Quality Management and Effective Operations Management - Essay Example

GT has been producing different varieties of high-quality vegetables such as tomatoes, cheery tomatoes exotic hydroponics-grown lettuces, cucumbers, carrots, and many other varieties for the domestic market. Also, imports fruits such as apples, oranges, mandarins, strawberries, and other varieties from Iran, Lebanon, Gordon, and other countries. The company is implementing the QA method in order to quality performance and operations. However, one evening the warehouses and storage manager forgot to switch on the refrigerating system before installing fruits and vegetables which lead to spoilage.

Discussion and Recommendation

 One possible solution to the problem is through the context of change management.  The management change is currently one of the major domains of organizational research, and the study of organizational change has become one of the major aspects in being able and helping to measure the organization's performance; efficiency, and effectiveness.  It is important to understand the extent to which formal changes in management systems and role prescriptions have resulted in changes in work behavior and job satisfaction experienced by personnel (Manser, 2004). It is thus essential when attempting to assess the impact of formally espoused changes within an organization, to examine the extent to which, and the way in which, managers have adopted new forms of work behavior in accordance with the new managerial role perceptions. 

According to Waters (1996) ever since people started to work together to reach a common goal, operations management has been an important ingredient, but since the industrial revolution, it has grown most rapidly. Operations management is the tool behind the technical improvements that make production efficient. It is the way to plan and organize how the technology and machinery will be utilized the most. The productivity in an organization depends on both the right technology and the right way to manage it (Waters, 1996).  However, TQM can be a success or failure depending on how well it is planned, implemented, measured, and encouraged. Few would disagree that continuous improvement offers substantial benefits for manufacturers (McNamara, 1999). As a basic tenet of TQM, continuous improvement can enable manufacturers to meet the competitive pressures of the global economy head-on and to develop strategies for making products that are both high in quality and commercially successful (Sahni and Gaertner, 1996).

With this occurrence, the company must be able to adopt a systematic tool or technique to help solve the problem of the company and the proposed technique is one of the continuous improvement techniques which is Total Quality Management. One of the proposed solutions is to establish Total Quality Management that will adhere to the needs of the company; TQM is part of the continuous improvement technique which is an important tool in order to improve operations. 

Quality management is crucial to effective operations management, particularly continuous improvement. More recent advancements in quality, such as benchmarking and Total Quality Management, have resulted in advancements in operations management as well (Stephanou and Spiegel, 1992).  However, the Total Quality Management philosophy is based on developing a systemic view of quality. This approach views quality as the driving force to ensure the survivability and competitiveness of a company. However, rather than view quality only from the standpoint of direct products and services, we see quality as a reflection of overall performance. In other words, the performance of a company in its immediate and extended environment in all matters even those that may not be related directly to the product is assessed as an attribute of quality (Madu, 1993).