Quality in Service Organisations or Organisational Management - Case Study Example

1. Introduction Quality in an Organization Quality is like an art. Everyone is for it; everyone recognizes it when they see it, but everyone defines it differently. One of the definition of TQM is ‘quality is delivering a total experience to the customer so that it consistently exceeds the customer expectations (Ashok 1997, p-250). It focuses on customer, both internal and external. It establishes the need for closer contact with the customers. It provides for speedy feed back of data from the customer. It applies to all type of organization, irrespective of whether size wise they are large or small, and activity which they are engaged in manufacture, construction or services. It is based on the total experience of the customer with the organization including all levels and categories of staff and its systems. It is based on the customer’s perceptions of the organizational values, briefs and guiding principles. In case of products, it involves not only meeting the customer needs but also a commitment to make the customer successful in his field of operations and give him a feeling of joy and happiness in dealing with the supplier. For internal customers, it provides for satisfaction between departments based on the agreement on coordinated measures to be taken for up gradation f quality. In short, it focuses on all functions and emphasis that total quality is a company wide effort to improve all departments. What did not seem obvious in first instance, is that quality is not always about big improvements. It is the focus on little things that matter in service. Elephants don’t bite; it is the black flies that get us (Ahluwalia, 2003). 2. Background of selected organization Chickeeduck was established in 1990. The company at its inception recognized the need for quality children’s wear at a reasonable price and set about to fill that niche in the market. Chickeeduck markets a full range of children’s wear and accessories catering for new born babies, toddlers and children up to 14 years old, covering such items as basic t-shirts, sweaters, outerwear, underwear, gloves, bibs, baby blankets and baby sleeping bags ( Chickeeduck, PDF). Chickeeduck is Hong Kong’s biggest independent children’s retailer operating 25 shops in the most prestigious shopping malls in triple A locations. Chickeeduck has a long association with regional centres having operated outlets in Singapore and Indonesia for some years. More recently the company has expanded both through its own outlets and franchises into Korea, Saudi Arabia, Macau and potentially its biggest market China, increasing its total number of outlets to 52. The entry into the China market is extensive with some sixteen franchises and six wholly owned outlets operating in major centres (Chickeeduck, PDF). 3. Quality system in Chickeeduck What does ‘quality’ mean to that organisation?” There is a need for benchmarking and adopting outstanding practices and processes from organizations any where in the world in order to help the organization to improve its performance. Benchmarking is an on going task at all levels of business in finding and implementing the world's best practices. It is classical Total Quality Management. The approach has proved to be effective not only in providing new ideas for change but also in building a commitment to change. Quality system is defined as “the organisational structure, responsibilities, procedures, process and resources for implementing quality management” (Ashok, 1997, p-267) It should only be comprehensive as needed to meet the quality objectives. A TQM systems model is shown in fig below. The quality system in Chickeeduck represents an assembly of organisation structures, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources for implementing quality management. It should apply to and interact with al the activities. It is therefore necessary for each organisation to develop and use a quality system. The International standard organisation (ISO) standard 9000 series sets out the methods by which a management system , incorporating al the activities associated with quality , can be implemented in an organisation to ensure that al the specified performance requirements and needs of the customer are fully met, and well documented (Ahluwalia, 2003). Management Commitment Teamwork Quality Participation tools & Involvement & techniques TQM All responsible and Continuous Accountable Educational Measurements & Training Recognitions & rewards Customer Satisfaction Fig: TQM SYSTEM [Source: taken from Ahluwalia, (2003) Total Quality Management: Concepts and Practice, p-10] TQM can also be considered as a collection of systems that direct the organisation towards two major philosophies:- 1. To view the customer as the most important criterion for success 2. to continuously improve the process TQM system in Chickeeduck includes three basic components: team or group activities, process improvement and policy management to align the organisation resources to ensure improved customer satisfaction. The second major thrust of many TQM efforts is the improvement of routine work processes. This is frequently accomplished through incremental improvements suggested by workers and a structures