Dr. Hab., Professor  O.N. Stepanova¹
PhD, Associate Professor E.N. Latushkina^2
1Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow
²Russian State Social University, Moscow

Keywords: ISO 9000, physical education and sport service quality, customer satisfaction, rating method, ‘priority’ versus ‘satisfaction’ points.

Background. Modern efficient quality management systems give a special priority to customer satisfaction. As required by the international ISO 9000 standards and their Russian equivalents, a quality management system in any service sector shall include customer satisfaction rating tests and customer expectations assessments [1]. Analyzing the importance of this concept, A.V. Seleznyova and Y.A. Anikina underlined: ‘Customer shall be viewed as the key quality assessment expert, and that is why due understanding, tests and analyses of the customer satisfaction on a proactive basis are needed… to fairly rate and profile the satisfaction progress trends… indispensable for the corporate policies’ [5]. This holds true for the physical education and sport sector companies with their quality management systems. It should be noted that on the whole the national physical education and sport system is getting increasingly sensitive to the customer satisfaction prioritizing physical education and sport service quality management ideas and projects.

Objective of the study was to offer a customer satisfaction rating scale for the physical education and sport service quality assurance initiatives with the ‘priority’ versus ‘satisfaction’ scales; plus a set of universal quality rates and a practical test toolkit.

Results and discussion. The proposed customer satisfaction rating model will be implemented in the following six stages.

At stage one, the physical education and sport service company shall draft a list of customer requirements to the physical education and sport services based on questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions, dialogues and interviews, plus analyses of the customers’ complaints and constructive ideas/ proposals.

At stage two, the physical education and sport service company shall draft a questionnaire survey form – like the one given in Table 1 hereunder that includes the general physical education and sport service quality requirements/ aspects [6] applicable to virtually every physical activity form and sport discipline.

Table 1. Physical education and sport service quality requirements/ aspects

Note: The Table offers a list of potential customer requirements to the physical education and sport service quality (column 2). Please indicate your physical education / sport discipline and (1) indicate in column 3 your personal priority rate on a 5-point scale as follows: 5: top priority, 4: high priority; 3: moderate priority; 2: low priority; 1: no priority; and (2) your satisfaction in column 4 on a 5-point scale as follows: 5: top satisfaction, 4: high satisfaction; 3: moderate satisfaction; 2: low if any satisfaction; 1: clearly unsatisfactory.

At stage three, the physical education and sport service company shall prioritize every requirement to the physical education and sport service quality on a 5-point priority scale: see the above Table 1 above.

At stage four, the physical education and sport service company shall rate the client’s satisfaction with every aspect of the physical education and sport service quality on a 5-point priority scale: see Table 1 above.

At stage five, the physical education and sport service company shall analyze the questionnaire survey data and compute average priority and satisfaction points for every physical education and sport service requirement/ aspect.

And at stage six, the physical education and sport service company shall draft a Priority vs. Satisfaction Chart: see Figure 1 hereunder [7].

Figure 1. Priority vs. Satisfaction Chart

The Priority vs. Satisfaction Chart presents the physical education and sport service quality requirements marked as points on the chart in the coordinate system of priority and satisfaction with the following four quarters: (1) Success; (2) Potential Revision (3) Low Priority; and (4) Focus on That. The coordinate axes would cross either in the point with coordinates (3; 3) or in the averages meeting points.

The Priority vs. Satisfaction Chart is designed to visualize the customer satisfaction rating data. The Success quarter shows the physical education and sport service aspects of high priority and satisfaction for the clients, with the physical education and sport service company management expected to keep up the relevant service quality aspects at least at the level attained.

The Potential Revision quarter presents the service aspects not important for the clients and, hence, the physical education and sport service company management is recommended revising its policies as to the service quality in this domain to reduce the physical education and sport service costs.

As for the Low Priority quarter, the physical education and sport service company management is recommended to cut the service costs in this domain since the customers are found disinterested in these service aspects.

The Focus on That quarter signals of the serious omissions/ errors in the physical education and sport service management system, with the managers recommended giving special attention to the service aspects in this domain due to their positions on the clients’ priority and satisfaction scales. Further mismanagement in this domain may result in an outflow of customers from the service.

Conclusion. The proposed method is beneficial as it gives the extensive means for the management decision-making process to analyze the clients’ requirements and effectively prioritize them; the method is relatively simple for implementation; the output data are simple for interpretation; and presented in the readily understandable format.

References

1. GOST ISO 9001–2011. Sistemy menedzhmenta kachestva. Trebovaniya [GOST ISO 9001–2011. Quality management systems. Requirements]. Moscow: Standartinform publ., 2012. 28 p.
2. GOST R 54732-2011/ISO/TS 10004:2010 Menedzhment kachestva. Udovletvorennost potrebiteley. Rukovodyashchie ukazaniya po monitoringu i izmereniyu [GOST R 54732-2011 / ISO / TS 10004: 2010 Quality management. Consumer satisfaction. Monitoring and Measurement Guidelines]. Moscow: Standartinform publ., 2012. 24 p.
3. GOST R 5636-2014 Menedzhment kachestva. Rukovodyashchie ukazaniya po organizatsii monitoringa udovletvorennosti potrebiteley [GOST R 5636-2014 Quality Management. Guidelines for customer satisfaction monitoring organization]. Moscow: Standartinform, 2015. 16 p.
4. GOST R ISO 10002–2007. Menedzhment organizatsii. Udovletvorennost potrebitelya. Rukovodstvo po upravleniyu pretenziyami v organizatsiyakh [GOST R ISO 10002–2007. Organisation management. Consumer satisfaction. Claims Management Guide in Organizations]. Moscow: Standartinform publ., 2007. 20 p.
5. Selezneova A.V., Anikina Ya.A. Razrabotka metodiki otsenki udovletvorennosti potrebiteley [Development of methods for assessing customer satisfaction].  Master’s Journal; Perm: PNRPU. 2014. no. 2. pp. 94-103.
6. Stepanova O.N. Kontseptualny podkhod i tekhnologiya marketingovogo proektirovaniya kharakteristik fizkulturno-sportivnoy raboty s naseleniem [Conceptual approach and technology of marketing design of characteristics of physical education and sports activities with the population]. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki. 2004. no. 3 (5). pp. 55-60.
7. Martilla J.A., John C. James Importance–Performance Analysis. Journal of Marketing, 1977. Vol. 41, no. 1 (January). pp. 77-79.

Corresponding author: stepanova.olga.75@gmail.com

Abstract

As required by the international ISO 9000 standards and their Russian equivalents, a quality management system in any service sector shall include the customer satisfaction rating tests. The article offers a conceptual approach and a customer satisfaction rating scale for the physical education and sport service quality assurance initiatives, with the ‘priority’ versus ‘satisfaction’ points; plus a set of universal quality rates and a practical test toolkit. The proposed method gives the extensive means for the management decision-making process to: analyze the clients’ need and demands and effectively prioritize them; profile the customer satisfaction with a corporate physical education and sport service quality; find ways to improve performance of physical education and sport service company and step up the service quality; select the most efficient tools to promote the physical education and sport service company; and increase the physical education and sport service company profitability via the growing customer satisfaction and loyalty.