Methods for Service Quality Assurance

This chapter describes how the four phases of quality management (quality planning, quality control, quality inspection and quality assurance) for service firms should be structured and what individual measures can be employed in the respective phases. Since the QM-system – particularly in the case of the services sector – has to be adapted to a firm’s specific characteristics, the selection of the methods and techniques suited to the specific situation is of particular importance. For this reason, the criteria for evaluating such methods are also outlined. In addition to the classical instruments used for quality management, recently quality awards, national customer satisfaction barometers and certificates have become well established, also sharing the objective of raising quality standards for services. Finally, an overview is given of the techniques and methods used for securing and promoting quality standards which are linked to the phases of the management process – analysis, planning, implementation and audit. This results in the construction of a systematic system for the quality management of services using a ten-step procedure.