Total Quality Management Today - Term Paper Example

? TQM AFFILIATION: TQM Introduction The advancement of corporate world to a stage where it standstoday was almost unimaginable even a couple of decades ago. Most of these advancements have somewhat helped the humanity in making their life’s standards higher. The journey from the Stone Age to civilization was a long one and it required a combined effort from all the stakeholders. The journey, which started its process slowly eventually grabbed pace and making advancements at a rapid pace. If we examine the growth of humanity in every aspect, we will find one common feature in all of them. The one common aspect was the urge to improve the “quality” of life. The desire to improve the quality of life was the major driving factor in all the advancements that were achieved through the journey from Stone Age to advanced civilization. The desire to make life easier urged humanity to find ways and processes that can improve the standards and quality of their life. As humanity started making strides in improving the quality of life, the concept of improving the quality standards started making influx in other fields as well especially in the business world. The introduction of the quality management in the business process changed the entire face of the business world as it helped them in improving their products and services day after day. Microsoft’s example is one of the best examples of improving quality. A business, which started its operations from a garage eventually, became the leader of the operating software industry. The major reason for its success was the constant improvement in the operating software, which was used worldwide on personal and official level. They anticipated the demands of the market and thus were able to introduce improved and quality products and services to their users. All the visions of the corporate world allowed them to give birth to a new concept named “the Total Quality Management”. It helped business to improve their business process, which eventually led to improve products, and most importantly decreased the level of costs associated with every product or process. In other words, it can be said it allowed the companies the state efficiency where they were in position to get maximum output with minimum input. What is Total Quality Management? The Total Quality Management includes three concepts. Firstly, “total” which emphasis that all the employees in the organisation know how to achieve the set standards of the company. Secondly, “quality” means the best possible level a product or outcome can achieve. Lastly, the management points out the commitment that is required from the employees to produce the desired results (Naagarazan, 2005). Total Quality Management is involved in the strategic planning process and involves the ideas that can produce the products and services, which exceed the expectation of the target customers. It promotes the concept of constant improvement, which is pivotal for the success of any organisation. Total Quality Management is an art that requires the involvement of every resource an organisation may have. Google is considered one of the best examples of Total Quality Management. Google when started its operations in 1998, the industry was occupied with the giants like MSN and Yahoo. However, in very short span of time, three years to be precise, Google became the market leader of the search engine industry and to date enjoys almost 70 percent of the search engine market share followed by Bing, which stands at 9 percent. The major reason for the success of Google in this short span of time was the constant improvement in the procedures of search results. The results shown by Google are now considered to be the most accurate one with elimination of spam to a large extent, this is why Google became a giant and started to expand in the other industries as well (Garg and Mishra, n.d). Importance of Total Quality Management The dynamic nature of all the industries in the corporate world have compel companies to always look for something unique that can attract customers towards their product. This approach has intensified the competition across all the industries. The innovating approaches that can help organisation produce unique products and services for their customers, which will then be perceived as value addition by the customers. The organizations which neglect the aspect of constant improvement most of the times fall out of the competition. In the current scenario of mobile phone industry, ever since Apple and Black Berry introduced the concept of Smartphone, it changed the entire complexion of the industry. The companies, which were dominating the mobile phone industry just before the era of Smartphone, are now struggling to find their feet in the market. The major reason for their sudden downfall was the inability to shift to new technology, as they took situations for granted and eventually had to pay for it. Dr. Edward Deming is one of the few famous names who refined the concept of total quality management. He was the major influential factor in helping Japan to stand where it is today. Deming helped in changing the entire scenario off the total quality management especially his country Japan which was greatly affected by the World War II. After the war, he raised voice for revolutionizing the industrial world and instilling the concept of quality control. He explained how the quality control in the production process could help firms to progress easily in the industry (Wang and Miller, 1999). He was of the opinion that increasing the quality level in the process will enhance the productivity of the organisation. This enhances the competitive aspect of the company necessary to remain in the industry. The low quality of the process or products incurs high cost, which will affect the competitiveness of the firm. Now the question is that that how improving quality can help in decreasing the cost of the process. Improvement in the quality standards will allow the firm to decrease the level of wastage in the production process and will save the time consumed and cost incurred for reproduction of damages product. The reduction in the number of errors will help towards better productivity of the company. The reduction in the costs of operation of the company can be a major factor in helping firms achieve the competitive advantage The lower cost levels can allow the firm to sell their products or services at much cheaper rates than the competitors hence attracting more customers towards them. This is exactly what the airlines of UAE did, due to which they are leading worldwide. The airlines from UAE were able to improve their quality process, which helped them in improving their service level, which is considered as one of the major competitive advantage for the company, as it is likely to attract more customers towards them. This helped all the airlines from UAE to become leading airlines providing competitive services at much cheaper rates than others do. The Air Arabia and Fly Dubai are perfect elaboration of all the discussion made above (Ahmed and Hamdoon, n.d). Theories of TQM Source: http://www.ere.