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Managing Quality in a Service Context Linköping Studies in Science and Technology, Thesis No. 1579 LiU-TEK-LIC 2013:13 Managing Quality in a Service Context Elisabeth Johansson 2013 Department of Management and Industrial Engineering Linköping University SE-581 83 Linköping © Elisabeth Johansson, 2013 Linköping studies in science and technology, Thesis No. 1579 LiU-TEK-Lic 2013:13 ISBN: 978-91-7519-686-2 ISSN: 0280-7971 Printed: LiU-Tryck, Linköping Distributed by: Linköping University Department of Management and Industrial Engineering SE-581 83 Linköping Tel: +46 13 281000, fax: +46 13 281873 ii Abstract In recent years, service organizations have had to increase the number of offerings they provide. These organizations face difficulties in changing their internal processes to provide high-quality offerings. With the increase in demand for delivered services and competitive organizations from low-cost countries, service organizations currently face several issues. Today’s service organizations combine products and services into a solution to improve their competitiveness. These organizations experience changes in customer expectations depending on what they offer. That is, expectations, demands, and wishes change depending on the offering that a customer uses. Thus, service organizations need to know how expectations for quality change based on offerings and how they can work to change certain emphasized quality aspects. Hence, the aim of this licentiate thesis is to contribute to the knowledge of how to manage quality in a service context. This licentiate thesis is based on three different studies. One study is based on a number of self-assessment studies conducted at 138 Swedish service organizations using a total of more than 5,000 respondents. In the second study, data was collected over a five-year period through a literature review, interviews, a document study, and observations to capture the quality profile and associated interventions. The second study was conducted in a service organization in the public transportation industry. In the third study, a literature review was performed to provide theoretical propositions for developing a conceptual model. The conceptual model was built on theories from product quality, service quality, service logic, and solutions. The findings revealed that a service organization could change the performance level of a quality principle if the correct interventions are used. Furthermore, a service organization immature in quality management emphasizes one or two quality principles and, after the initial phase focuses on other principles as well. Therefore, if a service organization wants to change its quality profile pattern, it must change its emphasis on certain norms and principles. A further finding is the proposed solution’s quality concept and its six quality dimensions: (i) reliability, (ii) flexibility, (iii) consistency, (iv) empathy, (v) approachability, and (vi) tangibility. Furthermore, a model connecting the empirical findings in a quality concepts model is proposed. This model shows that the need exists to iii change work activities if the service organization changes strategic direction, that is, changes the number of offerings offered. iv Sammanfattning Under senare år har svenska tjänsteorganisationer ökat bredden av erbjudanden till sina kunder. En del av dessa organisationer har svårigheter med att ändra sina interna processer för att kunna leverera hög kvalitet på hela bredden av erbjudanden, som produkter, tjänst och helhetslösning. Med ökade krav på tjänster och konkurrens från lågkostnadsländer, står tjänsteorganisationer för närvarande inför flera utmaningar. Många av dagens tjänsteorganisationer, exempelvis tillverkningsföretag, kombinerar produkter och tjänster i så kallade lösningar för att förbättra sin konkurrenskraft. Dessa organisationer upplever förändringar i kundernas förväntningar beroende på vad de erbjuder. Det vill säga förväntningar, krav och önskemål förändras beroende på vilket erbjudande som kunden använder. Således behöver tjänsteorganisationerna veta hur förväntningar på kvalitet förändras utifrån erbjudande och hur de kan arbeta med att förbättra de dimensioner av kvalitet som är viktiga för kunden. Därmed är syftet med denna licentiatavhandling att bidra till kunskapen om hur organisationer kan styra sitt kvalitetsarbete på strategisk nivå i en tjänstekontext. Denna licentiatavhandling bygger på tre olika studier. En av studierna är baserad på ett antal självutvärderingsstudier genomförda vid 138 svenska tjänste- organisationer. Den andra studiens material samlades in under en femårsperiod genom en litteraturstudie, intervjuer, dokumentstudier och observationer för att fånga organisationens kvalitetsprofil. Denna studie genomfördes i en