If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Improving the quality of an organization's products and services is fundamental to business success. The once-held view that product or service specification is static and readily achievable is gone. Managers in world-class companies realize that customer wants and desires are changing, that customers' expectations must be clearly understood, and that their firm must conform to customer wishes. This customer focus requires continual quality improvement, creating a dynamic business situation.If customers are demanding improved quality, then what quality improvement approach leads to the best organization performance? What managerial actions encourage the highest quality and financial performance? Further, is the quality improvement approach that works best in one nation or region the best in other parts of the world? This study is directed to these Each of these principles is implemented through a set of practices, which are simply activities such as collecting customer information or analyzing processes. The practices are, in turn, supported by a wide array of techniques (i.e. specific step-by-step methods intended to make the practice effective) (p. 394).
Purpose -The purpose of this article is to develop and empirically test an extension to the three-column format SERVQUAL instrument to evaluate passenger rail service quality. Design/methodology/approach -This article combines the literatures of service quality and rail transport quality to develop the conceptual framework. Three new transport dimensions (comfort, connection, and convenience) are added to the original five SERVQUAL dimensions (assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles). The instrument was tested on a passenger line in Wellington, New Zealand. Valid responses to 340 questionnaires were statistically analyzed. Findings -High Cronbach alpha values supported the reliability of the instrument. Content and construct validity are demonstrated also. Regression analysis identified assurance, responsiveness and empathy as the quality factors that had significant effects on overall service quality. In addition, customers indicated that reliability and convenience were also very important factors. Service quality "zones of tolerance" were identified for each dimension and attribute. Research limitations/implications -There are not many published studies to confirm or compare the results of the three-column SERVQUAL instrument, either in the general service literature or in the rail passenger literature. Although the five original SERVQUAL dimensions have been tested quite extensively, the three new rail transport dimensions require further development and testing, particularly since the sample was drawn from a single passenger line in New Zealand. More development and empirical testing are required to refine this measure. Practical implications -Based on the eight dimensions, the practical use of the "zones of tolerance" for identifying areas of quality shortfall and managing quality are illustrated in this paper. Originality/value -This paper provides one of the few empirical applications of the three-column SERVQUAL instrument and extends it to make it more suitable for evaluating rail passenger service quality.
For many years culture has been claimed as an important component of organizational success in general and TQM and quality improvement in particular. This study examined management culture and quality performance in a sample of New Zealand manufacturing organizations. The culture was measured using the Organizational Culture Inventory, and quality performance was measured using questions from Leading the Way: A Study of Best Manufacturing Practices in Australia and New Zealand. Different management cultures were found to have correlations with quality indicators such as: warranty claims, percent defectives, ratio of quality inspectors to direct production workers, and delivery in full on time. No significant correlations were found between the organizational cultures and cost of quality, or with supplier quality. We suggest that through understanding these relationships between culture and quality, managers may be able to develop more effective and competitive organizations.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how quality award‐winning organisations have used lean Six Sigma to assist their efforts to improve their business excellence scores.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a case study approach and uses data collected by interviews and at public workshops. In addition, publicly available materials such as award applications were also examined. Two organisations were studied, one in New Zealand and one in the USA.FindingsThe results show that lean Six Sigma can contribute strongly to each category of the business criteria for performance excellence. There was no evidence of compatibility problems between the lean and Six Sigma components.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is based on two case studies of award‐winning companies that had adopted lean Six Sigma after a long journey using a wide range of improvement approaches. More work is needed to examine the use of lean Six Sigma in the early stages of the business excellence journey.Practical implicationsSome literature on lean Six Sigma suggests that the tools associated with each component are used in a sequential fashion or dominant/subordinate roles. This research showed that the choice of lean Six Sigma tools by project teams was decided more by the complexity of the project rather than following some particular sequence.Originality/valueBusiness excellence awards are common in many parts of the world. Organisations are continually seeking ways to improve their performance and to advance up the scoring scale. This paper shows how two award‐winning companies have harnessed lean Six Sigma to improve their operations and improve their scores.
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