Santa Fe Railroad and Customer Service

The business environment of the mid-1990s in the United States, together with the business environment that will emerge as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) begins to be implemented, places American business firms under tremendous competitive pressures. To survive in this dynamic era, the level of performance must be improved by all American firms. This imperative is particularly relevant in the industrial area of transportation and in the functional area of customer service where high costs associated with operations within the economy of the United States demand improved productivity (Caston, 1993, pp. 20-23; Ramsay and Lehto, 1994, pp. 38-41).

Productivity is a major concern in the 1990s of all profit-oriented organizations, regardless of size (Rothschild, 1993, pp. 17-18). Productivity levels within an organization are the product of a combination of physical, financial, and human resource inputs (Miles and McCloskey, 1993, pp. 40-45). A concern with organizational performance, thus, is one of the m

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pplication of TQM in service firms requires that great care be exercised in employee selection; that superior training be provided to employees; that effective job-related support services be provided for employees; and that firms retain employees. Service companies must also remember that traditional "MBA programs and accounting systems don't cut in the service game. In a service business, knowledge and information are the raw materials, and the assets are loyal customers and employees. Accounting systems don't measure those. Career paths and compensation schemes fight against them" (Armstrong and Symonds, 1991, p. 102). Defining quality in service environments is a difficult process (Nevers, 1993, p. 18). Quality in service environments is best pursued through programs that target higher levels of customer satisfaction (Holleran, 1992, p. 4). Customer satisfaction is best attained through addressing customer needs (Koska, 1992, p. 50). Deming insisted that true quality control begins with a real commitment from top management. What Deming sought was a mathematical means of controlling the level of quality by seeking ever finer manufacturing tolerances. While this system of quality control demanded a commitment fr
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Theory Scott, Armstrong Symonds, Katz Kahn, Service Department, Krishnan Thompson, Consumer Satisfaction, Santa Fe, Mahler Nicholson, SMWTs Barton, Isaac Michael, customer service, consumer satisfaction, boulding 1985, service department, customer service department, organizational structure, 1991 pp, team-based organization, santa fe, system boulding, armstrong symonds 1991, job satisfaction, system boulding 1985, gortner mahler nicholson, mahler nicholson 1989,
Approximate Word count = 9525
Approximate Pages = 38 (250 words per page)

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