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TQM_MODEL.png Different experts gave their point of view about “total quality management” i.e. how it can help organizations to outplay each other. Deming gave the fourteen points of quality control that can help firms to achieve the quality levels required within the industry. He included various points that are still applicable and can help firms to enhance their quality levels. The major points were the adoption of new philosophy as this would help in improving the processes on a constant basis, drive out fear, elimination of the numerical goals for the workforce, etc. Although there were some shortcomings in these fourteen points for example, the fourteen points did not account the external factors of the industry and there was no clear indication of methodological principles and action plans i.e. how they can be formulated and how they can be implemented? However, it gave the industries a new direction in which they could move forward helping the customers in improving their living standards (Nigam, 2009). In the year 1974, Juran gave his four principles of the total quality management. His principle revolved around the management role in improving the quality of the firm’s business or production process. He believed the quality control revolves around the skills and capabilities of the management of the firm as they will formulate policy and procedures, set goals and most importantly provide resources that can enhance the quality control in the organisation (Nigam, 2009). Many believed that the theory of the Juran had some limitations and one of the major limitations was the narrow scope of the theory. He put all the responsibility on the management, which eradicates the concept of organisational culture, values, etc. It also fails to take into account that the biasness factor of managers in making decisions and it does not include the attitudes of people in the work, which is a major factor in the quality control process. Crosby is another famous name of the total quality management field. He stated, “Quality is free, although it may not be a gift, but still it is a gift”. He also said that the lack of quality in the products and services is the biggest cost that any company will incur as it means no job is completed in the first attempt. He labeled quality as luxury, which enhances the value of the product or service in the mind of the customer. He is of the opinion that all the quality issues starts with the workers of the company, but maintained that they are not the main factor in decreasing the quality levels of the product or service (Nigam, 2009). He gave his four principles of the total quality management including do it right first time, prevention is system quality, zero defects should be the performance standards, and the quality is measured by the price of nonconformance. The major focus of his studies was that management has to walk the talk in the total quality management, as in some cases the quality investigators do not perform their duties accordingly. He emphasized the point that quality of product is dependent on each individual that is working in a particular organisation. The major criticism that Crosby’s theory was that it is worker’s control to produce a zero defect product as the products’ design is dependent on the machines and equipments he / she been provided with, so there are bound to be some errors in the quality of the product. Models of TQM Different experts gave different model for the implementation of the total quality management and identified some critical factors that are essential for the successful implementation of the total quality management. Most of the companies adopted models introduced by Kanji and Oakland. The model of Oakland was implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry and its major focus is on the management and identification of the processes that are being practiced within the organisation. These processes provide the linkage between the internal and external customers and suppliers, which are to be, managed effectively and efficiently (Smad and Khawaldeh, 2010). On the other hand, Kanji used a pyramid model to define the implementation of the total quality management. The pyramid is based on the four principles of the total quality management that provides its main basis. The four stages or principles that Kanji provided were indentifying and preparing, secondly the commitment and understanding of management, thirdly understanding the scheme and lastly critical analysis. He believed the collection of information about the process or procedure that requires improvement is critical in the successful implementation of the total quality management process (Smad and Khawaldeh, 2010). Oakland on the other hand, believed that the customer and supplier relationships with the organisation are the main factors, which is covered under the umbrella of a good quality system, governed by hard management systems. He provided seven steps for the management and believed that these are the basic starting steps towards implementing the total quality management process. The seven steps included the commitment to charge, developing a vision, identifying the critical success factors, defining core processes, breaking of process into smaller ones, and aligning all the resources with the mission of the company (Smad and Khawaldeh, 2010). Kano in 1993 introduced the concept of “The House of TQM”. The concept was based upon the theory of management and theory of quality. All the stages that are mentioned in this concept revolve in a circle of PDCA (plan, do, check, and act) and these are pivotal in enhancing the level of customer satisfaction. The two basis of the model i.e. management theory and the quality theory combines with the third base which is the management’s strategies that would be implemented for the continuous improvement in the business processes (Smad and Khawaldeh, 2010). Organizational behavior and TQM There is a notion that the involvement of the employees is critical to the total quality management. Capon gave an idea that there are six organizational elements that are critical to the successful implementation of the TQM. They include the involvement of the management, involvement of employees, strategic quality