Sheffield Hallam University: MSc: Hospitality Assignments  

HOSPITALITY QUALITY MANAGEMENT: Assignment 1

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Report to the President of **** HOTELS COMPANY

Meaning of ISO 9000 *

Implementation problems *

Implementation benefits *

Time scale for accreditation *

REFERENCES *

Meaning of ISO 9000

is the perfect combination of certain elements which comprise the service or product served which meet customers’ expectations. Page (1994) states that "At Sutcliffe we define quality as achieving the highest possible standard of food and service within the policy and financial targets agreed with our clients". For him, in the same way, "Quality is a tough discipline- it is not an easy matter to define requirement, clearly much less to achieve those agreed requirements."

Quality should be understood as a whole and as the business of everyone. They are many books and articles about "quality". This buzz word is the leitmotiv of so many T.V. advertisements that we can say that justificably or not we are more than ever in the "quality decade". All Companies, whatever their activity, should offer quality. Companies which do not offer quality to their customers as their very first priority will not survive in the next century. Our hostile and turbulent business environment is quality-demanding. Our customers require quality in our services because they pay our prices. We should improve our levels of quality because:

We will increase customer satisfaction

We will increase sales

We will get better profits

And the best way to achieve quality, is through a Total Quality Management Programme (TQM) to obtain ISO 9000 which is a certificate of a quality system. ISO (the International Organisational for Standardisation) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from 90 countries. It promotes the development of standardisation and related activities to facilitate the international exchange of goods and services and develop intellectual, scientific, technological and economic co-operation.

Moreover, "it’s the international standard which helps organisations provide the quality their customers and clients expect" Scriptographic (1996). Once our company is certified under ISO 9000, it will be inspected at regular intervals to ensure that it continues to be worthy of the standard. It is needless to say that obtaining this certificate will signify that our standards meet worldwide levels of the best quality in the eyes of our customers and potential customers.

It is important is for the company’s future that our customers come back again and again. This certification is the key to obtaining customer satisfaction. Furthermore, many organisations, nowadays, insist that all their suppliers and sometimes, their suppliers’ suppliers, achieve ISO 9000 certification. Without ISO 9000, we could nwittingly rile ourselves out of certain segments of the market.

The eight steps to ISO 9000 certification according to Swaelens (1992) are as follows:

Evaluation of existing quality procedures against the requirements of the ISO 9001 - 9003 standards

Identification of corrective action needed to conform with ISO 9000 series standards.

Preparation of a quality assurance programme

Definition, documentation and implementation of new procedures

Preparation of a quality manual

Pre-assessment, meeting with registrar to analyse quality manual

Actual assessment visit

Certification

Munro-Faure (1995) write that "the objective of a Quality Management System is to improve quality by eliminating the causes of non-conformance. To be successful, the TQM should be a management system which will enable the Company to ensure customer requirements are understood and met first time, every time, at minimum cost to the business."

The key requirements for an effective QMS, Munro-Faure (1995), are :

commitment from senior management

a manager responsible for the integrity of the QMS with sufficient resources to support him/her

documented procedures and records; and

periodic rigorous review of the system.

These issues should be clearly addressed in the documentation which describes our policy for Quality.

For Burchell (1999), a TQM programme has the following features :

all employees in the organisation are involved

each person is committed to the satisfying of his or her customers - internal or external.

a formal programme of education and training is a priority

suppliers and customers are integrated into the improvement process.

honesty, sincerity and care are an integral part of daily business life

simplicity in process, systems, procedures and work instruction is pursued

Implementation problems

There are problems and benefits of implementation of a Total Quality Programme. I will start with the problems that can appear from the point of view of the company’s stakeholders.

Customers

The programme will cause disruption and the Hotel must seek the understanding of its customers and beg their patience. Training and change of staff routine will be necessary under the quality programme which can take several months. Furthermore the TQM can affect the hotel’s facilities, which can cause some inconvenience to the customers. Also the implementation of the TQM will inevitably lead to an increment in the Hotel’s rates. Certain customers will not accept the rises and despite the enhanced quality, take their business elsewhere.

Suppliers

The suppliers should introduce into their procedures, products and services all the necessary reforms that the TQM programme requires so as to provide and maintain the quality required. Without doubt the implementation of a Total Quality Management programme requires visits to the suppliers’ facilities to know if it accomplishes the standards of quality demanded. It is more than probable, that money should be invested by them to accomplish and maintain their own ISO 9000 certification. The duration and nature of the contractual agreements with the suppliers can be changed. Garbage in leads to garbage out. There is no point in seeking ISO 9000 if our firm’s suppliers are substandard. If they have no such interest, then we must seek alternative suppliers.

Shareholders

For such stakeholders the implementation of the TQM can be quite hard. They not only will not have any immediate return for their shares but they may be asked for more money to pay for everything related with the programme’s development, initiation, maintenance. There will be significant expenditure on consultants and inspectors in addition to management time to achieve the ISO9000 accreditation. At the end of the day, ISO 9000 may improve quality. But if all our competitors also implement such programmes it will just be a case of catching up.

