characteristics of services which are intangibility, heterogeneity and
inseparability is essential to understand the service quality.
First is the intangibility. The service quality is different with the product
quality. The product or physical goods quality can be measured by the
tangible aspects of the product, like the appearance, shape, colour, etc.
But the service quality is normally intangible, so it is difficult to get the
information on how the customers satisfy about the service.Second is the
heterogeneous. The service usually involves a lot of labour content. So the
different producers may provide different services to the same customer.
3

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Or one producer may provide the different services to different customers.

These are all because of the uncertainty of human being. In summary, in
this characteristic, the customer may not get the service which the
producer actually provides.Third is the inseparability. Service is not like a
product which can be made and stored. Services production and
assumption are inseparability (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1996). So this
means that when a service is created and offers to the customer, the
customer is enjoying the service at the same time, like the massage. This
aspect also implies that the service quality can be controlled when the
service being offered by producers or customers. For example, haircut is
the situation which the service affected by the requirement of the
customer.
Quality in terms of business:
In the competitive world of business, the most successful companies will
be more efficient, more responsive, produce and support the better
products, and so on. In short, the company which practices the best
quality control will be successful. To aid in the process of achieving better
quality, the principle of Quality Management was invented. Refined to a
dogma of business buzz words, the underlying concept is one of
commitment to the ideal of customer satisfaction through continuous
improvement.The simplest way to find out quality excellence in business
is by consulting staff and customers. Ask if there is anything they can
think of that would improve the business or the service it provides or there
are specific problems that need to be addressed. The method of
consultation can vary. It may be best to use a written survey, especially
dealing with large workforces or customers spread over a wide
geographical

area.

Alternatively,

forum

could

be

held

with

representative cross section of employees or customers, which would

allow development and discussion of any issues arising. Once the business
has established that changes are necessary, how do they go about
4

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

making those changes? Regardless of the way the data was gathered, the
issues will have to be analysed and addressed somehow.
Quality in terms of customer satisfaction:
Customer satisfaction is not an objective statistics but more of a feeling or
attitude. If a customer is happy with a product or a service it has hired or
purchase they will pay their bills promptly, which greatly improves cash
flow-the lifeblood of any organization.
Customer satisfaction can be secured through high quality products and
services (Getty & Getty, 2003). Edvardsson (1996) reflected that the
concept of quality should be approached from the customer's point of
view, since it was his/her perception of the outcome that constituted the
quality. Customers may have different values and different grounds for
assessment and most of the time they may want to acquire the same
service quality in different ways.

The concept of quality has been the

subject of many research studies in variety of service industries, attention

and even research towards hospitality industry has been growing.
However, these research studies were mostly focused on Australia, Korea,
the United States and Europe. Furthermore, today's business environment
and the multicultural diversity of international tourists points to the
importance of developing a better understanding of the culturally different
tourist (Reisinger & Turner, 1999).

As mentioned by Camison (1996),

poorness or non - existence of customer satisfaction measuring systems

could cause the hotel companies to be lacking in market orientation.
Attributes of the service and product that add value for the customer and
increase his or her satisfaction might be unknown and that gives no guide
to the hotel operators for improvement projects.
How quality can be measured?
I believe that it will take at least four measurements to measure the
quality of an organization. One measurement is the outcome. If outcome
5

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

of an organization is negative then I will perceive the quality as negative

also.

Outcomes should be evidence-based processes.

The second

measurement is company health status. If one company is healthier than

some other else that is terminal, I feel that they should get more quality
than we just for the simple fact of comfortableness to draw out without
being a new paradigm.

Company status of both, individuals and non-

individual, should be compared to peer practices. The third measurement

is customer satisfaction. If they are not satisfied then they do not believe
that there was quality involved at all.
organization should be assessed.
measurement

is

value.

The process and access of

Last but not least, the fourth

Value

expresses

professionalism

to

the

organization and is very important to both organizations and suppliers.

Example:
Here I have explained quality of the Hilton hotel. Hilton receives a fair
amount of information from the internet for the quality measurement,
where the customer supplies much of the needed information when
designing their own computers based on their own research of service
products.As Hilton exemplifies above, quality has a customer-first
orientation.

