CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Quality Service Management in Tourism and

Hospitality

Introduction

In the tourism and hospitality industry, establishment of quality is one of the prime reasons
that an entity will be patronized. It should always be remembered that customers (guests as we call
them) have a lot of choices. With over decades of existence in operations, the determination of
quality has changed through the years. Add it up to the impatience and sophistication of our guests,
this concept should always be inculcated in all service providers in this industry.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

• define what is quality;
• determine the different dimensions of quality;
• identify the distinction between goods, services, and service products; and
• gain insights on the contributions made by the pioneers of total quality management and
service management.
 Knutson (1990) reflected in his research that the intense competition in the hospitality
industry has led many businesses to look for ways on how they can profitably differentiate
themselves from their competition and capture the highest quality. Similarly, Weiermair (2000)
noted that in the tourism sector, even though the production and distribution of services involve
different experiences on both parts of the tourists and the suppliers, the ultimate goal is still to
achieve the highest quality possible.
To determine the "highest quality," one must first understand the concept of "quality." For
our guests in the tourism and hospitality industry, one will be using specifications, standards, and
other measures to evaluate quality. This is now a piece of evidence that quality can be understood,
defined, and measured. Especially for our guests, sometimes if asked on quality, they could not
define it but would immediately know one when they see one. It will now be critical for quality to
be seen. To illustrate, as what the quote says, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," so is quality,
and more importantly, our guests define it.

Joseph Juran, one of the pioneers in "quality" research, defined quality as "fitness for use."
This means that the concept of quality is variable to the one defining it. We cannot say that the
service of a casual dining restaurant has high quality if we have no intention of dining in the said
restaurant. It is because we are not intended for the said restaurant, so we have no means in
determining quality. A dining staff member that has no experience in the kitchen cannot decipher
the difference whether a kitchen knife is of good quality or not. It is because it is not fit for him/her
to use it. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the world body for standard
formulation, also defined quality as "the totality of features and characteristics of a good or service
that bear on its ability to satisfy a given or implied need." In the definition, it is clear that a "given
or implied need" should be addressed and this is usually defined by the user, in our case, our guest
or restaurant staff from which he/she will address the criteria for quality.
Joseph Juran and the logo of International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

Service Product: Goods and Services

Many have been mentioned already with the concepts of products and services. But let us
add another term: goods. These three terms are often confused with each other. For the purposes
of this book, we will be taking the marketing perspective of the terms. A product can be defined
as anything that we can offer to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that could
satisfy a need or want. However, the definition of product does not only involve tangible goods
such as those that are purchased in restaurants like burgers, fries, or drinks. The definition of
product must be extended to include intangible objects as well because they can also be offered to
a market. Burgers, fries, and drinks are what embody the next term, which is goods. Goods,
according to Hill (1999), refer to physical objects for which a demand exists; their physical
attributes are preserved over time; and their ownership can be established, can exist independently
of the owner, and can be traded on markets. Services, meanwhile, have four features. Lovelock
(1983) connoted this as the IHIP characteristics: intangible, heterogeneous, inseparable, and
perishable.

Services are intangible in nature. It means that they cannot be touched as they are not
physical and can only exist in connection to other things. For example. the warm smile and grateful
service of a food attendant in a restaurant cannot be touched but can be felt and can only exist
because you have ordered a food item in a restaurant. Similarly, services are heterogeneous due to
their dependence on the workforce which does the act. In hospitality, this concept is sometimes
referred to as "inconsistency" The service that a hair therapist renders to his/her client at 10 am
would be of different quality and dimension as to when he/she does the service at 8 pm. This is
why the industry has the concept of "service recovery" in place. Just like when a famous pizza
house delivers its pizza on time, if it fails to do so, the pizza would be free. The concept of
heterogeneity is also brought about by the differing likes and dislikes of the guest. Even though a
standard is set, the satisfaction of each guest varies greatly and of course, as previously stated, the
guest defines the concept of high quality; that is why, commonly, the service staff adheres to the
request of the guest. Inseparability, meanwhile, means that the production (act of delivery of
service staff) and the consumption (guest experience) cannot be separated from each other. In a
spa, for example, the service rendered by a spa therapist cannot be done while the guest is still at
the office. The guest should be present for the massage service to be done. Using technical criteria
to define services, Smith (1776) states that a service will "perish in the very instant of its
performance, and seldom leave any trace or value behind them for which an equal quantity of
services could afterwards be procured." This is especially true for hotels where the main product
 is the sale of its guest rooms. For example, if the sales team of a particular hotel does not perform
its job properly, usually the chance where a room can be sold is lost forever. The sale cannot be
brought back again for that specific day and time. Because of these characteristics, implications
exist, which will be tackled in the next chapters.

The overnight stay of a guest exhibits an intangible, heterogeneous, inseparable, and perishable
(IHIP) experience.