approach to process improvement. The TQM approach to process improvement frequently involves documenting the existing work processes and undertaking activities to continuously improve the quality of the output of each process. Management Commitment Teamwork Quality tools & Participation techniques Fig: Quality System in Chickeeduck [Source: taken from Ahluwalia, (2003) Total Quality Management: Concepts and Practice, p-14] Another major characteristic of TQM system is a policy management process. This is the process which focuses the company resources ion a few high priority issues to achieve breakthrough. In this case, it is sometimes possible to extract the financial impact on each deployed priority. This would lead one to the conclusion that policy management can contribute to improving the financial performance of a large organisation if the correct priorities are identified. The major driving forces for quality and TQM are as shown. COMPETITON SURVIVAL EXPORT DRIVE STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE PROFITABILITY CUSTOMER’S EXPECTATION Fig: Driving Forces for Quality and TQM [Source: taken from Ahluwalia, (2003) Total Quality Management: Concepts and Practice, p-18] Because of the fast changing technological, cultural, diversities, there is a need to achieve optimum utilization of resources. HRD in Chickeeduck is undergoing conceptual change and HRD can no longer remain silent spectators as regards to organization policies, achievement of organization mission, objectives and goals at all levels/function of the organization (Michael ,2001) HRD is playing a leading role of change agent by way of introducing Quality Management. Some of the concepts which were originated from Japan have become quite popular in Chickeeduck are now introduced through HRD namely: Total Quality Management (TQM) Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Just in Time (JIT) Quality Circles (QCs) etc. Total Quality Management refers to an integrated organization approach in satisfying customers (both external and internal) by meeting their expectations on a continuous basis; by involving all the employees or organization, working on continuous improvement in all products/processes, and adopting structured problem-solving methods (Yvonne , 2003, p-107) The main elements of TQM are: A quality policy and commitment to it. Teamwork and positive culture. Total employee involvement (TEI); Appropriate methods/process/technology which prevent the problems Problem solving tools/procedures (quality system approach). Education and Training Quality audits and reviews. Continuous improvement. Total Employee Involvement (TEI), can be attained by company wide training and education in quality systems and practices. The introduction of small group activities, called quality circles, in Indian industries has also made employees participate in the quality improvement programme, resulting in an enhancement in quality. The implementation of TQM is an integrated approach, and for an organization in pursuit of excellence with a long-term perspective, its implementation as an integrated approach along with JIT, TPM and TEI can be more rewarding (Yvonne , 2003, p-109). Of course, this involves certain changes in the employees at all levels. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is directed at improving equipment. TPM aims at maximizing equipment effectiveness with a total system of preventive maintenance covering at entire life of the equipment. Total Productive Maintenance involves everyone in all departments and at all levels. Just in Time (JIT) is the approach to material management and control. Just in Time is more than a new way of handling material management. Just in Time is a structural approach in a manufacturing organization focused on improving timeliness; quality, productivity and flexibility initializing various resources, as well as work simplification and waste reduction. Quality Circles (QC) is a small group activity to solve work-related problems, involving members performing the same task. The management should facilitate this small group activity to function more effectively (Yvonne , 2003, p-117) The changing business environment requires companies to constantly innovate. Better awareness on the part of the consumers and other stakeholders in the company makes the task of managers more difficult (Srivastava, 1999, p-192) The Chickeeduck manager has to continuously ask the following questions. (a) How are our quality management policies different from other leader organizations? (b) In what unique ways we can add value to our employees, provide motivation and develop internal customers to give their best. (c) What are we doing today to ensure that our personal policies are unique and best for the future? DR W. EDWARDS DEMING Dr W. Edwards Deming is generally the father of Japanese quality revolution. Today there are Deming groups dedicated to promote his teaching in many countries. Deeming views on the role of management and a participating work force are combined in his famous fourteen points 1. create consistency of purpose towards the improvement of products and service 2. Adopt a new philosophy. One can no longer live with commonly accepted levels of delays, mistakes, defective materials, and defensive workmanship 