In today’s viable background and globalized financial system, consumers are challenging additional varieties and enhanced superiority products or services with faster and reliable deliveries. In evaluating the organization’s quality system, the concept of suggest that company exercise the quantify that in shape with their approach, organizational configuration and the ecological ambiguity that they face. I am writing this report to measure the quality and standard of Grameenphone Ltd. It will also find out the strategic objective of this well recognized company. Grameenphone Ltd is one of the largest and first & fast growing Mobile Network Company in Bangladesh. Measuring the quality of the company we will get the strategic objective. Conducting the quality audit, the quality gaps (if any) will be identify and then the necessary action plan will be taken to ensure the quality standards operating in the organization. Through the quality audit a perfect recommendation/suggestion will be given for implementation of quality standards in the Grameenphone Ltd.
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Grameenphone Ltd., the largest mobile network service supplier in Bangladesh, has presently enclosed the 23 million subscriber milestone as of December 2009.It is a cooperative business enterprise between Telenor (55.8%), the leading telecommunication service contributor in Norway with mobile cellular phone operations in more 12 other countries, and Grameen Telecom company (34.2%), a non profit sister concern of the internationally applauded micro-credit pioneer Grameen Bank. The further 10% shares belong to general trade and institutional investors. (http://www.grameenphone.com/index.php) “We are humbled by the trust placed on GP Ltd. by more 23 million subscribers” observed Anders Jensen, CEO of GP Ltd.. The main pillars of this success are Grameenphone’s best brand image for providing the greatest superiority network services, inventive and constructive products and services and ensuring dedicated customer service. The company has the target to deliver these promises during the years to appear. According to information released via the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, the entire quantity of mobile subscribers presently stands at 42.04 million. The six mobile phone operators added 1.7 million new clients in May 2009, of which GP Ltd. alone added 980,000. Nearly 98 percent of the country’s population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.( http://www.linkedin.com)
The recent successful of GP Ltd. ‘Stay Close’ brand operation joined with the good quality value propositions and extension of the sales and delivery footprint about the country, significantly contributed in attracting new clients. Opening its activities on March 26, 1997, the liberty Day of Bangladesh, GP Ltd. has the biggest network with the extensive coverage in the country. The GP Ltd. net has presently more than 11,000 support stations in function in over 5700 locations, bringing nearly the total population under its coverage in 64 districts. The system is also entirely EDGE GPRS enabled allowing GP Ltd. subscribers to entrance the Internet from anywhere within its coverage region. Winner of three GSMA Global Mobile Awards for provided that exclusive services, GP Ltd. Is the pioneer in introducing modern products and services in the local market. It was the earliest network to introduce the prepaid service and the international roaming service in 1999, the WAP service in 2000, EDGE service in 2005, launched the youth band DJUICE also I n 2005, Business Solutions for the business sector in 2006 and Blackberry solutions in 2008 between many others. GP Ltd. has always promised to supply excellence after-sales service to its customers.
It set up the country’s earliest 24-hour Call Center in 1999. The Call Center (121) ability was additional extended while operations of the presented 600 GP Ltd. Service Center located in nearly every Upazilla (sub-district) were strengthening throughout the year. In addition, there are 82 flagship GP Ltd. Centers in process around the country, to provide all sales and after-sales services beneath a single roof. The company has so far invested more than BDT 10,700 crore (USD 1.6 billion) to build the network communications since its beginning on March 26, 1971, including BDT 35.8 billion in 2007 alone. IT has also been the largest tax payer in recent years with the increasing contribution to the National Exchequer standing at over BDT 101 billion, including BDT 34 billion in 2007
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE OF GRAMEENPHONE LTD.
New manufacturing technologies are developing rapidly, resulting in new products/services, innovations and improvements in the manufacturing process, thus, requiring a proactive approach by organizations. To be proactive, organizations require innovative methods of performance measurement, to assess their progress towards achieving organizational mission, vision and strategic objectives. (Godwill Tapisi Mukonje , Performance measurement, pp. 72. MAM/, 2009.)
An organization should have their own strategy to operate its working activities. Through the objective and strategies priority takes place. Evaluating the performance and limitations the organization established whether it can obtain the capability to achieve the target goal and outcomes.
Vision: The vision of Grameenphone Ltd. is “To become the number one and most cost efficient network service provider in the Asia.”
Mission: To provide total customer satisfaction through fulfil the communication requirements within and beyond the nation using the best modern technology.
The vision statement indicates the goal of the company to be the leader in the telecommunication sector of the region being the cost efficient network service provider. On the other hand mission statement shows to be the best service provider concerning about the fluffiness of the requirements and the satisfactions of the customers. It also focused on the best and modern technology. Mission statement of GP Ltd. addresses its reasons to being and intended competitive advantage in the entire market place. This helps the organization on how it can go towards its mission and vision. For the operationalization of the mission of the organization, strategic objective are used. To fulfil the goal of the organization the strategic objective help in its operation. Most strategic objective is to generate the profit from the business as the owner of the organization invests lot of money. Few are the directed for the customers satisfaction and for the responsibility to the society and mankind.
The vision of the GP Ltd. is to be the leader of the telecommunication in the region. The company can reach to their destiny through the mission fulfilling the customer satisfaction. The mission statement provides the wide range of target focusing modern technology of the world.
According to the bowman strategic clock it is possible to evaluate the strategic positioning of Grameenphone Ltd. In the market. All the products/ service of the company can be categorized and identify the value added price to that specific product/service, and find out the strategic routes for the organization to take. Some product/ service of GP Ltd. focused on low price and some others are on quality. Among the variety of the service internet using EGDE modem is the low price service. The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. This can be positioned in low added value segments in Bowman’s clock. Though it is low price the customers are not much interested to this service. The mission of GP Ltd. is to provide better service using modern technology to the customer; the company is not success to full fill their target providing this service. Because 80% people are living village area. They don’t need the internet service as much as they need the mobile phone to communicate among themselves or with others. Company’s success depends on the customers demand and utilization of the launching products/service though it may low price or good quality. GP Ltd. are standing on different market positions. It is easy to define market demand and growth of its service. It is also useful to determine the direction of an organization in the long run. It can be evaluate wheather the company services are focusing towards its vision and mission.
In the market development strategy GP Ltd. is developing more markets in domestic and business categories. Day by day the company is increasing its connection line by spreading the network coverage as we. It also developed the infrastructure to cover the new market segments for this service. GP Ltd. sells its product/ service to different group of people all over the country through the promotional campaign and direct sale process.
Currently about 5 million people in Bangladesh use internet services offered by both mobile and fixed Internet service providers. Only around 4% of the population in now connected to Internet- fairly lower than what we see around the neighbouring countries. According to a report published by the International Telecommunication Union, Bangladesh has the second lowest Internet penetration in the region.
Grameenphone Ltd. Launched the service of short message service (sms)/ text message. But the cost of the service is higher than other existing company in the current market. So people are not interested using this service. So the company also failed on providing this service. GP Ltd. also launched a new product that is ‘Grameenphone Mobile handset’. The company expected that with their own network connection they will be succeeding launching the handset. But they haven’t got the expected feedback from the customers who are using their network connection. Because the quality of the handset did not attracts the customers. The handset has always been a problem for the customers. Most of the customers are using different company’s mobile handset like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Siemens etc.
These are the service of Grameenphone Ltd from where we can identify the gaps of service /product quality. Their mission and vision is to provide best customer service though the best quality network using high-tech modern technology. They are expanding their business and still leading the telecommunication market. But by some of their service and product they a re not meeting the customer satisfaction and getting their outcomes as they expected. After analyzing the service and product offered by GP Ltd. we can find out many lacking inside. They could not fulfill their mission as there are some gaps. Here quality audit is needed. By conducting a quality audit these gaps would be possible to be fulfilled achieve the company’s outcomes.
THE QUALITY AUDIT
This quality audit is for the proper implementation to achieve the organizations goal fulfilling the gaps that influence the company to be 100% succeed. It is the clear view of the organization’s performance for a certain period of time. For any organization the customer service is the vital issue. GP Ltd. is not out of them. So the quality audit conducts in the customer service department to measure the customer satisfaction and the standard quality of service.
