Background
Quality management involves ensuring all the activities, processes and obligations needed to be carried out in an organization are running smoothly and meet the required level of excellence. Implementation of quality management in an organization guarantees it success in the long run since it ensures customers, who are the most essential players in the market are satisfied.
Quality management demands that all partners in an organization collaborate to enhance the production process in the organization, its products and services and the culture of the company. The literature review of this paper focuses on three objectives; to ascertain the application of quality management strategies and techniques at real estate companies, to evaluate customer satisfaction in real estate industry and to study and recommend best management strategies to enhance property development.
Quality construction and customer satisfaction
In “Nordic journal of surveying and real estate research”, customer satisfaction through quality construction has been described in detail. It explains that customer satisfaction has received significant attention in the past few years. The trends in construction quality and customer satisfaction have been evaluated by studying private and public customers of the real-estate companies.
The results of the journal indicate that there is need for real-estate to improve their performance especially in quality assurance, materials and procedures. According to the journal, private clients were found to be more satisfied with the performance of the contractors compared to the public clients (Kärnä, 2014). For the contractor to remain beneficial to the clients, they have to offer a high level of customer satisfaction as well through provision of high quality and reliable services.
Customer satisfaction is a good indicator of the company’s quality management status. In case a company realises that it is losing clients to other companies, it is essential that the management meets and evaluate the quality standards of their services. Every customer focuses on getting the highest quality services and products out of a company. Any minor change to the quality standards of a company output, it translates into customer dissatisfaction and withdrawal (Kärnä, 2014).
Lean thinking
Lean thinking is has currently gained popularity among many organisations .The real estate companies are expected to be on the forefront in implementing lean thinking as a strategy to enhance their quality management. Lean thinking involves proper waste management to ensure that all the unwanted resources are eliminated from the organisations. The article, “Property Management”, states that a lot of emphasis has been placed on real estate businesses. The real estate industry has added value.
The article studies the status of real estate companies as derived from the aspect of lean thinking. The findings of this article are that wastes cause poor creation of value in the companies. Improper waste management within the organisations result into poor management of information, overloading employees, and delay in responding to clients and stagnation resulting into poor productivity.
Therefore lean thinking is inevitable when the real estate companies aim at enhancing their quality management. Appropriate handling of wastes allows the employees to know what is to be disposed and at what time. It assists in avoiding redundancy of activities hence minimising unnecessary wastage of material and financial resources. It is recommendable that all the firms in this industry place priority to the strategy of lean thinking (Jylhä & Junnila, 2014).
Importance of quality management
The article, “An overview of total quality management understanding the fundamentals in service organization” states that there is a change in the application of quality management in the service and manufacturing companies. Quality management is an important aspect in all economic sectors. Quality management is an important approach towards quality company performance, waste minimisation and process improvement. Many academicians and researchers have acknowledged the important of quality management as a tool for company sustainability. The article explains the approaches towards effective quality management implementation.
Quality management enhances the company growth. Companies need to develop effective frameworks for enhancing the understanding the relevance of quality management. The real estate company managers need to ensure that all stakeholders get the education about quality management, its application and its importance. Companies may also invest in establishing training programs that deliver information about how to enhance quality management.
First- hand information is better because every employees and management staff gets all the vital facts about how to implement quality management. Quality management demands that the strategies formulated to achieve the objects are implemented to the latter rather than just identifying them. The author of the article emphasizes on the strict application of qualitative management on service based organisations (Talib, F. (2013).
Impact of quality management elements
The journal “International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management”, explores the relationship between the hard and soft quality management elements for companies. Using empirical data drawn from a sample size of 370 companies, the author used Factor Analysis to test the validity and reliability of the findings. The results of the research study showed that for a company to realise quality improvement and consolidation of it’s market position, it has to incorporate both the hard and soft quality management element.
The soft elements are such as ; integrity, trust, honesty and transparency among the shareholders. The efforts on enhancing quality management of any company cannot be successful without the application of these elements. The hard elements include financial input in purchasing quality raw materials and employing talented employees.
For a company to be successful in its quality management implementation, all the elements must be applied simultaneously. Enhancing transparency among the shareholders is the most valuable aspect that allows for all the other elements to fall into place effortlessly. It builds the integrity of the management as well as the employees and client trust. In order to produce high quality services or products, the company must also invest in high quality raw materials to realise high productivity.
