The Hard Factors of Total Quality Management - Case Study Example

Total Quality Management Table of Contents Introduction 3 A Brief Explanation of the Hard Factors of TQM with Critical Discussion 4 Benchmarking 4 Ishikawa 7 Tools 6 ISO 9000 11 Business Excellence Model 12 Conclusion 14 References 16 Introduction Total Quality Management (TQM) is regarded as a management as well as a structured approach, which tends to assist the organisations in the form of improving the eminence of the products and/or services that they present to their respective potential customers (Sadikoglu & Olcay, 2014; Suganthi & Samuel, 2004). In precise, the approach of TQM represents the methods of management that are often used for the purpose of enhancing product quality and business profitability. Specially mentioning, an effective application of TQM approach not only supports a business to increase its profitability level, but also aids in ensuring long-term sustainability (Arivalagar & Naagarazan, 2009). There exist certain important factors of TQM that eventually support the modern businesses to obtain several significant benefits such as continuous product development, complying with the requirements of the customers efficiently and accomplishing superior competitive position as compared to others. In this regard, such aspects associated with TQM fundamentally include hard and soft factors (Hill, 2008). From a theoretical perspective, hard factor is majorly associated with the application of certain effective tools including statistical procedure control and problem solving mechanisms in the operational procedures of the respective business organisations (Mukherjee, 2006). On the other hand, the soft factor typically represents the management perspective relating to TQM approach with the involvement of certain valuable resources such as culture, people and improvement (Brown & et. al., 2013). With this concern, the essay intends to critique the hard factors of TQM in terms of design, planning and control with relevant examples. In this regard, Ishikawa 7 tools, ISO 9000, Business Excellence Model and Benchmarking have been selected as the hard factors of TQM based on which the entire discussion will be made. Apart from this, an attempt would be made in analysing the provided quote of Albert Einstein i.e. “The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them” (Cavaleri & Seivert, 2012) while critiquing the above stated context. A Brief Explanation of the Hard Factors of TQM with Critical Discussion The practices and the factors associated with TQM practice are extensively used in this present day context by different business organisations operating in distinct industries with the intention of attaining their predetermined operational targets. It will be vital to mention that the hard factors of TQM largely contribute in assisting modern organisations towards maintaining the quality of the products and/or services and offering the same to the potential customer for ensuring long-term sustainability in the respective markets wherein they operates. It has been mentioned that the hard factors relating to TQM significantly imply the application of certain effective operational techniques as well as tools for reaping different significant benefits (Shahin & Dabestani, 2011). In this regard, a few of the potential operational tools along with mechanisms relating to hard factor of TQM can be reckoned as benchmarking, Ishikawa 7 tools, ISO 9000 and Business Excellence Model among others. These particular techniques and tools correlated with the hard factor of TQM possess unique attributes that assist modern organisations to promote their respective business excellence as per the desired levels (Jha & Joshi, n.d.). Benchmarking Benchmarking can be duly considered as one of the potential hard factors of TQM, as this ensures businesses to have a separate identity irrespective of operating in any specific industry. From a theoretical standpoint, the factor concerning benchmarking is ascertained to be the continuous procedure of comparing the operational procedure and products and/or services of a particular firm with that of its chief competitors. The technique or the tool i.e. benchmarking generally engages the recognition of best practices that prevail within a given industry for performing several functions. A few of these functions mostly encompass enhancing organisational procedures, taking effective decisions and improvising competitive position among others. More importantly, the idea of benchmarking focuses on setting appropriate business or operational goals along with objectives and attaining the same within a definite time by improving the existing approaches or mechanisms. It is worth mentioning that in terms of design, planning as well as control, this particular tool or the hard factor of TQM contributes towards enhancing the aptitude of the organisations in attaining superior competitive position by several ways. These ways include examining the best practices prevalent within any industry and analysing the performance measures among others (Shahin & Dabestani, 2011). There are several business organisations of this modern day context that apply the conception of benchmarking as one of the effective operational tools in their individual businesses. For instance, a document management based business firm Xerox Corporation has applied the tool of benchmarking as a quality improvement plan, which was later acknowledged as Benchmarking Program. Specially mentioning, with the application of this particular program, the business corporation has been able to cut down quality problems and has been able to control various expenses in terms of identifying the best practices prevalent within the respective industry and ascertaining the performance measures in an efficient manner (Dragolea & Cotirlea, 2009). The