Data Collection Method of GP Ltd.
The methods I used to collect data for Grameenphone Ltd. are as follows:
Staff Interview
Questionnaires for customers
Focus group discussion ( FGD) with customers
In my point of view these are very suitable methods to conduct the quality audit in GPL.
Interviews with Staff:
GP has generated direct and indirect employment for a large number of people over the years. The company presently has more than 5,000 full and temporary employees. Another 100,000 people are directly dependant on Grameenphone for their livelihood, working for the Grameenphone dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets, suppliers, vendors, contractors and others. Among them only 70 staffs were selected for the interview process from its different customers care branches. 50 staffs were asked the selected questions face to face and 100 staff was interviewed over the phone.
They were asked following selective questions:
Are you concern about the Grameenphon’s vision, mission and strategy?
Are you satisfied with your salary?
Are you happy with your job/responsibilities
Are you happy with the working environment of GP Ltd ?
Do you get sufficient internal information related to your job?
Were you given decision making within the scope of your authority?
Does your manager encourage high achievement by reducing the fear of failure?
Do you have sufficient equipment and information to perform your job in GP Ltd?
Have you been able to satisfy the customer most often?
Do you think your department gets support from other areas within the Company?
The staff interview method was very successful for collecting the information. Most of the staff were happy to be interviewed and gave information and suggestion to improve the gaps in the organization. Customer service staff is in a contact with the customers regularly. So they know the customer real needs, the problems they are facing and the feedback of the customers about the organization’s service/ products. The staffs were selected from both town and rural branches.
After completing the interview process it was analyzed and reviewed in 5 points covering the whole idea to identify the quality gaps. These gaps need to be filled up to ensure the standard quality of service/ product of GP Ltd. The outcomes of the staff interview have shown in the table given below:
Sl
Identified Issue
Yes
No
1
Lower wages for the staff
234
66
2
No involvement in decision making
270
30
3
Insufficient internal/external information
195
105
4
Poor internal communication facility
165
135
5
Poor happiness of GP Ltd. working environment
57
243
In the above table number 1 to 4 ‘Yes’ answers and number 5 ‘No’ answer were considered as quality gaps in Grameenphone Ltd. Those needs to be filled.
Questionnaires to Customers:
A standard questionnaire was formed to get the feedback from the customers about the products & services, customer service, product price, after sales service, product availability in the market, effectiveness of the products or services and the quality of the products/ services. Grameenphone Ltd. has a large number of customers. Total 2000 customers were selected for the interviews base on ages; level of income, profession, usages the service, different location etc. All questionnaires were given to the selective customers while they purchase the products / services and came to the customer service office as well. Among the 2000 customers 1600 responded to the interview process and they have given their opinion. The questionnaire was like marking only the ‘YES’ or ‘NO’
They were selected considering some factors…
Age group 25-53
Level of income
Usage of Grameenphone Ltd. Services (more than 2 services)
Geographical location
They were asked the following Questions:
Do you think the ecological extension of Grameeenphone Ltd is low?
Do you think the customers service of GP. Ltd is poor?
Do you think GP Ltd offer moderate equipment that is easy to operate?
Do you find their network facilities lower?
Do you get any offer or services available from GP Ltd without any delay?
Do you feel that the customer service cost of GP Ltd is convenient for all?
Does Grameenphone Ltd offer good pricing for their products?
The result of the questionnaires is as below:
Sl No
Identifies issue
YES
%
NO
%
1
Expansion of service by location is low
155
3.6%
4045
96.4%
2
Lacking of after sales service/customer service
3854
92%
346
8%
3
Lower facilities in SMS service
3495
83%
705
17%
4
Moderate equipment and easy handling
3993
95%
207
`5%
5
Facilities without delay
349
8%
3851
92%
6
Pricing of call charge is good
2580
61.4%
1620
38.6%
7
Cost of customer care is high
3885
92.5%
315
7.5%
TOTAL
18311
11089
After calculating the figure we got see that only in expansion or location and equipment handling is higher, but in all other sector the Company is not giving the service they wanted to give and the customer expected the service from the company is failing. According to the table Here we could find some gaps in after sales service or customer service, lower facilities in SMS service, Delay service facilities. The pricing of the service is moderate here.
