Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization - Example

RUNNING HEAD: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Assessing The Readiness of Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality organization (SASO) to Implement Total Quality Management Name: Grade Course: Tutor’s Name: 5th December, 2010 Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), is an organization that was established in 1972 under the Royal Decree Number M/10. It is headed by His Excellency the Minister of Commerce and Industry as the chairman and the leader of the board of directors. The organization members are government representatives of issues dealing with standardization and industry and commerce. SASO’s role in Saudi Kingdom is to ensure adherence to quality standards by organizations dealing with production of consumer’s products such as agricultural food products, building materials, electrical and electronic products, construction products, chemical and petroleum products, textile products and mechanical and mineral products. Currently, the organization has 600 employees. SASO has a long term vision to be recognized as a great organization in all fields of standardization and quality at all levels, that is, international, regional and national. Such a vision requires Total Quality management and for that reason, the readiness of the organization to implement TQM will be assessed below. EFQM indicates that excellence is only achieved through; achieving balance results, leading with vision, building partnerships, adding value for customers, fostering creativity and innovation, managing by processes, succeeding through people and taking responsibility for a sustainable future. The concepts of achieving organizational excellence will be used to assess the readiness of SASO to achieve its vision which requires excellence. Achieving Balanced Results According to EFQM, achieving balanced results is a way of achieving organizational missions and progress. By achieving the missions it means the set goals are achieved and if the set goals were meant for improvement of the organization’s performance, then its performance will be achieved and if the set goals are exceeded, it means the organization has improved in performance irrespective of the goals. EFQM notes that a balanced set of results should meet both the short term and the long term objectives and if possible exceed the needs of the stakeholders (which are part of the organizations aims) (EFQM, 2010). Hogue also notes that it is a strategy used to help the organization align its activities towards its missions, visions and strategy, to monitor the performance of the organization and to enhance the external and internal communications of the organization (2003, p. 553). In order to achieve a balance set of results, one can use a balance score card (Hogue, 2003, P. 553). SASO does not use this method in its aim of achieving organizational goals. It has set goals and defined objectives that are used to achieve the aims of the organization but uses the employee rating system to manage its performance (Caruth, Caruth, D. & Pane, 2008, p. 236). A balanced set of results means improved performance in all sectors of the business. Employee rating does not guarantee a balanced set of results. It is depended on employee behavior and factors that improve their performance. Additionally, the SASO may not achieve the improvement it targets if specific employees do not improve their performance (Caruth, Caruth, D. & Pane, 2008, p. 236). Achievement of a balanced set of results as described above helps the organization achieve its aims as well as improve on its performance. The difficulties of achieving a balance set of results are lack of a well defined strategy, the use of lagging measures and the use of generic metrics. The strategy determines what measurement indicators will be used to determine the performance improvement (Chan, Gaffney, Neailey & Ip, 2002, p. 294). In order to implement this concept, SASO has to determine its performance indicators that are both financial and non financial. In most cases, organizations use the score card method (Maiga & Jacobs, 2003, P. 1) or just define their performance indicators (Arawati, 2005, p. 5). SASO has a well defined strategy and should make use of a score card to achieve a balanced set of results. Adding Value for Customers EFQM defines adding value for customers as recognition of customers as most important for the organization and by understanding and anticipating their expectations; the organization would be creating value for them as well as innovating its operations (2010). A company can achieve customer added value by thorough market research on what value is to the customers and develop a strategy to help it provide some of these values to the customer. So many people have different perceptions of what value is for example, some customers may consider value to be quality products and services at fair prices. The company can then develop a strategy that can enable it provide quality products and services at fair prices (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993, pp. 84-85). In the case of SASO, the customers are the people that use the hygienic products which the organization implements quality systems for, local organizations such as Zamil Industrial Investment Co-IT Dept; an ISO/IEEC 20000 certified (itSMF, 2010) and international organizations such as Joint Wise Industrial Limited that sells metal in Saudi Arabia from China. The question now comes: does SASO add value to its customers in its activities or strategies? SASO does not have a competitor and is a non-profit organization that monitors the standards of products produced by various companies and organizations. It may therefore be a monopoly that needs not to improve its services since whether it improves or not, the customers have to go by what they recommend. They do not set any