Development of quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001 2000 for ben thanh tourist hanoi

vietnam national university, HANOI hanoi school of business Nguyen The Cuong DEVELOPMENT of QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN ACcORDANCE WITH ISO 9001:2000 FOR Ben THANH TOURIST – HANOI master of business administration thesis Hanoi - 2007 vietnam national university, HANOI hanoi school of business Nguyen The Cuong Development of quality management system in accordance with iso 9001:2000 for Ben tourist - Hanoi Major: Business Administration Code: 60 34 05 Master of business administration thesis SUPERVISOR: DR.TA NGOC CAU Hanoi - 2007 TABLE OF CONTENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iv ABSTRACT (Vietnamese) IX TABLE OF TERMS DEFINITION XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION ……………………………… The need for study ………………………… The statement of the problem …………… Aim and Purpose of study ………………….3 Research questions ………………………… Scope of work …………………………….4 Assumption ……………………………… ta sources and Processing …………………… Experiment Method ……………………… Signification ……………………………… 10 11 12 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION … 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.4.3 1.4.4 1.4.5 1.5 1.6 CHAPTER 2: EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 2.1 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 2.2.6 2.2.7 Limitations …………… Expected results ……… Short summary ……… What is ISO 9001:2000 Why we need to develo Aim of ISO9001:2000 The Standards ISO 900 Quality management sy Management responsib Resource management Production realization … Measurement, analysis Quality management pr Process approach …… Ben Thanh Tourist Han Methodology ………… Research problem …… Research objectives … Research method ……… Researcher role ……… Data collection procedu Interview procedure an Data analysis procedure 2.3 CHAPTER 3:FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS …… 3.1 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4 3.1.5 Measurment analyses and improvement … 3.2 CONCLUSION …………………………………… APPENDIX : the company report of the year 2006 APPENDIX financial report for the year 2006 APPENDIX interview questions REFERENCES Research report ……… Research findings …… Quality management … Management responsib Resource Management Product realization …… Recommendations …… INTRODUCTION The need for study Ben Thanh Tourist was founded in 1990 It provides all inbound and outbound tours to travelers Ben Thanh Tourist starts recognizing the importance of investing in quality and providing high quality services due to several reasons First of all, international tourists have been increasingly visiting Vietnam over past years; foreign tourists are rousingly interested in Vietnam leading to a larger number of inbound travelers As Vietnam‘s economy is booming, thus standards of living are rising Consequently the need to reach higher quality standards of tours is becoming more demanding Travelers are increasingly expecting the high standards of service The competition among tour companies in Hanoi is really strong In addition, travelers have a big choice of where to book their travel Some of them book via travel companies; others arrange all or part of their travel directly with service suppliers, i.e airlines, hotels, car-rental companies The emergence of on-line booking tools, on-line booking possibility via airline web pages where lower service charges are offered, also pose a threat to tour companies Unless Ben Thanh found solutions how to retain the biggest inbound market share and meet its needs, big part of business may be lost Recently international travel agency have required Ben Thanh Tourist to apply a quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001: 2000 in order to ensure consistent high quality of service to their customer Therefore the manager board decided to apply ISO 9001:2000 for its tour operation business The statement of the problem As a tour operator, Ben tourist offer a number of service of tour packages, making reservation, booking and other tour arrangement for tourist The company report reveals that annually growth accounts for 10% in term of sale revenues The benefits achieve a round 12% The number of tourists increases 15% However some key staffs decided to move from the company with the reason of low salary Consequently, it takes company some time and money to train new staffs Furthermore, the customer made complaint with the quality The reasons for most of complaints are as follows:  Staff make error because of ill preparations  Every does the job in his/ her way hence use varying quality level  Various company departments not speak to each other.•  Staff does not feel responsible for quality.