Convenience

484
Part 5:
Controlling
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Exercise Task
Review your list of nine purchase experiences and then
do the following:
1.
Assess the extent to which the quality that you
associated with each was a function of price and
your expectations.
2.
Could the quality of each product or service be
improved without greatly affecting its price? If so,
how?
3.
Can high-quality customer service offset adequate
or even poor product quality? Can outstanding
product quality offset adequate or even poor cus-
tomer service?
SKILLS SELF-ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT
Defining Quality and Productivity
Introduction:
Quality
is a complex term whose mean-
ing has no doubt changed over time. The following
assessment surveys your ideas about and approaches to
quality.
Instructions:
You will agree with some of the state-
ments and disagree with others. In some cases, making
a decision may be difficult, but you should force your-
self to make a choice. Record your answers next to each
statement according to the following rating scale:
Rating Scale
4 Strongly agree
3 Slightly agree
2 Somewhat disagree
1 Strongly disagree
_______ 1. Quality refers to a product’s or service’s
ability to fulfill its primary operating
characteristics, such as providing a sharp
picture for a television set.
_______ 2. Quality is an absolute, measurable aspect
of a product or service.
_______ 3. The concept of quality includes supple-
mental aspects of a product or service,
such as the remote control for a television
set.
_______ 4. Productivity and quality are inversely
related, so that to get one, you must sac-
rifice the other.
_______ 5. The concept of quality refers to the
extent to which a product’s design and
operating characteristics conform to cer-
tain set standards.
_______ 6. Productivity refers to what is created rel-
ative to what it takes to create it.
_______ 7. Quality means that a product will not mal-
function during a specified period of time.
_______ 8. Quality refers only to products; it is
immeasurable for services.
_______ 9. The length of time that a product or ser-
vice will function is what is known as
quality.
_______ 10. Everyone uses exactly the same definition
of quality.
_______ 11. Quality refers to the repair ease and
speed of a product or service.
_______ 12. Being treated courteously has nothing to
do with the quality of anything.
_______ 13. How a product looks, feels, tastes, or
smells is what is meant by quality.
_______ 14. Price, not quality, is what determines the
ultimate value of service.
_______ 15. Quality refers to what customers think of
a product or service.
_______ 16. Productivity and quality cannot both
increase at the same time.
Source:
Adapted from Chapter 21, especially pp. 473–474, in David
D. Van Fleet and Tim O. Peterson,
Contemporary Management
, 3rd
Edition. © 1994 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE