Describes research undertaken to assess the quality of service provided by a public university health clinic. The SERVQUAL instrument was administered to patients of the University of Houston Health Center in order to evaluate customer perceptions of service quality. The results of this study are currently being incorporated into the clinic's strategic planning process, specifically with respect to future resource allocation towards quality improvement projects.
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Evaluates the service quality of four clinics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center using a questionnaire methodology. The SERVQUAL instrument was administered to patients of the Medical Breast, Leukemia, Medical Gastroenterology and Bone Marrow Aspiration clinics. Results show that, according to the service gap methodology of comparing expectations and perceptions, across all four clinics the issues of billing accuracy and waiting times are deemed by patients as significant problems. In comparing the individual clinics, the Medical Gastroenterology and Leukemia clinics are best performers and the Medical Breast clinic is the worst. However, these differences in performance are due to differences in patients' expectations of service quality, rather than differences in perceptions. Concludes that customer expectations can have a strong impact on a firm's evaluation of its service quality.
Presents the results of a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of a TQM programme in higher education. The academic advising office at the University of Houston College of Business Administration implemented a quality improvement programme called the TQM laboratory, which used the SERVQUAL instrument to assess student perceptions of service quality prior to TQM programme implementation, and then during the subsequent semester. Results yielded some implications regarding the trade‐off between high tech and high touch which may be of interest to managers. Specifically, the high‐tech focus of the TQM laboratory increased student perceptions of service quality regarding reliability and responsiveness. However, there was a corresponding decrease in the high‐touch area. Student perceptions of empathy decreased significantly with the implementation of the TQM laboratory.
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