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Focus Group Discussions:
10 professional were selected from different business organization who are the customers of Grameenphone Ltd. There was a open group discussion among them about the service and product of GP Ltd. After a successful discussion it has found that there are some gaps and lacking in customer service (delay process) and the quality of the product of GP Ltd. The company is not providing the 100% service they promised and the quality of the product they ensured before launching. These quality gaps needed to be corrective and take initiative to implement the quality services in the GP Ltd.
To analyze all the gaps and to find out the root causes of the gaps fishbone method / cause effect diagram has been used in this report.
Staff Customers
Lower wages for the staff Unhappy after sales service
Less decision making Poor customer service
Insufficient information High SMS charge
Long Delay customer care/ High Call rate Poor communication facilities Poor internet facilities
Lower working environment low call charge facilities
Poor customer service
Long delay for customer service
High cost for customer service
High cost for call & SMS charge
Focus Groups
Pareto Analysis for Staff Interviews at GP Ltd. (300 staff members)
Pareto analysis for customer questionnaires at GP Ltd. (4200 customers)
Recommendation
There are some qualities gaps have been identified from the Grameenphone Limited telecommunication company in Bangladesh. All the recognized quality gaps should be filled up using a suitable method to initiate the quality standard in the GP Ltd. The Four-Step Approach to Quality Improvement Improving excellence engage applying suitable methods to shut the gap between existing and expected levels of quality as defined by principles. This core QA action uses value administration tools and philosophy to appreciate and deal with organization deficiencies, enhance strengths, and improve services. A series of advantage development approaches be present, from entity difficulty solving, quick team difficulty solving, and planned team crisis solving to process enhancement and redecorate and organizational reorganization/reengineering. QA topics that are ingredient of Improving Quality include: Quality improvement (QI) method has developed over the years. Early QI efforts implicit that improvements might be eagerly attained by adding up new or extra things, such as new equipment, actions, teaching, or supplies. It was understood that just adding further resources or inputs would progress quality. People functioning to develop quality cultured that growing resources does not for all time guarantee their competent use and, as a result, may not guide to improvements in excellence. In fact, a explanation session is that in several cases quality can be enhanced by making changes to the systems without necessarily increasing resources. Inspecting main actions or processes is another approach which managers have used to recognize and solve problems. This method tried to enlarge control above staff and often responsible people for mistakes. This attitude of improving quality showed partial success because it did not essentially classify barriers to improvement or create the support of employees, who felt unwilling to being evaluated. In gap, existing QI approaches check how actions can be distorted so workers can do their job better. For example, poor employee performance may stop from a need of equipment, ineffective processes, or the lack of guidance or lessons rather than employee performance. The values behind the QA Project’s approach to QI recognize that both the capital (inputs) and actions carried out (processes) should be addressed jointly to make sure or get better quality.
Implementation of Quality Initiative in Grameenphone Limited
To enhance the quality of GP Ltd this issue will be followed for customer’s service and later on it will be continuing with the other department In response to the broad diversity of settings and situation it has encountered in above 30 rising countries, the QA Project defines quality enhancement as consisting of four key steps.
Step one: Identify > decide what to develop
The objective of the initial step, recognize, is to agree on what to improve in GP Ltd. This may engage a difficulty that wants a solution, an opportunity for improvement that requires definition, or a process or system that needs to be improved. Quality development starts by asking these questions:
What is the difficulty?
How do you identify that it is a crisis?
How often does it arise, or how broad has it existed?
What are the things of this problem?
How will we recognize when it is resolved?
Step two: Analyze > realize the difficulty
After the areas have been recognized for quality development of the Grameenphone Ltd, the second step is to evaluate what we require to know or appreciate about this chance for improvement before allowing for changes. The objectives of the investigation period can be any arrangement of the following:
illuminating why the procedure or system produces the outcome that we aim to change
Measuring the act of the method or system that produces the consequence
Formulating investigate questions are as follow:
Who is concerned or pretentious?
Where does the difficulty happen?
When does the trouble occur?
What happens when the difficulty occurs?
Why does the difficulty occur?
