Process Control
I recently read an article called “Managing Quality with Process Control” by Roger E. Bohn, a professor of Technology Management at UC San Diego. Something that struck me as I read was the importance of culture in the workplace. I just completed teaching a course on Safety Management in bars and so many of the touch points were similar, in particular the intersection of data and culture. It seems that one of the major themes in “Managing Quality with Process Control” was the relevance of measuring variability in the process and its potential impact to conformance quality and performance quality.
What I find so interesting about this is that when it comes to building a culture in the service industry, your “product” is the provision of service, to both external and internal customers, as Dr. Bohn explained. T-Mobile very clearly saw the value in this and took to heart the suggestion offered by Professors Mitra and Golder, that “managers should track and compare both actual and perceived quality measures,” identifying gaps in delivery and in quality expectations. Leaders in T-Mobile adjusted their quality metrics and found significant gaps. The acceptable number of standard deviations changed. They realized that the data indicated that their current system of service delivery was out of control and incapable of delivering the expected product without significant variance.
I think the lesson that can be gained from T-Mobile’s actions can be seen in their position in relation to other mobile phone service carriers. They understood the long-term results of their efforts, regardless of the initial cost and were able to lead their industry in call center design and customer satisfaction. Because of lag time and their early response, T-Mobile has had time to adjust and refine their system while others in their industry are either still struggling or playing catch up.
Another important detail here is the role of the front-line in this process. In Gap Analysis, it is important to bring the front-line operators into the analysis, as one can see in T-Mobile’s story. Having buy in from your team is necessary. When I teach my course on Safety Management, the first thing I tell my students is that Safety, just like Service, should never be a priority. It should be part of your culture. The leaders at T-Mobile explained this, saying that the culture needs to be in place. It may be a rough and clumsy metaphor, but I like to think that having the innate urge to supreme quality woven into the fabric of your front-line culture will lead to both performance and conformance quality in product and delivery.
