Implementing Quality Management at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority - Article Example

Implementing quality management at Dubai electricity and water Authority (DEWA) Name Institution Date Table of Contents Name 1 Institution 1 Date 1 Table of Contents 2 Why the organization wants to implement quality management system 3 Quality management system to be applied by the company 5 Hiring a third party to audit the quality in DEWA 7 Experience of DEWA in implementing the quality system 7 Types of Systems used in DEWA 8 Challenges to quality management system in DEWA 9 Use of technology in implementing quality systems 10 Self Service Automation 11 References 12 DEWA, (2012). DEWA Employee Relations Programs. Retrieved on March 13, 2012 from 12 Why the organization wants to implement quality management system Dubai electricity and water Authority has been in pursuance for excellence during its time of formation. The organization intends to be effective in the Dubai Emirates (DEWA, 2012). Adopting quality management practices will ensure effectiveness in the organization. This is mainly based on the goals and objectives of the organization. Quality management systems will be quite helpful in terms of identifying the goals and objectives of the organization. The system will be important in ensuring that the objectives of the organization are achieved. Quality management is basically about an organization achieving its goals and objectives. It will be required that the goals and objectives be set then monitored and evaluated according to the results achieved. Through this method DEWA is be able to be effective in its operations. Customer satisfaction is the main objective in any business enterprise. This is mainly because no business will be able to operate when the customers are not satisfied. Unhappy customers will always leave and find other enterprises that will satisfy them. Due to the ever increasing demand for electricity and water, the organization has to cope with all their demands. This therefore means that al the customers have to be satisfied with the services of the organization. In order to fully satisfy the customers the organization had to adapt to a system that will ensure all the needs of the customers are addressed. The only means of doing this was thus through quality management. This is mainly because the system addresses adequately the issues of customer satisfaction. A quality management practices encourage feedback from the customers regarding the complaints or any comments from the customers. The organization is also supposed to form a compliance department to deal with the customers complains. The quality management system thus provides a framework for customer satisfaction which is the core function of the organization (Varley, 2004). In the water and electricity department, it is a requirement to observe a high standard of compliance in terms of standards and regulations. Most of the organizations in the sector find it difficult and quite challenging to adapt to the laid out standards and regulations. This is quite dangerous in terms of offering quality water to the public. Due to government regulations some rules which are quite difficult and challenging to adopt. This may be due to their costs or the requirements. Such regulations are however god for the sector. Adoption of quality management system emphasizes that the organization comply with al the regulations in the sector. As a result of this the company decided to adopt to quality management system so as to comply with al the regulations in the sector. Quality management system enables the organization to develop a plan of how the regulations will be adopted by the organization. Compliance with all the regulations will ensure that the company is trusted by the customers and it is fully compliant with the regulations in the sector (Rose, 2005). The relationship between the employees and the administration was initially not good enough. This is mainly because the employees did not know the exact goals and objectives of the company. The employees also did no know the performance of the organization and the steps the organization was taking to improve their welfare and performance. This lack of communication between the employees resulted to mistrust which was affecting the performance of the organization. To solve this problem, the company decided to adopt quality management practices after a wide consultation. Quality management systems require that there must be good communication between the employees and the management. This means that the management has to inform the employees of the goals and objectives the company intends to accomplish and their roles in achieving it. This therefore prevents unnecessary tension between the management and the employees. For this reason the company therefore decided to adopt quality management system in order to improve its relationship with the employees who play a major role in the operations of the company. The tension between the administration and the employees was also spilling over to the customers thus affecting the image of the company together with the services provided (Mukherjee, 2006). In order to improve the continuous process within the organization quality management system the company had to be adopted. This is mainly because the process is continuous and does not stop once it is implemented. Quality management system proposes that improvements have to be evaluated on a continuous basis. This will be important in evaluating the performance of the company and that of the employees. The company will thus be able to identify the problems it is facing and it rectifies them in the course of operations. This will also benefit the employees since their performance will be evaluated and those who perform well will be rewarded. This is important in terms of offering services to the customers. A workforce with a high morale will serve the clients better and thus the image of the company will improve. For this reason and the others explained the company decided to adopt to quality management systems. Quality management system to be applied by the company The organization deals directly with the