3. cease dependence on mass inspection, instead require statistical evidence that quality is built in 4. end the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tags 5. Find problems. It is management job to work continually on the system to decrease costs 6. institute modern methods of training and education on the job 7. drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company 8. break down barriers between departments 9. eliminate numerical goals, posters and slogans for the work force, asking for new level of productivity standards 10. eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotes on the shop floor 11. remove barriers that stand between the hourly worker and his right to provide workmanship 12. abolish merit rating and management by objectives 13. institute a vigorous program of education and self development 14. create a structure in top management that will push for these points everyday Actions plans Action plans are ways of organizing quality improvement efforts. The most well known is the Deming cycle. The figure below depicts the Deming cycle. It starts with planning, which could be the planning of an experiment, the identification of data needed to analyze a process, or the planning of any activity for quality improvement. The next step “Do” cycle, is to follow through on the plan. The results of the Do phase activity are analyzed in the ‘check’ phase. The last phase, “act” is to follow up on the conclusions from analyze phase. From the Act phase one return to the planning phase for the next improvement project. Each trip around should result in a better situation for the cycler. The use of teams to improve an organization process is a basic tenet of TQM. The objective of the team is to improve quality by changing a process. Teams should strive to reach decisions by consensus. Consensus is reached when all the team members feel that the decision is the best possible under the circumstances and acceptable for their special interests. It takes some efforts before a group of individuals becomes an effective team. Successful teams often have some help getting started in the form of specialized training. A well organized skilled team can produce extraordinary results. 4. ACT 1. PLAN APPROACH -APPRAISE, AWARD - PERSPECTIVE & APPRECIATE -DATA TO GET -CHANGE PROCESS -EXPERIMENTS TO RUN (THEN GO TO 1 ) 3. CHECK RESULTS 2. DO THE PLAN -ANALYZE DATA -GATHER DATA -EVALUATE EXPERIMENT - RUN EXPERIMENT -COACHING & COUNCSELLING -DEMONSTRATING -DEPLOYING THE DEMING CYCLE SOURCE: ( Ahluwalia, 2003, P-34) Pareto diagram Pareto diagram is based on the famous principle of ‘Vital few and Trivial many”. The commonly known ‘ABC’Analysis is an application of pareto principle. While a cause and effect diagram can identify all possible causes to a problem, it cannot distinguish among them the more serious ones from the rest. The Pareto diagram can segregate those vital ones from the many trivals. Pareto diagram is a bar chart in which the bars are arranged in a descending order, with the largest to the left. Each bar represents a problem. The chart displays the relative contribution of each sub problems o the total problem The main steps involved in drawing the diagram are as under:- 1. list out all possible causes leading to defectives 2. use a check sheet and record the frequency of occurrence of defectives due to various identified causes 3. calculate % defectives due to respective causes and arrange the causes in the decreasing frequency of occurrence 4. draw a diagram between % defectives verses respective causes 5. work on the most important elements first The figure below illustrates Paerto analysis. It can be seen that about 70% of defective items are due to two causes (viz,’A’ and ‘B”). If these two causes can be successfully taken care of, a disproportionate improvement in the quality of the product will result. The chart aids the decision making process because it puts issues into an easily understood framework in which relationships and relative contributions are closely evident. 100- 90- CUM % DEFECTIVES Vs CAUSES 80- 70- 60- 50- 43% 27% Histogram of % Defectives Vs Causes 12% 7% 6% 5% . A B C D E F % Defectives CAUSES FIG: PARETO ANALYSIS SOURCE: ( Ahluwalia, 2003, P-35) KAIZEN- THE JAPANESE APPROACH TO CHANGE KAIZEN is a Japanese word made up of two syllables “Kai” meaning Change, and “Zen” meaning Good, thus it means change for the better, or continuous improvement. The kaizen concept stimulates company wide productivity improvements as on an on-going basis. Since results in a short run are visible, it becomes easy to sustain top management commitment. An implicit philosophy behind Kaizen is that, “it is better to look for small jumps than a quantum leap”. The implementation of a philosophy and strategy of KAIZEN can be achieved through empowerment of employees to effect improvements. It is a practice oriented strategy, where implementation is accorded the prime priority. This approach leads to the creation of an improvement culture, in which every employee always critically examines the work situation to identify and implement KAIZEN i.e., changes for improvement. KAIZEN changes attitude of people towards improvements and their routine work. They cease to see routine work as a drudgery alone but begin to see