•  When an error is made it is difficult to determine the cause, and the same errors tend to repeat In order to fulfill requirements or needs of customers and demonstrate the quality of its services to the outside world The Ben Tourist decided to apply to implement ISO 9001:2000 Problem in implementing a quality management is to:  Get all employees to know to the standard  Evaluate the current quality management system  Set up documentation systems  Analysis nonconformities  …etc There are some handbooks showing the way how to implement a quality management system Unfortunately, all of them are intended to give advice to others businesses than Tour Company Although ISO 9001:2000 is brought into Vietnam for almost 10 years and thousands of others industries and services enterprises claimed themselves to be compliant with ISO 9001:2000 In the past, the Ben Thanh Tourist runs its own quality management It seem be good so far But now, customers are more demanding, they expect consistent services and fully satisfaction by implementing a quality management system As the result of that, this study shall demonstrate its quality service based on ISO 9001:2000 requirements Aims and purpose of study The overall purpose of the study is to  Evaluate Ben Thanh Tourist‘s quality management  Identify the gap between Ben Thanh Tourist tour operations with the standards requirements  Work out some recommendation to Ben Tourist quality management In other word, the purpose of the study is to evaluate how effective and efficient Quality management, looking into their current status, and compare its performance with the standard requirements in order to see how much of the quality process is assured and managed Moreover the study then develop an action plan to implement a Quality Management System based on ISO 9001:2000 as a tool to boost its performances in order to improve the quality and efficiency of its travel services based on positive current system The aim of the study also helps set up the steps of applying quality management system compliance with ISO into tour operation business Research questions Many studies show that there is a need for effective quality management system implementation in tour operation business, but relevant research directly related to this need is limited The overall questions guiding this study ask: How compliant the quality management system at Ban Thanh Tourist is in the view of ISO 9001:2000 The ISO 9000:2000 standard requirements serve as the theoretical lens that frames this study This approach creates confidence in implementing quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001; 2000 Research questions are relating to: a) Quality management system b) Management responsibility c) Resources management d) Product realization e) Measurment analysis and improvement Scope of work The study focused on only the tour operation of package tour so the results of this study might not be applied to other business The study only focused on quality management system in Ben Thanh Tourist Branch Hanoi so the findings of the study may not be related to for other management such as finacial, human resources management, and straegy management Assumption There was a commitment of the management board to applying ISO 9001:2000 The quality policy is in the line with the company policy Ben Thanh Tourist management prepare determine and provide enough resources for implement quality management system Data Sources and Processing Following the data collection and processing is explained In this study, primary data was collected Methods used to collect primary data are interview, review document and reports, and observation An in-depth interview is characterized by its length, depth and structure Therefore, it suited to the study which demands to seek a better insight into Ben Tourist operations to identify gaps between the standard ISO 9000:2000 requirements with its performances The formulation of the interview question plays a vital role in the structure of the study and in ensuring a successful result These interview questions are based on the recommendations or requirements of ISO 9001-2000 In other word, all the ISO‘s requirements are transformed into the form of question PRAXIOM RESEARCH GROUP LIMITED has provided approach of interviewing referred as gap analysis: Each interview question has two possible answers: Yes, No A Yes answer means that the organization has already met one of ISO's requirements, a No answer points to a question No answers reveal gaps that exist between the ISO 9001 2000 Standard and the organization's processes Whenever the answer No to a question, there are at least one of the organization's processes fails to meet an ISO 9001 2000 requirement A No answer tells the organization that a process needs further development It tells that a process needs to be modified, improved, or created Therefore, whenever there is answer No to a question, that processes must be considered, and decided which ones need to be changed The interview questions are found at the appendix As the information to be provided had to be complex, it was important to Choose the right interviewees who would be experts in business It was decided to contact the manager of Ben Thanh Tourist Hanoi Branch due to the fact that he has been a senior managers of Ben Thanh Tourist Hanoi Branch since its established in 1990 and were contacted agreed to be interviewed and provided a wealth of information as well as brought to light different perspectives Consequently, the senior manager‘s answers reflects the true current status of the Ben Tourist Experiment Methods Case Study approach is applied in this study With reference to primary data, case study approach was chosen due to several reasons First of all, a descriptive case study is the best method of providing the rich and complex details of the issue Yin (1994) defines a case study as ―an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident‖ (p.13) I chose case study research in order to gather information of a greater depth than would be possible using another methodology such as survey data Because case study researcher relies on multiple