Goods Services Resulting implications

Tangible Intangible *Services cannot be inventoried.
*Services cannot be easily patented.
*Services cannot be readily displayed or communicated.
*Pricing is difficult.
Standardized Heterogeneous *Service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on
employee and customer actions.
*Service quality depends on many uncontrollable factors.
*There is no sure knowledge that the service delivered matches
what was planned and promoted.
Production separates Simultaneous *Customers participate in and affect the transaction.
from consumption production and *Customers affect each other.
consumption *Employees affect the service outcome.
*Decentralization may be essential.
*Mass production is difficult.

Nonperishable Perishable *It is difficult to synchronize supply and demand with services.
*Services cannot be returned or resold.

Comparing Goods and Services: A. Parasuraman, V.A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry,

"A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research," Journal of
Marketing 49 (Fall 1985), pp. 41-50.

Now that we have distinguished the differences between goods and services, it is now time
for us to develop the service product concept. Ford (2011) mentioned that goods and services could
not be separated from each other. In the delivery of services, one cannot be performed properly
without the use of tangible items. For example, for a spa therapist to be able to conduct a full-body
massage, he/she needs a cozy bed that would ensure comfort to his/her guest, essential oils to apply
to the body for the massage, or glasses when conducting ventosa service. A tour guide needs maps,
flags, or other collaterals for him/her to deliver his/her "commentary." Thus, it is essential that
these components be purchased as a package. With this, the concept of service product was
conceptualized.

Dimensions of Quality for Service Products

Garvin (1987), in an article in Harvard Business Review, mentioned that because of the
competition for high quality goods and services and with the internationalization of said concepts,
the following dimensions for quality should be observed and considered:

1. Performance - It refers to a service product's primary operating characteristics. Usually in

the hospitality and tourism industry, as we are catering to intangible dominant concepts,
performance often means prompt service. This dimension of quality has very measurable
attributes, that is why brands can usually be ranked objectively on their respective aspects.
Although measurable, it is quite hard to measure overall performance rankings as they involve
benefits that not every consumer needs.

2. Features - Features are dimensions of quality, which are usually cited as a secondary aspect
of performance. They are secondary in such a way that they supplement the basic functioning of a
service product. Examples would include free drinks on a plane, free Wi-Fi service in guest rooms,
and a complimentary hot tea after a full-body massage. Sometimes, identifying features from the
primary performance characteristics is difficult as they accentuate the actual performance
indicators. But what is important to know is that features involve objective and measurable
attributes that can be clearly observed which sometimes affect their translation in quality
differences.

3. Reliability - It refers to the ability to perform the promised service product dependably and
accurately. This means that being able to provide service as promised is one of the main
considerations in assessing this dimension. The guest assesses quality by gauging that when he/she
is promised to for his/her pizza to be delivered in 30 minutes, it should be delivered in less than or
exactly 30 minutes. When the guest is promised for a mouthwatering dining experience, then the
ambiance, service, and food should all be complimentary to deliver the said experience. Reliability
can also mean dependability in handling guests' service problems, in that every challenge or
difficulty that may arise be treated right the first time.
4. Conformance - This quality dimension means that a service product's design and
characteristics should meet the standard set. Juran became one of the pioneers who specialized on
this area. Service products to be accomplished and performed properly need to have specifications.
When new product offerings or service provisions are developed, dimensions are actually set to
become standards for evaluation. These specifications are treated as the "targets" to be met in a
specific service product.

5. Durability - This dimension is more detectable in goods rather than in services and it has
both technical and economic dimensions. Technically, durability can refer to the amount of use
before a specific product deteriorates. For example, a commercial oven can be measured by the
number of years it may service a specific kitchen inside a restaurant, or an espresso machine in the
case of coffee shops. In the case of service aspect, in both personal and company reputation, costs
in training and hiring of qualified and complementary staff may be considered within this
dimension.

6. Serviceability - The sixth dimension of quality, again more inclined toward goods rather
than services, is serviceability or the speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of repair. Guests are
concerned with the breakdown of the products that are actually offered to them. But most is
importantly, they are concerned with how fast the standard they paid for can be restored.
Connecting to service concepts, this dimension can also cover how fast a hotel can transfer a guest
to another hotel after he/ she was declined because the initial hotel was fully booked, or how the
restaurant management can deal with accidents and give service recovery at the soonest possible
time.

7. Aesthetics - This dimension, along with the last dimension, are highly subjective. Aesthetics-
how a service product is perceived is clearly a matter of personal judgment. It reflects how a guest
is as an individual. Even with this fact, there appears to be some patterns in guests' likes and
dislikes when it comes to basis of tastes. Their tastes of course are affected by a variety of factors,
including their demographic and psychographic characteristics. Because of this, hotels, resorts and
other hospitality and tourism establishments need to conduct market segmentation to develop their
target segments; as what the quote says, "You can't have it all." In the case of some famous hotel
chains, they have segmented their properties or brands to cater to differing needs of the guests.