tjänsteorganisation inom kollektivtrafiken. Under den tredje studien genomfördes en litteraturstudie för att ta fram en konceptuell modell för vad kvalitet är på en lösning. Den konceptuella modellen byggdes på teorier från produktkvalitet, tjänstekvalitet, tjänstelogik och helhetslösningar. Resultaten visar att en tjänsteorganisation kan ändra prestation på en kvalitetsprincip om rätt åtgärder används. En tjänsteorganisation som är omogen inom kvalitetsstyrning fokuserar på en eller två kvalitetsprinciper. Först efter den inledande fasen fokuserar organisationen på ytterligare principer. För att tjänsteorganisationen ska kunna ändra utseende på sin kvalitetsprofil måste den aktivt arbeta med att ändra kvalitetsprincip i fokus. Ett ytterligare resultat är den konceptuella modellen över helhetslösningskvalitet och dess sex dimensioner: (i) tillförlitlighet, (ii) flexibilitet, (iii) överensstämmande, (iv) empati (v) tillgänglighet, och (vi) påtaglighet. Dessutom presenteras en modell som visar v att behovet finns att byta arbetsuppgifter och åtgärder om tjänsteorganisationen ändrar strategisk inriktning, det vill säga ändrar antalet erbjudanden. vi Acknowledgments During the writing of this licentiate thesis, I received assistance in many different ways from a number of people. First, I give special thanks to my main supervisor, Professor Lars Witell. You have guided me in writing this licentiate thesis and contributed the most to my journey through academic learning. Moreover, thanks for our discussions concerning everything from research- related tasks to more general questions such as when one can call oneself (or feel like) a researcher and general chats about children and work life. To my other supervisor, Professor Mattias Elg, I am grateful for all of your helpful advice and for your belief in and support of me from the first moment when I came to ask you about the possibility of becoming a PhD student. You both have influenced my academic learning and development and I am grateful to have your support during my journey. Two of my appended papers would not have been feasible if not for SIQ and Åsa Rönnbäck. Because you allowed me to use your data, this thesis had access to more research material, both quantitative and qualitative. Åsa, thanks for our short and intensive period of writing the article together, which was a great learning experience and fun for me. Special thanks are also due to James Morrison for helping me improve the language in this thesis. I would also like to thank all of my colleagues for making being at work a fun experience. Special thanks to Martina for valuable suggestions related to improving an earlier draft of this thesis, to Hannah for your infectious laughter and for helping me with many research-related questions, to Dag for the motivation we gave each other during weekends, to Jon for the helpful advice on certain portions of the thesis, and to Lilian for our chats in the morning when only you and me were at work. Thanks also to Per for the help in straightening out questions on concepts and perspectives. Thanks for all of the joy that I experienced with all of you! During this period, other individuals assisted me with tasks other than actual writing. Thanks to my family – in the form of the entire Family Peterson in Bjälbo – whom I know believes in me and supports me, and to my in-laws, who are always there for me. Special thanks to my friend Anna for being there for us when the day had too few hours. You are all wonderful! vii In this moment, two individuals in my life matter most of all to me. One is my beloved husband Johan, who provides me with significant support with all tasks outside work. You represent safety and are a pillar for me; without you, I would not have had the time to finish the thesis during this period. The other person is my beloved son, Sixten – you make everything else seem trivial. You give me energy! Finally, I would like to thank you, my unborn child, for reminding me of your existence now and then. By literally kicking me, you gave me the motivation to finish this thesis. We eagerly await your arrival! Elisabeth Johansson Linköping, January 2013 viii Appended papers Paper I Changing quality initiative − does the quality profile really change? Johansson, E., Witell, L. and Elg, M. (2013) Accepted for publication in Total Quality Management and Business Excellence Previous versions of this paper were presented and published in the proceedings of the 12th International Research Symposium on Service Excellence in Management (QUIS), Ithaca, 2011 and the 13th International Conference, Quality Management and Organisational Development (QMOD), 2010. Paper II Using interventions to change the quality profile of an organisation Johansson, E., Witell, L. and Rönnbäck, Å. (2013) Accepted
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