Page
Designed By Michelle’s Designs |
 E-mail Us! |
"The Best of Both Worlds"
“When was the last time you got a call from
the President of your cleaning company?” In most cases the client will only see and
hear from upper management during the first few months following a sale, and the last few
months before their service is terminated. Corporate
bureaucracies tend to insulate their senior managers from the customer. It is our belief,
that as an owner managed companies, Texas Urban Enterprises and Custom Building Services
has a distinct advantage over the typical corporate structure.
As owner/managers, we encounter the quality issues of our customer daily--and more
importantly--we are empowered to insure our commitment to quality. Within any large
corporate structure, a great deal of confusion is generated by the conflict between senior
management and on site managers. The natural order is for senior managers to concentrate
on “financials” and high order corporate issues, while most on site managers
naturally focus on sales (their motivating factor). Quality control is more often than not
in the hands of operations managers and
supervisors, who have very little influence with upper management. These individuals have
neither the means nor the authority to allocate company funds toward quality assurance.
So the natural order of things in the
corporate world, results in an upper level management quest for more profit and sales. In
response, the on site managers concentrate on cost savings and sales. The operations
people are left with inadequate resources to properly maintain their accounts; they are
the ones left to deal with complaints and quality problems caused by the failure of senior
managers to apply the necessary financial resources.
In an industry prone to have problems, the situation worsens as operations
people, then on site managers, attempt to insulate senior managers from the very problems
and complaints that they should be aware of. This constant turmoil between fluctuating
profit requirements and the need for labor, equipment and supplies creates the classic
breakdown between client and service provider.
"Quality is determined by senior
managers!"[1] Senior managers are the only
associates in the organizational structure empowered to allocate the funds and resources,
with which, a business may implement the processes that determine quality; consequently, those senior managers must be committed to
quality. This is a common tenet of Total
Quality Management accepted by Demming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum and other definers of
the concept.
We believe that the owner/managed
business provides the best platform for delivering quality service to our customer. As owner managers, we are empowered
to direct the necessary resources to assure quality—we do not have to ask a regional
manager for permission! The structure of our
owner managed business allows us to concentrate on service quality and customer
satisfaction, instead of corporation mandated sales and profit goals.
"Customer focus--meeting the needs
and expectations of the customer--is the key principle in the Total Quality Management
System." [2] Owner/managers receive daily,
direct feedback from the customer--this situation exerts tremendous influence on the
owners, who in turn, exert the most influence on operations processes. The empowerment of the owner/managers and their
close relationship with the customer--will most often translate into a total allocation of
available resources to provide customer satisfaction. There can be no stronger expression
of customer focus--a critical element of TQM.
Our senior management and local managers have fled
“sales oriented” corporate backgrounds, for the “service quality”
orientation of our present company. For the
first time in our careers, we are empowered to direct our attention and resources toward
quality assurance. Our main goals are not to make sales. We want to do business!
Despite our
frustration with corporate greed, we have benefited from our corporate backgrounds. We
have had the opportunity to work with large, professional accounts and clients at an early
age. We have learned what is expected and how to provide the service requirements of
demanding situations. Our attention to
detail, professional attitude and our understanding of the cleaning business are a direct
result of our corporate training and experience.
The daily encounter between the
owner/manager and the customer-- exerts tremendous influence on the owners to allocate all
available resources toward quality assurance. There can be no stronger expression of
customer focus--a critical element of TQM in the service industry. [3]
"Customer focus--meeting the needs and
expectations of the customer--is the key principle in our Total Quality Management
System." Owner/managers receive daily, direct feedback from the customer. The
financial empowerment of the owner/managers results in a total allocation of available
resources to provide customer satisfaction. This synergy of upper management involvement with
the day to day activities of our customers
allows them to truly benefit from "the best of both worlds."
Page
Designed By Michelle’s Designs |
E-mail Us! |