sources of data, I conducted structured interviews asking a set of yes-no questions With Yes/ no questions one can only be answered with ―yes‖ no‖ This form of question is important for confirmation, in order to make sure that certain action has been correctly carried out All interviews were direct and deep Numerous documents related to its performance were also reviewed for this study Documents included, but were not limited to, policy manuals, records of operation, web site information, and memos Finally this allowed to documentation a chain of evidence throughout the study Memo writing in the journal helped me to reflect on my thoughts and ideas as I went through the research process Another benefit of maintaining a researcher‘s journal was to document any changes necessary in the study Significance Designed to provide systematic inquiry into the quality management system compliant with ISO 9001:2000 in a tour company, this study contributes substantive information about how to build a quality management system in a tour company Results of this study could have implications for tour operators, travel agents… In response to the growing numbers of tour operators today and the limited amount of research in the business , it is expected that this research will make a contribution to the knowledge base of current practices in supporting tour company to apply quality management 10 Limitations There are several limitations of this study that must be noted It was conducted in a branch in Hanoi While this setting may limit the applicability of this study to Ben Figure 3.1: Concept relating to conformity [sources 9000:2000] 3.1.1 Quality management system Data and evidence indicate that quality management systems at Ben Thanh Tourist are not compliant with ISO requirements The standard requires Ben tourist to document, implement and maintain the quality management system and 59 continually improve its effectiveness Particular, its require Ben tourist to write quality objective, quality policy, quality manual and procedures Once these documents are written, standards requires Ben tourist to control them, making sure that the current, correct copy is available to employees and old copies are removed from use right away All above requirements are failed to follow at Ben Tourist Although Ben Thanh has established the organization policy, it does not include a commitment to comply requirements and continually improve the effectiveness of quality managements system Moreover, that policy is not public communicated and understood within the company The parent company set objectives for Ben tourist to achieve It is therefore the objective is far from being consistent with quality policy However the objective is measurable and plays as a motivator for staffs to strive for it It does not comply with the standards 3.1.2 Management responsibility The data indicate that the management responsibilities at Ben tourist are not compliant with ISO 9001:2000 The standard requires Ben tourist‘s management to develop and implement a quality management system and continually improve its effectiveness by :  communicating to the all employees the importance of meeting customer as well as statutory and regulatory requirements,  establishing the quality policy,  ensuring that quality objectives are established,  conducting management reviews, and  ensuring the availability of resources The evidence shows that these requirements are partly met by Ben tourist‘s management However it does not comply with ISO Quality objective and 60 policy shall be created In addition, the management review shall be documented properly, showing the attention paid by the management to the quality Figure 3.2: Concept relating to documentation [sources ISO 9000:2000] 3.1.3 Resources management; The data shows that Ben tourist had determined and provided the resources needed to implement and maintain the quality management system and to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements However the evidences also show that it determined the necessary competence for personnel performing work affecting product quality, additionally, it provided training then evaluating the effectiveness of the actions taken in order to ensure that its personnel are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the achievement of the quality objectives The data also indicates that Ben had determined provided and maintained the working infrastructure needed to achieve conformity to product requirements 61 Working Infrastructure includes buildings, workspace and associated utilities, process equipment The data prove that these requirements are met, however it must be documented properly according to ISO 9001:2000 3.1.4 Production realization The data indicate that Ben Tourist had planned and developed the processes needed for product realization In planning product realization, the Ben Tourist had determined the following quality objectives and requirements for the product; and the need to establish processes, documents, and provide resources specific to the product; Aiming at providing services to its customers, Data and evident indicate that Ben Thanh determines the needs and expectations of customers mainly by :  phone or in personal  in writing( email, fax, letter: Most customers are foreign tour wholesalers and Retail travel agents Small percentages of customers are direct enquiries which are individuals All these enquiries are handled promptly and with correct responses All information is recorded It enables Ben Thanh tourist to prepare an accurate written quotation and offers, The information is written on a check list as follows:  Name of customer  Contact reference for reply (email, fax, phone  Dates of travel  Number in group  Any children, ages  Any specials handling requirements (aged, handicapped )  Arrival detail (air, rail….) 62  Standard of transfer  Accommodation standards preferred ( specific hotel may be requested)  Any single room occupancy  Any self –drive rental requirement  Tour guide and interpreter requirements  Essential itinerary inclusions( cultural, entertainments, other  Any special interest/ activities Service inclusion) The evident proves that Ben determine the needs and expectation of customers in accordance with standard requirements Aiming to provide better services to customers, Ben determined necessary processes and responsibilities such as:   Making reservation process o Handling enquiry and prepare quotations o Taking reservations, creating customers files, defining payment terms o Making booking all products and services o Correspondence with customer and supplier o Coordinating customers files o Handling documents o Creating records Operation process: o Monitor schedule of forward booked customers o Allocate transport, accommodation and other components for each group or individual booking o Allocate driver and tour guide o Names list to hotels and transportation o Double check of booking of tour arrangements o Pickup transfer in and check pin 63 o    Follow up and problem solving during the tour Planning and costing tour itinerary process o Itinerary planning o Costing itinerary o Booking all components of itinerary o Deposit and full payments o Handling cancelation and refund o Maintain complete record Customer care process o Customer enquiries o Customer follow-up Promoting and selling travel service/ tour process o Determining the needs, interests and preferences of customer o Recommendation of product o Obtaining customer agreement to buy and book The data show that Ben tourist has determined the process and responsibility to attain customer satisfaction It is quite compliant with standards requirements However Ben tourist must set up preventive action to eliminate the cause of a potential problem raising or other undesirable potential situation happens 3.1.5 Measurement analysis and improvement The date shows that the Ben Thanh applied some method to monitor and measure the characteristics of the product to verify that product requirements have been met Such as The statistics Observation Survey, interview, questioners 64 This is carried out at appropriate stages of the product realization process in accordance with the planned arrangements However the evidence of conformity with the acceptance criteria is not maintained Some record does not include the person who designed the tour or mended This indicates that this should be documented properly In addition, the data indicate that Ben has not determined the means of preventing nonconformities and eliminating their causes The company does not identify what are nonconformities It is rather reactive than proactive It is therefore there is not preventive action in the company All staff base on their experiences This make Ben tourist not compliant with standard requirement Figure 3.3 Concept relating to measurment management system [sources ISO 9000:2000] 65 Measurment does not only serve to demonstrate the quality of product or service processes to the outside They must be also directed inside the organisation and prepared accordingly Quality report must be concern with noncornformity and defects Nonconformity must be analysed and their causes found Only then can they be permanently eliminated Many nonconformity and defects are the result of the company‘s problems Systematic analysis of noncornformity serves to identify weakness and therefore improve quality In addition, it prevents nonconformity and therefore optimises economic efficiency 3.2 Recommendations Numerous implications and recommendations for developing a quality management system that may be valuable to Ben Thanh Tourist can be drawn from this study‘s findings These are as follows: 3.2.1 Step 1: Set up Project The implementation of a formal management system is best handled as a specific project with a Project Manager, who should be a key member of the organization‘s management team and appointed at the outset of the project The existing system of management and working practices must be known in some detail before the framework of the formal management system documentation can be designed The system is best designed based on existing processes as the development of new systems that require additional resources may simply delay the implementation process Ben Thanh Tourist is likely to need to appoint a full-time Quality Manager This person can be generally assigned as part of their overall duties This will help to ensure that the system does not become the property of a Quality Department rather than remaining the tool of the organization‘s management It should also ensure that the 66 system does not become too demanding for the organization in terms of additional expenses 3.2.2 Step 2: Training Ben Thanh tourist can provide training in system requirements through a series of induction or training workshops for the people who have not been involved in the writing of procedures and who will be required to work to them In addition to developing a full understanding of the system requirements, the training will extend ownership of the procedures to those who work to them New employees will also require induction or training in the quality management system 3.2.3 Step Set up quality policy and objectives: Then Ben Thanh tourist‘ Top management provides evidence of its commitment to the development and implementation of the quality management system and continually improving its effectiveness by establishing the quality policy which is as follows: a) is appropriate to the purpose of the Ben Thanh Tourist b) includes a commitment to comply with requirements and continually improve the effectiveness of the quality management system, c) provides a framework for establishing and reviewing quality objectives, d) is communicated and understood within the organization, and e) is reviewed for continuing suitability 3.2.4 Step 4: Designing the System Framework The first task is to develop the initial framework of the quality management system, identifying the various processes that are used to deliver services to the customer, [either an external or internal customer] From the framework of the management system the project team will identify the required supporting 67 documentation, firstly in terms of defined processes and then in terms of the supporting competencies and procedures that will underpin these processes Once the full framework of the quality management system has been designed and the supporting documentation identified, it is important to prepare a plan for implementation so that all participants understand their responsibilities The plan will detail the authors of the various documents, the personnel responsible for the later stages of implementation and will include the associated deadlines for completion 3.2.5 Step 5: Developing the System of Documentation To ensure that procedures are maintained as current documents and to reinforce the concept of ownership, it should be assigned to all system documentation The easiest way to prepare process definitions and procedures is during a series of cross –team work supervised by the Management representative and attended by the people who are stakeholders in the process or procedure under development The team work will generally take the form of a 'brain-storming' session and during or following the team work the management representative will prepare the draft process definitions and/or procedures and competencies System process and procedures should reflect, as far as possible, existing working practices and identify the interfaces with the function's internal and/or external customers and suppliers The draft processes and procedures are then circulated to interested parties, i.e customer/supplier interfaces They are invited to submit comment within a given time and/or attend a finalization meeting at which the process or procedure is approved for issue The processes are essentially shown what needs to be done, who needs to it and what is the result or evidence that it has been done Either procedures and/or 68 competencies will support processes Procedures and other instructional documents [work/operating instructions, etc.] will define how an activity is required to be done The Most important document for demonstrating and describing a documented quality management system is typically a quality manual The prime purpose of this manual is to establish a rough structure for the quality management system and at the same time serves as reference for the development and maintenance of this system The quality management manual is an abbreviated representation of the quality management system of the company, including its quality policy It contains structural and, in particular, process organizational information and reference to future documents for instance, process instructions 3.2.6 Step 6: Evidence of Execution Ben Thanh Tourist will usually work to the system documentation for three to six months During this time Ben Thanh Tourist will generate the required evidence of execution Following this, Ben Thanh Tourist can undertake the first series of internal audits 3.2.7 Step 7: Internal Auditing Selecting and training internal auditors are important aspects of the process of implementation It is essential that Ben Thanh Tourist select internal auditors carefully It is recommended that Management reprehensive choose people to train in auditing from a variety session of the company, rather than employing a specific internal audit department This helps to create a good understanding of formal systems management throughout the company, avoids the impression that internal auditing is a policing activity and provides the opportunity for suppliers to audit customers and vice versa Additionally, it is best that, if possible, Ben Thanh Tourist not select auditors from management This will ensure that internal audit is perceived as a system evaluation rather than an appraisal of personnel The training of internal auditors will 69 focus on conveying the message that the aim of internal audit is to add value rather than to find fault with the function being audited 3.2.8 Step 8: Performance Improvement and Learning Ben Thanh needs to have implemented the system of performance improvement and learning before the certification audit Performance improvement may be based on the regular meeting of performance improvement teams In practice these teams must have been established, held meetings and kept minutes of these meetings before the certification audit It is important that the project team and those involved measure the success of the implementation process either at predefined stages during or at the conclusion of the process Measurement should be against the original aims and goals and the key indicators of an effective quality management system described below: • Top management is fully committed to the quality management system and owns the appropriate processes • The quality management system is designed around the business processes and not ISO 9001 or any other management system standard • Staff know how to access quality management system documentation • Visibility of process and clarity of instruction, i.e quality management system documentation is clear, concise and readable The documentation is easily maintained • Quality management representatives are key organization personnel rather than side-lined personnel • Internal audit is seen as adding value and part of continual improvement of the quality management system 70 3.2.9 Step 9: Certification Ben Thanh tourist need to take care when selecting a certification body There is some accreditation service in Hanoi, both international and domestic ones Although Ben shall contact at least three times, describing the business and asking whether it provide certification service in tour operation business Then Ben can compare service and price between them and make choice 3.3 Recommendations for Future Research I conducted this research to evaluate the Ben Tourist quality management base on the Standard ISO 9001:2000 It is limited because it was conducted in the tour operation in Ben Thanh Tourist Therefore, the experience of participants interviewed in this study may not reflect those of other settings around the country Because this may limit the applicability of this study to other settings, others are encouraged to conduct similar studies that may add to these findings In addition, research is needed to determine what specific process will effectively modify to save time and money If processes are determined generally, research is needed to assess the effectiveness of these Finally, further research could help to identify what is the organization structure for existing quality management system is in place This could also include identifying what type of organization structures would foster best quality management system in accordance with ISO requirements 71 CONCLUSION The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the conformity with the standards requirements in term of tour operation Question regarding the quality management system derived from the clause 2.3 in the ISO 9000:2000 standard, which addresses five areas:  Quality management  Management responsibility  Resource management  Product realization  Measurment analysis and improvement This section offers a discussion of the findings of the study It begins with implementing a quality management The findings show that the system documentation has been partly established defining working process and responsibility aiming at identifying customers‘ needs and expectation Furthermore all the record of customers‘ requirements is maintained In contrast, the Ben Thanh tourists fail to establish quality policy and quality objectives properly For this reason, Ben tourist shall establish quality policy and objectives and must be documented The findings indicate that the management responsibility were clearly determined Working processes are defined and are much better streamlined The relationship, input and output between departments are clear However the management review shall be improved and documented properly Evidence proves that Ben Tourist determined and provides essence resource to obtain the quality objective Besides the financial support, training and sharing knowledge is common in the work place Training for new staff is ―must do‖ 72 Findings shows that Ben Tourist had planned and developed the processes needed for service creating, providing In planning services realization, the Ben Tourist had determined the quality objectives and requirements for the services; and the need to establish processes, documents, and provide resources specific to the services However it could be better if Benthanh tourist documents all important processes that lead to quality services and Ben should pay more attention on outsourcing services Conclusion: Data concerning the quality management system at Ben Tourist were obtained from interview and observations in tour operation department The result reflects that the quality management system is not conformity with the standard requirements Some recommendation has been given Following that advice Ben Thanh Tourist can be accredited by ISO 9000:2000 certificate body 73 ... national university, HANOI hanoi school of business Nguyen The Cuong Development of quality management system in accordance with iso 9001: 2000 for Ben tourist - Hanoi Major: Business Administration Code:... confidence in implementing quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001; 2000 Research questions are relating to: a) Quality management system b) Management responsibility c) Resources management. .. effective quality management systems [ISO 9000 :2000] — ISO 9000 describes fundamentals of quality management systems and specifies the terminology for quality management systems — ISO 9001 specifies