Customer satisfaction is seen as the company's highest

priority. The company can only realize success if their customers are
satisfied with the quality of the information and product provided. As a
total quality management company, Hilton is sensitive to their customer
requirements and responds rapidly to them. Ashley Loran, a recent Hilton
customer, delivers her testimony of her quality-managed experience with
Hilton.

Hilton

assumed

total

responsibility

for

the

service

error,

manufactured a new service and sent it overnight.

Quality

schemes

adopted

by

the

commercial

operators:To

implement quality successfully commercial operators continuously ensure

performance by creating a culture involving all internal and external
customers. These customers will have an input in the end result of the
6

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

product or service and as such the organisation will have satisfied the
customers' requirements/concerns. There are various schemes required
to improve quality. The main four are that Quality Circles, Benchmarking,
Just-in-Time, Statistical Process Control and I have also discussed the
rationale behind these systems.
Quality Circle:
Quality Circles (QC) is approached to control and improve products or
processes within organisations, is established by voluntary teams
comprising of six to ten individuals from the same area or unit.

This

method has been said to originate in Japan and involves participative

management, allowing the workers regardless of their positions to make
valid contributions. The group meets on a regular basis to discuss and
decide on solutions to solving problems, which are either implemented by
the team or in most cases presented to management for review and then
possible implementation. If teams are to function well management must
give the necessary support and time for teams to meet, as well as
finances to facilitate training for team members and the implementation
of solutions.
Benchmarking:
Benchmarking is achieved through comparison with other organizations,
mostly those that are similar to the organization in question or best in the
field.

This comparison is achieved through reviewing the business

operations.

It is a means of measuring performance, services and or

products by collecting and analyzing data, which may be applied to

specific areas in an effort to identify what is done differently and how it is
accomplished. There are four types of benchmarking.
Type
Internal

Function
Comparing operations across your business
7

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Functional
Generic

Comparison of business activities within the same industry

Comparing business activities not related to a specific

industry
Competitive

Comparing your activities to other competitors

Just in time:
Just in Time is an inventory control system where efficient production
processes help reduce inventory levels (Lean Manufacturing).
are received only when needed.

Supplies

This eliminates wastage and storage

facilitates and minimizes cost. As such, products have to meet preidentified quality standards, as stock will not be stored at a warehouse to
replace defective products during manufacturing.

With this type of

system there is the need for management to have defined lines of

communication with both staff and suppliers; if not, this result in the
failure of having no stock to fall back on at the time needed for
processing, which would affect production time and customers by lost of
orders.
Statistical process control:
SPC is used to monitor and measure processes with the aim to improve on
consistency of quality for products through statistical analysis.
carried out by sampling using control charts.

This is

The process involves

collecting data at different stages of the production process through

inspection techniques to track variation.
Similarities and differences of the processes:
Team improvement quality gives a sense of accomplishment, which
enables team members to drive the project. Benchmarking method is
simply like quality circle to work from the smallest to the largest
organisation can tailor methods to suit its individual needs. Benchmarking
8

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

and quality circle allow an organisation to continually meet the changes

within its environment by recognizing its flaws and improving on them.
Benchmarking uses manpower - teams have carried out research that
may require them to be out of the office on various occasions.

This

results in loss of time in labour.

SPC

Here SPC plays a critical role.

received from research and be reported to the relevant persons to avoid

discord and misunderstanding which will hinder the process of effective
implementation.
[task2]
Importance

of

communication

and

record

keeping

quality

schemes:
Communication -

is

common management

process

- planning,

organization, command and control thread. Leaders have the plan to

communicate

with

others

in

organization

and

organizing

the

implementation of the plans have been talking to others about how to

better distribute power, and design work.Record keeping is an important
key role of an organizer and the main aspect is to assist planning and set
future learning goals to the learner. Records may contain companys
physical

information

as

well

as

managers

observation

on

the

performance. They need to continually reassess to meet changing needs,

e.g. personal situations may change and they may need to be considered
to assist the employee to complete their training.
Example:
In Hilton organization co-workers communicate amongst themselves
through

proper

communication.