The point to which information of GP Ltd. are needed depends on the quality enhancement approach chosen. Techniques to investigate problems comprise clarifying processes through flowcharts or cause-effect analyses, reviewing existing data, and, when needed, collecting additional data.
Step three: Develop > Hypothesize concerning what changes will progress the difficulty and develop resolution approach based on these changes of the Grameenphone Ltd. The third step, develop, uses the data accumulated from the earlier steps to discover what changes would give up development. A suggestion is a cautious statement made in order to investigation its consequences of the GP Ltd.. It is based on people’s acquaintance and viewpoint about the expected causes and clarification of the problem.
Step four: Test and implement > Experiment the hypothesized result
Last step, test and implement, based on the first three steps. For GP Ltd. a hypothesis is experienced to see if the projected involvement or resolution yields the predictable development. Because interventions that establish to be successful may not yield instant results, allowing time for transform to occur is significant in the testing procedure. The outcome of this examination will resolve the quality gaps of GP Ltd.
Analyzing the quality gaps of the Grameenphone Ltd in various way, in most circumstances it has shown a lack of customers service process, calling and sms charges are not good, employees less satisfaction for their remuneration etc. So the GP Ltd. needs a comprehensive review of their strategies.
Some suggestions have been formulated for the gaps need to be filled
Gaps
Identified Issues
Suggestions for standard
1.
2 .
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Lower wages for the staff
No involvement in decision making
Insufficient Information
Lack of internal communication
Poor Customer service/after sales service
Unsatisfied call charges and sms charges
Unsatisfied charges for customer service for being delay
Increment of the salary can be made upon performance.
Effective suggestion from the front line employees who deals with the customers
Staff well be informed about any change
Use an effective and efficient communication systems
Reduce all hassle from the customer service
Reduce all charges in a standard point comparing with others in same business
Improve delay the response to the customer from customer service
Action plan for quality initiative for Grameenphone Limited
Performance of quality administration needs to be completed systematically. In this procedure all problems those have identified were evaluated and submitted to the organization management authority for the approval through several steps and the time period for the action plan has given below-
Step-1 Submission and Management Approval- 1 to 3 weeks
A particulars action plan has submitted to the corporation administration. Its include total review of the company’s whole process and strategies. It will need 1-2 weeks time. During the quality audit main gaps have been identified. This can be presented to the management and describe where needs to be implemented and what possible action could be taken.
Step 2- Creating Employment Awareness 1 to 2 weeks
All employees need to be understood about the implementation going to be organized for Grameenphone Limited. Staff might be aware about their responsibility, job description, using the necessary equipment, achieve training, performing and give best effort for the company. They have to follow the implementation process for the improvement of the quality gaps. This process will need 2 weeks as well.
Step 3- Operational Activities- 4 weeks
After getting the approval from management the next step is to begin the operation within a time period. To take action in particular department to be improves its activities and performance like customers service, after sales service etc. Customers have to pay much if they wait long for the response from the customers care. Customer care department have to have the facilities so that they can answer every call come from the customers. So that the customers don’t need to wait and loos their money. The services which customer claims comparing with other’s service should be evaluated and review properly. It will need 4 weeks for completion the process.
Step 4- Practicing Quality Improvement (QI) Method -10 weeks
Having identify the goals and target the next step is practise it within a time period. To do the job well, everyone need proper practice, training, knowledge and clear concept about the responsibilities. For the long term benefits from the customer provide and satisfying them, practicing the said method it will need 10 weeks
Step 5- Evaluating the Plan and Developments-21 weeks
Implementation and development requires to be reviewed with various methodologies. After conducting QI method, GP Ltd will be able to achieve organizational strategic objectives through well trained and motivated workforce. It needs to be evaluated by the higher management. Quality initiative operation will take 17 weeks and evaluation will need another 4 weeks in Grameenphone Limited. The whole quality initiative plan can be summarized as follows-
Activity
Durations -weeks
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Submission & Management Approval
Creating Employment Awareness
Operational Activities
Practicing QI Methods
Evaluation & Development
Management can use the above methodology for the evaluation of successfulness of quality implementation where the gaps identified. Its changes depend on the market circumstances.
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