Essay: Quality Improvement Plan Enhances Performance.

Quality Improvement Plan

This assessment is intended to provide you with an opportunity to deepen your understanding of quality concepts presented up to the end of week 3. The exercise does not require you to address quality in a project management context directly (Assessment Task 3 will provide an opportunity to do this).

After completion of this assessment you should be able to:

Define and discuss quality objectives in relation to diverse industry projects

Employ project life cycle and process management strategies to enhance project quality outcome

You have been asked by the general manager to write a short report recommending how to improve the quality outcomes of a key process in the organisation. The document needs to be well argued and referenced in order to convince the leadership team to adopt your recommendations. The leadership team are a sceptical group, so you will need to back up your ideas by referring to appropriate literature and making logical arguments.

Exercise

Identify an important process in an organisation, with which you are familiar or can observe directly, that needs improvement from a quality standpoint and develop a report in accordance with the general manager’s request. You are welcome to use the process that delivered the product or service you discussed as part of AT1 or you may choose a new process. Make sure you choose a real process which you can study and describe accurately (nohypothetical’s please).

Quality Management in Starbucks Coffee

One of the most famous coffee house chain and multinational coffee manufacturing company is the American-based Starbucks. Founded in 1971 in Washington, this main representative company of Second Wave Coffee is operating at more than 28000 locations on the global basis (Starbucks Coffee Company 2018). The company is known to provide the customers with exquisite coffee and other sides with the drink on a global basis making the company one of the pivotal companies on the worldwide circle. The company has set its own set of quality which is always up for up gradation by the research and development team of the company. The quality of the company is their major aspects as they have always placed their quality over their quantity in every aspect of their marketing (Tricco et al. 2012). The quality of coffee served at every outlet of Starbucks along with their snacks items have tried to maintain equal and prime quality which is one of the basic reasons that the company has attained the heights of quality and customer satisfaction (Goetsch & Davis 2014). The aim of the report is to find the quality issues and the ways in which the issues can be solved in Starbucks Coffee. The causes and a better quality management technique has been introduced in the report along with the probable outcomes of the technique in brief.

Quality is defined as the rate of a product or service and is defined as how good or bad the product or service is. The quality control is defined as a set of procedures and ways in which the quality of a product or service is being controlled and kept at an equal level (Tu, Wang & Chang 2012). Quality Management is defined as the way in which the consistency of the quality of a product or service is being maintained by an organization.

Starbucks is one of the major coffee producing and coffee retailing organization operating on a global basis which needs to maintain and manage the quality of both their product and services for the purpose of customer retention and satisfaction (Evans 2013). The definition of Quality at Starbucks is based upon the quality of product and raw material that is being used to produce the coffee and also the service that is being offered by the company to the customers. Quality is therefore one of the basic and key indicators that has marked the success of the brand in the competitive market of the 21^st century global platform (Bacon 2013).

Issues with Quality in Starbucks Coffee

The present quality team of Starbucks is said to be one of the most profound in nature and the company claims to invest in the process a number of times to make sure that the quality which is given at the end to the customers are of best quality (Mugge & Schoormans 2012). The coffee at Starbucks are said to be different from the regular Arabica Coffee as they are produced and processed at a higher altitude making them richer in taste and flavour. However, the coffee tasting team of Starbucks is quite limited and is consisted of only seven people who taste and review the beans of the whole company. The seven people who are between the age group of 20s to 50s and from different ethnicities are expected to give their ratings based on their own taste and preference (Singh & Sharma 2013). This process however is very rigid in nature as most of the customers have different taste of their own which is different from the tasters appointed by the company. Overall, it can be seen that the company, though claims to have the best in terms of product and raw materials have a very conservative tasting team to pass the product hampering the quality in the longer period of time.

One of the major problems that is existing in Starbucks is the lack of diverse tasters in terms of coffee. The company has only 7 testers who are from different age groups and demography which is obviously not sufficient for a massive multinational like the same (Nicolay et al. 2012). One of the major problems is the lack of diversity and the limitation of the tasters affecting the quality of the product in the longer run. Continuous tasting the products can hamper the sense of the employees hampering the overall quality of the company and in turn the business and reputation of the same.

The second problem is the lack of quality in the new formulated drinks of the company. The company is basically known for their rich taste of coffee which is missing in their recent servings and the addition of tastes to their classical flavours (Schultz 2012). The Holiday Offerings of Starbucks is one of the examples of this case where the customers faced lack of quality for getting different flavours in their drinks.

The immense marketing and commercialisation of Starbucks created a major loophole in their quality as they focussed more on their marketing tricks and strategies and less on the brand and product value. The merchandise and other goodies provided by the company failed to attract the customers and hampered their quality of the food and beverages offered (Starbucks Coffee Company 2018). This in turn made the company lack the reputation that it had in the previous times.