If

it

is

noisy

factory,

verbal

communication would be ineffective so employees of this organization

communicate
expressions.

nonverbally

with

hand

signals,

gestures,

or

facial

Here supervisor is communicating the workers assigned

work area, or desired production for the day, verbal communication would
9

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

work fine, but if vast amounts, or important information needs to be

communicated, written communication would be the best choice.Keeping
records of lesson plans and scheme of work enables the manager of the
Hilton to reflect on how their quality scheme plans are progressing. This
form of record has the benefit of allowing the management to critically
evaluate the process on an individual basis and the implementing
techniques they use to transmit knowledge. It carries the possibility to
assist in the development of new tactics and to continuously monitor
where/who would benefit from adjustments.
Relation between quality and the information given to customer:
The relationship of quality and the information given to the customer,
relevant information reveals that the choice of standard is an issue
customer expectation. Desires, equity and experiences are some of the
standards most frequently employed (Woodruffet, 1991). Such an
approach has caused confusion and some past research has not specified
which standard should be sued for assessing service quality and customer
information.According to the researcher quality is the gap between
customer information and perceived performance. Therefore, the idea of
normative expectation was introduced and the wording of expectation
statements was changed from A company should have.. to An excellent
company will have.. to capture the new conceptualization. Parasuramen
(1991) argued that excellent service is similar to the ideal standard used
in the satisfaction literature. However, Tas (1993) identified several
problems regarding this concept. He pointed out that according to the gap
model, in certain situations the perceived quality may decline even if the
perception exceeded the ideal expectation. He also showed that
interpretation of the ideal service customer information performance
varied among respondents- a point that threatened validity of the survey
outputs.
Importance of affective marketing:
10

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Affective marketing for business is very important as it aids in the growth

and profit for business. There are various ways through which small and
medium type business marketing at a very reasonable budget. Advertising
is an important part in marketing for business. A short and simple
advertisement is much appealing than a lengthy and boring one.
Moreover, it will cost much less than the big budget ads created by the
reputed brands and also will help in promoting business. At the beginning
it is required trying to include some offers in advertisement. This will help
you a great deal as people love free and discount offers, and it is a very
important strategy in marketing for small business. When one is
marketing for business, always keep a cheaper version of product in stock.
As many of the customers dont want to pay the price because they
consider it to be high. So for these customers, selling product cheaper and
in smaller packages is a smart business strategy.
Difference in benefits between user and non-user surveys to
determine customer needs:
Customer needs are the basis thing for a success business. A good way to
learn to do something better is to observe in action those who do it very
well. The company who know their customers better than anyone else has
more chance to success. In order to know your customers first of all is to
know what a customer is. There are several tips is identified by user based
survey for the benefit:
(1)A customer is the most important person in any business.
(2)A customer is not dependent on us.
(3)A customer is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it.
(4)A customer does us a favor when he comes in.

11

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

(5)A customer is an essential part of our business, not an outsider.

(6)A customer is not just money in the cash register.
(7)A customer deserves the most courteous attention we can give him.
(8)Without him we would have to close our doors.
Non user surveys provide the profile of average customer; they are the
first source of information. These special data are the most common
means for segmenting market and for identifying new targets wish to
reach with your product or service. There are numerous ways to gather
qualitative and quantitative data. Among the most common qualitative
research tools are: face to face in-depth interviews, opportunistic
interviews, telephone interviews, on-site interviews, and focus group
interviews.It is a serious mistake to attempt to launch a survey initiative in
an organization benefit which has internal problems or issues that may be
counterproductive to the new service culture. The employees represent
one of most valuable means for gathering information about customers.
They are kinds of sort of frontline radar; an early warning system. And
each of them can function as a valuable data collection centre. The
employees can be your best secret weapon in the war to win customers.
You need show them how to do on-the-spot market research. Other radar
stations for gathering customer information are at refund and exchange
counters. These are the best opportunities to learn about customers need.
Consultation suggestion scheme to encourage under-represented
group:
Employee involvement scheme:
Employee involvement scheme is one of the quality schemes that can
help where both management and employees are willing to be open in

