Total Quality Management and Operational Management Control - Assignment Example

Chapter # 3: Methodology: The research methodology chosen for the research is the questionnaire technique. The reason for choosing questionnaires isthat they are very cost effective compared to arranged personal interviews. This cost is further multiplies for studies involving large sample sizes covering large geographic areas. Written questionnaires become even more cost effective as the number of research questions increases (Agus, A. 2005). The research strategy adopted to complete this research is the inductive research strategy. Inductive reasoning is actually a branch of logic. In a valid inductive argument, the conclusion is believed to be true on the basis of its antecedents (Joyce, Weil, 2000). Although a generalization is made based on the evidence gathered but if, even a single logic is proved wrong the whole generalization is considered inappropriate. These generalizations are made only if after the data is organized. Our research methodology is based on this strategy and the answers to the questions are generalized to make conclusions about the company strategy. The main focus of this questionnaire is to focus on the techniques and strategies used by the companies to implement the tools of Total Quality Management commonly known as TQM and Balance Score Card. The reason questionnaire technique is favoured and adapted over the other techniques for research is best explained by (Germain, R., and N. Spears. 1999): Questionnaires are easy to analyze. Data entry and tabulation for nearly all surveys can be easily done with many computer software packages. Questionnaires are familiar to most people. Nearly everyone has had some experience completing questionnaires and they generally do not make people apprehensive. Questionnaires reduce bias. There is uniform question presentation and no middle-man bias. The researcher's own opinions will not influence the respondent to answer questions in a certain manner. There are no verbal or visual clues to influence the respondent. Questionnaires are less intrusive than telephone or face-to-face surveys. When a respondent receives a questionnaire in the mail, he is free to complete the questionnaire on his own time-table. Unlike other research methods, the respondent is not interrupted by the research instrument The questionnaires give more objectives and standardised responses than the interviews as a particular defined pattern is specified. Questionnaires are the quickest way to collect information, however they take a relatively long time not only to design but also to apply and analyse. The main advantage of questionnaire over other research techniques is that more information can be collected in short span of time from a large portion of a group. Although returns from questionnaires are usually low but these return rates can be dramatically improved if the questionnaire is delivered to specific targeted groups and is responded in time. The questions in the questionnaires can be of two types: open ended and close ended. Open ended questions are targeted to get obscure information from a person and the analysis on the questionnaire is done on the basis of the answer of the questionnaire. Whereas closed ended questions are targeted questions in which particular information is asked by the person and a pre analysed answer sheet is usually maintained, based upon which results are formulated. Advantages of Closed-Ended Questions These questions are quick to answer as they are targeted to specifics of the subject. Usually such questions are multiple choice questions which require only the selection of right answer. Close Ended questions are easy to code as the questionnaire mainly consist of multiple choice questions. The answers can be analysed quickly on the basis of a prepared Performa. The answers are not differentiated between articulate and inarticulate respondents (Hendricks, K. B., and V. R. Singhal. 1997). Disadvantages of Closed-Ended Questions Close Ended questions also have some disadvantages. Few can draw misleading conclusions because of its limited scope and options. The researcher or the interviewer can only deal with the option specified and not with answers such as "Yes, but.." or "It depends". Advantages of Open-Ended Questions Although open ended questions are more time consuming there are certain advantages open ended questions have over closed ended one. They offer a greater freedom of expression to the interviewer. There is no biasness of the responder in answering the question as in the closed ended questions which offer limited response ranges. The respondent can interpret the questions according to their perception and can give answers (Hendricks, K. B., and V. R. Singhal. 1997). Disadvantages of Open-Ended Questions Open ended questions do require a lot of time to code as the answers differ with different persons. There is also a possibility that the researcher or the interviewer may misinterpret a response (Hendricks, K. B., and V. R. Singhal. 