Analysis

Quality & Performance

Quality & Performance

Quality is defined as a product or service having the ability to consistently meet and satisfy or exceed their customer’s expectations. Performance refers to the functional service qualities delivered by employees. Quality and Performance is everyone’s concern at Starbucks, especially those on the frontline.

According to The Starbucks at Kean University their interpretation of quality is satisfying their customers with their desired order, making sure it is done correctly the first time, all within a 3-minute limit on service from time of placing the order to the time of delivery.

Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management Refers to a philosophy or way of thinking that stresses three principle actions for accomplishing high levels of process performance and quality, they are:

vCustomer Satisfaction     vEmployee Involvement    vContinuous Improvement

vCustomer Satisfaction

In order to achieve customer satisfaction these 5 things should be met, (Conformance to Specification, Value, Fitness for Use, Support, and Psychological Impressions.) The following are how Starbucks upholds the TQM model.

Conformance To Specification

Conformance to specification relates to consistent quality, on-time delivery and/or delivery speed. The processes and services at Kean Starbucks are required to adhere to certain specifications and methods. Although the Starbucks at Kean University is owned by Gourmet Dining, they are still required to follow to the same standards and regimens of all Starbucks in order to maintain the same level of quality as all other Starbucks alike. Each item on the menu has a certain recipe (or specified heating up time for pre-made sandwiches) an employee must follow in order to create the same level of quality each time that product is delivered to a customer. Kean Starbucks also conforms to a time strategy to have a customer's order delivered within a 3-minutes beginning at the placement of an order and ending at the delivering to the end customer.

Value
The amount of value a product or service possesses is contingent upon the customer's expectations of the product prior to purchasing it.  Because value is measured by the customer, Kean Starbucks can not access this information on their own and therefore they offer a way so that customers can provide the their feedback so that they can improve on their processes if needed. These feedback measurements are periodic mini surveys on how they are doing and how well the customers enjoy their product.

Fitness for Use

Fitness for use refers to how effective a design plan is for developing a good or service; and focuses on how that plan should fit the purpose and simulate certain conditions of producing the product. For external customers, a design plan example would be the manor in which Starbucks labels their cup sizes which is in Italian; Venti, Grande, Tall. This way of labeling can be confusing at times, especially for abroad students, as the most common understood language for cup sizes is large, medium, small. Moreover, Grande means large in spanish and tall means large as well in the english language. However,Kean Starbucks accepts both methods of ordering to please their customers.  Another design plan at Kean Starbucks is one that benefits both the customers and employees. It is a 3 step process that begins with the placement of an order, then proceeding to the order pick up counter, and an optional counter used for self-servicing. 

Support

Support is referred to the maintenance of a product or service after the customer has received it. Kean Starbucks defines support as the employees’ ability to openly tend to a customer whom has already been served needing assistance weather it is to rework a drink or providing the necessary condiments at the self-service counter for the customer. Some customers like their products assembled for them and ready to go while others prefer to add in their extra ingredients themselves and therefore the self-service counter is also a form of support, as it is required to provide the condiments in which a customer needs to personalize their beverage or food item.  The Ms. O’Halloran gives an example of a frequently returning customer who prefers to add her condiments or ingredients herself found one day that the preferred ingredient is not available. The Starbucks employee is notified and therefore supports the customer by providing a refill of the missing condiment.

Psychological Impressions

Psychological impressions refer to the atmosphere, images, or aesthetics of the facility in which a customer receives a service or product. The atmosphere at Starbucks at Kean is complementary to the Nancy Thompson Library. Although other Starbucks alike provide outlets and Wi-Fi this particular Starbucks is also equipped with long study tables to provide the college study type atmosphere and fit right into its setting. The employees are a big part of psychological impression greeting customers with a smile and friendly voice. They further increase the goal to make the customer feel special by personalizing their beverages and food items with a smiley face and their name. For example, an employee may use the caramel to create a smiley face on the top of a macchiato and when your order is ready you will hear your name opposed to being called a "Sausage Egg and Cheese". These processes aim to leave the customers feeling valued and appreciated. Also, on holidays such as Halloween and Christmas, the employees dress up in their costumes or holiday specific colors leaving an impression of a fun atmosphere.

vEmployee Involvement 

Employee involvement includes 2 concepts, organizational culture as well as teamwork.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture or developing a proper culture refers to the relationship of the internal customers  (employees) that rely on other employees. In order for the external customer to be properly satisfied, all-participating internal customers must be satisfied.  Therefore, when a customer places a personalized order at Kean Starbucks, it begins with the internal customer taking the order. Assuming that the customer provided their order correctly, in order for the next employee to be properly satisfied the order must be taken correctly by the previous employee and now worked correctly by the present employee and so forth. But the organizational culture goes beyond the frontline as these specific internal customers must be satisfied by the manager and assistant manger.  Ms. O’Halloran is just one of the managers that need to satisfy her internal customers by ordering an adequate amount of inventory and the correct inventory needed.

Teamwork

When trying achieving employee involvement within the TQM model, it is useful to include a teamwork strategy to create success. There are several different approaches to teamwork. Kean Starbucks uses a self-managed team approach; the small group of employees that work there work together to generate a high quality service and product.  So when a customer orders a product at Starbucks, a team of two or three employees are involved in making sure that you receive a quality product. Although Ms. O’Halloran is the assistant manager, she puts herself in the frontline position where she is not only being a leader but a team player. Another team approach used by Kean Starbucks is the use of quality circles.  Each week O’Halloran and the rest of the employees meet to discuss, identify and try to make solutions to solve any problems that may have occurred that prevent them from providing the best of a quality service and product.

vContinuous Improvement

Continuous improvement signifies to the constant effort to continually seek ways of improving processes. However, when asked about they ways they implement this strategy, O’Halloran specifies that identified staff is required to attend the seminars which teach them the process of making a new product or beverage.