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UCS has proved that statistical quality control can be used to quantify measurable parts of services to monitor service standards which in turn, maintain or increases customers’ satisfaction. As service is intangible, it is difficult to measure the quality of service. However, benchmarking near or beyond competitors can effectively allow new company like UCS to compete in the industry, thus implementing the measurement processes. UCS main focus was delivering its promise of “delighting customers with unparalleled service” to gain maximum customer satisfaction. UCS matched/ exceeded customer expectation by incorporating a culture of quality service in associates and upholding it by statistical quality control. Even though customer participation was only during the calls, the backhand operation meticulously measures customer satisfaction. Extensive surveys, 17 processes measures and even call monitoring are used. All these measures were then standardized to benchmarking criterion and discussed in daily meetings in order to minimize variance and uphold the high service standard that UCS pride. With such stringent measurement process in place, UCS won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992 and became the number 2 credit card issuer in the industry with nearly 12 million accounts in 1993, a rare accomplishment by a young company that started only in 1990.

UCS measurement system was able to quantify service level, provide close monitoring of service and give direct feedback for continuous improvement. However it placed a rigid control in the environment such that adapting to different situations may be difficult. Having so many measurements incurs high cost and not all measurements may be relevant. A measurement system tied to compensation motivates telephone associates to achieve “Quality Days” to minimise variance. However, this causes little initiative for changes as associates will not want to jeopardize their bonus. This may...

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