TQM/Customer Service

Brief History

McDonald’s was originally a restaurant set up by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in 1940’s in California. The company emerged from Ray Kroc who in 1955 became the exclusive franchising for the entire United States. McDonald’s global motto is focused on the quality, service, cleanliness and value (Q.S.C. & V.).

In 1977, Mike Mehigan opened Ireland’s first McDonald’s restaurant in Dublin’s Grafton Street. Since then McDonald’s has become hugely popular in Ireland. A second restaurant followed shortly on O’Connell Street. Today, 74 restaurants around the country and have recently opened five McCafés in Dublin, providing more variety to their service and employed over 3,500 people. As an achievement, McDonalds Restaurants of Ireland was included in the 2005 ’50 Best Companies to Work for in Ireland’ list. Also McDonald’s supports community programs which operate and focused on family and local environment related issues. These include sponsorships of local teams, fundraising for children’s charities and educational and environmental initiatives. In addition, McDonald’s globally has extensive conservation policies applicable not only to its packaging but to the products and ingredients it sources from suppliers.

The entire McDonalds’ stands for the principles of Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, the combination of which is designed to achieve 100 per cent total customer satisfaction. The business operated strict specifications for all its products and raw materials and is responsible for developing as well as, implementing systems to ensure safe food of the highest quality throughout the restaurants in Ireland.

The Five Gaps

Gap 1: the gap between what customers want and what management thinks customers want. This gap results from a lack of understanding or a misrepresentation of the customers’ needs, wants, or desires. A firm that does little or customer satisfaction research is likely to experience this gap.

Gap 2: the gap between what management thinks customers want and the quality specifications that management develops to provide the service. Essentially, this gap is the result of management’s inability to translate customers’ needs into delivery systems within the firm.

Gap 3: the gap between the service quality specification and the service are present in every company. If both gaps 1 and 2 have been closed, then gap 3 is due to the inability of management and employees to do what should be done. Poorly trained or poorly motivated workers can cause this gap. Management needs to ensure that employees have the skills and the proper tools to perform their jobs.

Gap 4: the gap between what the company provides and what the customer is told it provides. This is clearly a communication gap. It may include misleading or deceptive advertising campaigns promising more than the firm can deliver or doing “what it takes” to get the business. To close this gap, companies need to create realistic customer expectations through honest, accurate communication about what firms can provide.

Gap 5: the gap between the service that customers receive and the services they want. This gap can be positive or negative. For example, if a patient expects to wait twenty minutes in the physician’s office before seeing the physician but waits only ten minutes, the patient’s evaluation of service quality will be high. However, a forty-minute wait would result in a lower evaluation.

Recommendations

The success of a recommendation relies on the ability of the whole organization to comprehend. These recommendations are not hard to handle because it will begin from the initiatives of the organization or the entire team.

Reliability is the ability to perform the service dependably, accurately, and consistently. Reliability is performing the service right the first time. This component has been found to be the one most important to consumers.

Responsiveness is the ability to provide prompt service. Examples of responsiveness include calling the customer back quickly, serving lunch fast to someone who is in a hurry, or mailing a transaction slip immediately.

An assurance can be experiences when the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust. Skilled employees who treat customers with respect and make customers feel that they can trust the firm exemplifies assurance.

Empathy is the act of caring, individualized attention to customers. Firms whose employees recognize customers, call them by name, and learn their customers’ specific requirements are providing empathy. Union Square Hospitality Group, owner of several popular New York City restaurants, will return items customers have left behind by messenger or FedEx so the customers do not have to return to retrieve their belongings.

Tangibles are the parts of a service include the physical facilities, tools, and equipment that a firm can use to provide the service, such as a doctor’s office or an ATM, and the appearance of personnel.

Works Cited:

Grant, S., 2007. Focus on the Competition. Essentials of Service Quality. [Online] Available at: www.goatkids.net/Essentials.pdf. [Accessed 28 October 2009].

Hewson, M., (Dir.), 2006. The Facts About McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland. [Online] Available at: http://www.mcdonalds.ie/docs/FactsaboutMcDonalds.aspx. [Accessed 28 October 2009].

Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing. [Online] Available at: http://faculty.inverhills.edu/rmitche/Marketing/chap11and12.htm. [Accessed 28 October 2009].

Shanin, A., 2005. SERVQUAL and Model of Service Quality Gaps: A Framework for Determining and Prioritizing Critical Factors in Delivering Quality Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.proserv.nu/Docs/Servqual.pdf. [Accessed 28 October 2009].