How the Strategies That the White Goods Shop Will Deploy to Increase Sales - Case Study Example

Running Header: Report on white goods shop Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Report on white goods shop Executive summary This report explains how the strategies that the white goods shop will deploy to increase sales and efficiency in its process. Putting customer first, management leading the organization culture and Cultivate organizational learning have been covered in this report. The action plans explains on steps that need to be carried out to achieve the objective have also been developed. The report also contains conclusions and recommendations. Contents Executive summary 2 Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Putting customer first 5 3.0 Lead the change in organizational culture 6 4.0 Cultivate organizational learning 7 5.0 Action plan 8 6.0 Conclusion 10 7.0 Recommendation 11 Works Cited 12 1.0 Introduction White goods are part of consumer durable commodities; therefore focus is on how to improve the process of the business. This business experiences delays in the dispatch delays causes therefore company loses a lot of repeat orders. According to mark (2006, pg 110) delays in delivery tarnishes the company’s image where customers are not sure when their orders will be delivered. It has also led to money loss by the company when materials are received late. Total quality managements seek to come up with a way of sealing these loopholes. Total quality management shall be a continuous form of mindset that is aimed to keep on the improvement processes for both the shop and the individual employees (Janpen, P, Palaprom, K & Horadal 2005, pg 5). Its main techniques is to provide a set of governing guidelines and principles that will satisfy the customer, people in the management and also offer a continuous improvement that shall enhance achievement of overall working system of an organization. Improved quality of doing things that is sustainable will help the participant of the system know the core competency, core value and core knowledge of the organization. It also helps the organization or group of people know what it is lacking, what it needs and what is valuable. According to Pheng &Teo (2004, pg 5), when an organization is customer oriented, it will always seek to organize its process to maximize the satisfaction of the customer rather than focusing on the efficiency of the internal system. Every person in the organization should consider the other person who uses his/her results or output in the line of service. Reconstructing the total management team is therefore essential to achieve these objectives. Mukherjee, (2006, pg 107) observed that without a good upper management which is involved, committed and offering leadership, total quality management would not succeed. The company should look forward to fully satisfy its customers and offer performance without any error (Julan & Joseph 1988, pg 95). Integrating the suppliers in total quality management ensures the company progresses in the intended direction. This relation also benefits both parties since all parties seek to improve the work quality with the aim of having a lasting relationship. To implement the total requirement in the white-goods shop we therefore, we need to Put customer first in all our operations Make the management lead the change in the shop culture Cultivate employee’s learning 2.0 Putting customer first The basis of quality management is putting customers first. Each employee in the shop and the work process he/she involves in should focus on this objective. According to Pike & Barnes (1996. Pg 41), the success of selling white-goods depends on attracting customers. Since employees are the transit systems to make this goal achievable, their values shall be protected. Training shall therefore be done on all employees so that they are able to identify and solve the problems that the customers may be experiencing in the process of purchasing the goods. Training will also empower employees to take appropriate action that shall satisfy the customers (Psychogios, & Priporas 2007, pg 51). The management shall also recognize the contributions and efforts of employees in improving the performance. 3.0 Lead the change in organizational culture The culture of leadership should start by the total commitment and involvement of the top management (Mark etal. 2006, Pg102). The management needs to do the following: Undergo a quality training workshop Fully assist in the development of shops vision, mission, he guiding principles and the objectives. Commit to the total quality management and provide the required resources of money, time to enable the improvement. Act as the model to the expected results or behavior. Lead the way actively by participating in measures outlined by the quality committee. Drive away fear in the organization employees and other individuals involved. Drive the decision making process and the problem solution to the lowest level possible. These procedures shall apply on the management of the shop where top leadership involves the manager and the two heads of departments. Floss etal. (2004, pg 6) observes that leadership and the culture of organization is very important for the total quality management to succeed. Total quality management would represent the long term commitment of the shop. It is not a quick fix but is a very fundamental change in the place of work. To create this kind of change will require strong leadership in all levels and shall take time to sustain this effort. The manager, who is the highest ranked leader in the shop, shall make it known to other leaders of the objective of the shop. He shall state clearly in writing to the two major heads of departments; purchasing department and the sales department. The sales department head in line with the managers’ objectives shall outline how they shall be able to acquire items in the minimum period of time. The sales department shall outline how they shall expand the market, reach the customers with the minimum period of time and offer satisfactory services to the customers. The documented objectives and procedures of how the objectives shall be made shall be used to monitor the progress of the individual departments at any given time. 4.0 Cultivate organizational learning The shop shall continuously make improvements to make sure that the customer is satisfied and maintain operational performance that requires employees being committed to learning. Without learning, the employee would always repeat old practices and behaviors (Borrone, C & Loben, 2010, pg 26). Changing the procedures to meet customers’ varying needs, solving problems, understanding why it is important to satisfy the customers and reengineering and designing the processes all do require understanding that work can be done in different and better ways. This would require that the employees are continuously engaged in learning process. It shall also be crucial that the management team be well trained since total quality management relies on facts and data that support the operations and decision. The management shall through appropriate research methods carry the market research in order to confirm ideas about the customers’ expectations. The research shall be documented and its result used as baseline to improve the services. The research shall help the manager and the top management to set direction for the operations and strategic planning and also provide feedback on how quickly and well the organizational objectives and goals are achieved. It is for this reason that statistical methods shall be used to implement knowledge management. Knowledge management shall be another key element in this area. Knowledge management focuses on knowledge which is distinct from information-centric and data-centric. In the perspective of the process, four basic activities are employed which are creating, storing, transferring and applying the knowledge. 