TOPIC 1: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Flashcards
What Is Total Quality Management
- TQM is a management system for a customer-focused organization
that involves all employees in the continual improvement of all aspects of the organization. - TQM is a process that begins with a vision for a project that is actively promoted by an organizational leader.
- A vision provides a realistic target and connects an organization to future goals by effective use of all assets.
- The formulation of a vision can be the product of a team effort but must be shared by a leader with employees, customers and suppliers.
- TQM concepts are an integrative system that uses strategy, data,
and effective communication to integrate the quality principles into the culture and activities of the organization.
Principles of TQM
• Be Customer focused:
Whatever you do for quality improvement, remember that ONLY customers determine the level of quality, whatever you do to foster quality improvement, training
employees, integrating quality into processes management, ONLY customers determine whether your effort was worthwhile.
• Ensure Total Employee Involvement:
This is done after you remove fear from the workplace, then empower employees… you provide the proper environment.
• Process Cantered:
A fundamental part of TQM is to focus on Process thinking.
•Integrated system:
All employees must know the business mission and vision must monitor the process.
• Strategic and systematic approach:
The strategic plan must integrate quality as a core component.
• Continual Improvement:
Involves using analytical and creative thinking in finding ways to become more effective.
• Fact-Based Decision Making:
Decision making must be ONLY on data, not personal thinking or situational.
• Communication:
Communication strategy, method and timeliness must be well defined.
WHAT IS QUALITY?
- Many definitions of quality exist.
- Quality is a broad subject that means different things to different people.
- Quality is the degree to which a commodity meets the requirements of the customer at the start of its life. (ISO 9000).
- ISO 9001 quality systems do not give you quality and they never will.
- ISO9001 is not designed to create quality.
- Quality is the experience of the customer.
- Product quality perception comes from your design specifications and manufacture standards achieved.
- Service quality perception comes from your service process design and customer contact impressions.
5 broad categories of quality
- The Transcendent view:
This view suggests that a quality product is the best product in its field e.g. A Mercedes Benz may be regarded as the safest car in the world. - The Value-Based Approach
Here, one takes the issues of price and cost to the quality issue. Price plays an extremely important role in determining the choice of a product. - A person may choose to buy a
small basic house instead of a luxury mansion on the beach, due to affordability and price constraints. - The User-Based Approach
This is where a product is fit for its purpose. The product meets all the requirements of the person who uses it. E.g. A housewife who needs a car just to transport her kids to
school which is five minutes away may prefer to buy a Fiat Uno instead of a luxury German sedan. - The Product-Based Approach
This suggests that quality is a set of precise characteristics that are measurable, which are required to meet the needs of the customer. - The Manufacturing Based Approach
This view states that products that are made free of defects and conform to certain specifications are of high quality. E.g. a person may require that a washing machine lasts
for about 10 years.
After examining this overview, we can see that it is not easy to define quality. When we consider quality, we got to consider quality in terms of a good or quality in terms of service.
QUALITY IN TERMS OF A GOOD
A good is a tangible item e.g. a computer, a car, a house – something that you can feel and touch.
- Performance: The way a product operates or functions e.g. a BMW 528i has a top speed of 235km per hour.
- Features: What are the extras that go with the product? E.g. a BMW 528i comes with a full house of features and a 100 000 km motor plan.
- Reliability: The promise that the product will perform, and continue to perform, over a certain period.
E.g. a television normally carries a one-year guarantee but can last as much as 20 years in certain cases. - Perception of Quality: This refers to an indirect evaluation of a product’s quality e.g. reputation attached to a certain brand of product - a Rolls Royce is believed to last for an entire lifetime.
- Aesthetics: Are the physical qualities of a product that makes it pleasant to look at e.g. some males may describe a Porsche as being sexy.
- Durability: Refers to the lifetime of the product or how long it will last. E.g. at issue is made for use one time only as compared to a towel that can be used, washed and re-used.
- Conformance: Is the meeting of pre-determined standards and criteria?
- Service Backup: What after-sales service exist for the product? Would you buy a computer from a store that does not offer any guarantee or after-sales service?
DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY
- Responsiveness: Refers to the willingness of the provider of the service to meet the customer’s requirements, when requested.
- Security: Being safe or absence of danger or potential risk. E.g. would you study at RICHFIELD GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY there were numerous student strikes and protests?
- Access: Is it easy to get to the service RICHFIELD GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
has made itself highly accessible by being located in all 9 provinces of Southern Africa? - Courtesy: Refers to the respect that is displayed for the customer or student. Being polite, sincere, and considerate and showing genuine concern for the customer or student.
- Communication: Talking and addressing the customer or student in a language and manner that he or she can relate to.
- Understanding: The effort displayed in aiming to genuinely understand the customer or student correctly.
- Reliability: Where a personcan depend on it to perform as expected.
- Tangibles: The presence of physical evidence of a quality service like equipment and tools. If you look at the chairs and desks of RICHFIELD, you would notice that they are of a
high-quality standard. Some colleges use plastic chairs and steel tables for students. - Credibility: The trust, faith and confidence that customers and students will receive a value-added service and an educational experience that will allow them to find suitable employment, after their studies.
- Competence: The skill and knowledge of the service provider and the ability to perform
the service. The overall result of the above emphasises quality and the end result is that you have satisfied customers or students. This is the TQM philosophy. When you create
customer and student loyalty, they usually become your front-line salespeople, which cuts down the organisation’s advertising budget and hence the viability of the organisation is ensured.