Risk management
A literature review of, “International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies “finds out that real estate companies that deal with mega structures encounter major risks in the development process as the risks threaten the existence of the companies despite their large economies of scale. It is for that reason that the firms should be involved in profound risk management practices. The major risks that the firms face in their operation are land value risks, planning permit risks, construction risks, duration risks, political risks among others. Risk management is one quality management strategy that the firm employs in its operations.
Most successful real estate companies employ qualified personnel that conduct comprehensive research before the firm undertakes a certain project. The major issues they look into include allocation strategy, investor demand, occupiers and investor demand. The construction process involves entering into many contracts thus the stakeholders of the firm ensure that they involve the legal department to ensure that it enters in valid contracts. The firms should also ensure that all its projects are insured to protect the firm and projects interest’s in event of a risk. Risk management is essential in quality management as it ensures that the organization is always prepared to counter challenges as they occur in the real- estate (Majdalawieh & Bateman, 2009).
Management Strategies
Property development is ones of the real estate companies’ major goals .They have thus to ensure that they continuously expand in the real estate and property management industry locally and globally. The article, “Strategic Plan for Managing Property “ insists that companies have to ensure that they implement the best strategies in the market. The major aim of adopting the best strategies is to outdo major competitors in the industry and to exploit as many market gaps as possible.
The first strategy is to conduct comprehensive market research in the industry. There are several ways that these companies can improve on their product development. First, conduction of a sufficient market research is important as it reveals the latest trends in the market and consumer demands thus aiding the firm to adapt according to the demands in the market. Ensuring customer satisfaction has proven to be one of the major goals of the organization, thus a comprehensive market research will reveal their current demands.
The companies can develop their workforce by offering training on different property development strategies and their property management thus helping them satisfy consumers comprehensively in the current real estate market. The firms can seek and implement the best methods to eliminate property management data requests and improve on their current processes. Doing so will aid the firm in quality planning and quality assurance (US Department of Interior, 2016).
Outsourcing for quality management
The article,” Global outsourcing strategies “, explains that the real estate industry as it entails mega projects. There many activities that the organization is obligated to manage to ensure that the project comes up effectively. Large projects require expertise and skills from different stakeholders thus complicating the management process. According to Barrar and Gervais (2006, p.120), the best strategy that real estate companies can employ in such an instance is to outsource, which entails contracting external service providers to perform certain tasks on behalf of the organization.
The contracted firms are responsible for the companies’ employees and facilities and the host organization will be interested in the outcome of the project that the contracted firm was hired to carry out. Outsourcing plays a significant role in simplifying the management of activities in an organization and reducing the workload in the organization. It also plays an important role in aiding organizations meet scheduled deadlines on time thus it is an effective strategy for the organization to adapt.
Outsourcing also plays a significant role in cost reduction since the approaches that the contracted organizations implement may be cost effective. The outsourced companies have to demonstrate high quality service delivery in order to transfer the same into the contracting real estate companies.
Employee involvement in quality management
The literature, “Risk Analysis” by Park et. al,.(2012), state that firms should involve their employees in decision making forums. Employees are the major project implementers. It is important to consider the input of the employees from all departments. The input each employee might have during the planning stages can help diversify a project to suit client specifications and come up with new designs that will market the organization in an efficient manner. The employees collaborate with the management in the implementation of a project especially a mega project.
Embracing teamwork work in the organization is crucial in achievement of an organization’s set goals especially the development of quality lifestyles for its clients. Successful real estate companies ensure that they coordinate all the activities especially the provision of the necessary resources required in property development.
According to Park et al (2012, p.360) Ensuring use of quality raw materials in the construction process minimizes the risks involved in the real estate industry. The firm can undertake certain strategies to ensure a productive workforce especially the talented employees since they are the ones who come up with efficient ideas that ensure continued growth in the firm. Employees are more knowledgeable about the best materials that produce high quality outcomes therefore their input is highly valuable.
Technology application in quality management
In the literature, “Property Development”, Keeping up with technology is important in the real estate business as it ensures the quality is upheld in the organization. According to Reed and Sims (2014, p.50), updated technology especially in crucial equipment hastens the accomplishment of tasks thus aiding the firm meet the construction deadlines. Doing so contributes to a positive image of the organization, thus attracting new clients to the organization. The companies in real estate industry that have large economies of scale should ensure that its facilities meet the current demands in the construction industry to beat its competitors.