12

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

their attitude and behaviour. It allows employee participation and

employee support through mutual agreement. Unless an atmosphere of
trust is in the air, the relationship cant be successful. Gennard & Judge
(1997) explain that employee involvement schemes can thrive where both
management and employees are willing to be open in their attitude and
behaviour, operating in a background with no disputes and confrontation;
allowing employee participation; employee support gained by agreement
not by force.
In Consultation employees exchange views and information. However it is
still upon management to make the final decisions but management takes
into account the views of employees before making the decisions. CIPD
(2004) report on agenda for change mentions ITVs EI initiatives. ITVs
approach to employee relations is based on engaging with its employees.
It achieved this by a combination of methods, such as; collective
bargaining, consultation with elected employee representatives and direct
engagement with individuals.
It is a face-to-face communication scheme that encourages a dialogue
between management and employee representatives. It is believed that
employees become well informed about company operations and
therefore choose to support management initiatives. We can use this
option as it will lead to direct participation from employees.
Complaints procedures:
The purpose of an effective complaints procedure is to ensure all
complaints are resolved quickly and efficiently. The credibility of the
Investors in a company is paramount and it should be perceived as a
benchmark of quality. The information gained from complaints should be
used to inform and improve practice within the both the company and the
delivery network. It should also be used to influence the executive board
of the Investors in People UK in defining and setting organizational
strategies.
13

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

In Hilton hotel complaints are handled by quality projects manager who

will then ensure that the complainant receives some form of response. In
most cases this will be a written acknowledgement using e-mail or letter,
unless the complainants preferred communication method in the
telephone. If this is the case then the detail of the conversation will be
recorded.The management of the Hilton hotel is required to investigate
complaints against organisations that are located in their defined
geographic locations, regardless of whether the quality management
department has previously been responsible for assessment and review of
the organisation concerned.In Accor Group hotels details of the complaint
and associated information will then be entered into the Investors in
People Enquiry Management System Database. Each complaint will
automatically receive a numeric identifier, which should be quoted on all
written correspondence, should the complaint require formal investigation.
Once the complaint has been received in database, the quality projects
manager will check the following information using the National Database
of all the organisations that have achieved the Standard:
Whether the hotel in question is recognised as an Investor
The recognition or last review date, which may have a bearing upon
which version of the Standard the organization, has been assessed
against.
Role of Self assessment in order to determine organization
health:
Self-assessment is the process of critically reviewing the quality of ones
own performance and provision to assess the other organization. An
integrated approach is to conduct an organizational self-assessment with
a purpose to assess an organization's readiness and risk for a planned
change. The self-assessment utilizes a multi-dimensional approach and
incorporates

an

organizational

analysis
14

to

assess

its

supportive

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

organizational climate and cultural analysis to assess the strength of its

organizational
methodology

culture.
using

The

assessment

combination

of

method
qualitative

utilizes
and

mixed

quantitative

techniques to determine the organization's readiness to change. A risk

analysis is determined by the difference between the level and type of
planned change initiative and the organization's readiness to change. With
the aid of self assessment the level of risk to change provides an insight
on the organization's alignment to their strategic, climate, and cultural
designs. The significance in providing such insight provides organizational
leaders, researchers, consultants, and academia information prior to
implementing the change as to its level of readiness and risks if the
organization decides to implement the change initiative for different levels
of planned changes. The results of this study are intended to provide
guidance to assess the others who may develop similar initiatives in the
future. This article summarizes aspects of a more comprehensive work
concerned with the conditions and attributes of successful organizational
change.
A plethora of organizational change self assessment technique can help to
intervention and strategies have been attempted to align organizations in
implementing

change

initiatives.

Organizations

have

invested

into

reengineering, total quality management, downsizing, mergers and

acquisitions,

cultural

changes,

restructuring,

software/technological

development and implementation, and other interventions in an attempt

to successfully implement change initiatives.
Staff consultation for effective implementation:
Processes for finding out staff consultation think are particularly valuable
when a team / organization is facing change and re-structuring for quality
development. Organization doesnt like change, particularly when they
have no choice in the matter. The effects of re-structuring can be huge
and lead to low morale, insecurity, and feeling side stepped and
undervalued. Ideally, consultation would happen before major change
15

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

occurs, but sometimes this is not possible. Either way, consulting staff on
the effects of change, drawing out their best strategies and ideas for
moving forward with the change, and how the organization can best
support them is a powerful and motivational process.
Staff consultation is committed to putting the following schemes of quality
and diversity into practice, in workforce and in the services it offer by:

Ensuring policies, services and functions do not have an adverse

impact on staff from different quality target groups through
systematic quality impact assessments and promoting equality at
every opportunity.