1997). Primary Research: The questionnaire prepared for research on Total Quality Management is targeted to find out the trends of the Multinational UK firms in implementing TQM. The answers of the questionnaire will provide data to analyse the shifting trends in the manufacturing industries and the managers' visions about total quality management. It will also help us to evaluate the willingness of the managers to implementing TQM standards within their organizations and the amount of effort being done in this regard. Balance score card on the other hand measures business from the following perspectives (Kaplan, Norton, 1992): 1) Financial perspective: - Balance score card helps managers and analyst to measure key financial ratios, debtors or cash flow etc. 2) Internal business perspective: - It also helps to give an insight at the impact of internal processes on the business, for example, how long is spent prospecting How much rework is required How successful are we when tendering for new business etc. 3) Customer perspective: - Score cards also helps managers to measure factors that directly have an effect on customers such as the time taken to deal with calls, customer rankings, surveys, complaints etc. 4) Innovation and learning perspective: - Balance score cards are also key tools for the identification of the increases in revenue due the new ideas, measurement and analysis of employee suggestions and answers the questions like how to train staff, how much value added activities are being performed etc. Both the questionnaires were sent to four companies with Part A and B for TQM and Balance Score Card respectively. The companies were: 1) Nokia 2) UniLever 3) Reckitt and Benkiser 4) Procter and Gamble. All these four companies were selected because they all are multinational companies and almost approximately are equivalent in their business operations. As our research strategy is based on inductive strategy and we have to make appropriate generalizations on the answers given, the companies selected for the questionnaire should be such companies which have almost equal stature as far as their operations are concerned. The only successful answer for both the questionnaire came from Nokia. Although Unilever also gave the answers to the questionnaire but the questionnaire was rejected because the answers were not given appropriately. Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Nokia has a strong backing of its unmatched experience, innovative ideas, solution that are more secure than others, user friendly systems. It is right now the leading mobile supplier in the world with the overall market share of 33%. It also holds the award of leading supplier of IP and mobile networks. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges. Questionnaire OF TQM: The following questionnaire was sent to different companies. While preparing the questionnaire special care has been taken to cover all internal and external areas of the organizations so that the impact of implementing TQM can be analysed. Further help is taken by (Zammuto. R. F., B. Clifford, and E. A. Gooman. 2000). The first part of the questionnaire deals with the Total quality management questions. More emphasis is of these questions is on the shift in trend towards the TQM standards and how manger are accepting it. In the part of the questionnaire the balance scored card techniques are questionnaire and their impact on the organizations performance is emphasized. Questions as to how important balance score cards are also included in the questionnaire to analyse the managers' perspective towards implementing balance score card. 1. What is the current status of the implementation of TQM in your organization a. Not started b. Early Stage c. Have implemented 2. How do the companies implement TQM 3. How do you think the efforts be put in implementing TQM in England's organizations a. Slowly move towards TQM b. Take measures to implement TQM c. Create law and rules to make sure TQM is implemented as soon as possible. 4. How successful are England's organizations in implementing TQM a. Not successful b. Fairly successful c. Very successful 5. Is there any relationship between the successful implementation of TQM and the competitive advantages for England's organizations a. Yes b. No c. May Be 6. In your view has the quality of your manufactured product been influenced by the various quality initiatives available to industry in the last 10 years or so. a. Strongly influenced b. Marginally influenced c. No influence 7. Has the quality of your support service (eg delivery, cost, after sales, etc.)been influenced a. Strongly influenced b. Marginally influenced c. No influence Which elements of the initiative had the most effect 8. Do your customers have an enhanced attitude to quality a. Yes b. No 9. How important is 3rd Party certification to your customers and is this a contractual requirement a. Very b. Little c. None Contractual requirement Yes No 10. In your success please place the following in order of importance from 1-5. Delivery performance Price ____ Quality ____ After sales ____ Other ____ 11. Is certificated quality management cost effective in your business a. Very b. Marginally c. Not at all 12. How do you ensure quality from your own suppliers Inspection Audit ISO 9000 Performance measurement None Other 13. Are you satisfied with supplier quality Yes ____ No ____ If not, please give 3 areas of dissatisfaction. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. Is your business pursuing any initiatives other than quality management, e.g. Business Excellence, Investors in People, etc. a. Yes b. No Questionnaire for Balance Score Card: 1. Does your company use Balance Score Card methodology for Performance Measurements a. Yes b. No 2. How important do you think Balance Score Card methodology is for Performance Measurements a. Not important b. Fairly Important c. Very important 3. How readily are organizations willing to use Balance Score Card methodology a. not willing b. less willing c. willing 4. Does implementing Balance Score Card methodology improves Performance Measurements a. Yes b. No 5. Does implementing Balance Score Card help maintaining the company's strategy a. Yes b. No 6. Which department is most benefited by implementing Balance Score Card Number your preference. ____ Finance ____ Customer Service ____ Internal Business Process ____ Learning and Growth 7. What internal business processes are critical to providing value to customers a. Customer Service b. After Sale Service c. Quality Assurance 8. What is your goal of Balance Score Card a. increase perception of safety b. increase market share c. improve quality 9. How much are the performance activities affected by Balance Score Cards a. Strongly influenced b. Marginally influenced c. No influence . Limitations of Data: Questionnaires, like many evaluation methods occur after the event, so participants may forget important issues. Questionnaires are standardised and are similar for every company so it is impossible to explain any points in the questions that participants might misinterpret. This problem could be solved some what partially by giving a brief overview of the questions as to what the researcher is aiming to ask in them before getting out the results. Open-ended questions can generate large amounts of data that can take a long time to process and analyse. One way of limiting this would be to limit the space available to students so their responses are concise or to sample the students and survey only a portion of them. Long questionnaire may drive away respondents to answer them or superficially answer them. The mistake of asking too many questions should be avoided. The companies often are reluctant to reveal critical information asked through the questionnaire. Companies might think that revealing their information might me helpful for their competitors to gain advantage over them. The companies are also reluctant to give out information about their internal business processes and therefore some questions are deliberately answered incorrectly to obscure information. TQM questions are specially victim to such discrepancies because they give a clear idea of entire business process of the organization. Balance Score Card method on the other hand give key performance measurement, and therefore questionnaires are designed in a way they there is no infringement of these performance indicators. The major hindrance that I faced while sending the questionnaires to different companies, was that companies didn't take it seriously and the personnel referred it to there sub ordinates to fill the questionnaire. Some said to e-mail or fax the questionnaire and never replied to it. Also it was difficult to get the right email addresses and fax numbers of the HR personnel. Even for Nokia I had to call the responsible person and remind him about the questionnaire as I was short of time. Chapter # 4: The response rate of the survey was 25% (1 out of 4 questionnaires). One questionnaire is invalid due to the answers are not properly applied in the questionnaire. Therefore, only 1 questionnaire qualified for analysis. The reason for this low response rate is certainly lack of time on our part. The only company which replied to the questionnaire (Nokia) has already implemented TQM and uses Balanced Score Card for Performance Measurements. The answers given by Nokia provide useful knowledge about the general trend shift in the TQM standards and how much they feel it is important to implement balance score cards. Nokia respondent to these questions in a positive manner and the answer provided by Nokia an analysis reveal a rather optimistic picture of the subjects. A general research shows that more than half of the multinational companies in the UK have adopted the TQM approach to improve their performance in quality. Furthermore, out of the remaining half 50 percent indicates that they will adopt TQM in the near future, and believed that TQM will bring them significant improvements in quality as well as market shares (Gray, L. 1998). The following are the results given by Nokia to the questionnaire. A. Q# Answers 1 C 2 3 B 4 B 5 A 6 A 7 A 8 A 9 B,C 10 2,1,3,4 11 B 12 Performance Measurement 13 Yes 14 B B. Q# Answers 1 A 2 C 3 B 4 A 5 A 6 1,3,4,2 7 C 8 C 9 B The questionnaire results clearly indicate the general perception of implementing TQM by Nokia manager. The questionnaire also gives a slight idea about the general shift in trend of the organizations in the UK toward process improvements and thus TQM. The questionnaire tells that Nokia has already implemented TQM procedures within their organization. Nokia managers think that its high time that England's organization take solid measures to implement TQM standards. England's organizations are fairly successful in implementing TQM standards according to Nokia and they think that implementing TQM standards gives a competitive advantage over others. The general quality of products and services in the UK have improves dramatically due to the TQM standards. This is the result of the ability of the organization to lower costs and concentrate on quality. As a consequence customer willingness to achieve quality have increased. Nokia believes that quality is most important followed by price, after sales and other. They think that certificated quality management is very cost effective in the long run. Nokia ensure quality from their suppliers by Performance measurement metrics. As for the Balanced Score Card questionnaire is a concerned Nokia use this methodology to measure its performance. Nokia thinks that it is very important to use Balance score card methodology to measure performance. Although less organizations are willing to use balance score card methodology but Nokia believes that by implementing Balance Score Card methodology