Recommendations for Quality Improvement in Starbucks Coffee

The recommendations for the company in terms of quality improvement and process modification can be seen in the following terms –

• One of the major recommendations that the company can make and follow is the process of quality improvement which is one of the major issues in the modern Starbucks. The brand is known to provide quality drinks to the customers at affordable rates which is one of the major reasons that the brand has become famous in every sense (Chua & Banerjee 2013). Therefore, one of the major recommendations for the company is to improve the quality of coffee and other snacks provided by the brand to the customers at costs affordable for them.
• Secondly, Starbucks should concentrate more on their classical and old-formulated drinks instead of just launching random flavours that would not be very suitable for the customers (Tricco et al. 2012). This incident of trying new flavours and failing at them is one of the major instances that has led to the recent failures of the brand in the course of time.
• Thirdly, the brand should introduce a trial time for each of the product instead of directly putting the new drink or snack item on the menu card. The trial time will help the company to know about the customer reviews that the product has and also about the flavours and the other items that the company chooses to introduce (Aiello & Dickinson 2014). One of the major examples for this failed product due to lack of trial is the Unicorn Frappuccino that the company launched and failed to attract the clients (Starbucks Coffee Company 2018).
• Fourthly, the appointment of more number of testers in the process to taste the quality of coffee and other snacks is another major recommendation that can be followed by the authorities of the company in making the products cater to the taste for most of the customers.
• Fifthly, the commercialisation of the products should be reduced and more focus on the quality and the variations of the products should be made to attract the loyal as well as new customers (Liebowitz 2013).
• Sixthly, the overall quality of the service should be increased which can be seen in the process and the packaging of the products and their formulation for the masses.

Over the last few years, Starbucks has improved much of the process and their products to cope up with the demand and the speed of the service. The improved process of Starbucks included implementation of the Espresso machines, the sacrificing of the aroma of the coffee for the packaged coffee beans and the increase in the flavours added to the coffee to make the end product more fascinating and enduring for the customers who are the primary targets (Evans 2013).

However, some of the major failures have occurred due to the above changes and so have made the authorities now take stable decisions for the company in future. The implementation of the improved quality process is taken to make sure that there is lack of delay in the product and the quality served is also not affected (Gargiulo 2014). However, the commercialisation of the process has the missing elements of preparation and the classical element of Starbucks missing in the matter.

The quality improvement of Starbucks made sure to implement some of the other measures that the company foresees to implement namely the introduction of more testers in the business to taste their drinks and also to make sure that drinks cater to most of the customers who are their potential clients. Another quality improvement measure that can be implemented by the company is the introduction of more quality drinks in the list of drinks already provided by the company (Evans 2013). The quality improvement process is made to make sure that each of the preparations made by the company has the subtlety and the quality that is needed for the clients as well as the company.

The change of process at Starbucks included the implementation of the better quality products and the process that involved less time and more of the conducting process. The implementation of the Espresso machines and the use of roasted coffee from the valleys of the North America is made to make sure that each of the preparation from the brand is deliberate in serving the best from the brand (Table 2014). Furthermore, the recruitment of more testers in the brand is ultimately needed by the authorities to have a detailed analysis of the process and the end products which is ultimately desirable by the brand.

Quality Outcomes of Implementing the Plan

The movement of the process strategy from the old process to the new process can involve a lot of steps for the sorting out of the whole matter to the implementation of the same. The process should start from the scratch and follow the steps as mentioned below –

• Firstly, the problems of the company should be made out from the list of activities that the company is already undergoing. The problems are the base on which the solutions should be made and so the problems of the company should be taken out and addressed in the proper way.
• Secondly, the appropriate solutions for each of the problems should be made according to the given problems and the company policies. The problems should be tackled with precision and aptness and so each of the problems should be gained a different solutions for each of the matter (Michelli 2014).
• Thirdly, the basic changes that should be done in the company should be taken into consideration and should be made to make sure that the problems of the company should be tackled in the manner as directed by the needs.
• Fourthly, a quality maintenance team should be appointed by the company to make sure that each of the changes as done by the needs and the brand’s betterment is properly implemented and the changes are made into action. In addition, the team can make sure that each of the aspects of the company that needs further attention and modification are put forwards before the authorities for the easy process (Mugge & Schoormans 2012).
• Fifthly, the customer review and feedback platform should be arranged to make sure that the changes that are being implemented by the brand are adhering to the customers or not and what other changes the customer needs to make them loyal to the brand and the service (Mason, Cole & Goza 2017).
• Lastly, the suggestions and the recommendations provided in the feedback form should be worked upon and researched well to make sure that the customer satisfaction and quality products that are the major aspects of the brand is not ignored and quality improvement measures are being appreciated. Quality being one of the major measures of products at Starbucks is made sure to have their best quality on board.

