Managing Service Quality

Course details

This accredited, professional course provides current and prospective supervisors and managers with the knowledge and tools required to manage service quality in a human services and non-profit organisation.

The course takes contemporary best practices in service quality and analyses them in terms of their practical usefulness to managing in the human services and non-profit sector.

Who Is This Course For?

The course is for current/prospective first line supervisors and managers who are looking to develop their management skills in an accredited programme created specifically for the human services and non-profit sector.

Learning Objectives

After successfully completing the course you should be able to:

• Define and discuss the concept of quality in human services and non-profit organisations and explain why customer expectations are so important
• Describe how approaches to quality have evolved and identify the difference between a quality service and a quality system
• Discuss the work of two key theorists of quality management – W. Edwards Deming and Philip B. Crosby
• Understand the role of effective leadership and good people management skills in quality management
• Identify the main elements of Total Quality Management (TQM)
• Explain the concept of “kaizen”, a Japanese term referring to continuous improvement
• Discuss the factors determining quality systems in human services and non-profit organisations
• Identify and critically discuss a variety of quality models and frameworks that can be used productively by human services and non-profit organisations

Contents

Unit 1: Selecting a Quality System

• Defining Quality of Service
• Meeting Expectations
• Lack of Resources
• The Development of the Quality Concept
• Continuous Quality Improvement
• Total Quality Management
• Differences between Quality Service & Quality Systems
• Tools & Approaches – Quality Circles & Customer Surveys
• Measuring Service – Inputs, Outputs, Processes & Outcomes
• What to Measure
• Quality of Life Measurement
• Defining Quality of Life
• Are Outcome Measures Adequate
• Quality System Components
• Quality Enhancement System

Unit 2: Total Quality Management (TQM)

• Placing TQM in Context
• Deming’s 14 Points of Management
• Crosby’s 14 Steps to Improvement
• Placing TQM in Context
• Deming’s 14 Points of Management
• Crosby’s 14 Steps to Improvement
• KAIZEN
• TQM – Applications:
• Leadership
• Mission
• Policy & Strategy
• People Management
• Satisfaction: Consumers & Staff

Unit 3: Quality for Non Profit & Human Services Organisations

• Why Have a Quality System?
• Accountability
• Funding
• Feedback
• Why ‘Good’ isn’t ‘Good Enough’ Anymore
• Quality: Six Guiding Principles
• Quality: Nine Golden Quality Principles
• John O’Brien: 5 Valued Experiences
• Quality: A Conceptual Framework
• Factors, Domains & Indicators
• Quality of Life: Conceptualisation Principles
• Quality of Life: Application Principles
• The Council on Quality & Leadership (CQL)
• Personal Outcome Measures (POMs)
• The EFQM Excellence Model
• EFQM: Criteria for Assessment

Assessment

To complete the course you will need to write a 2,000-word paper that explores the relationship between the course materials and your current role as a manager. Very much a practical assignment, it will provide you with the opportunity to evaluate and expand your working practices in an environment where you have access to expert advice and the support of professional contemporaries. Having access to this learning community provides an opportunity to extend your management abilities in a uniquely supportive environment.

Qualification

The course is certified by the QQI/HETAC as a Level 6 Award. Successful participants will be awarded a Certificate In Managing Service Quality. Successful participants will hold 10 credits against the Certificate in Applied Management (Non profit / Human services).