" The Best of Both Worlds " (Business Article Provided
by Janitorial Owner Service)
"When was the last time you got a
call from the President of your cleaning company?" In most
cases the client will only see and hear from upper management
during the first few months following a sale, and the last
few months before their service is terminated. Corporate
bureaucracies tend to insulate their senior managers from
the customer. It is our belief, that owner managed companies
have a distinct advantage over the typical corporate structure.
As owner/managers, we encounter the quality issues of our
customer daily--and more importantly--we are empowered to
insure our commitment to quality. Within any large corporate
structure, a great deal of confusion is generated by the
conflict between senior management and on site managers.
The natural order is for senior managers to concentrate
on "financials" and high order corporate issues, while most
on site managers naturally focus on sales (their motivating
factor). Quality control is more often than not in the hands
of operations managers and supervisors, who have very little
influence with upper management. These individuals have
neither the means nor the authority to allocate company
funds toward quality assurance.
So the natural order of things in
the corporate world, results in an upper level management
quest for more profit and sales. In response, the on site
managers concentrate on cost savings and sales. The operations
people are left with inadequate resources to properly maintain
their accounts; they are the ones left to deal with complaints
and quality problems caused by the failure of senior managers
to apply the necessary financial resources. In an industry
prone to have problems, the situation worsens as operations
people, then on site managers, attempt to insulate senior
managers from the very problems and complaints that they
should be aware of. This constant turmoil between fluctuating
profit requirements and the need for labor, equipment and
supplies creates the classic breakdown between client and
service provider.
"Quality is determined by senior managers!"
Senior managers are the only associates in the organizational
structure empowered to allocate the funds and resources,
with which, a business may implement the processes that
determine quality; consequently, those senior managers must
be committed to quality. This is a common tenet of Total
Quality Management accepted by Demming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum
and other definers of the concept.
We believe that the owner/managed
business provides the best platform for delivering quality
service to our customer. As owner managers, we are empowered
to direct the necessary resources to assure quality—we do
not have to ask a regional manager for permission! The structure
of our owner managed business allows us to concentrate on
service quality and customer satisfaction, instead of corporation
mandated sales and profit goals.
"Customer focus--meeting the needs
and expectations of the customer--is the key principle in
the Total Quality Management System." Owner/managers receive
daily, direct feedback from the customer--this situation
exerts tremendous influence on the owners, who in turn,
exert the most influence on operations processes. The empowerment
of the owner/managers and their close relationship with
the customer--will most often translate into a total allocation
of available resources to provide customer satisfaction.
There can be no stronger expression of customer focus.
The daily encounter between the owner/manager
and the customer-- exerts tremendous influence on the owners
to allocate all available resources toward quality assurance.
There can be no stronger expression of customer focus!"
Customer focus--meeting the needs and expectations of the
customer--is the key principle. The financial empowerment
of the owner/managers results in a total allocation of available
resources to provide customer satisfaction. This synergy
of upper management involvement with the day to day activities
of our customers allows them to truly benefit from "the
best of both worlds."
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