Quality Management In The Airline Business Business Essay

In the past 10 years, all over the world quality has turn into an important issue more than any other subject matter to all the business people. Big businesses have been provoked by style, promotions, rewards and terror to go for excellence and quality. Now a day, it is considered as a fashion to focus on quality as a way of rising competition.

Quality management is an organized approach of guiding principles and practices within a company in order to ensure the expansion of the business. The quality management practice assists the company to increase the quality of your product as well as the quality of your staff.

Quality Management consist of all the procedures that are important for attaining the quality within the organization and all the procedures that are needed to attain the aim or objective of the Quality.

The airline business is no exception to this paradigm. It is one of the industries which are keeping pace in the world. Everything: the airspace, airplane manufacturing, flight procedures, aircraft upholding, upholding measures and the other, is synchronized. Polices ensure that the quality methods work. Deliberately or not, the faithfulness to these rules has made the airline industry, both quality concentrated and quality reliant.

Choice Rationale

The basic rationale for the dissertation choice is the significant importance of Quality Management System in the product and services field of today. Moreover, the organizations are distinguishing the planned significance of quality and quality management. Many organizations have come at the ending that successful quality management can improve their aggressive capability and give strategic recompense in the market. This principle has directed to “a spell of action” (Business Week,1992) on the behalf of many organizations, both huge and little, industrialized and service, profit and non-profit, to form and develop their approaches to quality management, often with the assist of industrial and intellectual leaders in the field of quality management (John C. Anderson et al., Jul., 1994)

Secondly choice of Airline industry is because of its ever increasing expansion in operations and industry size. The rapid increase in the customer strata of Airline industry makes it a widely practicing quality management system Industry as the prime focus is on customer satisfaction. The choice of PIA for the Dissertation research is to seek out the quality management system mechanics followed with in one of the key significant organization of Pakistan. The significance of an airline is due to its gigantic sized industry size and its importance in the innovative world of today.

The airline industry lives in an extremely aggressive marketplace. In latest years, there has been an industry-wide extract, which will have far-reaching results on the industry’s style which is directed towards growing local and worldwide services (The Industry Handbook: The Airline Industry, 2010)

Aim, Research Questions and Objective of the Dissertation:

3.1: Aim of the dissertation

The aim of this dissertation is “Analysis of Quality of Service of Pakistan International Airline” and to investigate quality management system’s contribution to the organizational success”

For this purpose, a lucid analysis of the very practices of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pertaining to the quality management of the organization will be ensued to completely understand the criteria.

3.2: Research Questions of the dissertation

The attainment of above stated aim posed several research questions. The dissertation candidate developed them and those research questions are given here under:

What is the perception of customers about the reliablity dimension of services quality of PIA?

What is the perception of customers about the assurance dimension of services quality of PIA?

What is the perception of customers about the tangibility dimension of services quality of PIA?

What is the perception of customers about the empathy dimension of services quality of PIA?

What is the perception of customers about the responsiveness dimension of services quality of PIA?

Are customers travelling in different classes have same perception?

3.3: Research Objectives

Following research objectives have been developed in the light of above mentioned research aim and research questions:

To analyze the perception of customers about the reliablity dimension of services quality of PIA.

To analyze the perception of customers about the assurance dimension of services quality of PIA.

To analyze the perception of customers about the tangibility dimension of services quality of PIA.

To anayze the perception of customers about the empathy dimension of services quality of PIA.

To analyze the perception of customers about the responsiveness dimension of services quality of PIA.

To analyze the impact of different classes of customers on their impact about quality of services.

This research aims its focal emphasis on Quality management mechanics and the determinants that influence the scenario. The focus of the study is to have a professional insight into the quality management framework and to have a specific literature review of it so that in the light of the literature review, the critical analysis of the said procedures could be evaluated at PIA.

Literature Review

Quality thinking originated from the post-war era that resulted in the industrialization which consequently induced mass production. Originally, the term quality was specifically considered in the context of inspection and organizing output and the focal emphasis was on product management. With the time changes and rise in the global business edifice the services sector also expanded considerably. This beget the tem quality management and the focal emphasis shifted to Quality Management System which devised far improved professional set of mechanics for quality management and the greater and expanded focus was awarded to the consumers/customers and the impacts of products/services had on them. This was the time when Consumer/Customer satisfaction term became a pivotal element in the business globe. (Bouckaert G. & N. Thijs et al., 2003)

According to (Barbara B. Flynn et al., March 1994) The quality management is a systematic technique designed to attain and support elevated quality out-put.