certainly improves performance measurements. Nokia thinks that its Finance department is most benefited by implementing Balance Score Card methodology and its quality assurance department are most critical. According to Nokia Balance Score Card certainly improves quality as it gives a detail view of the performance measures at any level of detail, whether department wide or organization wide. These performance measures in return help the managers to identify problem area and take key decisions accordingly. Long term strategies for the company are also based on the findings of balance scorecard. Another aspect, as evident from the questionnaire, is that balance score card is also the key for budgeting and forecasting future goals. By answering this question in such a positive manner it is evident that Nokia strongly believes in these performance measures. Recommendations: The following are the recommendations to attract more responses from the respondents and to make the data of the research more viable: Give a stated date (deadline) for the questionnaire, which should be feasible for both the respondent and the person conducting the research Leave ample time on your part to conduct the appropriate analysis on the answers Add a letter head of the university or the organization which you are representing so that the respondents are sure that their answers would not be used for any other purposes. Take extra care while making the questions for the questionnaire. They should not be vague and many in number Don't ask for extra information in the questionnaire other than the one required Use statistical techniques to determine the variability in the answers and eliminate those questionnaires which are very different from the others. Summary Findings: The result of the questionnaire from Nokia clearly states that TQM standards are most important in order to maintain competitive advantage over the others. They realize that by implementing TQM standards not only improve business processes but also reduce cost significantly. The trend has shifted from quantity to quality and firms are more concentrating towards maintaining quality. As the firms moves towards quality improvements the focus of the firms have also changed to Customer relation rather than market share. The results clearly identify the long term benefits of TQM which may be higher productivity, better employees' morale, cost reductions, and greater customer satisfaction. These benefits thereby help the organization to build and improve its public image. These improvements in quality certainly requires to maintain the over organizations strategy at the same time measure performance. This requires the Balance score card methodology. Balance scorecards provide the flexibility to the managers and decision makers to identify the performance flaws if any and then act accordingly to overcome them. The advantages of the balance score card are best explained by (Gray, 1998) are: 1. A clear sense of direction For clearly understanding long term organizational goals in the form of destination statement. 2. a profound understanding of the business model To identify strategic business objectives 3. an ability to focus and prioritize Focusing on clearly defined destination for the future and clears strategy for how to realize it will help to reduce risk of loosing sight of what they are trying to do. 4. organizational agility To check whether the organization is doing what it set out to do and is achieving the results it expected. References: Agus, A. 2005. The structural linkages between TQM, product quality performance, and business performance: preliminary empirical study in electronic companies. Singapore Management Review 27, no. 1: 87-105. Germain, R., and N. Spears. 1999. Quality management and its relationship with organizational context and design. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management 16, no. 4: 371-391. Gray, L. (1998), "Firms Gain 'Balanced Scorecard'", PC Week. Hendricks, K. B., and V. R. Singhal. 1997. Does implementing an effective TQM program actually improve operating performance Empirical evidence from firms that have won quality award. Management Science 43, no. 9: 1259-1274. Kaplan R S, Norton D P, "The balanced scorecard: measures that drive performance", Harvard Business Review, 1992. Utley, D. R., J. Westbrook, and S. Turner. 1997. The relationship between Herzberg's two-factor theory and quality improvement implementation. Engineering Management Journal 9, no. 3: 5-13. Zammuto. R. F., B. Clifford, and E. A. Gooman. 2000. Managerial ideologies, organizational culture, and the outcomes of innovation: A competing values perspective. In Handbook of organizational culture and climate, ed. N. M. Ashkanasy, C. P. M. Wilderom, and M. F. Peterson. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications Inc. Joyce, B., & Weil, M, Models of teaching (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Cover Letter: To Whom It May Concern: This questionnaire is a part of my dissertation of Accounting of University. I would be grateful to you if you complete this questionnaire. The information gathered through this questionnaire is solely used for the purpose of analysis and is not used for any other purpose. The data gathered through this questionnaire is used to analyze the shift in TQM trends of different organizations and the usage of Balance Score Card for the measurement of performance. This information will provide key indicators useful to identify the status of TQM and usage of Balance score cards with in the companies. I hope to get a reply from you. Regards, Quis Alkindi Read More