Total Quality Management - Term Paper Example

Running head: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT of essay’s assignment is due This paper will define whatquality is according to Garvin. An advertisement from a 2010 dated newspaper will be analysed to identify whether or not it is of good quality. Integration of customer focus in the hotel industry will also be discussed. The definition for internal and external customers will be given. Measures of customer satisfaction and internal customer performance will also be provided. The problems associated with these measures will be discussed. The paper will also discuss aspects of Total Quality Management with respect to remuneration to financial advisors and employees of banks and insurance companies. An article in the New York Times that displays a graph will be critiqued. A top-down flow diagram, cause-and-effect and flowchart will be drawn to explain the processes and problems surrounding purchasing a vehicle. Finally, an example of a poka-yoke will be given. Question 1: Defining Quality Fig. 1. An advertisement by Computech Computers Inc that appeared in the January 17, 2010 issue of The New York Times newspaper. Fig. 2. A close up image of the advertisement. The first dimension of quality that Garvin proposes is performance. The advertisement gives the primary operating characteristics of the services provided. The second dimension is features. The advertisement gives the secondary aspects of performance that supplement the basic functions of the services offered. The third dimension is reliability. The services offered in the advertisement have measured to verify their reliability. This is especially important because the services offered are consumed over a specific duration of time. The fourth dimension is conformance. The testing services offered in the advertisement meet the standards that are set by Prometric. The fifth dimension is serviceability. This dimension does not have relevance to the services offered at Computech Computers Inc and as such, repair and restoring of services does not need to be considered. The seventh dimension of quality is aesthetics. The advertisement makes the services offered to look, feel and sound interesting to the reader. However, it is not possible to please everybody and individual preference will dictate whether the advertisement had aesthetic value. The eighth and final dimension of quality is perceived quality. The advertisement infers the good quality of the services offered by use of images, assurance that the company is authorized by Prometric and the provision of full time qualified instructors (Garvin, 1988, pp. 113-174). Question 2: Customer Focus External customers are people or businesses that purchase the services or products offered by a company. External customers are the ordinary customers who purchase the company’s products or services. Internal customers are departments within the company or employees working for the company. It is important for a company to value both the internal and external customers. In the hotel industry, the top chefs, management and sales teams aim at satisfying the customers by performing their functions and work according to their responsibilities. The cooperation and harmony of the people achieve customer satisfaction and trigger the success of the hotel business. Different strategies are applied to retain customers. The hospitality at the hotel provides the customer with plenty of choices. The employees and management meet and even exceed the expectations that customers have for them. Customer focus in incorporated into an organisation by first understanding who the customer is, identifying the needs of the customer, and finally developing a solution for the customer’s needs (Cook, 2008, pp. 234-256). To become customer focused, an organisation should build its operations around the customer. Building operations around the customer require that a reorganisation of the leadership, technology, processes and management be done. Resources must be reassigned and allocated and performance measurements must be done. A customer satisfaction measure that should be used by the organisation is asking the customers, “Overall, how satisfied are you with the services at the hotel?” This question reflects the customer’s opinion and experience with the hotel. An indicator of internal customer performance is a PEST analysis of the hotel. This analysis will help management in their leadership, planning, monitoring, budgeting, decision making, recruitment and training. Question 3: Deming’s 14 points Total Quality Management (TQM) is aimed at customer satisfaction. A move from commission-based to “fee-for-service” remuneration shows that the continuous improvement aspect of TQM was implemented. The enhancements and fixes dome by the Federal Government were propelled by short and iterative production cycles. Managerial involvement is also evident as it has provided an overall support system for the TQM that has enabled the success of the Federal Government’s program (Mukherjee, 2006, pp. 241-267). From a customer’s view point, processes have been re-factored in a manner that does not meet the needs of the customers. Transparency that was provided