Russell and Bromley Retirment Homes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Russell and Bromley Retirment Homes - Essay Example The main emphasis of the contemporary literature on operations management is on both human and technical aspects (Chase, et.al 2001). This means that needs of human beings are to be identified in order to better understand and solve the management problems. The main issues that can be easily identified are cleanliness, parking and meal issues. Another important problem is that the house keeper is aiming to keep the area manager happy instead of focusing on people. This is a grave problem and without solving this problem there is little hope for any kind of improvement. If managers are busy in satisfying their superiors rather than customers then it will adversely affect the business because the needs of the customers will be ignored (Klenke, K. 2008). The case study of Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes also shows lack of trust and confidence in the leadership of the house keeper. The residents are also not happy because there needs are not met. The unhappiness of the resident is t he consequence of the lack of leadership of the house keeper. A proper restructuring and redesigning of operations is required in order to improve the situation of the retirement home. Parking problem and meal issues can be resolved by properly defining tasks and changing the current process of servicing residents. Question 1(a) The definition of quality is often debated by management scholars. It will be useful to identify the different approaches used to define quality. There is a user based approach of quality which says that product or service should be without any error. This gives a perspective of quality from the end consumers of the product or service. Product based approach of quality argues that quality is providing perfect goods or services with particular characteristics. Then there is value based approach, manufacturing based approach and transcendent approach defines quality in terms of value, error free product or service and internal excellence respectively (Slack, C hambers & Johnson, 2010). All these approaches are valid and all of them give different perspective on quality. But however we will have to define quality in a general way too. Quality, in simplest of ways, is measured by degree of satisfaction which consumers derive from product or services (CBS Interactive Business Network, 2003). This definition is perfect with regards to the retirement home because perception of quality of the residents is not so positive. The key aspects of quality in Russell and Bromley Retirement Homes are cleanliness, timely meals, proper space for mobility, regular checkups and health care for retirees and cosy living conditions. All these can be considered as important aspects of quality. There are both implicit and explicit services that are related to the retirement home. Implicit services are those that have psychological effect like attitude of the cook or house keeper towards them and explicit services are those services that are visible to the consum ers like cleanliness and good and diverse menu (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2007). The quality of both implicit and explicit services is important for the retirement home. Question 1(b) The quality assessment tool which will be perfect for assessing quality or perception of quality in the retirement home is short face to face interviews or surveys. These two are the best because quality in the retirement home can only be defined in terms of customer satisfaction. It is the consumer perception of the