Due to the implementation of the above quality measures and the strategies to improve the prevalent quality, the quality of the products and the services can be improved tremendously at Starbucks and some outcomes can be derived which apt both for the quality of the products and the services mentioned –

One of the major quality outcomes is the increased amount of sales due to the good products and services given by the company after implementing the quality checks and measures in the company (Koehn et al. 2014).

Secondly, the expected quality outcomes of the services provided by the company and the authorities make sure that the reputation of the company increases to a whole new level due to the increase in quality of the products. The reputation of the company is one of the basic measure to implement the good results of the brand and so quality of the company is directly related to the products offered.

Thirdly, the quality increase of the products make sure that the clients who are the major customers of the brand are happy about their experience with the brand which means that they would suggest the brand to their known ones increasing the popularity of the brand to a major extent (Mason, Cole & Goza 2017). The quality increase of the brand is one of the major reasons for the increased profit which is again one of the major motives of any business organization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that quality is one of the major factors that influence the brand and the value of the products that the brand has in terms of the customer satisfaction and the potential brand value of the client. Supplying the products that are of good quality and also making sure that each of the demands and the needs of the customer is being satisfied is one of the major reasons for the quality improvement of the brand. Starbucks is one of the major beverage brand that aims to supply the best quality products to its customers which can satisfy the customers at all levels. In addition, the quality of the brand should be increased to a whole new level to make sure that the supplies of the brand in terms of both raw materials and the finished goods have their trademark quality content which is not to be altered at any cost. In the above report, all the necessary steps required for the improvement of quality and the process required for the same is being mentioned along with a probable process and strategy for the same with the quality outcomes. The above pointers would help the brand to gain potential client base with increased quality content which in turn will help the brand to increase their sales and profit in the future. Starbucks is surely advancing to improve their brand value with improved quality.

References

Aiello, G. & Dickinson, G., 2014. Beyond authenticity: A visual-material analysis of locality in the global redesign of Starbucks stores. Visual Communication, 13(3), pp.303-321.

Bacon, C.M., 2013. Quality revolutions, solidarity networks, and sustainability innovations: following Fair Trade coffee from Nicaragua to California.

Chua, A.Y. & Banerjee, S., 2013. Customer knowledge management via social media: the case of Starbucks. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(2), pp.237-249.

Evans, J.R., 2013. Quality & performance excellence. Cengage Learning.

Gargiulo, T.L., 2014. The strategic use of stories in organizational communication and learning. Routledge.

Goetsch, D.L. & Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Koehn, N.F., McNamara, K., Khan, N.N. & Legris, E., 2014. Starbucks coffee company: Transformation and renewal. President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Liebowitz, J. ed., 2013. Big data and business analytics. CRC press.

Mason, A., Cole, T. & Goza, N., 2017. STARBUCKS: A CASE STUDY OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT IN THE COFFEE INDUSTRY. Journal of International Management Studies, 17(1).

Michelli, J.A., 2014. Leading the Starbucks way: 5 principles for connecting with your customers, your products and your people. McGraw-Hill Education.

Mugge, R. & Schoormans, J.P., 2012. Newer is better! The influence of a novel appearance on the perceived performance quality of products. Journal of Engineering Design, 23(6), pp.469-484.

Nicolay, C.R., Purkayastha, S., Greenhalgh, A., Benn, J., Chaturvedi, S., Phillips, N. & Darzi, A., 2012. Systematic review of the application of quality improvement methodologies from the manufacturing industry to surgical healthcare. British Journal of Surgery, 99(3), pp.324-335.

Schultz, H., 2012. Pour your heart into it: How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time. Hachette UK.

Singh, H. & Sharma, H., 2013. Consumer Perception toward s the Quality Marks of Products. International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research, 2(9), pp.50-53.

Starbucks Coffee Company. 2018. Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks. [online] Available at: https://www.starbucks.com/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

Starbucks Coffee Company. 2018. Unicorn Frappuccino® Blended Crème. [online] Available at: https://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-beverages/unicorn-frappuccino-blended-cr%C3%A8me [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].

Table, S., 2014. Starbucks Coffee Company.

Tricco, A.C., Ivers, N.M., Grimshaw, J.M., Moher, D., Turner, L., Galipeau, J., Halperin, I., Vachon, B., Ramsay, T., Manns, B. & Tonelli, M., 2012. Effectiveness of quality improvement strategies on the management of diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet, 379(9833), pp.2252-2261.

Tu, Y.T., Wang, C.M. & Chang, H.C., 2012. Corporate brand image and customer satisfaction on loyalty: An empirical study of Starbucks coffee in Taiwan. Journal of Social and Development Sciences, 3(1), pp.24-32.