The course aims to understand concepts such as quality, total quality management (TQM), quality management standards (ISO, EFQM), and training in issues of quality, statistical quality control, quality management systems, benchmarking, brainstorming, teamwork, improvement tools, satisfaction tools, and benchmarking performance. After completing the course, participants will understand the importance of quality in hospitality and tourism services, as well as how to apply process assurance and improvement methods.

After successfully completing the course, the student will have the following abilities:
• Recognize the basic concepts of quality, total quality management, and quality management systems.
• To understand the utility of quality in tourism and hospitality services.
• To recognize the need to improve the quality of services.
• Apply customer satisfaction methods and tools.
• Understand the process of introducing and preparing an organization to implement a quality management standard.
• Demonstrate their ability to implement tools to ensure and improve the quality of services in tourism.

Week 1 - Quality concept, definitions, meaning, quality and productivity, cost of quality, quality in tourism.

Week 2 - Philosophy of quality, Deming, Juran, Crosby, Garvin, Ishikawa, Feigenbaum, Taguchi, Shingo, and Oakland.

Week 3 - Statistical quality control, statistical process control (SPC), flow chart, check sheet, tree diagram, cause and effect diagram, acceptance sampling, average output quality, stratification, pareto chart.

Week 4 - Quality improvement techniques, seven basic (B7) + seven new (N7) quality improvement tools, Six Sigma & DMAIC, quality functional development (QFD), failure mode & effect analysis (FMEA).

Week 5 - Quality improvement methods, benchmarking: implementation process, brainstorming, continuous improvement framework, teamwork, empowerment, training.

Week 6 - Satisfaction tools: external customers, consumer behavior, work environment (QWL), internal customers, product development cycle.

Week 7 - Quality cost, life cycle cost, costing methods, ABC method, difference comparison (PAF, PCA), quality cost factors.

Week 8 - Total Quality Management (TQM), concept, objectives, determinants, results, quality cycles, differentiation, TQM models in the hospitality industry.

Week 9 - Quality management systems (QMS) , concepts, quality assurance, quality standards, ISO standards, ESG indicators, lean manufacturing.

Week 10 - QMS: ISO 9001:2013 standard, ISO 14001:2015 standard, ISO 22316:2017 standard, ISO 18513 tourism services management standard.

Week 11 - European Foundation for Quality Management, the EFQM excellence award, key concepts, diagnostic tools, and certification levels. EFQM applications in the hospitality industry.

Week 12 - Quality in tourism, quality in the hospitality industry, tourism product characteristics, importance of quality, implementation of total quality management in hospitality industry. 

Week 13 - SERVQUAL quality model in the hospitality industry, implementation, destination factor quality model, quality standards in the Greek hospitality industry.

• Tsiotras, G. (2016). Total Quality Management. Nicosia: Broken Hill Publishers Ltd, ISBN: 9789963258963 (in Greek).
• Psomas, E., Tsarouhas, P.. & Nteliou, K.. (2023). Total Quality Management. Thessaloniki: Disigma.
• Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2018). Quality Management for organizational excellence. Thessalonik: Tziola.
• Buswell, J., Williams, C., Donne, K., & Sutton, C. (2020). Service Quality in Leisure, Events, Tourism and Sport. Athens: Propobos.
• Oakland, J. S. (2014). Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. London: Routledge
• Evans, J.R. & Lindsay, W.M. (2020). Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence. Athens: Kleidarithmos.
• James, P. (2007). Total Quality Management. AthensQ: Kleidarithmos.
• Koulouriotis, D. & Metaxas, I. (2023). Total Quality Management and Organizational Excellence. Athens: Kallipos.
• Lai, I. K., Hitchcock, M., Yang, T., & Lu, T. W. (2018). Literature review on service quality in hospitality and tourism (1984-2014) Future directions and trends. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(1), 114-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-08-2016-040

• Lectures
• Case studies
• Assignement 

• Support for the learning process via the opencourses.ionio.gr online platform.
• ICT in the Classroom.
• Use of ICT in Student Communication

Final exam comprising:

- Short answer queries

- Multiple choice

- Comparative analysis of the elements of theory and case study

Assignment (40%, the implementation of quality in organizations and businesses, with a concentration on the tourism industry).)                                                    

Students are informed of the evaluation criteria at the outset of the course.