There are certain issues that a study on quality contains i.e. description of quality and management and explicit mechanics like Statistical Quality Control. When coming to statistical quality control, the research development has been precise and on an accurate scientific path, founded by the initial disciplinary research work of Juran, Shewhart, Deming etc. but the other facets of quality such as quality management did not enjoyed an evolution as precise and scientific as Statistical Quality Control (Barbara B. Flynn et al., March 1994)

Since inception of the quality management concept and the rapid expansion in the services industry and an increased focus on customer satisfaction has made the phenomenon on quality and quality management a must part of organizational practices towards progress and expansion. There is a greater and increasing awareness in organizational recognition of the tactical and strategic value of the quality and its management process. In order to survive in the hard competitive global business market, organizations are rapidly deploying considerable quality management practices for the improvement in competitiveness and to attain tactical benefits and gains in their surroundings. This awareness has cast a spell and promoted this belief leading towards quality oriented activities in many of the business organizations (Business Week,1992) in almost all the sectors of the business world varying from large to small organizations, services and manufacturing sector etc. to sculpt a changed organizational edifice which stands on the pivot of Quality Management (John C. Anderson et al., Jul., 1994)

Quality management in any business is all the time a chief issue of organization strategy, planning and their scheduling. According to the ISO 9000:2005, the quality management have four key components (Rose Kenneth)

1. Quality planning

2. Quality control

3. Quality assurance

4. Quality improvement

Quality management is extremely paying attention on product and service quality.

According the (Rose, H. (2005) quality management is formed on a number of principles that can direct the organization to enhance their performance. The key opinion includes customer focus, continuous improvement and association with others.

Paul H Selden 1998 explained the quality enhancement in any organization. There are so many ways as well as product development, strategy development and employee based improvement. Quality management is an organized approach of guidelines and procedure within a company to make certain the expansion of the business in an organization. The quality management procedure assists the organization to develop the quality of your goods as well as the quality of your staff by the development of quality management’s method within organization. We can attain entire success the quality management system set the quality target, characterize quality target, evaluating quality policies, recognize the root cause and develop the services.(Selden, 1998)

According to the chartered quality institute report 2007, quality management has extensive choice of approaches to recognize the customer needs and make certain the useful structural process to assist to recognize customer requirements, needs and services. (Chartered Quality Institute, 2007 Report, 2010)

Quality is a significant aspect of production or services in keeping the customers contented. There are various definitions and opposing views of the word quality by diverse people and the general factor of the business definitions is that the quality of a product or service refers to the observation of the extent to which the product or service fulfills the customer’s prospects.

Crosby, (1979) defined quality as the conformance to needs or conditions and also recommended that to control quality effectively; it should be able to be deliberated.(Crosby, 1979)

ISO 9000: (2000) (cited in Vorley and Tickle, 2001) defined quality as the extent to which a set of intrinsic distinctiveness accomplish conditions (Vorley and Tickle, 2001)

Principles

Quality management assumes a number of management principles that can be used by top management to guide their organizations towards improved performance. The principles include:

Customer focus

An organization attains customer focus when all people in the organization know both the internal and external customers and also what customer requirements must be met to ensure that both the internal and external customers are satisfied (Westcott, 2003)

Continual improvement

One of the stable quality objectives of an organization should be the frequent enhancement of it’s on the whole performance (Cianfrani and West, 2009)

With the inoculation of Quality management in the organizational bodies and making this system an essential requisite for evolving and progressing, the customer satisfaction amplification and enhancement in the harmonized and balanced working of the workforce at workplace can easily be achieved.

The diversified Entrepreneurship strata in stuffed with significant and decisive procedures considerably vital and imperative in attaining Organizational Strategic Aims and Objectives. The organizational improvement and progress is directly dependent upon the skill and faculty to analyze any lapses and strengths of the organizational working and to identify and evaluate the impacts of any possible prospects for improvement. For this very scenario, the significance of Quality management systems is of an enormous value.

Quality Management systems are a multi-faceted organizational practice that gives organizations the capacity to have the following potential benefits:

Process Production augmentation and boosting up of the mechanism

Efficient handling and minimizing of the probability of miss-commitment with clients which in turn lead towards customer dissatisfaction.

Quality Management Systems lays basis and provides ground for the enhancement of the internal organizational factors and improved strategic objectives acquiring.