The companies should ensure that their employees have sufficient training on the use of the new machinery thus implies that they need to conduct training programs on the use of new machinery from time to time to ensure that delays and breakdown of machinery because of lack of knowledge is limited as much as possible. Communication is crucial for the success of any industry thus the firm should always ensure that it has a comprehensive communication channel in sectors. The management should have clear communication with their employees and customers. Most customers seek clarification before undertaking the services of a real estate company either in community development or property management (Reed and Sims ,2014, p.50).
Quality management policies
The article, ËMMAR quality,” explains that some real estate development companies have come up with some policies that are aimed at ensuring quality is upheld in all aspects. Through company websites the companies employ international designers whose profound knowledge in the design industry provide clients with unique designs thus promoting design excellence to all its potential clients. The major aim of the firms in the real estate sector is to offer the best products to its clients thus considers all designs and selects those that it is sure will impress their potential customers.
The company stakeholders match their architectural impressions with the surrounding environment and legal regulating policies thus promoting sustainability (EMAAR, 2016). They employ unique finishing styles that not only meet local and regional standards but also international standards. The quality of material used is of high quality thus ensuring the outcome produced is impressive and appealing to its clients.
Once the companies complete the construction of a building, they undertakes its maintenance through facility management thus ensuring that the structure meets the firm’s and international policy standards in the real estate industry .Regulatory policies provide a guideline to the quality standards against which the companies should use in their operations. Such guidelines include the recommended standards of materials to be used in construction.
Conclusion
The literature review on the aspects of quality management in real- estate companies provides a comprehensive knowledge of the impact of total quality management in the real estate and property management .Successful companies in the industry have proven their versatility to operate in different market structures despite the different challenges they encounter. Some companies have been awarded because of their profound total quality management techniques. All real estate companies have to make improvements on their quality management to boost their property development strategies .
This will ensure that the companies achieve global recognition and have wide market shares in the real estate and property management sector. The companies have to improve on their risk management processes to ensure that they do not suffer any losses in the business as there are many risks in the industry. Outsourcing has proven to be advantageous in the real estate and property management industry thus should be considered as a strategy in quality planning since it has many benefits. Motivating employees in the firm is crucial property development since employees are the ones that determine the output of an organization thus its crucial to ensure they are always satisfied in their different capacities as they will ensure customers are always satisfied too.
References
Barrar, P. & Gervais, R. (2006). Global outsourcing strategies : an international reference on effective outsourcing relationships. Aldershot, England Burlington, VT: Gower.
EMAAR, (2016), EMAAR Quality. Retrieved on 24th September, 2016 from http://www.emaarmisr.com/EmaarQuality.
Fotopoulos, C. B., & Psomas, E. L. (2009). The impact of “soft” and “hard” TQM elements on quality management results. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 26(2), 150-163.
Jylhä, T., & Junnila, S. (2014). The state of value creation in the real-estate sector–lessons from lean thinking. Property Management, 32(1), 28-47.
Kärnä, S. (2014). Analysing customer satisfaction and quality in construction–the case of public and private customers. Nordic journal of surveying and real estate research, 2.
Majdalawieh, M. & Bateman, R. (2009), Megaprojects and risk management: Emaar Properties. International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies. 2(1).
Lee, J. G. Selvakumar, A. Alvi, K. Riverson, J. Jenny, X, Shoemaker, L. Lai. (2012). A watershed-scale design optimization model for stormwater best management practices. Environmental Modeling & Software. 37(2012), Pp.6-18.
Park, J. Seager. T. P., Rao, S. C., Convertino, M. & Linkov, I. (2012). Integrating Risk and Resilience Approaches to Catastrophe Management in Engineering Systems. Risk Analysis. 33(3), Pp.356-367
Reed, R. & Sims, S. (2014). Property Development. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis
Talib, F. (2013). An overview of total quality management: understanding the fundamentals in service organization. Talib, F.(2013),“An overview of total quality management: understanding the fundamentals in service organization”, International Journal of Advanced Quality Management, 1(1), 1-20.
US Department of Interior, (2016). Strategic Plan for Managing Property, Retrieved on 24th July 2016 from https://www.doi.gov/pam/programs/property_management/Strategic-Plan-for- Managing-Property