Total Quality Management Methodologies: Six Sigma Philosophy - Essay Example

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TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES: SIX SIGMA PHILOSOPHY

The U.S Postal Service is an independent organization of the United States of America with the responsibility of postal services. It is during the second continental congress by Franklin that its roots can be traced. The Postal Department got founded in 1792 from the operation of Franklin; then got raised to the Cabinet-Level Department during the year 1872. It was the then transformed to the U.S Postal service by the year 1917. Through growth and development, the company is ranked first when it comes to owning fleets of vehicles by the year 2014. It is also among the leading civilian employment industries with over five hundred thousand employees and over two hundred thousand vehicles to provide services to the people of the United States of America.

Companies that implement total quality management methodologies record a high success rate on flourishing and maintaining the market share. A company such as U.S postal service is well known for their mail services. Since time in memorial the company focus on letter delivery and stand a better chance of maintaining the U.S market because of its traditional roots. The company also faces a very competitive market from other more technology based companies. Over the years the company has adopted several strategies on how to maintain their market share; the most appropriate move was assuming the six sigma method to help in creating a better system offering much better services to the customers based on real-time (Knowles, 2012). The company might have been established with its roots on mail delivery, but it has evolved to be one of the most service and goods delivery company in America.

Six Sigma is a system is a unique but definite method based on three different factors; define measure, analyze, improve and control. These factors help in promoting the elements of Six Sigma. They are a strategic focus on the direction of the organization, the value of the customer, a strict approach in understanding the client needs and in reducing the variation and waste, management factors, creating of a strong culture, and good linkages to the profits of the business. With these elements in hand, there is a strong possibility to centralize the U.S Postal services and restructure its policies creating a better and more advanced business company. The approach is strict and majorly helps in restructuring all sections of a business and helps in providing real-time solutions by at times using technology to advance customer satisfaction and minimize risks.

The company being one of the most used for mail delivery has to review the approach majorly when it comes to the customer focus. Meeting the customers’ requirement is usually the most important policy for thriving business. Six Sigma helps the mail company to strive to exceed customers’ expectation hence attracting and retaining the confidence of the clients (Pepper & Spedding, 2010). It also offers the opportunity for customer interaction; through it, the U.S Postal Services Providers a chance to create more values for the customer. These can be achieved if the company focuses on the following, understand the clients’ present and future requirements and anticipations, measuring and monitoring the satisfaction of the customer and taking appropriate action, link organization objectives to customer needs and expectation, and finally ensure real-time delivery of goods and services.

To provide quality services in the parcel and mail delivery market U.S postal service Company needs to focus on leadership. Leaders are the key to a more defined structure and reliable workforce helping to attain a stable working environment. Leadership majorly means the coming up with purpose of unity and engaging people in an institution in aligning the the strategies, process, and resource in achieving its objective (Internation Organization for Standardization, 2015). There are various ways the company can go about using Six Sigma to attain quality leadership; by establishing a culture of trust and integrity among the employees. Ensuring positive attitude of leaders to help encourage the workforce hence better productivity rate, and finally, to develop and maintaining the shared morals and values, fairness and ethical behavior at all the levels of the institution (Ganguly, 2012). The system also aims at educating the staff on the new Six Sigma managerial values and code of running a business.

While providing the services, there is the need to engage competent and empowered people at all levels in enhancing its capability to create and deliver value. The U.S Postal Service has several employees with various ranks and capacities. The gifts are usually paramount because they always vary and sharing of the ideas can create a significant impact hence advancing the production of the company. In such disciplines, the managers need to communicate clearly with other employees to enhance clear understanding of the importance of their individual contributions (Lakhe & Mohanty, 1994). Also, there need to be open discussions and a survey to calculate and predict customer satisfaction. Six Sigma analyses help to promote health work and client-company relationships.

The company having various structure and several branches all over the United States of America, it needs to identify a process approach. This principle works hand to hand with the Six Sigma philosophy. Process method consists of several interrelated process hence named a coherent system. Before embarking on the system, there is various approach the organization should consider. (Ganguly, 2012)First, the Postal Service Company is to define the objective of the scheme and a suitable process necessary to achieve them. Also, there is need to establish authority, responsibility and accountability of the entire process. Upon doing so, the system requires the analyst to understand the capabilities of the institution and determining the constraints before taking action (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). After the identifying the constraints, it is important to identify process independence and analyze the effect of modification.

Managing the process and its interrelations as a system is the next step, and it is done to achieve the organization's quality objective (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). The need for availability of necessary information to help in the operation and improvement of the process and to analyze, monitor and evaluate the performance of the overall system (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). Finally, the company proceeds to manage the likely risks affecting the output of the process. By using such a structure, there is a possibility of creating an influential founding with limits to risk on the operation of an advanced system. With a system like this, the Postal Company has the advantage of increasing and maintaining their customer satisfaction because it is all based on the client's culture to receive better and real time service. Six Sigma to has a well-defined structure built on managing the risk of the outcome and ensure better company delivery of goods and services. The process is also about facts not opinions, data collected on ground levels and the data helps in the creation of the coherent system.

