This Chapter has provided a brief historical review of the concept of quality and its evolution in terms of nature and vocabulary. It is shown that the idiom has its historical roots in the primary stages of humankind. In providing a conceptual analysis of quality, the chapter has reviewed the differing perspectives adopted, demonstrating that in most of its usage, the term ‗quality‘ is misleading and obscure in most of its usage. A multi-dimensional view of quality has been emphasised as one reflecting its true meaning, from which it is concluded that it is very difficult to accept the notion that there is only one single view about the concept. It is noted that the characteristics of quality are extremely helpful in providing a deeper understanding of the term.
The chapter has also reviewed the concept of quality according to the views of the quality gurus‘, namely Deming, Juran, Crosby, and some other contributors to the debate, since their work in the field has been long-lasting and useful.
It has also been shown that many benefits are available to organisations that engage in quality initiatives, these benefits being identified as reduced costs, increased profitability, and enlarged market share. A discussion has also been presented of the ‗quality evolution‘, showing how ideas on quality have moved from Inspection at the primary stage to detect faults, to Quality Control as a series of activities and techniques used to accomplish and
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sustain the quality of a product, process, or service, then to Quality Assurance in which a systematic approach focusing on quality costs, total quality control, reliability engineering, and zero defects is used, and finally to Total Quality Management (TQM) which offers the most comprehensive approach. Despite its many principles, TQM has been shown to have the ultimate objective of ‗customer satisfaction‘.
Many QM models and systems were seen to have derived their criteria from the TQM principles embodied in such awards as the Deming Prize, Malcolm BaldrigeNational Quality Model, and the European Foundation Quality Management (EFQM) business excellence model. A brief description of these models and the relevant national awards has been offered. It has been concluded that there is no doubt whatsoever, that National Quality Awards have a significant role in promoting business excellence values, and in helping to make quality principles more reliable and sensible.
Moreover, this chapter has provided different meanings of the service concept in general and from an organisational perspective. The most important point it has raised is that the perception of service should be approached from the customer‘s viewpoint, since customers vary in their values and their standards of assessment, and hence the provision of service quality is complicated, as the ‗product‘ must mean all things, to all people. In articulating the notion of service quality, the chapter presents the main differences between service and manufacturing systems, identifying four characteristics of service as being: Intangibility, Heterogeneity, Perishability, and Inseparability. The chapter also highlights the core benefits of managing service quality such as increasing sales and market share, enhancing the corporate profitability and efficiency by avoiding the failure cost related to wasted time, effort, and money, and achieving customer satisfaction, which is the most desired advantage. Additionally, the chapter explores the difficulties linked to managing service quality pointing out that these are related to the nature of the service itself, and to customer expectations which are extremely susceptible to change. The chapter also introduces some indicators for the evaluation of service quality, and the most important requirements for achieving service excellence in banks.
Furthemore, the chapter covers the meaning of the readiness concept with a critical review for readiness studies in the literature approaching the gap in the lituratre in light of the reviewed studies. Finally, the chapter presents the factors affecting the readiness to implement the EFQM Excellence Model.The fundamental concepts of the EFQM Excellence
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Model have been chosen as theoretical framework for this study. The chapter has discussed in detail, the fundamental concepts and sub-concepts of the EFQM Excellence Model, with each one being deconstructed into major points that are then discussed according to the views of quality gurus, quality awards models, and the empirical studies in the literature. The highlighted points are used as guidance for designing the interview questions and collecting other related data.
The next chapter considers the Syrian banking sector, the context in which the data for the study is collected.
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CHAPTER THREE
SYRIAN BANKING SECTOR CONTEXT 3.0 Chapter Introduction
Syria is an Arab country. It has a strategic location at the meeting-point of three continents (Asia, Africa and Europe). It is bordered by Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Palestine to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north. (Please see Appendix 8 for Syria map). Syria has a total population of (21.3) million inhabitants including (1.5 million) Iraqi Immigrants (IMF Report, 2008), and a total area of 183,885 square kilometres.
This chapter will provide an overview of the Syrian banking sector (SBS), the Guardian authorities which control the sector, and a brief idea about quality in the SBS.