prices but sets quality standards. The organization has a set vision to be recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for its standardization and quality operations. It also aims at protecting the customer and satisfying the interest of the public. These are clear indications that this organization has very little attention paid to its customers. It aims at ensuring that the public interest is accomplished. It means they assess what the customers require and use that kind of information to develop standards and quality systems for which products and services that the public receive are of satisfying quality and safe. It is not difficult to implement this concept unless an organization or a company does not recognize the importance of the customer to the performance of the organization (Swart, Mann, Brown & Price, 2005, p. 192). SASO already have this concept within the organization but it pays little attention to it. The organization can change its strategies to focus on the requirements and expectations of the customers (Swart, Mann, Brown & Price, 2005, p. 192) & (Forster, 2005, p. 63). Building Partnerships For the success of an organization, it is important to build partnerships with relevant organizations for the management of and execution of the operations of the organization. It is all based on the importance of such partnerships to the organization. According to EFQM, trust relationships form part of the main reason why excellent organizations achieve success (2010). Trust is very important in maintaining customers, suppliers and relevant collaborators. SASO for example, cannot continue operating under the aim of protecting the people and the people’s interest if the organization is not trusted, that is, if its actions are not trusted. It means if it accredits any laboratory, people will not be sure if the products from such a laboratory are safe or nor or if they are up to standards or not. Trust relationships are also meant for effective management. Businesses or organizations require teams for certain organizational work, for example, SASO may require an accreditation team. The effectiveness of such a team depends on the management of such a team by their manager. If there is no trust between the manager and the team members, then such a team will not be effective. There is no quality improvement that can be achieved without effective management (Warrington, Abgrab & Caldwell, 1993, p. 161). Are there any trust relationships in SASO? There should be customer-organization trust relationship established, supplier-SASO trust relationship and SASO-other relevant stakeholders’ relationships or partnerships. SASO has well established relationships with government departments or sectors that are also involved in formulation of stذsector, the commerce sector, rural affairs, and government industry and health municipal sectors. It also has well established relationships with its clients such as the Zamil industries (itSMF, 2010) and other business clients such as SADAD (SADAD, 2010). Difficulties in implementing trust relationships is just establishing the trust since it takes time and it requires an assessment of the existent of trust characteristics or features in potential partners (Warrington, Abgrab & Caldwell, 1993, p. 161). SASO can use the trust model which requires identification and analysis of the organization’s expectations and needs and what the expected partner will offer. Can the promises made by the partner meet the expectations and needs of SASO? Another approach is by use of Green’s trust principles which are; developing a habit of being transparent, developing a collaborative approach to relationships, focusing on the other partner and developing a perspective of the relationship being a medium to long term relationship (Warrington, Abgrab & Caldwell, 1993, pp. 161-162). SASO has no established relationships and both the approaches can be used to establish trusting relationships. Leading with Vision, Inspiration & Integrity This means having the right leaders to guide the management of the organization through its quality management process in order to achieve its quality improvement aims. By right leaders it means leaders with the right skills, who recognize the values of the organization and help it through the changes (EFQM, 2010). To be a visionary leader means to be creative, innovative, adaptive to change and having the capability of learning. One has to have the qualities of guiding the employees and other organization stakeholders through change while making brave and right decisions in the process. Inspiration is the ability to motivate one’s followers, that is, a willingness to recognize the intelligence of the employees and other followers and their contribution to the organization when given a chance to do so. Integrity means wholeness and it describes the bearer’s ability to exude professional empathy, integrity, reliability and trust (Forster, 2005, pp. 45-46). Considering SASO’s current status, there is a well defined vision of the organization with well defined objectives and strategies used to help the organization achieve its vision. Strategies the organization uses are such as accreditations, quality management certification, quality control and participation in standards implementation. To be a distinguished body in all standardization and quality fields requires a lot of research in such fields to attain high standards of operations. The organization should have well defined accreditation policies based on research depending on what laboratories are being accredited, the level of accreditation, the requirement standards for accreditation and the factors affecting attainment of such requirements depending on location availability of funds and so many other factors, but with quality as the main focus. Difficulties in implementing this concept arise when there are no leaders with the right skills (González & Guillén, 