provided quote of Albert Einstein “The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them” can be related to the hard factor of TQM i.e. benchmarking, as the provided statement signifies attaining organisational goals by adopting certain purposeful actions (Cavaleri & Seivert, 2012). By supporting this statement, it can be affirmed that through the application of the tool of benchmarking, the desired organisational goals could be attained by taking purposeful actions of measuring products and/or services with close competitors and conducting comprehensive analysis of specific elements of such products and/or services belonging to the competitors (Nofal & et. al., n.d.). Ishikawa 7 Tools The seven tools relating to quality improvement introduced by Kaoru Ishikawa included ‘Cause and effect diagram’, ‘Pareto Chart’, ‘Control Chart’, ‘Histogram’, ‘Run Chart’, ‘Flowchart’ and ‘scatter diagram’ (American Society For Quality, n.d.). From a theoretical perspective, ‘Cause and Effect diagram’, which is also acknowledged as Ishikawa or fishbone chart focuses on recognising the prime causes and determining the effects of the same on any quality aspect. In terms of design, planning and control, it has been argued that this particular tool of Ishikawa supports the organisations to maintain quality products and/or services in the form of conducting an in-depth analysis of the existing conditions and assessing the final outcomes (IFM, n.d.). This can be better understood with the help of the following graphical representation: Source: (IFM, n.d.) ‘Pareto Chart’ is also recognised to be another potential tool of Ishikawa, which emphasises prioritising the defects of the products and/or services that largely hamper the quality of the same. This specific tool of Ishikawa tends to find out the main reasons for deteriorating the quality of the respective products and/or services and makes deliberate efforts towards lessening the problems arising from the same (IFM, n.d.). A pictorial illustration has been depicted below for better comprehension of the above stated context. Source: (IFM, n.d.) One of the Ishikawa’s tools i.e. ‘Control Chart’ represents how a particular procedure is changed over a settled and given time, which impose adverse impacts on the quality aspect (IFM, n.d.). It is usually represented in the form of the following graphical design: Source: (IFM, n.d.) ‘Histogram’ typically denotes the persistence of underlying problems in an individual project by the help of designing a relevant graphical illustration. It aids the managers of distinct business organisations to find out the root causes of the problems that eventually affect the quality aspect (IFM, n.d.). The above stated graphical representation can be better comprehended from the following: Source: (IFM, n.d.) Specially mentioning, ‘Run Chart’ signifies depicting the trends of the variations that often occur in a specific project, which deals with maintaining quality features associated with such project (IFM, n.d.). The other tool of Ishikawa i.e. ‘Flowchart’ represents the interrelation prevailing between the systems and procedures executed for looking after the quality aspect. With this concern, it can be affirmed that this specific tool of Ishikawa helps the organisations to analyse any sort of prevailing quality problem and likewise, ensure attaining predetermined targets within a definite period (IFM, n.d.). This can be better understood with the help of the following graphical representation: Source: (IFM, n.d.) The final tool of Ishikawa i.e. ‘Scatter Diagram’ tends to monitor the association prevailing amid two particular variables that generate quality related problems within a project (IFM, n.d.). It is usually depicted in the form of the following graphical design: Source: (IFM, n.d.) There lay certain evidences wherein the tools of Ishikawa are being prioritised to be applied within the modern organisations for deriving various positive results and reaping several significant benefits in terms of quality (IFM, n.d.). For instance, one of the world’s foremost technologies along with consulting based business firms i.e. The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) felt the necessity of the above discussed seven tools of Ishikawa specifically for analysing the problems concerning Domino administration and Notes-based applications (IBM, n.d.). In terms of critiquing the hard factor of TQM, it is worth mentioning that the quote provided by Albert Einstein i.e. “The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them” could be supported by the maximum extent. This particular quotation demonstrated the fact that the initiatives relating to incessant quality improvement and the efforts of performance development are driven by numerous aspects. These aspects majorly entail knowledge creation and problem solving among others (Cavaleri & Seivert, 2012). Similarly, the above depicted seven tools of Ishikawa justify as well as support the above stated quotation in terms of solving problems that occur at the time of conducting varied operational functions. Based on the attributes of this particular tool relating to TQM, the problems could better be solved by determining the interrelation persisting between different variables and detecting any sort of defect from the very beginning of executing any specific project (IFM, n.d.). ISO 9000 The other potential hard factor of TQM could be ascertained as ISO 9000, which is regarded as one of the prime rudiments of quality management. From a conceptual viewpoint, this particular factor i.e. ISO 9000 standard or certification generally gets represented as a sequence of standards associated with the system of quality management. At certain times, it tends to deliver quality system specifically for installation along with services, production and design along with development. In the