Over the years, U.S Postal Company has grown and diversified its services by the use of mobile deliveries of goods and services. Every successful company usually has the aim of developing and improving its client based services and also maintains the US market niche. To improve merely means the organization has the capability of maintaining the levels of performance in reacting to the changes both the internal and external environments and come up with newer opportunities. The company needs to design a strategy that shine above the competitors to achieve improvement. It should also focus on the internal structures and improve its objectives on all its levels. The key to improvement is the ability to the capacity of the company to train the employee on current issues involving the discipline. Also, the learning process is to cover the application of essential tools and methodologies like Six Sigma philosophy to achieve improvement objectives.

U.S Postal Company employees have a role in improving the company survives; they are to have competency in promoting and completing the improvement projects, and they should create and install a process in the implementation of the development projects throughout the institution. The managing teams should not only track and review but also audit the planning, processes like completion, implementation, results and planning of the company’s growth (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). Also, there is the need to integrate improvements considerations into the creation modified processes, goods and services (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). Finally, the organization needs to recognize and acknowledge improvement. These methods are achievable; an example is the use of technology gadgets to help in surveillance of delivery and communication with clients. Tracking devices placed on the Postal vehicles to keep real-time records on the performance of transportation services of the company.

While taking the approach of Six Sigma philosophy; there usually a better for customer satisfaction because the approach relies on data integration to create a smooth strategy to increase reliability and customer satisfaction. The philosophy is like no other because it covers all the grounds, an example approach is the first the analyst must deploy the policy methodology, based on customer requirements, measurements, and cross-functional management. It also helps in the creation and education of the Postal Company staff (Pepper & Spedding, 2010). The training is usually based on project management and also adequate knowledge on how the system functions to reduce the risk rate. Such is also found in total quality management methodologies. The idea of data collection is one way of separating facts from opinions, and it helps in knowing where insufficiency to customer satisfaction began.

The philosophy also points to the analysis tools of the collected data; these data acts as the first-hand information to understand the strengths and limitation of the U.S Postal Company. After analysis, processing of the data begins, hence the procedure of mapping and creating flow charts. Process control planning then commences by first determine the cause and effects of the problem. A team of skilled project management personnel interprets and applies statistical methods for valid comparison. For the implementation process to be complete, the mailing company needs to add the seven tools of management and quality control tools in designing the experiment (Pepper & Spedding, 2010). Such methods leave no chance for errors because of strict logics on control and advancing quality customer satisfaction culture

When putting together Six Sigma and Total quality management practices a company like U.S Postal can be untouchable because both systems have the advantage of success and quality client satisfaction. Ones the company focuses on the customers there will be added benefits to the enterprise; enhanced customer value, a rise in the satisfaction of the customer, increased customer loyalty, increased repeat business, maintaining the U.S Postal Company reputation, expandable customer base, and enhanced market share and revenue (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). All these advantages are usually paramount for the firm in the case of completion from various companies in the market niche.

Leadership has its benefits in the project management section; the company will have learned leaders’ with the idea of how to govern the company and also know when and where to implements various policies for satisfaction. There would be a better coordination of the system with improved effectiveness and efficiency in realizing the quality objectives of the organization (International Organization for Standardization, 2015). Also, there will be a healthy working environment with enhanced communication techniques in all levels of the company. Being a well-structured company U.S plays a significant role in the delivery of goods and services the communication helps in maintain the proper relationship with the clients. While engaging with one another, the employees have a chance to grow and develop. It also helps in the creation of trust and collaboration hence creating room for appreciation of shared opinions.

The most important aspect of making U.S Postal Company achieve its goal is the benefits found from improvement. Through improvement, there will be the increase in process performance, organizational capabilities, and customer satisfaction. It will also lead to better means of understanding the current and future demands on customer satisfaction. Education is also a key in such discipline; the company trains the personnel to understand project management and also help them with the know how to use current tools such as computers and trackers to monitor the performance of delivery. Improvement also contributes to instilling confidence in staff by making the ready to combat present and future risk threatening the company. To improve majorly means to develop and grow and the most important factor is the fact the employees have the ability to accept, debate, and argue on the various policies governing the company.

The use of quality management methodologies instills the procedure of creating different disciplines to maintain the market niche. But at the same time, the process is very educative and helps in both personal and organization growth. The development and implementation of such methods are a realization of a weak spot for the company and to correct the mistake an alternative measure needs to be put in place. It is absurd, but most of the techniques in such methods are to control risks while others focus on how to promote a healthy relationship with the customer.

Six Sigma is a logical philosophy mainly used financial control drainage and centralized a company. A company like U.S.P.S is well known for its services, and the most troubling factor is the idea of centralization and maintains customer satisfaction. Consolidation of the company enables the creation of a system that handles the issues of the business as well as that of the client. With the various branches all over the United States of America, the system should help to track and make sure their delivery is punctual. The philosophy allows the use of technology to achieve its goals; an example is a need to track drivers and rural drivers to communicate to the headquarters, for it to be possible each and every driver should have a tracker and satellite phone.