Introduction
Performance Quality Standards deliver a product, e.g. a football pitch, that has a range of clearly defined quality characteristics. These standards are a way of communicating to other people what is meant by the quality of a playing surface, or similar area.
The standards help to eliminate misunderstandings between maintainers, users and facility providers. This can be particularly important when dealing with, for example, contractual situations or service agreements between a local community and local authority.
Customers, both internal (e.g. service providers) and external (e.g. users) can contribute in an informed way, for example through consultation and a requirements specification, to the decision of what objective, i.e. level of quality (High, Standard or Basic), is appropriate for their needs.
Turf managers will need to implement a suitable method to ensure the management of the facility is both effective and efficient.
Effectiveness:
A percentage showing the actual output against the expected output ---> (actual ÷ expected) x 100%.
This will look at how much of the overall level of quality has been achieved and the level of use that has been sustained.
Efficiency:
A percentage showing the resources actually used against the planned use of resources ---> (actual ÷ planned) x 100%.
This will consider the maintenance programme, including staff, materials, machinery, equipment etc. See the following for examples as a guide:
- Maintenance calendar (football pitch)
- Labour profile (bowling green)
- Work programme (golf green)
Method
One method that may be considered an aid to the implementation process is the Plan - Do - Check - Act (PDCA) model - also called the Deming wheel.
Diagram: PDCA model
The turf manager will need to think about, and undertake in a proactive way, the following steps:
1. Plan: by designing an appropriate management programme that will achieve the desiredobjective, i.e. Performance Quality Standards. This will need to take into account not only the turf maintenance operations, but also criteria such as the condition of the existing soil profile and playing surface,the local weather conditions, local topography, planned and actual usage, and a playing surface cancellation policy when unsuitable playing conditions are forecast or arise.
2. Do: Implement the management programme. This has to have both a commitment from management (such as ensuring that a pitch cancellation policy is adhered to if a sustainable playing surface is to be provided) and an appropriate technical understanding of turfculture to successfully achieve the desired result.
3. Check: Monitor and measure the outcome of the management programme. This will be particularly useful in identifying what impact the actual maintenance work has had on the playing surface in relation to the amount of usage that has taken place. Assessment and evaluation of the findings needs to be carried out to resolve quality issues. Customer surveys should also be undertaken to find out what the users of the facility continue to think about the quality of the product and service provided.
4. Act: Act on the findings of the assessment and evaluation to continually improve the management process to satisfy customer requirements and maintain the sustainability of the facility. Set a new target.
In both the private and public sectors the effective and efficient use of resources, whether to improve return on investments and increase profit levels or to provide 'value for money' or equitable use of limited public revenues, are usually ideals which are aimed for.
The Performance Quality Standard framework provides a comprehensive performance measure that can be used to judge the effectiveness and efficiency of this management process.
Undertaking the PDCA model and then resting on one's laurels is not an option; if a quality playing surface is to be produced on a long-term, sustainable basis then a process of continuous improvement needs to be implemented.
This is achieved by continuing the 4 steps leads so as to a spiral of continual improvement. Some of the reasons why it is necessary to continually improve will include:
- the changing aspirations of customers over time,
- technical innovation that lead to different and improved maintenance techniques - consider the type of machinery that is now available when compared with say the 1950s - as well as changes in material quality and type,
- changes in legislation that may remove certain materials from a maintenance programme, for example, certain pesticides,
- changing health and safety perspectives,
- adapting to climate change,
- as previously mentioned - to produce a long-term, sustainable playing surface.
Diagram: Spiral of continual improvement