through commission has been abolished. It is not enough for the Federal Government to simply improve its processes so that errors are at the absolute minimum. The needs of the customers should have been considered. Because of the “fee-for-service” remuneration, the employees of banks and insurance companies will give advice that is not necessarily aimed at total quality management. The independent financial advisors on the other hand will offer quality advice that will ensure that the program works. There will be linkage between the strategic, financial and human resources aspects of corporations. Question 4: Displaying data Fig. 3. A line graph in the 1st September, 2010 issue of the New York Times. The graph above is well designed and shows graphical excellence because it has substance, statistics and design (Wainer, 2005, pp. 163-189). Complex ideas have been communicated with clarity, precision and efficiency. A viewer looking at the graph gets a great number of ideas in a short time and a small space has been used. The truth about data presented has been given. Only the information that the reader needs has been given. Confusion and complexity has been limited. The statistics have been given both graphically and have been discussed in text. Intelligent and full labels have been used. The graph is visually pleasing and is elegant in that as much as the data is complex, the design is simple. The text graphic format was a wise choice as the text placement communicates numbers. The graphics were put near the text to discuss them. The font used is big enough for everybody to read. Heavy lines were used appropriately to indicate important information. Clean, mixed case serif fonts were used. Chart junk such as clip arts and backgrounds were avoided because data is the story. However, informative axes that indicate range have not been used. Important points on the graph have not been highlighted. Question 5: Defining, documenting and analysing processes A top-down flow diagram is a graphical presentation showing the sequence of steps in making a process work. A top-down flow diagram clarifies how things are working at the present time and the improvements that can be made. The key elements of a process are identified by using a top-down flow diagram. Furthermore, a clear line is drawn between where one process ends and another begins. The following is a top-down flow diagram showing the processes involved in purchasing a car. Fig 4. A top-down flow diagram showing the processes involved in purchasing a car. A Cause-and-Effect diagram helps in identifying, sorting and displaying the possible reasons for a specific problem. The Cause-and-Effect diagram illustrates the relationship that exists between an outcome and the factors that influence the outcome. The Cause-and-Effect diagram increases process knowledge, identifies area of collecting data and uses an orderly and easy-to-read format. The following is a Cause-and-Effect diagram identifying the causes of being unhappy, immediately after or at later stage, with the car purchase. Fig. 5. A Cause-and-Effect diagram of the problem of poor gas mileage from a recently purchased car. The following is a flowchart for the processes after buying a car showing processes required when some steps do not produce their intended results or result from unexpected difficulties. Fig. 6. A flow chart of the decisions made after a purchased vehicle proved to have problems. Question 6: Poka-yoke A bathyscaph is a submarine used in deep water used in exploring the very lowest parts of the ocean. A bathyscaph is electrically powered. Once the submarine is at the bottom, if the electrical system or batteries fail, the best outcome is that the submarine returns to the surface. The designers of the bathyscaph made this outcome occur by using electromagnets to hold the ballast in place. Whenever power is lost, the sub starts its ascent since the ballast will have dropped off automatically. Conclusion This paper has defined what quality is according to Garvin. An advertisement from a 2010 dated newspaper has been analysed to identify whether or not it is of good quality. Integration of customer focus in the hotel industry has also been discussed. The definition for internal and external customers has been given. Measures of customer satisfaction and internal customer performance have also been provided. The paper also discusses aspects of Total Quality Management with respect to remuneration to financial advisors and employees of banks and insurance companies. An article in the New York Times that displays a graph has been critiqued. A top-down flow diagram, cause-and-effect and flowchart have been drawn to explain the processes and problems surrounding purchasing a vehicle. Finally, an example of a poka-yoke has been given. References Cook, S. (2008). Customer care excellence: How to create an effective customer focus. 5th ed. Kogan Page Publishers. Garvin, D. (1988). Managing quality: The strategic and competitive edge. Free Press. Mukherjee, P. (2006). Total quality management. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Wainer, H. (2005). Graphic discovery: A trout in the milk and other visual adventures. Princeton University Press. Read More