The Formulation of Business Strategies - Essay Example

Running head: TOTAL QUALITY CONTROL BY ARMAND V. FEIGENBAUM A Review of Armand’s Total Quality Control Ideas Title: Course Number: Date Due: Introduction In any organization there need for quality in service delivery. This is because quality lies behind the formulation of business strategies for the organizations. Research has it that quality must be there in the running of a business in various areas such as in the establishment of policies of the business, in decision making, in the selection of personnel, allocation of resources, in defining the main investments of a company, and in giving of good service to satisfy the needs of the customers. Several authors have come up with varied vies on the meaning of quality management for the business. According Basu (2006), quality is never “optional” for the organization but necessary that ensures the continuity of a business. They believe that through total quality management the business is able to increase the quality of their service delivery and that of products. However, Armand (2008) believes that there need for “total” approach to quality and in specific points out to total quality control as the way forward to satisfy the customer needs. According to ISO 8402 total quality management can be defined as an approach of a company, that is intended to focus on quality delivery. Farther the ISO definition states that quality should be the duty of all the members of staff and not the managers alone and this is in line to Armands believe to quality delivery. Thus total quality management involves the employees, and other members of staff in coming up with ways of satisfying the quality of a product, process quality and organizational quality. Armand thus believes that with total quality control everybody in the organizations works hard to achieve the goals of the organization and works towards customer satisfaction. Review Quality Management Previously, research had proposed on the need of quality for the success of any business organization (Beckford, 2005). However, Armand (2008) came up with the idea of total quality control in the success of a business. He believed that through total quality management in organizations was the way forward in realizing the quality of a product during the manufacturing process and, hence satisfying the need of consumers as they are the main reasons of being in business. This idea meant that all processes and the units used in the manufacturing of a product need to be focused on the final delivery of a high quality product. Quality is a Measurable Factor The organization should therefore be the one responsible for the high quality product. The organization according to him consists of the management, the employees and all other members of staff who in one way or another contribute to the success of the organization. The notion in most business is that the management and the top management in the manufacturing process are the ones that should be involved in the delivery of a high quality product however Armand refutes this idea and therefore calls for the support of the whole organization in the quality of a product. Processes Priority Product quality should be the “priority” of a business and thus needs careful planning in the realization of the same (Basu, 2006). He farther proposes on the three ideas of principles, practices, and administration as the bridge toward quality. He believes that the aspects that affect quality in specific humans should be properly managed. Therefore having proper management that focus on improving the “consistency” of the employee and being quality oriented is the main step in administering quality. The humans that are involved in the manufacturing of a product contribute greatly towards the quality of a product and the tools used to analyze whether a product has a defect or is fit for consumption contribute a small percentage towards good management of quality. Never treat Symptoms Look for Causes In using statistical tools in quality management the organization would only be wasting time and resources and that human are the people behind good quality management. Armand believes that the need for quality control is vital towards the proper coordination of the quality maintenance and the organizational efforts in improving the quality of the end product. Nevertheless, the work of the various organizational people is important in ensuring the quality of a product and, hence the various people involved in the manufacturing of a product should ensure that the organizational costs involved in the production should be at a minimum level that allow the necessity of fulfilling customer need to be realized. Armand believes that the need of practicing quality in an organization should not be only centered on satisfaction of customer needs. However, quality control is a tool in management of the production and thus to put production costs at the lowest level that the organization need to focus on several factors. The organization need to come up with clear goals that are attainable on quality standards. If the organizations main goal is to satisfy the customers then the organization need to come up with quality standards that are achievable that are geared towards customer satisfaction and in the same time making profits for the company. Employee Responsibility in Quality Nevertheless, the quality of a product is brought about by the employees involved in its production. Hence coming up with ways of improving the present working conditions of the organization is vital to achieving the required quality standards that would farther provide the product desired by consumers. Employees working on harsh and unfavorable conditions might be a contributing factor to the poor quality of a product and this should be looked at by the management in realizing their goal of quality product. Moreover, the product need to be checked whether it attains the required quality before delivery to the market. Hence there need to be standards set on which this measurement is done. The management need to come up with new quality standards with an aim to improve on them. Therefore, total quality control takes into view the performance of the organization and how the manufacturing process is done. Therefore, the customer needs would be satisfied with great ease. Quality is a Continuous Process Armand (2008) had to present quality in “holistic” way. He asserts that the quality of a product follow clearly from the design of the product, as poor designing implies that the end product would not be satisfying the consumer. In addition, quality involves the how the manufacturing process is done, the standards used to check the quality of the product, the sales, the after-sale services and the need to satisfy the customers. These are the five pillars to total quality management that the writer proposes. Thus the need for quality follows several stages as there are several people involved in ensuring that it is successful. Nevertheless, quality does not involve the product only but giving of services to the customers is considered important by Armand. Services such as after-sale service gives the consumers the morale and feel appreciated by the purchase of the product and this makes them come back to the business for other transactions. Quality as a Long-term Investment Armand believes that the above phases in service delivery affect the way consumers view quality. Therefore, he came up with several controls to the above pillars to total quality management. Having controlled to the design of a product, incoming material control, product control, and the special process studies are essential to coming up with a high quality end product. These control factors are considered to affect the quality of a product and thus using them to come up with a better product is important. The writer asserts that most organizations do not clearly understand what high quality management really entails. He continues to say that the use of statistical tools and various techniques as a way of ensuring the quality of a product is not essential as this is only part of total quality management (Gilbert 2007). Thus in the use of this technique an organization is not able to realize on the cause of a product defect and the methods cannot be used to rectify the situation on quality, its just an indicator on poor quality of a product and that the real issue has not been addressed. Armand (2008) believes farther that the modern quality control is “management based”. This implies that having leader who embrace on quality to all the members of staff is important to quality delivery. Thus he states that the management is involved in quality delivery through increasing the efficiency on the various process in the manufacturing of a product by offering training opportunities to all the employees on quality and the importance of observing quality. Nonetheless, involving the entire organization in quality is essential as it is the duty of the organization in ensuring that the right standards of a product are met. Opinion Total Control is therefore a good way of bringing together quality development, maintenance, and improved efforts of the different departments in the organization. This is aimed at producing services such as marketing, engineering, and production at higher level with full customer satisfaction (Blaikie 2008). Conclusion Armands book clearly illustrates on observing quality and the best practices on doing the same. Clearly, quality control should not be looked at by the organization as a way to reducing the running costs but as an administrative duty to ensure that there are proper communication in place to provide knowledge to all the employees aimed at enhancing the quality of a product. Nevertheless, there need for all the employee involvement in the organizations high quality control measures. The quality of a product farther depends on the kind of improvements have done to it. Armand believes that this should be a continual process and the success of this relies entirely on employee involvement. Therefore there need for slow implementation of the high quality implementation in organizations rather than a rushed decision. A few companies do not well understand on how quality should be implemented and that is why they are not able to benefit fully from its implementation. Quality is a way of proper management of the organization and most of the present world calls for the understanding on quality as its an essential element in management. . References Armand V. (2008). Total Quality Control, Revised 3rd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Basu, R. (2006) Implementing Quality, London: Thomson Beckford, J. (2005) Quality, London: Routledge Blaikie N. (2008) Support of Quality Control: Organizational Review. Oxford University Press Gilbert M. (2007) Quality the Way Forward for Organizations. Buckingham: Open University Press Read More