AT&T: THE PERSUIT OF

QUALITY

PRESENTED BY:
APOORVA RASTOGI (15PGPM16)
PRATHAM MITTAL (15PGPM18)
KUNAL DHAGE (15PGPM17)
SATPAL SINGH BAGGA (15PGPM27)
VATSAL SHARMA (15PGPM25)

Introduction
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

AT&T is an American multinationals telecommunications

headquartered at texas, United states
AT&T formed in 1983 was one of the seven regional Bell operating
companies
Later in 1984 AT&T overtake bell companies due to legal reasons
AT&T wanted to offer combined credit card and calling card
AT&T in 1989 recruited paul kahn as UCSS president and CEO
In 1990 UCS first came into the business of credit card
UCS focused on seven core values- customer delight, continuous
improvement, sense of urgency, commitment, trust and integrity
In 1992 UCS was the youngest company ever to win the coveted
Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award
In 1993 UCS with 12 million accounts was the 2nd largest credit
card issuer in the industry
It is currently managed by citibank

Pursuit of continual improvement vs.

stability in employee compensation

By late 1991, financial analysts had declared UCS a major success for
AT&T.

Employees were meeting or exceeding standards consistently, achieving at

least 25 quality days per month.

Still AT&T decided to shake things up :

1.
Standards were raised on 47 indicators in 1992.
2.
Standards had to be met on a higher percentage of the measure to
earn a quality day
3.
A number of the indicators were retired and replaced with new
measures.

The result of the changes was immediate. Employees earned only 13

quality days in January 1992 and 16 in the following month.

In response to these concerns, the business team developed a transitional

plan; it was a special incentive program that allowed employees and
managers to earn triple bonuses for quality days above 20.

Changes in Standards and Measures

47

50
45
40
35
30
25
20

11

15

10
5
0

1990

1991

5
1992

1993

50
40
30
20

3
3

10

46

1
1990

2
6

48
1
6

15
1991

ADDITION

1992
DELETION

14

1993

MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
STRENGTH
Indulged in
Customer Satisfier

Ample and suffice

to indicate the
customers choice

Listening of calls by
top authority

Indicators also included

HRM and information
technology included to
give a better idea of area
of improvement.

MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
WEAKNESS

Tremendous changes often made in indicators

to fulfil requirements of quality days gave a
sudden blow and lead to demotivation of the
employees thus reducing their efficiency
Discrepancy prevailing between customer
feedback before and internal quality monitors.
Thus correct conclusion was a bit difficult to
draw

STRENGTHS OF COMPENSATION
SYSTEM

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
VARIOUS
AWARDS
TO OF
INSPIRE
THE ACHIEVEENTS
AND STIMULATE
OF THE
EMPL
E
MOTIVATING
FACTOR
FOR
EMPLOYEES

WEAKNESS OF COMPENSATION SYSTEM

IGNORANCE OF THE
MISCONCEPTION
OF QUALITY
THE CONPENSATION
ASPECT
SYSTEM

STRENGTHS OF PROCESS
IMPROVEMENT & PROBLEM
SOLVING:
I

WEAKNESS OF PROCESS
IMPROVEMENT & PROBLEM SOLVING:
I

THE PROBLEM

COMPETITORS
RESIGNATION
STRONG
EXCESSIVE
STRESSFUL
CRITICISM
PRESSURE
AND
OF
STARTED
MONOTONOUS
2 SENIOR
WITH
ON
PROVIDING
THE
EMPLOYEES
EMPLOYEES
COMPENSATION
JOB SIMILAR
WAS A
SERVICES
SYSTEM
HUGE SETBACK FOR AT&

SOLUTION

EMPLOYEES
PRODUCT
REPORTING
ONLINE
DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCING
STRESS
IMPLEMENTATION
ACESS
MANAGEMENT
DIFFERENTIATION
SHOULD
ENTERTAINING
TO
OFOF
THE
EMPLOYEES
BE
PARETO
TRANING
PERSONAL
DONE
DIVIDED
FOR
COMPETETIONS
WEEKLY
INTRINSIC
FOR
INTO
ACCOUNT
SELECTING
ASSOCIATES
TEAMS
ORVALUES
FORTNIGHTLY
FOR
CUSTOMER
AMONG
TO CUSTOMERS
REDUCE
FOREMPLOYEES
CAREER
BASE
WORKLOAD
DEVELOP

TOOL OF QUALITY:

PARETO CHART

THANK

YOU