Measurement of Quality: Dr. Maricel Correa Galang

MEASUREMENT OF QUALITY
Dr. Maricel Correa Galang

■ Modern measurement of quality should of course be closely related to
the definition of quality. As mentioned many times the ultimate judge
of quality is the customer which means that a system of quality
measurement should focus on the entire process which leads to
customer satisfaction in the company, from the supplier to the end
user.
■ TQM argues that a basic point behind the creation of customer
satisfaction is Leadership. The basic aspect of leadership is the ability
to deal with the future.
■ In order to create an interrelated system of quality measurements we have
decided to define the measurement system according to Table 9.1 below,
where measurements are classified according to two criteria: the
stakeholder and whether we are talking about processes or results.
■ As appears from Table 9.1 we distinguish between measurements related
to the process and measurements related to the result. We distinguish
between three ‘interested parties’:
1. the company itself
2. the customer
3. the society.
■ The first two should obviously be part of a measurement system
according to the definition of TQM and the third has been included
because there is no doubt that the focus on companies in relation to their
effect on society will be increased in the future and we expect that very
soon we are going to see a great deal of new legislation within this area.
■ The business result and we have built up
extremely detailed reporting systems
which can provide information about all
possible types of breakdown of the
business result. However, this type of
information is pointing backwards and at
this stage it is too late to do anything
about the results.
■ This type of information we find in the
rest of the table and we especially believe
(and also have documentation for) that
the first four squares of the table are
related in a closed loop which may be
called the improvement cycle. This loop
is demonstrated in Figure 9.2.
MEASUREMENT OF CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
A general practical procedure for the analysis of
customer satisfaction will consist of the following
steps:
1. Determination of the customer and the process 9. Construction of quality maps
leading from the company to the customer.
10. Determination of cost points
2. Pre-segmentation of the customers.
11. Determination of sales points and
3. Determination of relevant quality attributes customer loyalty
(parameters)
12. SWOT analysis
4. Choice of competitors
13. Determination of corrective actions
5. Design of questionnaire
Sampling
6. Post-segmentation of customers based on results
7. Determination of quality types
Measurement of Customer Satisfaction
▪ Where the company delivers
goods and services to the end
user and gets information back
concerning the satisfaction.
▪ Described in where the

delivery consists of a chain of
so-called middlemen before
the goods and services reach
the final customer.
STEPS 1 AND 2
■ Determine the customer and the process leading from the company to the
customer.
– It is crucial of course that from the start it is well-known what the delivery system
looks like. It may lead to very wrong conclusions if one forgets certain parts of the
chain. To sum up, it is extremely important that the customer is clearly defined
from the start. The process must be clear and the possible points of measurement
must be identified.
■ Customers should be segmented
– In most cases customers do not constitute a homogeneous group. Different
segments will require different treatments. Hence it will usually be necessary to
split up customers in groups based upon the information which is already used
within marketing, e.g. size of customer, private or public customer, location etc. In
this case we can direct corrective action as close as possible to the individual
customer.
STEP 3
■ Determination of relevant attributes
– takes place in co-operation with the customer and the best way of doing this
is usually by setting up focus groups.
STEPS 4, 5 AND 6
■ Competitors a great advantage to have competitors in the analysis but this will
of course make the entire customer satisfaction analysis somewhat larger.
Furthermore it may complicate the analysis because in some cases it will be
difficult to find respondents who know both the company in question and the
competitors.
■ Questionnaire must be designed the size of the questionnaire should be kept to
a minimum in order not to annoy the customers. We usually recommend that the
number of parameters should not exceed 30. The questionnaire must be
professional in appearance and in the case of business to-business research a
contact person must be identified.
STEPS 7 AND 8
■ Collected material very useful to find out whether there are any segments in the
material other than the ones already defined. This can be done by using a variety
of statistical tools. If significant groupings are found, these groupings will also
be used when reporting the final results. Furthermore the material should also be
analysed in order to find out what kind of quality the different parameters
represent.
STEPS 9, 10 AND 11: Steps in Quality Map
■ Map is divided into squares by dividing each axis into two

– Using the average importance and the average satisfaction
These four squares are then used
for decisions concerning actions
■ Two squares with either high/high
or low/low squares in which the
parameters have a correct
placing.
■ Two squares are more problematic if

the importance is high and the
satisfaction is low the companyis
faced with may lead to loss of
customers in the future.
■ Low and the satisfaction is
high the company has allocated
its resources in the wrong way.
■ Kristensen and Mortensen,

1996
– This difference will usually
reflect a difference between
short-term and long-term
importance of the
parameters.
■ In practice the loyalty points are constructed by
using a series of questions concerning the loyalty
of the customer towards the company. Will the
customer buy again, recommend the company to
others and similar questions. Using these
questions it will then be possible, using statistical
techniques, to determine the (short-time) loyalty
effect of each parameter.
■ The results may depending upon whether

competitors are included in the analysis or not.
These maps may be interpreted in the same way
as the quality maps. The difference is that they
tend to separate the short-term corrections from
the more long-term corrections.
STEP 12
SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
" SWOT Elements "
Threats will be found where the

importance is high combined
with a low satisfaction.
Strengths will be where both are
high.
"Different between Strategic Level and
Operational Level"
■ Operational point of view the actions will be to adjust the parameters in
this part of the map in such a way that they will be concentrated in the
low/low part.
■ Strategic point of view from this point of view parameters in this part of
the map should not exist or rather they should all be changed to become
strengths. In this case the parameters with a high degree of satisfaction are
our opportunities.
▪ Weaknesses concerning the low/low parameters.
▪ Threats if the situation changes and customers change their
evaluation.

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MEASUREMENT OF QUALITY

Dr. Maricel Correa Galang

▪ Described in where the

■ Map is divided into squares by dividing each axis into two

■ Two squares are more problematic if

■ Kristensen and Mortensen,

■ The results may depending upon whether

Threats will be found where the

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