Assignment

Brief

Unit Title:

Quality Management in Business (QMB)

Unit Code:

32

Date Issued:

20.01.13

Student Name:

Student ID:

Date Received:

Lecturer Name:

Shamima Hossain

Internal Verifier Name

AlankritaBista

Module Leader:

Shamima Hossain

Rules and regulations:

Plagiarism is presenting somebody else’s work as your own. It includes: copying information directly from the Web or books without referencing the material; submitting joint coursework as an individual effort; copying another student’s coursework; stealing coursework from another student and submitting it as your own work. Suspected plagiarism will be investigated and if found to have occurred will be dealt with according to the procedures set down by the College. Please see your student handbook for further details of what is / isn’t plagiarism.

Coursework Regulations

1 Submission of coursework must be undertaken according to the relevant procedure – whether online or paper-based. Lecturers will give information as to which procedure must be followed, and details of submission procedures and penalty fees can be obtained from Academic Administration or the general student handbook.

2 All coursework must be submitted to the Academic Admin Office and a receipt must be obtained. Under no circumstances can other College staff accept them. Please check the Academic Admin Office opening hours.

3 Late coursework will be accepted by Academic Admin Office and marked according to the guidelines given in your Student Handbook for this year.

4 If you need an extension (even for one day) for a valid reason, you must request one, using a coursework extension request form available from the Academic Admin Office. The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick.

5 General guidelines for submission of coursework:

a) All work must be word-processed and must be of “good” standard.

b) Document margins shall not be more than 2.5cm or less than 1.5cm

c) Font size in the range of 11 to 12 points distributed to including headings and body text. Preferred typeface to be of a common standard such as Arial or Times New Roman for the main text.

d) This is a portfolio based assignment, consisting of four portfolios. Each portfolio has sub questions to be answered.

e) You are required to reference sources with Harvard Referencing Style format.

f) All course work must be submitted

g) The copy of the course work submitted may not be returned to you after marking and you are advised to have your personal copy for your reference.

h) All work completed, including any software constructed may not be used for any purpose other than the purpose of intended study without prior written permission from St Patrick’s International College.

i) Total word-count for this course work should be around 3500 words.

Remember to keep your coursework receipt.

Outcomes and assessment criteria

Outcomes

Assessment criteria

To achieve each outcome a learner must demonstrate the ability to:

1. Understand the different approaches to quality management appropriate to commercial operations

A – discuss definitions of quality in terms of business and services provision

B – illustrate the processes of inspection and assurance

C – discuss a range of approaches to quality management

D- explain the similarities and differences between the different methods

2 Understand the benefits of

quality management in a business and services context

A – discuss what is meant by customer satisfaction

B – explain the meaning of continuous improvement

C – illustrate the type of added values to be gained

D – describe the types of information made available to customers and the importance given to effective marketing

3. Understand a range of quality controls and how service to the customer can be improved

A explain how quality management can be measured

B – evaluate the benefit of user and non-user surveys in determining customer needs

C – list the methods of consultation employed in one quality scheme to encourage participation by under- represented groups

D – identify the value of complaints procedures and analyze how they may be used to improve quality

4. Be able to apply the principles of quality management to improve the performance of an organization

A – report on the role of self-assessment in order to determine an organization’s current ‘state of health’

B – evaluate the importance of communication and record keeping

C – follow guidelines on the stages of staff consultation necessary for effective implementation of a quality scheme

D-Propose new systems or modifications to existing systems that could improve service quality.

*Please see the Assignment Evaluation Sheet for Merit and Distinction criteria

Assignment

In this assignment you are required to produce answers for the following tasks:

Task 1.For this task answer the following questions to demonstrate your understanding of quality and different quality management approaches with some real life examples

1.1Define quality in terms of business and services provision.

1.2 Describe how the concept of total quality developed from inspection and assurance?

1.3 Identify different approaches of quality management and explain the similarities and differences between them.

(LO1: 1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4)

Task 2.

For this task use the example of any organization of your choice addressing the following questions

2.1 What is customer satisfaction?

2.2 What do you understand by continuous improvement?

2.3Can you illustrate the type of added values to be gained?

2.4 Can you describe the types of information made available to customers and the importance given to effective marketing?

(LO2: 2.1,2.2,2.3,2.4)

Task 3.You are the customer service manager of XYZ Ltd. Currently the management of XYZ Ltd are considering to improve its customer service. They recently had a survey on customer service, which shows that customer satisfaction rate is way bellow than their industry average. How will you improve customer service by addressing the following issues?

3.1 explain how quality management can be measured to understand what new initiatives you have to take to improve customer service.

3.2 Can you evaluate the benefit of user and non-user surveys in determining customer needs?

3.3 What are the methods of consultation employed in one quality scheme to encourage participation by under- represented groups?

3.4 Identify the value of complaints procedures and analyse how they may be used to improve quality

(LO3: 3.1,3.2,3.3,3.4)

Task 4. For this task answer the following questions to demonstrate your understanding of how to apply the principles of quality management to improve the performance of an organization

4.1 What is the role of self-assessment in order to determine an organization’s current ‘state of health’?

4.2 What are the importance of communication and record keeping?

For this following two tasks, use your own personal experience at work or any organization of your choice …

4.3 How quality scheme can be effectively implemented by following guidelines on the stages of staff consultation.

4.4 Propose new systems or modifications to existing systems that could improve service quality.

(LO4: 4.1,4.2,4.3,4.4)

Preparing your assignment

Your assignment must strike a balance between theory and practice. Your work must avoid bland description of what is already stated in the case scenarios; description should be limited to what is absolutely necessary to emphasise a point of view or make your analysis clear. Similarly, you should not simply regurgitate theories in your assignment with no practical application of them. You should show due diligence in writing your assignment to ensure that it reflects the highest standard of presentation.

Other key considerations
Your assignment must include a cover page with title, student name and number, student contact details (email & mobile phone number), date, word count, and contents page with page numbers.

Your assignment must use good quality sources (academic material or credible news sources, up to date and relevant to the topic) and correctly referenced using the Harvard system

*Please see the Assignment Evaluation Sheet for Merit and Distinction criteria.