5.0 Action plan Step Description Top management leadership The shop manager shall commit and offer leadership and all actions in the shop. This ensures that support and commitment is given by the top office. This process of improvement shall be carried to the whole team of management and to all levels. All the levels are important, but their involvement in the group directly reports to the manager. Management Improvement Team A co-ordination management team consisting representation from all management levels shall be formed. It shall be responsible for coordinating the manager’s office, purchase and sales departments and the subsequent units in the departments to ensure quick flow of purchasing and sale of white goods. The team shall set the strategies and steer the management process, decide on the main actions that shall be taken, evaluate the progress and motivate the whole employee body to achieve the desired level of excellence. The management team shall periodically review the total quality management system implementation relating it to the results that are expected and also stimulate continuous improvement of the process. Opinion survey Palaprom & Horadal (2005, pg 10) observed that Opinion survey is important to find out how other people and employees feels. Questionnaires shall be given to customers and suppliers with questions aimed to have feedback on the whole process. This will help the management team to improve on areas that are weak and find new ways of satisfying the clients. Elements Co-ordination and training. The individual departments (sales and purchase) shall take individual responsibilities on developing one or two elements specifically associated with their departments. This shall guarantee involvement and ownership throughout the organization. It shall be vital to train the management team since it is the authority in setting the total quality management system to avoid a lot of unnecessary work. The other shop members will learn from them. System elements development The management team shall lay down the right things that need to be done in each specific department with the aim of strengthening the strategic quality management. Each department and its constituent levels shall put in place measures to ensure that the elements they have already pointed out are implemented. This step is very important as it acts as implementation reference and shall be monitored by the management team to ensure that it does not divert from the objective of the shop. Practical element training Having a detailed outline and guidelines being set up for implementing, the relevant employees shall be trained with skills that will enhance implementation of these objectives. This will now include specialized staffs, the two head of departments and the manager. The total quality management team shall carry out this training with the aim of helping the staff execute each element activities professionally. Follow ups shall be through management briefings. These briefings will help the leadership to support the functions and also help the management team to know the critical areas that need to be evaluated to ensure total progression. 6.0 Conclusion Strategies on how carrying total quality management on the shop has been explained. These strategies when deployed shall increase efficiency and co-ordination of the process. The action plan shall consist of collecting data from all involved parties to the shop. Analysis of this data shall be used to monitor the improvement of the process against the goals set by the management team. Both sales and purchase departments shall be actively involved in implementation of this strategy while the management team co-ordinates all the departments and the individual units. There are a number of challenges that the implementation committee might experience which include resistance to quality management in construction by the junior employees, fear of the shop being financially unstable and misconception of the cost of quality. Care shall be taken to account all these by actively communicating and involving everyone concerned. Though these problems might arise, total quality management shall embrace philosophy, procedures, principles and practices that shall ensure that the customer is satisfied while at the same time achieving high production out of the process. The commitment and perseverance shall be embraced during the execution of total quality management. At the end of twelve months visible results should be told by customers, suppliers and the employees. 7.0 Recommendation Managers should be close to workers (Nichols & Demir 2002, p 6) and therefore to fully implement the total quality management on the shop some resources shall be directed to put in place the system and also deploy problems solving tools for the manager and the management team. Every employee should be provided with the opportunity for personal growth and development as the management team executes the recommendations from the survey. This will eliminate the negative attitude that the employee may have on the system while at the same time they are given a sense of participation. A suggestion box shall also be put in place for the employees so that complains and suggestions that shall arise out of the new system can be handled by the management team. Works Cited Borrone, C & Loben E 2010, “ The Quality Journey: A TQM roadmap for public transportation.”Journal on Transportation Research. Vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 22-28. Floss, G, Lynch, T, Naughton, J, Colleti, J & King, B, 2004, “Total quality management master plan.” TQM implementation strategy, Vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 4-6. Janpen, P, Palaprom, K & Horadal P 2005, “An application of total quality management for Thai communities knowledge management systems.” Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on eBusiness, Vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 3-12. Juran & Joseph, M.1988, Quality Control Handbook. 4th end. McGraw-Hill ,New York: Mark, N, Elinto, Z, Glim, H & Delma P 2006, “Total quality management: A continuous improvement process.” PHCC Education foundation, Vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 100-119. Mukherjee, PN 2006, Total quality management, Deemed university press, Mumbai. Nichols, T, Sugur, N & Demir E 2002, “Globalized management and local labor: Case study of white –goods industry.” Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 2-7. Pheng, S & Teo, A 2004, “Implementing total quality management in construction firms.” Journal on management in Engineering, Vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 4-9. Pike, J & Barnes, R 1996,TQM in action,2nd edn, Page Bros Ltd, Norwich Great Britain Psychogios, AG & Priporas 2007, “Understanding total quality management in context: Qualitative research on managers’ awareness of TQM aspects in the Greek service industry.” Qualitative report, Vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 40-66. Read More