Evaluate whether total quality management (TQM) is the best way to solve the problem of AFF's customer complaints.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2024). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. This is not about the benefits to AFF of reducing quality problems. It is about whether TQM achieves this outcome effectively and in a better way than other approaches such as paying employees more or using permanent contracts or using hard HRM.
2. TQM – an approach to quality that involves all members of the organisation taking responsibility for the quality in their part of the production process.
3. The concept of the next person in the production process being treated as an ‘internal customer', whose needs must be satisfied.
4. TQM needs culture change in organisations in order to be successful.
5. Alternatives to TQM: Changing contracts.
6. Alternatives to TQM: Incentives for improved services.
7. Alternatives to TQM: Disciplinary action for employees not meeting expectations.
8. Quality problems include unclean facilities, classes starting late and broken equipment, causing customer dissatisfaction.
9. Currently quality checking is on an informal basis, due to the nature of the different classes and activities.
10. Employees such as fitness instructors are employed on short-term contracts so probably only arrive for their classes.
11. Through Kaizen groups employees will be empowered to suggest changes to improve service and quality, therefore employees may be more motivated resulting in lower labour turnover and therefore improving relationships with customers leading to a reduction in customer complaints.
12. Employees will receive further training when TQM is introduced and therefore they will be better able to complete work to the required standard which will reduce the number of complaints.
13. Giving greater responsibility to instructors and cleaners will improve motivation and this result in working to a higher standard thus solving problems around cleanliness and classes starting on time.
14. TQM requires employee training and therefore there will be an increase in training costs to TC and the increased cash outflows may result in liquidity issues (acid test ratio already low).
15. Culture change will incur costs and employees may leave increasing recruitment costs.
16. Judgement as to whether TQM is the best way to solve customer complaint problems.
17. TQM may work if all types of employees, from cleaners to fitness instructors to managers take responsibility for the quality of their work, which will lead to fewer customer complaints.
18. TQM may work if all employees are trained in the concepts and treat other employees at the next stage of the operations process as internal customers who they need to satisfy by meeting quality standards.
19. If TQM is successfully introduced, this should lead to less customer complaints and bad reviews.
20. TQM may be difficult to introduce due to the employees on short-term contracts having less commitment to AFF, they could be the 'weak link', leading to less impact on complaints.
21. Some problems may be other causes, such as classes starting late may be due to transport problems out of the control of AFF.
22. Is AFF ready for the culture change that will be required for successful introduction of TQM?
23. Is there the budget and the interest in training and involving all employees in this way?
24. The new CEO will need the ability to manage the necessary changes and sell these to employees.
25. Supported judgement as to whether TQM is most suitable approach.