Improving customer satisfaction by aiming to provide information

and services that are equally accessible to all sections of the
community, and where all customers can expect to receive the
same quality and outcomes of service irrespective of ethnicity,
sexual orientation, gender, disability, age, religion or belief.

Striving to become a model organization and model employer and

mainstreaming equality and diversity principles proactively in all
that

it

does.

Skilling our workforce to understand and apply quality and diversity

in their roles through comprehensive mandatory equality and
diversity training.

Developing a diverse workforce that is representative of the

population of the community that we serve enabling us to develop
our ability to understand and reflect the diverse needs of patients
and staff and provide a more appropriate and responsive service.

16

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Enabling our workforce to feel positive about the organization in

which they work by involving them in its continuous review and
improvement.
Consulting effectively and enabling a wide range of people to be
involved in shaping the way that they work.

A new system to improve service quality:

Service quality is defined as the degree of excellence intended that meets
customer requirements (Wyckoff, 1992). However, Carey (2003) points out
the service quality, the result of a comparison between the expectations
of

customer

and

the

actual

service

they

received.

Therefore,

understanding gap between the expectation and the received service can
be a key source of the service quality.
Here we have introduced a new system to improve the service quality
which is known as SERVQUAL, a survey instrument that measures service
quality. According to Saleh and Ryan (1991), it was initially devised for the
assessment of services within the financial sector, and consists of a 22item, seven-point Likert Scale where all of the issues were directly
applicable to a hotel.
Implementation:
First, to adopt SERVQUAL scheme on the Hilton hotel, quantitative
research will be used and the data are from existing the companys
record. Not only the quantitative data but also qualitative research will be
used to identify the service quality gaps which brought to inconsistency
between the guest expectations and the guest perceptions. The staffs of
the Hilton can have in-depth and face-to-face interviews. The interviewees
will be included the reception GOs, the sport activity GOs, the bar and
restaurant GOs and whoever village GOs to identify the gap. This provided
the researcher to recognize which department has the most contact with
the general manager.
17

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Next step is for sampling procedures and in the process the reception
desk or the front desk will allow information relate guest complaints. It is
because of in many hotels, the front desk has high level of contact with
guests and also the reception desk will receive the majority of guest
complaints.
Conclusion:
The quality of service will be a major component of the future hospitality
industry continuously. Therefore hotels need to manage the service
quality with various theories and methods. As discussed above, this report
has applied new scheme and on the hotel to identify the service gaps.
Accordingly, if the Hilton hotel uses the service quality, they can reduce
gap and provide customer satisfaction. The any efforts from hotels
marketing cannot be stand on long term period solely. However, the
quality of the interactive service between hotelier and the guest can be
possibly long term and this can be why the improving service quality is
important

to

hotel.

Both

service

quality

theories

and

models

measurement is a customer satisfaction. Thus to improve a hotel or

resorts

service

quality

with

customer

satisfaction,

the

whole

of

departments should link and think about the service quality together so
the all of employees and the senior mangers generate continuous
improvements.
Bibliography and references:
Bolton, RN & Drew, JH, 1991, A Multistage Model of Customers'
Assessments of Service Quality and Value, Journal of Consumer Research,
Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 375-384.
Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, VA & Berry, LL, 1985, A Conceptual
Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research, The
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 41-50.

18

Constructio
n Quality Management
Reg.
No. 214-08-11-50107-2161

Hanagan, T., (2002). Management: Concepts and Practices. 3rd ed.

Prentice Hall
Edvardsson,

B.

(1996).

Making

service

quality

improvement

work.Managing Service Quality, 6(1), 49 - 52.

Levitt, T. (1972). Production-line approach to service. Harvard Business
Review. In C. Williams, J. Buswell, Service Quality in Leisure and Tourism.
London: CABU Publishing.

19