| dc.description.abstract | Service industry is a crucial part of our economy in terms of its contribution to
economic growth and development. The banking sector, which is part of the service
sector, deals with the marketing of services (intangible goods) which possess various
unique characteristics making their marketing difficult as compared to the marketing
of physical commodities. Due to this, services are best marketed by improving the
quality of service as a whole.
In this regard, most banks including Standard Chartered Bank (which is the
mam area of study and a pioneer in TQM implementation), have attempted to
implement total quality management in their operations. This is being done in an
attempt to continuously improve the quality of services provided (which are produced
and consumed simultaneously) in order to achieve customer satisfaction.
Although TQM practice is relatively new in Kenya, and particularly the
banking sector, it has been accelerated by increased global competition occasioned
by liberalization and increased customer awareness. Standard Bank, therefore,
introduced the concept as a competitive weapon against the other players in the
banking industry in order to give it a competitive edge. TQM practice enables a bank
to differentiate it's offerings from the others' offerings.
Despite, the bank's efforts to implement the concept in it's operations, the
process has not been easy-going. The study is therefore, sought to determine the
various obstacles that hinder effective implementation of TQM by the bank to
identify the various strategies that it has used to overcome the mentioned obstacles
and to find out whether TQM has a future in the Banking Industry.
From the analysis TQM faces many obstacles in its implementation. Some of
which include people's resistance to change, low attitude and poor understanding of
the concept among others.
Some of the strategies that the bank has used to solve the mentioned
obstacles, include, staff training Management of change, participatory management
and many others.
Finally, TQM practice in the banking industry has a bright future because it is
only through focusing on quality that the banks will survive into the next millennium. | en |