2002, p. 151). SASO requires a transformational leader and can either train the leaders it has, that is by hiring a qualified leadership trainer with the knowledge on what is required and the ability to identify the right skills, or it can hire new leaders for the job (Simić, 1998, 49-50) & (Myers, 1994, p. 23) Managing by Processes According to EFQM, there should be well structured processes that guide the managers in managing the organization (EFQM, 2010). By this it gives importance to processes and the structure of the organization should be determined by the processes of the organization. The structured processes are used to achieve balanced and sustained results (EFQM, 2010). According to Arawati (2005, p. 7) so many things drive the results but there is one major factor that affects their attainment. This is the leadership which provides the strategy, the vision, target, organizational structure and operational efficiencies used to achieve the objectives and strategy of the organization. The processes used by the leader are the ones that give the organization the capability of delivering products and services to the customers. The processes deliver timely goods and services, they deliver quality goods and services and they deliver the types of goods and services required by the customer depending on the aim of the organization which depends on customer needs (Arawati, 2005, p. 7-8). The processes connect the organization and its suppliers, partners, personnel, distribution channels, products and services and other stakeholders. Is SASO a process centric structured organization? No it is not. It is more of function centric structured organization. This is because of the quality control, laboratories accreditation, quality management certification and participation in standards implementation divisions indicating that the management of the organization is through managers of such divisions. A process centric structured organization requires higher degree of management skills (Vanhaverbeke & Torremans, 1998, p. 9) which is currently lacking in SASO. One of the weaknesses of the organization is lack of human cadres. EFQM recommends the availability and use of process structures in the management of the organization but does not recommend the change to process centric structured organization. The main point here therefore is the importance of process structures (2010). SASO can decide to transform from the functional structured organization to a process centric structured or can implement both structures (Jabnoun, 2000, p. 398). According to Thomas SASO can implement a hybrid structure with both function and process structures by creating two separate but interlocked groups (process and function groups) (Lentz, 1998, p. 454). Nurturing Creativity & Innovation EFQM indicates that it is important to nurture creativity which encourages innovation that plays a very important role in improving the performance of the organization and creation or development of increased organizational value. The model of excellence incorporates creativity fostering as one of the most important roles of the human resource manager that should be given a lot of attention is an organization aims at achieving excellence (2010). Meisinger shares the same idea. She indicated that creativity and innovation are nowadays considered critical factors in the success of a business. Because of their importance, human resource managers have to develop strategies that can encourage creativity (Meisinger, 2007, p. 1). SASO does not have any strategies that foster creativity and innovations. The organization has a problem of satisfying its employees so how can they be motivated or even encouraged to be creative? It also has poor use of technology and one of the areas of creativity and innovation considering the current trend of the world is the field of technology. There is also poor understanding of the correct procedures, how can creativity be achieved in a process not well understood? Will it even be considered creativity? Reaching the level of fostering creativity is not easy. The organization’s human resource manager has to identify the correct skills and implement the correct strategies. It is difficult to implement this concept is there is poor internal communication within the organization, if there is no plan on how the develop creativity and innovation and if there is no balance in the five organizational elements (the leadership qualities, the correct culture, capabilities, performance and employees (Prajogo & Sohal, 2003, p. 908). SASO can implement this concept by first employing the right skills where necessary, then developing strategies that foster creativity and innovation. Because a balance in organizational elements also affects the creativity and innovative ability of an organization, it is important for SASO to ensure such a balance is created (Prajogo & Sohal, 2003, p. 908) & (Joiner, 2007, p. 627). Succeeding Through People According to EFQM, achieving excellence in an organization requires recognition of the efforts of the people involved in achievement of organizational goals. This model argues that empowering the people helps achieve personal and organizational goals and personal goals are also important in achievement of organizational goals (2010). The human resource forms part of the organization but it is only through empowerment that the full potential of the resource is realized and the organizational performance improved. Empowerment releases the untapped reserves of the labor force, facilitates responsibility and also commitment and involvement leading to improved organization performance and employee satisfaction (Swart, Mann, Brown, & Price, 2005, p. 185). The current situation in SASO does not support employee empowerment at all. There is weak satisfaction of employees, the organization lacks confidence and it has inadequate resources. The last two factors are barriers to