The Quality of the Decision-Making Process in Road Transport

Abstract The issue of quality is a very important aspect of the operation of transport companies. In relation to the area of their activity it primarily focuses on the quality of services provided, which can be verified e.g. on the basis of timeliness of deliveries or accepted complaints. This allows for examining the quality after providing the service in order to take future pro-quality actions. However, is it possible to affect the quality of services provided before their provision? The transport process itself is preceded with a range of actions taken within the framework of detailed planning and organization, which can significantly influence the quality of services. The decisions made at the management level are conditioned by many factors determining the course of future events, however, this is not always enough to make the process run uninterruptedly. Therefore, it is important to structure basic actions at the initial stage so as to allow the smooth conduct of the decision-making process for the specific task in order to subsequently focus on the detailed analysis of the actions planned. In the paper, the author attempts to characterize the fundamental factors affecting the decisions taken during the planning and organization of the transport process. The objective of the conducted research is to verify initial decisions and their significance for the improvement in the quality of transport services provided. There was conducted the algorithmization of actions and interpretation of their importance for the quality of decisions taken at the preparatory stage and during transport.