Total Quality Management and Residential Real Estate Agency Issues

This study explores the implications of applying Total Quality Management (TQM) principles to residential real estate brokerage, specifically the need for customer focus. Deming's (1986) TQM system of fourteen points reduced to four distinct subsystems. The most critical of these is the need for customer focus. Several approaches to agency in residential real estate brokerage are presented, with an examination of the ease with which customer focus can be obtained with each approach. The main finding is that customer focus can be achieved easier with the agency specialization approach.