Efficiency and precision in the measurement of the organizational quality management system practices by providing a range of international standards e.g. ISO 9001-2000 (Importance of Quality Management, 2010)

Airline Industry- An Overview:

Few developments have altered how people survive and practice the world as much as the development of the aircraft. During both World Wars, government subventions and demands for latest airplanes greatly enhanced practices for their design and construction. Following the World War II, the first commercial airplane ways were set up in Europe. Eventually, air travel has become so ordinary that it would be difficult to envision life without it. The airline industry, therefore, definitely has developed. It has also changed the way in which people live and accomplish business by decreasing travel duration and changing our thought of distance, making it feasible for us to visit and carry out business in places once believed far-off. The airline industry lives in an extremely aggressive marketplace. In latest years, there has been an industry-wide extract, which will have far-reaching results on the industry’s style which is directed towards growing local and worldwide services. (The Industry Handbook: The Airline Industry, 2010)

Company Profile-PIA:The global airline industry consists of over 2000 airlines operating more than 23,000 aircraft, providing service to over 3700 airports.  In 2006, the world’s airlines flew almost 28 million scheduled flight departures and carried over 2 billion passengers .The growth of world air travel has averaged approximately 5% per year over the past 30 years, with substantial yearly variations due both to changing economic conditions and differences in economic growth in different regions of the world.  Historically, the annual growth in air travel has been about twice the annual growth in GDP.  Even with relatively conservative expectations of economic growth over the next 10-15 years, a continued 4-5% annual growth in global air travel will lead to a doubling of total air travel during this period The international airline industry provides service to virtually every corner of the globe, and has been an integral part of the creation of a global economy.  The global airline industry consists of over 2000 airlines operating more than 23,000 aircraft, providing service to over 3700 airports.  In 2006, the world’s airlines flew almost 28 million scheduled flight departures and carried over 2 billion passengers .The growth of world air travel has averaged approximately 5% per year over the past 30 years, with substantial yearly variations due both to changing economic conditions and differences in economic growth in different regions of the world.  Historically, the annual growth in air travel has been about twice the annual growth in GDP.  Even with relatively conservative expectations of economic growth over the next 10-15 years, a continued 4-5% annual growth in global air travel will lead to a doubling of total air travel during this period The international airline industry provides service to virtually every corner of the globe, and has been an integral part of the creation of a global economy.  The global airline industry consists of over 2000 airlines operating more than 23,000 aircraft, providing service to over 3700 airports.  In 2006, the world’s airlines flew almost 28 million scheduled flight departures and carried over 2 billion passengers .The growth of world air travel has averaged approximately 5% per year over the past 30 years, with substantial yearly variations due both to changing economic conditions and differences in economic growth in different regions of the world.  Historically, the annual growth in air travel has been about twice the annual growth in GDP.  Even with relatively conservative expectations of economic growth over the next 10-15 years, a continued 4-5% annual growth in global air travel will lead to a doubling of total air travel during this period The international airline industry provides service to virtually every corner of the globe, and has been an integral part of the creation of a global economy. 

When Pakistan was came into being in 1947 it included two regions on either side of the area of India. Air transportation has probably never been extra significant to the expansion of a latest country than in the case of Pakistan. In June 1946, when Pakistan was at a halt, Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of the imminent nation, inculcated Mr. M.A. Ispahani, a top businessman, to put up a national airline, on a precedence basis.

With his remarkable vision and prudence, Mr. Jinnah recognized that with the development of the two wings of Pakistan, separated by 1100 miles, a fast and well-organized way of transport was vital. It was in this atypical situation that Pakistan International Airlines was formed in 1955. In spite of wars and economic problem, the carrier endures to raise and flourish. Pakistan International Airlines is the standard carrier aircraft of Pakistan, formed in Karachi. It is the 16th biggest airline in Asia, working planned services to 73 places throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America, as well as a wide-ranging local network connecting 24 destinations.

The airline is possessed by the Government of Pakistan (87%) and other shareholders (13%). It has 19,263 employees (at March 2007). (About PIA – History, 2010)

Research Methodology and Data Collection

5.1: Type of Research:

Cooper and Schindler (2006) highlighted a number of classification schemes which can be used to classify a research. The current research effort is based on their typology regarded as a ‘Descriptive Research’ which will be based on the data collected from a range of people.

Furthermore, there are three kinds of researches which are followed by researchers. These are:

Exploratory research

Constructive research

Empirical research

The Research Methodology used for the research is Empirical Research due to its experimental, observant and practical nature. Empirical research is reality based research methodology and used direct/indirect analytical and observatory set of mechanics to prove or justify a certain Topic or scenario. This is what is needed in the research as we have to implement a practical and real world scenario based critical analysis of the PIA’s Practices for Quality Management.(Cooper and Schindler, 2006)

Both primary and secondary data would be used for data collection and analysis. The primary data would be selected through internet, email, books, journals, and online sources. The secondary data would be collected through emails, online activity and questionnaires.