employee empowerment. If an organization already lacks confidence, then where will it get the courage to develop employee empowerment strategies and for what purposes will they be empowered? Lack of confidence in SASO means lack of belief in the capability to improve or even make changes the organization’s management may feel appropriate. SASO values team work, cooperation and participation as well as creativity but there are no strategies showing how it achieves or in any case maintains its values. Empowerment reduces problems due to lack of understanding of concepts, the more reason why SASO employees need empowerment. The organization experiences poor understanding of its procedures. It is not easy to implement such a concept if the employees do not want to be empowered especially because of their experiences. Most employees view their bosses as a source of stress and considering the treatment they are given at SASO, there are high chances these SASO employees belong to the same category as those who would not want to be empowered by their bosses (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007, pp. 5-7). In order to ensure empowerment, a manager should learn how to use power and instead use it to provide support and develop relationships. The manager should encourage decentralization of decision making, employee participation and control of own processes (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007, pp. 5-7) & (Goetsch & Davis, 2010, pp. 262-264). Taking Responsibility for a Sustainable Future The concept of taking responsibility for a sustainable future according to EFQM explains the need for a sustainable culture. A culture with values, organizational behavior standards and ethical standards that support sustainability in all areas, that is economic, environmental and social. It recognizes the importance of sustainability in achieving excellence (2010). Sustainability in business according to Svensson, is the use of tools techniques and values that encourage satisfactory business development without compromising the ability of the organization to achieve its aims and needs in the future (2006, p. 24). SASO has to ensure that it develops sustainable future which will still enable it operate effectively and so it has to consider developing a culture that fosters sustainability. Currently, there are little measures taken to ensure sustainability like the establishment of values such as loyalty and productivity. The organization also modernizes the national industry which means keeping the industry up to pace with current changes and requirements of the world. It also provides national, regional and international level up to date information on standardization to the relevant organizations or concerned parties. SASO has no well established culture of sustainability and it takes time to develop such a culture. SASO would need drivers such as the leader who will bring the idea of sustainability in the organization and continue managing, accountability mechanisms that form the foundation of sustainability programs and approaches used to convince others for support (Svensson, 2006, p. 24-26). The organization will need efficient enablers such as the organizational structure which will support sustainability programs and processes, and deployment and integration strategies which help make sustainability, an organizational culture. The organization will also need the pathway that guides the organization towards sustainability. These are such as; policies, visions and values which define what sustainability is and what it means to the organization as well as describe the objectives of a sustainability approach taken by the organization, operating system standards that guide the management process so as to achieve sustainability and strategic planning for selected organization priorities that guide actions taken towards sustainability. Lastly, the organization needs evaluators to determine the progress for example indicators (Svensson, 2006, P. 25-27). Other Important Information From the above assessment, it is clear that SASO is far from prepared to implement TQM. According to EFQM, organizational excellence is achieved through certain factors and these factors as mentions above are; the ability of an organization to achieve balanced results, customer added value, leadership style, management of the organization approaches, the ability of an organization to recognize and empower its employees, creativity and innovation, partnership building and sustainability. SASO has no implemented method of achieving balanced results and relies on SWOT analysis which has revealed the strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats but no financial and non financial results showing organizational progress and meeting of objectives. It does not value its customers and customers form the basis of existence of organizations, be it profit making or non-profit making. SASO exists because of the people it protects from harmful products or low quality products. Total quality management requires a transformational leader and SASO has no such a leader, instead it even lacks more skills that are required for organizational operations. It is also recommended that processes be part of the main approaches to management but SASO had no structure that supports process management. The organizations value of its employees is also low and has no developed strategies or clear intentions to empower them, one move that retards organizational performance. Very little in seen in its ability to implement sustainability strategies and even form partnerships. It does not have creativity and innovation strategies nor does it recognize such concepts as important in organizational management. The organization is far from implementing TQM unless necessary changes as recommended above are made. Reference List Arawati, A., (2005). 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