planning, training, customer perceptions and process capabilities. Organisation need to constantly monitor the performance of the employees and if they show any lack of performance, organisation should help them deal with this problem through trainings and counseling (Mawhinney, 1992). Employees are an integral part of any organisation and their performance will decide what the organization is going to offer their customers. The need to create an environment of positivity in the organisation is pivotal as the quality of environment will enhance the performance of the employees. Al-Futtaim, for example, provides one of the best environments to their employees that is secure and ensures that the workers feel protected while working in the workstations of the company. This is probably the major reason that the company keeps on dominating the industries of the Gulf over and over again. This is the major reason that UAE has highest number of companies which are ISO certified. The competition in the country has become so immense among all industries that companies cannot afford to compromise on the aspect of quality. Any type of compromise would lead towards loss of customers as switching to other brands is not a difficult task for any customer. The hotel industry which includes giants like Rotana, is a prime example of the constant improvement of providing valuable services to customers. Hotel industries need to constantly work on ensuring that their customers are satisfied with the services and constant changes need to be implemented with the changes in customer demands. Organizations who mastered the art of TQM Around the world, there are many organizations, which struggled at the start of the business initiation, but eventually when the quality of their products and services improved, they started to make rapid strides in the industry. Initial start up of the businesses require investment in other business functions and hence some businesses ignore the area of quality. After getting stable, the businesses shift their focus on providing high quality products and services. Some of the most famous examples are given below: Fly Emirates is one of the leading airline organisation around the world. The airline has led the aviation industry for a long period. However, Fly Emirates was not all stars in their initiating period. At their start of operations, they faced many problems in the shape of pilot problems, lounge services, ticketing services, etc. The philosophy of the organisation that focuses on the constant improvement and customer-oriented approach however helped dealing with problems that they faced at the start of the business. They introduced airline schedules that may suit most of their customer with one of the best in-flight services. They improved on their booking and reservation system, which helped them lower the level of complaints from their customers. This helped them in reaching the top stage of the aviation industry within few years time and it continues to dominate the airline industry (Jabnoun and Sedrani, 2005). The most famous example of the TQM implementation was witnessed at the Ford motors. The company which was nose diving in the late nineties slowly, but surely started to make progress after the joining of Dan Doubs. According to him, the implementation of customized Six Sigma approach helped them decrease the waste levels and improved the quality of their cars. After almost a decade, Ford was able to reduce the amount of warranty repair by 60 percent. The major focus was given to improve the processes, which eventually increased the productivity and reduced the costs of operations helping Ford to once again compete in the industry (Bayou and Korvin, 2008). Conclusion Total Quality Management is the main essence of today’s corporate world. With the changing demands and increasing competition in the industry it is important for the organisation to constantly improve and monitor the quality of the products and most importantly the process that generates these products and services. The quality is a major factor that influences the consumer buying decision and most of the times would be willing to pay extra for the quality. High quality products and services are the centre of attraction for many consumers, hence it is vital for organizations to ensure that they never compromise on the quality of products and services produced by them. On the other hand, the implementation of the total quality management helps firms in reducing the amount of waste, which in turns increase the productivity and lower the cost of production. It also helps in reducing the after sale services expenses that can directly affect the profits of the organisation. Total quality management processes also ensure that customers remain satisfied with the product or service because as we all know quality speaks for itself. The better the quality, the lesser there would be complaints from any customer. Therefore, TQM is an important aspect of the business process, which in most cases decides the fate of the business. References Ahmed, A. M. M., & Hamdoon, B. I. The Challenges and obstacles of TQM Implementation in the Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Sharjah University in UAE. Bayou, M. E., & De Korvin, A. (2008). Measuring the leanness of manufacturing systems—a case study of Ford Motor Company and General Motors. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 25(4), 287-304. Garg, K. K., & Mishra, P. Business Excellence through TQM. ANVESHAK, 88. Jabnoun, N., & Sedrani, K. (2005). TQM, culture, and performance in UAE manufacturing firms. Journal: Quality Management Journal, Volume: 12 Issue: 4 pp.8-20. Karuppusami, G., & Gandhinathan, R. Sustainable development of total quality management through Deming’s PDSA cycle. BSI. Volume 1, pp. 45-84. Mawhinney, T. C. (1992). Total quality management and organizational behavior management: An integration for continual improvement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25(3), 524-543. Naagarazan, R. S. (2007). Textbook on Professional Ethics and Human Values. New Age International. Nigam, S. (2009). Total Quality Management: An Integrated Approach. Excel Books India. Wang, H. K. C., & Miller, W. G. (1999). The importance of TQM concepts and instruction as perceived by industrial and vocational training personnel. Journal of Industrial Technology, 16(1). Smadi, M. S., & Al-Khawaldeh, K. A. (2010). The Adoption of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Dubai Manufacturing Firms. Jordan Journal of Business Administration, 2(4). Zaramdini, W. (2007). An empirical study of the motives and benefits of ISO 9000 certification: the UAE experience. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 24(5), 472-491. Read More