Moving from the management of quality to the management of customer expectations: the challenge for public leisure facility ma

Synopsis This paper examines the impact of customer expectations on the management of public leisure services, arguing that public leisure providers will need to shift their attention from the management of service quality, to focus on the management of customer expectations of their services. Improving the quality of public leisure services has been a goal for successive governments; quality management is inherent within both the Compulsory Competitive Tendering and Best Value frameworks that have impacted on public leisure services since the 1980s. As a result, the management of service quality has become an integral part of the service strategies of public leisure providers, leading to significant improvements in the quality of public leisure services. Associated with these improvements in service quality are raised expectations of these services. Customer expectations have not only required the use of quality initiatives, but have been subsequently further raised by quality management activities. This paper considers the impact of this, arguing that customer expectations are likely to rise to levels that make it financially unviable for public leisure managers to continue with a strategy of service improvement. It suggests that an alternative strategy of managing expectations may be more appropriate. This argument is set out by first, considering the effect of customer expectations on the management of public leisure services, second, discussing how these expectations are formed and consequently, how they can be managed. 3 Moving from the management of quality to the management of customer expectations: the challenge for public leisure facility management.