Abstract
This article sets forth results from an empirical study to discover the level of implementation and degree of maturity of critical quality factors in Spanish thalassotherapy centers. The aim in doing so was to identify strengths and areas for improvement that will enable Spanish thalassotherapy centers to move towards total quality management (TQM). The method consisted of, first, using descriptive analysis to analyze the level of implementation of critical factors and secondly, applying exploratory factor analysis to validate the scale. The target population comprised 31 thalassotherapy centers out of a total of 44 identified nationwide in 2011. Results indicate that the level of implementation of critical factors is greater than 69 %.
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Appendix
Appendix
Leadership |
Personal commitment of the management in the formulation and communication of the mission, vision and values of the company, can clearly be seen |
The Management Team of our company encourages change and the implementation of a culture of trust, involvement and support aimed at achieving the best practice |
The Management Team actively communicates to its employees its commitment to the process of providing quality service to its customers |
Employees are encouraged to help implement changes in the organization |
The Management Team allows employees to make their own decisions |
The management team motivates its employees and helps them to fulfill their work at a high level |
The Management appreciates the efforts and improvements made by the staff |
The Management maintains contacts with customers, suppliers and other external agents and is involved with them in the promotion and participation of alliances and improvement actions |
The changes that should be carried out for improvement are identified and boosted by the Management and their effectiveness is reviewed once implemented |
Continuous improvement is pursued proactively (in advance) before having to react to conflict or crisis |
Quality policy/planning |
The management communicates its strategy and objectives to all staff |
Strategies and business plans based on the information about customer requirements and business capabilities are developed and implemented. |
The management pursues the adequacy of the service policy to meet customer satisfaction, setting realistic goals for all staff (executives, middle managers and employees) |
Well-structured and comprehensive planning processes are defined, regularly reviewing and updating business objectives both in the short and long term |
Plans are focused towards achieving the best business practices |
Staff is involved in setting objectives and plans |
Key processes are identified and developed from the business strategies or plans |
The management communicates its strategy and objectives to customers, suppliers and other external agents in order for them to know them |
The results are evaluated by performing a comparison with those planned, with the aim of improvement |
Alliances and resources |
There is a close working relationship with suppliers |
We strive to establish long-term relationships with suppliers |
The suppliers are provided with the necessary requirements (quality) of the goods or services |
The management encourages the use of a few suppliers, with quality rather than price as the first selection criterion |
Suppliers are actively involved in our development of new products and/or services |
A management plan for buildings, equipment and other materials is formulated (form of use, maintenance, insurance, renovations etc.) to improve the overall performance of the organization |
Economic and financial resources are assigned and used adequately so as to ensure the success of the strategy |
All important information and the knowledge generated is collected and managed, being such information reliable and easy to use by the relevant personnel |
In general, management of alliances and resources is carried out according to the strategy |
Employee management |
Management of human resources in line with the strategy and/or business plans is performed |
Employees are trained in problem-solving skills |
Employees are trained in teamwork |
Experience and training of people is adjusted to current and future needs or specific training plans are developed |
People are encouraged and supported to take responsibility and make decisions without risk for the organization, to be involved in improvement activities, team work, etc. |
There is a transparent system to reward staff achievements and improvements, as well as a social benefits system (pension plan, kindergarten … etc.) |
Employee performance is measured and recognized in order to motivate them and improve their work performance |
Communication between all personnel is ascending, descending and horizontal, so that employees are considered to be well-informed and that their opinions are valued |
Staff satisfaction is measured formally and regularly |
Improvements in human resource management are introduced by using staff satisfaction surveys, regular meetings with employees, performance analysis, etc. |
Safety and/or health practices policies are well-established |
Learning |
Managers and supervisors ensure that all employees receive training in order to help them understand how and why the organization performs |
Most employees of this company have sufficient knowledge about the basics of the sector |
Most employees of this organization understand the basic processes used to create our products/services |
Availability of resources for staff training within the organization |
Managers and supervisors participate in specialized training |
Employees receive training to develop their work |
Employees receive training to develop teamwork |
Top management has established an environment that encourages continuous training |
Process management |
Control and continuous improvement of key processes |
Prevention of defective services is a strong attitude in this organization |
The processes used in this organization includes measures to ensure that development of services are consistent with the previous design and subsequent execution (quality measures) |
Employees involved in different processes know how to evaluate them |
New services in an attempt to access other markets are developed, anticipate the needs of today’s market or try to be better than the main competitors |
The development of products/services in line with previous designs and later developments is guaranteed |
The process design achieves to minimize employee errors |
Continuous improvement |
Service improvements as a result of customer satisfaction surveys, complaints and claims, etc. are introduced |
A program to find losses of time and costs in all processes is implemented |
Market research is conducted to understand current and future customer needs and as a result improvements in its products, services and processes are introduced |
Areas for improvement are identified |
Information is managed to support quality improvement (analysis of business information, cost and financial aspects to support the development of priorities for improvement) |
Increase in direct personal contacts of the organization with customers |
Use of customer requirements as the basis for quality |
Managers and supervisors support activities that improve customer satisfaction |
Customer satisfaction |
The company is concerned about collecting information from its customers to measure their satisfaction through surveys, complaints etc. |
Customer satisfaction shows improvement over time |
It has a mechanism to hear and resolve customer complaints |
Objectives in this context are established and the customer results achieved meet the objectives |
The causes of these customer results are analyzed and improvement plans or actions are implemented |
All these customer results cover the most relevant areas of the organization |
These customer results are compared with those of the main competitors being such comparative favorable or otherwise learning from them |
Employee satisfaction |
The company collects relevant information to measure employee satisfaction (surveys, meetings, motivation, training, promotion, etc.) |
Other indirect indicators of satisfaction like the level of absenteeism, complaints, involvement in improvement programs, staff turnover, etc. are evaluated |
Employee satisfaction shows improvement over time |
Absenteeism is low |
Staff rotation is low |
Objectives in this context are established and the results achieved meet the objectives set by the organization |
The causes of these results in people are analyzed and plans or actions for improvement are implemented |
These employee results cover the most relevant areas of the organization |
These employee results are compared with those of the main competitors being such comparative favorable or otherwise learning from them |
Social Impact |
Policies to reduce and prevent risks to health and safety are developed |
Environmental protection policies are developed |
The company participates in many community activities |
The feeling the community has is evaluated through surveys, meetings authorities, etc. |
The results in society show improvements over time |
Objectives in this context are established and the results achieved meet the objectives set by the organization |
The causes of these results in society are analyzed and plans or actions for improvement are implemented |
These results in society are compared with the company’s main competitors, being such comparative favorable or otherwise learning from them |
Key results |
Our financial results have been excellent |
The trends of all key results in the last 3 years are analyzed and show improvement or a high score maintained over time |
Both economic and non-economic key results are evaluated, as well as financial and non-financial |
Objectives in this context are established and these are met by the key results achieved |
The causes of these key results are analyzed and plans or actions for improvement are implemented |
All these key results cover the most relevant areas of the organization |
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de la Cruz del Río Rama, M., García, J.Á., Rodríguez, M.J.G., Fraiz, S.G. (2015). Quality Management in Spanish Thalassotherapy Centers. In: Peris-Ortiz, M., Álvarez-García, J. (eds) Health and Wellness Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11490-3_6
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