ABSTRACT
The moment an organization adopts a policy which emphasizes quality, then it has to rethink its approach to motivation. In a service industry where customers are dealt with face to face, there can be no question of high quality coexisting with high levels of labour turnover. Even when there is an efficient training function, the constant appearance of new faces prevents a degree of continuity taking root. Such continuity is essential to good-quality service. It is a concern for quality that has refocused the perspective from 'the problems and benefits of high labour turnover' towards the idea of employee commitment. In other words, emphasis is now on how we can keep our valued employees. Keeping them automatically implies the question, how can we motivate them to a level of performance beyond what might be expected from secure employment to a level based on taking responsibility and being actively involved? To have this greater expectation of employees is essential, because continuity alone does not make for quality service. There is always the chance that the performance of a stable workforce can go stale.