customers due to the services it provides. All over the world it is believed that water is life and everyone has a right to access this precious commodity. The water supplied should be portable and palatable so as to avoid any health risks that may arise due to its consumption. Electricity on the other hand is widely used in the country and it benefits al the citizens directly or indirectly. The company is thus mandated to perform this duties and offer the services to the customers. The attention therefore is on the customer who has to be satisfied at all times. The company therefore had to adapt to a quality management system that will effectively address the needs of the customers adequately. It was thus decided that the best quality management system is the Total Quality Management system (TQM). This type of quality management system mainly focuses on the customer satisfaction. Its purpose ids single minded and it is focused on the improvement of customer satisfaction. This process is continuous and does not stop once it has begun. The organization therefore has to set goals and objective that is focused on the improvement of services offered to the customers. These objectives will act as the guide towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. All the employees will be prepared physiologically so as to be aware of the process. The roles will also be explained in details so as to avoid any conflicts and failure of the system. The customers will also be involved in the process which will be useful for the organization to know the progress being made. It may take along time before the benefits are fully realized but it is useful in the long run as the results will lead to customer satisfaction (Kemp, 2005). Emphasis will be put on the satisfaction of the customers which will be manifested through the supply of adequate water and electricity. This system will be quite useful to the company as customer satisfaction will result to increase in profits and trust from the clients. Hiring a third party to audit the quality in DEWA Quality assessment is important for the organization and it will be required from time to time. This is basically for the purpose of achieving the goals and objectives of the company. The company will also be able to check its progress in terms of quality management systems. To achieve this it will be important for the company to involved third part auditors. The quality audits will be important to determine if the company is meting the quality standards set by ISO and the government. The third party audit will be useful in determining whether the organization is maintaining its goals and objectives as regard to the standards. Although the company has the capacity to carry out its own audits which it does occasionally, third party audit will still be required. This is mainly for the purpose of verifying the results from the company’s audit. This will also be a true reflection of the quality of the services and products from the company. The company will explore the possibility of inviting auditors from ISO. This is mainly because they are recognized worldwide and they work without any bias or favor (Schlickman, 2003). Experience of DEWA in implementing the quality system DEWA values the concept of quality management in order to satisfy its clients and to build a god public image in the industry. The implementation stage of the quality management system is a critical process that will backfire incase of any mistake. The organization does not have personnel who are experienced in the area of Total Quality Management. As a result of this the organization plans to recruit experts in the field of Total Quality Management in order to ensure the success of the initiative. The employees will also be prepared for this process so as to avoid the chances of being caught of guard. This may derail the process as some of the employees are always suspicious when it comes to changes in the organization. All the details will be availed to the employees. The administration will coordinate the process and the managers will be fully trained concerning process. Incase of any issue that may arise in the course of discharging the process al the stakes holders will be involved. The organization intents to use this approach in implementing the quality management practice. Types of Systems used in DEWA The organization adopted the use of six sigma to regulate its processes. The organization adopted this method in order to improve its efficiency and as a result satisfy the clients. The water supply system is very crucial and involves a lot of technical issues. As a result of this efficiency is required so as to supply the water to the clients. The quality of the water has to be god and treatment process has to be efficient. Lack of efficiency in this process will compromise the quality of the water. The supply of electricity is also quite vital and any inefficiency in the supply may cause deaths through electric faults or electrocution. With this in mind, the management had thus sought to adopt the six sigma method to ensure efficiency of the operations. This method of quality management involved the use of statistics to solve the real problems. The system would first be measured to determine its performance. After the performance is established, the whole system is analyzed. This is followed by improving on areas that have problems. Control measures are then put on place in order to ensure that the problem is solved and the good measures maintained. This method was mainly used to solve the issue of un accounted or water. Statistics and calculation were used mainly to try and solve this problem. To some extent the problem was solved but other areas were left out. This therefore necessitated the need of adopting a more efficient method that is al inclusive. It was thus widely agreed that the Total Quality Management system that is more efficient be put in place. Challenges to quality management system in DEWA Resistance to change is the major challenge in the implementation of quality management system at the Dubai electricity and water authority. This is considering the fact that most of the employees have worked for a long time