Week 4 discussion TQM - Personal Statement Example

Week 4 Discussion TQM Any enterprise that pursues to embark upon TQM program should change its paradigm from convention one based on cascading of authority to an inverted pyramid, in which the management views its employees as the critical factor in attaining excellence. Quality Circle detailing a small group of people working within an organization who come together with the aim of solving their work related challenges, or enhancing their work environment. The function of formal group is very critical in attaining quality and productivity within the workplace (Mukherjee, 2006).

Indeed, teams avail the capacity for a speedy response to changes within customer demands, which may not be satisfied by employees working in limited specialty.# 2 A virtual team represents a group of individuals working across time, organizational boundaries, and space with connections reinforced by webs of communication technology. There are three core aspects related to a virtual team, namely: people, purpose, and links. Virtual teams lack hierarchy or any related structures given that they may not be from the same organization.

Virtual teams differ from the face-to-face team based on the fact that they may be geographically dispersed while face-to-face teams are localized. This arises from the fact that, in order to attain the same level of effectiveness, as is the case of face-to-face teams, virtual teams’ leadership demands a lot of effort (Oakland, 2012). Virtual teams differ from face-to-face teams based on four pitfalls, namely: absence of concise goals, prioritize, or direction; absence of concise roles among team members; absence of cooperation and trust; and, lack of engagement.

# 3 Employee involvement represents the creation of an environment where people posses have an impact on the decisions and actions that influence their jobs. Consequently, employees cannot be seen as a cog in a machine, but rather should be viewed as unique and critical to the attainment of the organization goals (Oakland, 2012). Organizations should keep employee involvement alive by: keeping employees updated, giving them autonomy, allowing flexibility, and rewarding success. Some of the general forms of employee involvement include suggestion schemes, team briefings, job design, attitude surveys, and autonomous working groups.

Indirect forms of participation entail quality circles, work councils, board representation, task forces, and involvement groups.ReferencesMukherjee, P. N. (2006). Total quality management. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India.Oakland, J. S. (2012). TQM: Text with cases. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.