Quantitative methods have their historical origins in science and the approach is sometimes referred to as the ‘Scientific method’. This method describes, explains and tests relationships, responses etc. The diagnostic is that the techniques used always generate numerical data. The data collected from the respondents through a well structured Questionnaire will then be analyzed. The analysis can be simple in mathematical terms involving the production of tables, charts and diagrams (bar chart, pie chart etc.). The data collected will be analyzed through quantitative method. All the data collected would be analyzed in simple mathematical terms involving the production of tables, charts and diagrams, which is referred to as descriptive statistics. The analysis part would be done using the bar diagrams and pie charts.

5.2 Population

According to Wrenn et al. (2008), the population for any research is a totality of all the objects which are under study. This may comprise of any object type necessary for the data collection procedure e.g. Humans, animals, objects etc. The population for this research includes the travelers that travel via PIA. The passengers varying from Business class travel to the economy class. The purpose for such a wide range selection is to have a broad spectrum of research to extensively cover all the niches of the questions of research and to satisfy the research objectives.

5.3 Sample Size and Selection Procedure

A sample of 250 passengers will be extracted. The population element is customers whereas the extent of sample selection is Lahore and timing for sample contact would be January2011. The employees will provide the information pertaining to the Organizational Quality management routines and their effectiveness and the customer’s response will show the level of satisfaction arising from the improved quality standards.

5.4 Development of Questionnaire and Pre-testing

The field study will be conducted based on a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire will intend to collect multi faceted factual contents necessary for the determining the evaluation. The questionnaire correctness is tested by testing the questionnaire on a respondent compartment of 25 persons. Then after pre-checking, it will aim at data collection by recording various responses.

5.5 Data Analysis Technique

5.6 Reliability, Internal Validity and Generalization of Finding

Limitations of the Study

Like all other research and studies, this research also does have some limitations that can make an impact over its results. Some of the limitations for this research are discussed below:

The study is confined to the study and analysis of the PIA’s Quality Management system which is an internal activity mechanic set of the organization and the targeted respondents are the Organizational Employees, Management and Customers (PIA Travelers).

Access to the company’s policy documents is difficult.

The answers of respondents cannot be controlled.

The efficacy measurement of the Quality management Practices is not 100%.

The respondent’s data may not be a precise instrument as attitudes and answers may vary partially from reality.

All of the above limitations can make an impact over the research findings, data collection, and data analysis. But the researcher would try his level best to ensure that all the limitations of research are handled carefully and have minimum impact over the research.

Access and Ethical issues

Research Schedule:

This section is build up in consultation with the research project schedule specified by Edge Hill University. The Gantt chart provided here under illustrates different stages of research. These stages are marked with weeks in which these tasks and milestones are likely to be accomplished.

Gantt Chart: Program of Research

Task

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April

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Coursework Hand in

Review Of Rough Drafts

1stMeetingWithSupervisor

Start of Research

Literature Review

Questionnaire Development

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Report Writing

Submission of First Draft

3rdMeetingWithSupervisor

Revision

Dissertation Hand in

Milestone =

Key Task =

BARBARA B. FLYNN, SCHROEDER, R. G. & SAKAKIBARA, S. (March 1994) Journal of Operations Management.

BOUCKAERT G. & N. THIJS, KWALITEIT IN DE OVERHEID & GHENT (2003) Quality in Government, Academia Press

CIANFRANI, C. A. & WEST, J. (2009) Cracking the Case of ISO 9001: 2008 for Service: A Simple Guide to Implementing Quality Management in Service Organizations, American Society for Quality.

COOPER, D. & SCHINDLER, P. (2006) Business Research Methods, McGraw Hill.

CROSBY (1979) introduction of quality.

JOHN C. ANDERSON, MANUS RUNGTUSANATHAM & SCHROEDER, R. G. (Jul., 1994) A Theory of Quality Management Underlying the Deming Management Method.

ROSE KENNETH, H. Project Quality Management: Why, What and How.

SELDEN, P. H. (1998) Sales process engineering: an emerging quality application. Quality progress, 31, 59.

VORLEY & TICKLE (2001) Quality Management (Principles and Techniques).

WESTCOTT, R. (2003) Stepping Up To Iso 9004: A Practical Guide For Creating A World-class Organization, Paton Pr.

WRENN, B., STEVENS, R. E., LOUDON, D. & LOUDON, D. L. (2008) Marketing Research: Text and Cases, Kolkata, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

The Industry Handbook: The Airline Industry. Retrieved from: http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/airline.asp[Accessed 5 December, 2010]

About PIA – History. Retrieved from:

http://www.piac.com.pk/pia_about/pia-about_History.asp [Accessed 5 December, 2010].

Importance of Quality Management. Retrieved from:

http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/importance-of-quality-management-313425.html [Accessed 7 December, 2010].