Page 63 - DMGT524_TOTAL_QUALITY_MANAGEMENT

Total Quality Management

Notes 5.1 Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by
a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is not an objective
statistics but more of a feeling or attitude. If a customer is happy with a product or a service it has
hired or purchase they will pay their bills promptly, which greatly improves cash flow-the
lifeblood of any organization. Customers that are satisfied will increase in number, buy more,
and buy more frequently.

Figure 5.1: Customer Satisfaction Organizational Diagram

Customers
Front Line
Personnel
Functional
Operational Areas
Senior
Managers
CEO

This inverted pyramid is a good way to depict the importance of customers. He is at the top of
the pyramid and the CEO is at the bottom. This shows the relative importance of people at the
bottom of the hierarchy. A company never makes a product for its top management people,
rather it is meant for the customer. As front line employees are in direct contact with people so
they are in a better position to understand a customer’s needs and problems.

!

Caution Every effort should be taken by the organization to seek opinion from front line
employees. Even in case of empowerment it is front line employee who should be having
more empowerment which will enable him to solve customer problem on the spot.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

1. One of the most important factors for the success of an enterprise is its ………………….
2. …………………… is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet
or surpass customer expectation.

3. Every effort should be taken by the organization to seek opinion from ……………………
employees.

5.2 Customer Perception of Quality

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) survey on the user perceptions of important factors that
influenced purchases showed the following ranking:
1. Performance

2. Features

58 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY