Quality In Consulting : How Hard Is It In Application

TQM IN SERVICES

TQM is commonly known for the principles of continuous improvement, awareness of total cost of quality, recognition that everyone holds responsibility for quality, customer orientation/focus, process orientation, commitment of senior management etc. However, quality has been commonly associated with industries where it originated and not with services which are difficult to measure, evaluate and apply a zero-defect concept to. Therefore, 'the quality units appropriate to industrial products, such as zero defects and performing to specifications, were less appropriate to the intangibles that are at the heart of service'.¹

When it comes to association of quality with service in consulting, many questions naturally arise such as: How do customers rate service quality provided by a consultant? What elements of consultant's delivery are associated with customers' poor/high ratings of the service quality? What are desirable and expected outcomes?; among