8. Perceived Quality - Guests usually do not have a complete guide on a service product's
dimensions; unknowingly, they are indirectly measuring and this measurement is the only basis
for them to compare brands. A tour experience for example cannot be observed directly; it usually
must be gauged by a number of tangible and intangible aspects of the tour package. Because of
this, images, advertising, and brand names can be critical. Some brands even ship from outside the
country to maintain service quality and to deliver value as they promised it to their guests.
Corporate reputation is its most prized possession and is the focus of perceived quality.

Notable People in Service Quality

With the emerging demand for studies in total quality management and services marketing
leading to the study of service quality, the following people were involved in the evolution:
1. Walter A. Shewhart was an American physicist, engineer, and statistician. He is also known
as the Father of Statistical Quality Control and also related to the Shewhart cycle.

2. William Edwards Deming was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author,

lecturer, and management consultant. He championed the work of Walter Shewhart, including
statistical process control, operational definitions, and what Deming called the "Shewhart cycle"
which had evolved into Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA).

3. Joseph M. Juran made many contributions to the field of quality management in his more
than 70 active working years. His book, Quality Control Handbook, is a classic reference for
quality engineers. He revolutionized the Japanese philosophy on quality management and in no
small way worked to help shape Japan's economy into the industrial leader it is today. Dr. Juran
was the first to incorporate the human aspect of quality management which is referred to as Total
Quality Management (TQM).

4. Philip B. Crosby was a businessman and author who contributed to management theory and
quality management practices. He initiated the Zero Defects program at the Martin Company. As
the quality control manager of the Pershing missile program, Crosby was credited with a twenty-
five percent (25%) reduction in the overall rejection rate and a thirty percent (30%) reduction in
scrap costs.

5. Armand V. Feigenbaum was an American quality control expert and businessman. He

devised the concept of Total Quality Control (TQC) which inspired Total Quality Management
(TQM).

6. Kaoru Ishikawa is notable for rejuvenating the norm in the workplace. He always believed
that quality should not stop in reinventing a product. alone. He was one of the few people who
believed that delivering quality does not stop in purchasing the product; it goes beyond the
transaction itself. Thus, he highlighted and reinvented the concept of customer service, giving us
the concept of after-sale service and warranty. He was also the one who coined the "Ishikawa" or
"fishbone" diagram that highlights the cause and effect of the activities and processes while in
constant search of quality in operations.

7. Genichi Taguchi was an engineer and statistician. From the 1950s onward, he developed a
methodology for applying statistics to improve the quality of manufactured goods. Taguchi
methods have been controversial among some conventional Western statisticians, but others have
accepted many of the concepts introduced by him as valid extensions to the body of knowledge.
 In services marketing and management, the following have made significant contributions
noteworthy to be recognized:

1. James H. Donnelly, in his works, highlighted the differences between the marketing
"channels" used for services and those used for physical goods and implications for marketing
strategy.
2. A. "Parsu" Parasuraman, Valarie A. Zeithaml, and Leonard L. Berry
developed their pioneering "gaps model" of service quality which highlighted the importance of
efforts made to assess quality in
services.

3. Mary Jo Bitner and Bernard H. Booms developed their expanded "marketing mix"
for services which took into account the distinctive characteristics of service identified in the
"crawling out" stage: intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability. They added
three more Ps to this original marketing mix to make it more appropriate to services: people,
process, and physical evidence.

4. Christopher Lovelock was best known as a pioneer in the field of Services Marketing
among other titles, such as author, professor, and consultant. He was also known for his excellent
case studies.

5. Theodore Levitt was an economist and professor at Harvard Business School. He was also
an editor of the Harvard Business Review who was especially noted for increasing the Review's
circulation and for popularizing the term globalization. In 1983, he proposed a definition for
corporate purpose: Rather than merely making money, it is to create and keep a
customer.

6. Walt Disney and the Disney Company while crafting their concept for theme parks also
pioneered the thought of the service providers not only as team players but also as "cast members"
just like in a movie or theater.

7. Bruce Laval, an industrial engineer of the Disney Company, conceptualized the term
"guestology" and the guest point of view (GPOV) when viewing service quality in the tourism and
hospitality industry.

Discussion Questions
1. What is quality? How does one determine quality?
2. What are goods and services? How are they related to service products?
3. What is IHIP? What are its implications in the delivery of service products?
4. What are the different dimensions of quality for service products?
5. Who are the pioneers of total quality management and service management? What are their
contributions?

Experiential Exercises
Try to dine at a coffee shop and observe the quality of service that the staff delivers and
compare it with that of a nearby carinderia. Establish points to consider when comparing. What
are their similarities? What are their differences? What could be done to better their services?