with the company. Most of them are thus new with the concept and wonder what the need for change is. Most of them do not se the need to make the changes as the organization has been posting good results since it was formed. This therefore frustrates the effort as the employees don not cooperate. Some become misinformed and think that the changes are aimed at retrenching and sacking the employees since quality management has targets that need to be attained. Some employs consider this an excuse to sack them since some may not be able to achieve the target (Nanda, 2005). The employees also have a tendency of turning the issue into a political game as they are used to the old method. Although the company usually trains the employees whenever the concept is introduced, most of hem do not take the training seriously. This is with a view of trying to disapprove the management. Thus a blame game Is developed whenever the issues go wrong. The employees will accept the training while they continue doing the same things they used to do before. This presents a major problem that translates into blame game that escalates into political games. At the end of it al the common god is realized and the system becomes inefficient. The leadership is also to blame to some extent over some issues. This is especially when such concept is introduced. Some members in the administration develop a feeling that their powers will be cut or neutralized. Some of the members of the management consider any plans that will empower the employees as a means of reducing their powers; this is mainly because the quality management systems suggest that the employees who perform well should be rewarded. This is mainly in terms of promotion to higher levels of administration. It is therefore important to train the management together with the rest of the employees to appreciate the quality management systems and appreciate its god intentions. However the challenges affecting the organization in terms of introducing new concepts can be resolved through proper training and consultations among all the stakeholders Use of technology in implementing quality systems The modern technology is very important in terms of implementing the quality management practices. This involves the use of software to monitor and evaluate the quality of the processes of in an organization. The use of technology can be used in the area of documentation. This is useful in terms of retrieving and storage of vital documents. It will therefore be easier to access the document whenever they are required. This is a requirement of quality management which requires that the flow of information within an organization should be god enough. Such a practice will greatly benefit the organization when conducting its operations. The use of technology can also be useful in terms of collecting information about the organization in the public. A good software can be used to can be used to automatically collect the data regarding the feelings of the customers regarding the organization. The feedback collected can be used to improve the quality of processes in the organization. Quality management system that will benefit the organization can be implemented using modern technology and it will eliminate the need of employees going round to collect the feedback from the customers or the customers coming to the organization. Technology thus plays an important role of ensuring that feedback from the customers is availed to the organization through the use of technology which is much faster. Quality management systems require continuous improvement of services through the measurement of the performance and quality (Carmona, 2004). This process is quite tedious especially when it is done manually. This is mainly because it requires the collection of data which is calculated to reflect the actual performance pf the organization in terms of quality. It is thus easier to use technology to evaluate the process and make improvements. Use of software is very important as it will capture vital information that is required to evaluate performance within an organization in terms of maintaining quality and standards set. The evaluation of data captured is thus very important in terms of assessing performance. The organization can use this method to measure its quality processes and make corrections easily in areas with errors. These processes are being adapted by the company although it has not been fully adapted. However god results are being realized. Self Service Automation This is a process of turning from manual methods to automatic means when transacting business. It is one of the requirements of quality management system adopted by the organization. The company has not fully adopted this system but due to quality management it will be adopted. This concept is quite relevant in terms of payment of water and electricity bills. The customers will not be required to visit the organizations office to pay bills but it can be comfortably done at home using mobile phones. The organization will be able to monitor the water pipelines for leakages and also the power lines for any damage to the power lines. This can be achieved through use of computers to monitor the process. Meter reading can also be done through the use of computers. It is thus quite relevant for the company to adopt the use of automatic means in its operations. References DEWA, (2012). DEWA Employee Relations Programs. Retrieved on March 13, 2012 from Varley, V. (2004). The benefits of total quality management. Duluth, Minnesota: College of St. Scholastica. Rose, K. H. (2005) Project Quality Management: Why, What and How. NY: Macmillan Publishers. Mukherjee P. N. (2006). Total Quality Management. Sheffield: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2006 Kemp, S. (2005). Quality Management Demystified. New York: McGraw-Hill Prof Med/Tech. Nanda, V. (2005). Quality management system handbook for product development companies. NY: CRC Press. Carmona, M. & Sieh L. (2004). Measuring quality in planning: managing the performance process. London: Taylor & Francis, Schlickman, J. J. (2003). ISO 9001:2000 quality management system design. New Delhi: Artech House. Read More