present day context, the modern world is witnessing increased level of globalization and gaining momentum of technological advancement, it could be ascertained that the tool of ISO 9000 assists the modern business organisations to make greater improvements in terms of quality, sales and cost reduction among others (Sun & Cheng, 2002). Evidences reveal that the modern businesses operating in any industry tend to incorporate and most importantly follow the standards of ISO 9001 for the purpose of making greater enhancement in quality aspects, which in turn lead towards higher extent of financial advancement. For instance, one of the foremost market leaders in the domain of designing, developing as well as manufacturing drainages of surface water i.e. ACO follows the requisite standards of ISO 9000 particularly for making favourable improvements in its existing business procedures and reaping several significant benefits such as enlarging customer base (BSI, n.d. (a)). Apart from this, the other leading London based business organisations relating to the domain of cloud networking is also witnessed to follow the standards of ISO 9000 with the intention of strengthening its security management and most vitally attract customers by offering quality products and/or services to them (BSI, n.d. (b)). In relation to the above context, ISO 9000 acting as one of the potential hard factors of TQM resembles the fact that being a major stream of quality management, predetermined organisational objectives could not be achieved by thinking, rather these objectives would be attained by taking the actions of performance improvement and incessant quality advancement of the products and/or services (Sun & Cheng, 2002). This belief can be strongly related to the quotation of Albert Einstein stating that “The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them” (Cavaleri & Seivert, 2012). Business Excellence Model Business Excellence Model is regarded as a vital hard factor of TQM, which tends to provide active support to the management team of the respective business organisations in accelerating their procedure of making quality aspect as a decisive factor towards attaining greater competitive position as compared to others (Porter & Tanner, 2012). This particular model could be better understood from the following depicted graphical illustration: Source: (Vanguard, 2012) Identifiably, the management team of various business organisations operating in this present day context usually embrace and follow the above discussed Business Excellence Model in order to fulfil their respective desired targets. In order to justify this statement, the instance of Teckwah Industrial Corporation Ltd has been duly considered for discussion. This particular business firm is reckoned to be one of the foremost service providers of modified Supply Chain Management (SCM) practices. Specially mentioning, the model of business excellence relating to Teckwah was found to be based on innovation process, improving the existing business procedures and making effective decisions relating to promotion of innovation among others (Mann & Mohammad, n.d.). It is strongly believed that the model concerning business excellence tends to make problem-solving efforts to accomplish the desired organisational goals and making the things to really work in practice efficiently. This fact could be associated with the provided quote of Albert Einstein wherein it was stated that “The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them” (Cavaleri & Seivert, 2012). This quotation of Albert Einstein signifies that until initiatives such as knowledge creation are taken to solve the existing problems, greater level of improvements in terms of quality as well as sales could not be ensured. This fact is supported by taking into concern the different attributes of the model concerning business excellence (Cavaleri & Seivert, 2012). Conclusion Based on the above analysis and discussion, it can be ascertained that the different factors of TQM usually support the modern business organisations to attain their respective predetermined targets in the form of various ways. These ways included adopting along with implementing effective tools in the existing business or operational procedures and most importantly taking relevant decisions regarding quality enhancement. In this regard, such factors of TQM are identified to be segregated into hard and soft aspects. With this concern, an attempt has been made in the essay to critique the hard factors of TQM from the perspective of design, planning as well as control mechanism. While critiquing the various hard factors of TQM, certain important conceptions including ISO 9000, Business Excellence Model, Ishikawa’s 7 Tools and Benchmarking have been taken into concern for discussion. It can be apparently observed that the above stated techniques are widely used within different business organisations with the objective of maintaining quality and ensuring long-term sustainability. In conclusion, it can be affirmed that an effective execution of the aforesaid tools would ensure maximum quality enhancement in terms of overall design, planning as well as control in future. References American Society for Quality, No Date. The 7 Basic Quality Tools for Process Improvement. Overview [Online] Available at: http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/seven-basic-quality-tools/overview/overview.html [Accessed April 18, 2015]. Arivalagar, A. A. & Naagarazan, R. S., 2009. Total Quality Management. India: New Age International. Brown, S. & et. al., 2013. Operations Management: Policy, Practice and Performance Improvement. Italy: Routledge. BSI, No Date (a). Environmental Management: A Key Driver for ACO in Reducing Costs and Increasing Efficiency and Profits. Case Studies. 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