Banks

If the Hotel seeks loan financing from a bank, the risk assumed by the bank is that the company cannot return the loan in the time agreed.

Environmentalists

During the Hotel’s improvement works, the Hotel’s ambience both inside and outside will not be as environmentally friendly as it should be.

Managers

They will be responsible for the integrity of the TQM in their respective areas. It is necessary to take into account that they should be trained for the programme perhaps at the same time as their staff. There can be a lot of pressure of time.

Staff

Quality means different things at different organisational levels. The staff can be more affected "prima facie" by the implementation of the TQM programme as they will be impacted upon first. There can be a good deal of suspicion. There is a feeling of a big-brother inspection.

As Thomson (1995) reflects "for some at the front-line it was ‘something dreamed up by management in their Board rooms which did not have much practical application’. Another at the same level remarked that they "were given a booklet, a mission statement, set of standards and a checklist... but these weren’t practical in that they talk about ideas but were not specific to me in how I should work towards such ideals or how I fitted into the organisation of the quality system".

Is for this reason that the staff should be very motivated because the programme’s implementation can be very demanding with obvious temporarily disadvantages such as changes in the labour contracts, lower salaries and an increased level of stress because of the novelty and continuous supervision.

Implementation benefits

All the stakholders will benefit through TQM though ISO 9000.

Customers

They see that the company is committed to Quality. They will enjoy a quality system which helps to avoid mistakes and misunderstandings. In the same way it leads to fewer customers’ complaints and greater customer satisfaction.

Suppliers

Implement procedures which Munro (1995) enable them to :

Identify the requirements of their customers

Ensure they are able to supply products and services in accordance with those requirements.

Ensure delivered products conform to those requirements.

Shareholders

They are the owners of a refurbished Hotel with a certified Quality Management System. Obviously the Hotel can have had an important revaluation in both the property and hospitality markets.

Banks

Due to the implementation of the programme, the number of clients increases and they return again and again. The Hotel’s financial situation will allow us to return to the bank the loan in the time and way stipulated in the contract.

Environmentalists

The TQM will have established all the measures to convert the Hotel into an environment- friendly establishment.

Managers

"The system helps solve problems giving organisations a way to identify, analyse and deal with problems effectively. The communication becomes easier because responsibilities and procedures are clearly defined.

There is less waste when a job is done right the first time and materials are saved". (Scriptographic, 1996)

Staff

The system can help give them clear-cut responsibilities and procedures to follow, "helping to eliminate doubt, danger or guesswork". (Scriptographic, 1996)

In the same way, it can give them greater job security and a chance for recognition, more benefits, etc..

In summary, it will increase motivation and commitment from all employees.

Time scale for accreditation

The time scale to achieve the ISO 9000 accreditation could be within 16 months taking into account the size of the Company. We have three Hotels and the staff who work in them total 230 people. The Central office has 50 people in departments such as Marketing, Finance, Quality Control, Legal and Purchasing. These Central office departments have most of their procedures already written and some standards established. They should work to improve them. This will not be time consuming.

The part which will take more time would be in the training of the non Central Office staff especially as the Company has a lot a part-time, and perhaps uncommitted, workers. That means that the Human Resources Department must carefully choose the training time so as to respect all the shifts.

The Company and the Hotels may be inspected for accreditation after the documentation has been finalised and the systems have been in operation for at least 3 months.

Once we obtain the ISO 9000 accreditation, the Company and the Hotels will be inspected twice a year to check if the standards are being maintained.

To obtain and to maintain the ISO 9000 accreditation is not a cheap process. It requires discipline and commitment. But it is a definite route to quality that, without doubt, will enhance the reputation of the organisation.

REFERENCES

Burchell, John, "TQM: FAD or FUTURE?" (March1999) HOSPITALITY, The Journal of the Hotel & Catering International Management Association. March 1999.

Halliday, Stephen "BS5750: Never mind the quality" (undated).

Munro-Faure, Lesley Munro-Faure, Malcolm & Bones, Edward "Achieving the New International Quality Standards." (1995) Munro Associates. Pitman Publishing.

Page, Christopher " SIutcliffe "Catering’s Approach to Continuous Improvement" (1994) International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 06 Issue 1 Date 1994 ISSN 0959-6119

Scriptographic Publications Ltd. "About BS EN ISO 9000" (1996)

Swaelens, G.J. "ISO 9000 quality standards in 24 questions." (1992) ISO 9000 News. International Organisation for Standardisation. CompuServe number 100112,3376. (G.J. Swaelens, Editor of "ISO 9000 News)

Thomson, Elizabeth L. & Thomson, C. Stuart "Quality issues in nine New Zealand hotels: a research study". The TQM Magazine, Vol 07 Issue 5 Date 1995 ISSN 0954-478X

Sheffield Hallam University: MSc: Hospitality Assignments