| dc.description.abstract | This research project report aimed at showing how ISO 9000 certification affects either positively or negatively the customers. In more recent times we have seen many companies in different sectors being ISO 9000 certified; many are also in the process of getting the certification and yet after getting the certification many do not follow the guidelines to the letter and this results to having dissatisfied customers both internal and external to the organizations, hence, what is the influence of ISO 9000 certification on customer satisfaction?
The study had 4 objectives: to assess how organizational leadership in the ISO 9000 certification process influences customer satisfaction, to find out if the involvement of staff in the ISO 9000 certification influences customer satisfaction, to establish if there is a relationship between ISO 9000 certification process and customer satisfaction and to establish if there is a difference in the ISO 9000 certification process at DHL and Unilever-Kenya. The study adopted survey research design.
Target population included 22 lower-level managers, 11 middle-level managers and 33 customers of the selected organisations. A questionnaire was used to collect data, descriptive analysis such as frequencies, percentages and means were used to analyse the data. Correlation was used to test the relationships that exist between ISO 9000 certification and customer satisfaction. Chisquare test statistics were performed to whether significance difference exists between the ISO certification processes of the two companies under study.
Study findings revealed that there was a lot of staff involvement in the entire process in the organizations. There was continual improvement and interconnection of company departments and activities into one entity that ensured all departments are involved.
Also study findings revealed a positive correlation between ISO process and customer satisfaction and that effective leadership was used in the ISO certification process in the organizations for example, use of seniority in management as a criteria to select members of the team. There was a statistically significant difference in ISO 9000 certification process between the two companies.
The study concluded that leadership plays a key role in ISO process certification; employee involvement is paramount for success in ISO process; ISO process and customer satisfaction are inseparable and that different organizations have different approaches to ISO process certification. The study recommended that good leadership should be provided and encouraged in organizations to ensure effective implementation of ISO certification process. It was also recommended that management could be informed that they have to be more concerned with the process to realise high-quality results. Lastly, sensitization of employees about the ISO process and the benefits accrued is important. This can be done through promotion and socialisation of the importance of ISO certification process and its relationship to customer satisfaction across industries.
It was also recommended that the same research can be carried out in other organizations in different industries across the country to develop a countrywide perspective of nature of ISO certification process and its effects andlor impact. In addition, the same study may be carried out to evaluate the challenges of implementation of ISO certification processes. | en_US |