in it opportunities for improvement. The system changes attitudes and ultimately the culture of the organization TOP MANAGEMENT ---------- INNOVATION MIDDLE MAANGERS ---------- KAIZEN SUPERVISORS ----------- MAINTENANCE WORKERS -----------(STATUS QUO) FIG: THE PLACE OF KAIZEN Source: ( Ahluwalia, 2003, P-38) 4. Chickeeduck managers must do the following, if they were tasked with improving quality. Quality must be achieved by prevention rather than inspection. Think ‘vaccine’ instead of medicine, (Steven, 103) Chickeeduck managers need to: (i) Create a climate of consideration. Learn to help the employees to be successful and satisfied in their work, get close to the customers and learn what they really need; help the suppliers do the right job for you: deal with the community as member of the family. (ii) Be relentless in education. Keep educational and training activities going for all employees, and for the suppliers and customers when possible. Knowledge of physical sciences, statistical thinking, sociology, and psychological factors with a cultural undertone must be combined, under careful orchestrated team work to put any company on the path of irreversible continuous improvement. It requires leadership, management knowledge, team work and execution skills. (iii) Eliminate managerial arrogance: the main reason for failure of any business ij a management that knows it all, that keeps information to itself, and will listen to none. In a world where information rises from the bottom rather than the top, this sis a bad practice (Steven, 123) (iv) Optimum utilization of resources. The main objective Human Resource management is to secure maximum output with minimum efforts and resources. Human Resource management is basically concerned with utilizing the human and material resources available to enterprise for deriving the best results. This leads to reduction in the cost of production (v) Increasing efficiency of factors of production: Through proper utilization of various factors of production like capital and labor, management leads to avoidance of wastage of time money and efforts; this leads to increase in the productivity of all factors of production and thus encourages the growth of an enterprise. (vi) Securing maximum prosperity for employers and employees: This is one of the main objectives of Human Resource Managements in Chickeeduck. Human Resource Management aims at securing maximum prosperity for the employers by generating high profits at minimum cost. It also aims at prosperity for the employees by providing reasonable remuneration and other benefits for their services to the organization. (vii) Be consistent. Quality is not the result of tricks or fads; it comes from developing a culture of integrity, openness and hard work. Those who are the best at it, come to the task with the open mind. When quality network posed some very trying moments tot the line managers in the field, not only were such forays tolerated but they were actively supported in making the TQM concepts more earthy and user friendly. The organisation stability, native creativity and boundless energy in the system is the stuff that TQM badly needs (Steven, 141). (viii) Ensuring human betterment and social justice: A Chickeeduck manager also aims to raise the standard of living and quality of life of people. It provides more leisure and amenities to people. Management provides social justice through its uniform policies (Rao, 1994). The corporations are successful as a result of expert strategic planning. In the area that called strategic skepticism, strategic planning is not quite the analytical process preached by academics. According to James Brian Quinn of MIT's Sloan School, Strategy is based on a process of logical incremental. In his view, strategy is the result of many smaller decisions taken over a long period of time. Other theorists also hold that strategy is not as formal a process. Strategy can take five forms, all starting with "P": Plan Ploy Pattern Process Perspective 5. Conclusion TQM in Chickeeduck is an effective management tool for ensuring continuous customer satisfaction leading to attainment of organisational growth. It is a systematic way of guaranteeing that organised activities happen the way they are planned. It is a management discipline concerned with preventing problems from occurring by creating the attitudes and work cultures that makes the prevention possible. Propagation of TQM values in Chickeeduck is a means of pushing the total organization to higher standard of performance (Srivastava, 1999). Organisations have to align themselves towards strong customer orientation and demonstrate continuous quality improvement as their natural behaviour. Quality in all spheres of activities must start with ‘quality consciousnesses within an organization, and on its interaction with the environment. Make a beginning to trigger off’ total quality’ spirit. Improvements in quality of work life, quality of performance are bound to become visible, motivating and satisfying to all. References 1. International Management: Culture, Strategy and Behaviour’, 6th Edn, McGraw Hill, New York 2. Ahluwalia, (2003) Total Quality Management: Concepts And Practice, Vanity books, New Delhi p-1-38 3. 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