UNDERSTANDING THE QUALITY CHAINS
A quality chain consists of both internal and external customers. Internal customers
include staff and management of an organisation e.g. RICHFIELD GRADUATE INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY External customers are students, parents and other customers. In
order for staff members to satisfy the customer and student needs, they first need to be
satisfied and motivated.
If a staff member is demotivated, he or she will give poor service to the customer or
student. This will create a poor impression of the organisation on the part of the external
customer. On the other hand, if an internal customer (staff member) gives good service
to the external customer, this will create a good impression for the organisation. The
external customer would recommend the organisation to his / her friends and family,
which will bring more business to the organisation.
The following examples are included for a better understanding of internal and external
customers:
A receptionist, lecturer, principal are internal customers of RICHFIELD.
Students, parents, guarantors, guardians, corporate, schools are all examples of external
customers to RICHFIELD.
Hence, we call these interrelationships between internal and external customers forming
what is known as a quality chain. This is true for the saying “A chain is only as strong as
its weakest link”
UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP
A person can be both a customer and a supplier. For example, a secretary may be a
supplier to her boss (type out his documents) and the boss is a customer to the secretary.
If the secretary does not do her work properly (she is a poor supplier), her boss may be
unhappy (unsatisfied customer). Hence, this model can be applied to any function or level
within an organisation. Therefore, there are numerous customers – supplier relationships
within an organisation. These are important linkages, which cannot be ignored. For TQM
purposes, it is imperative that each and every relationship is identified, managed and
reviewed for continual improvement. The following questions can be asked:
1.7 CUSTOMERS
• Who are my immediate customers?
• What are their true needs/requirements?
• What can I do to find out their needs/requirements?
• How can I measure my ability to resolve their needs/requirements?
• Do I have the capability of satisfying their requirements?
• How can I monitor their needs?
1.8 SUPPLIERS
• Who are my immediate suppliers?
• What are my true requirements?
• How do I communicate my requirements?
• Do my suppliers have the ability to satisfy my requirements?
• How do I inform them of the changes to my requirements?
What is important to note from the above diagram that one person can be both a supplier
and a customer, depending on the circumstances, let’s take the boss and secretary
example. The boss is a customer to the secretary. To the organization’s customers, the
boss is a supplier – note the differences in circumstances. Therefore, in any quality chain,
there is a customer-supplier relationship. Typically, employees within an organisation will
find themselves both in the position of customer and supplier, depending on the
circumstances.
QUALITY STARTS WITH MARKETING
The marketing person of a company is the most important link with the customer because
this is where the point of contact occurs. It is also the point of delivery. All the people
within the production line must ensure that the customers they deliver to be happy with
the product/service they receive.
The following roles of marketing are important and include:
• Use of effective communication
• The need for using market research and appropriate techniques
• The need to determine the exact requirements of customers and students
• Feeding this information to all other departments within the organisation
TQM IMPLEMENTATION APPROACHES
No one solution is effective for planning and implementing TQM concepts in allsituations.
Following are generic models for implementing Total quality management Theory:
• Train top management on TQM principles.
• Assess the current: Culture, customer satisfaction, quality management system.
• Top management determines the core values and principles to be used and
communicate them.
• Develop a TQM master plan based on steps 1, 2, 3.
• Identify and prioritize customer needs and determine products or services to meet
those needs.
• Determine the critical processes to produce those products or services.
• Create process improvement teams.
• Managers should support the effort by planning, training, time… to the teams.
• Integrate changes for improvement in daily process management and standardizations
take place.
• Evaluate progress against the plan (step 8) and adjust as needed.
• Constant employee awareness and feedback on status are provided and a reward/
recognition process is established.
Quality of design
Quality of design is a measure of how well the product or service is designed to achieve
the agreed equipment’s. The most important feature of the design, with regard to
achieving quality, is the specification. Specifications must also exist at the internal
supplier-customer interfaces if one is to achieve total quality. For example, the company
lawyer asked to draw up a contract by the sales manager requires a specification as to its
content: There must be a corporate understanding of the organization’s quality position
in the marketplace. It is not sufficient that marketing specifies the product and service
because that is what the customer wants”. There must be an agreement that the
operating department can achieve that requirement. Should they be incapable of doing so, then one of two things must happen: either the organization finds a different position
in the marketplace or it substantially changes the operational facilities.
QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
RICHFIELD Quality management system planning is based on the eight quality
management principles on which the quality management system standards of the
revised ISO 9001:2000 series are based.
Senior management uses these principles to improve performance.
PRINCIPLE 1 - CUSTOMER FOCUS
The organisation depends on the customers/students and therefore should understand
current and future customer/student needs, should meet requirements and strive to
exceed customer/student expectations.
PRINCIPLE 2 – LEADERSHIP
Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organisation. They should create
and maintain an internal environment in which people can become fully involved in
achieving the organisation’s objectives.
PRINCIPLE 3 – INVOLVEMENT OF PEOPLE
People at all levels are the essence of an organisation and their full involvement enables
their abilities to be used for the organisation’s benefit.
PRINCIPLE 4 – PROCESS APPROACH
The desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are
managed as a process
PRINCIPLE 5 – SYSTEM APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT
Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes
to the organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives.
PRINCIPLE 6 – CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT
Continual improvement of the organisation’s overall performance should be a permanent
objective of the organisation.
PRINCIPLE 7 – FACTUAL APPROACH TO DECISION MAKING
Effective decisions based on the analysis of data and information
PRINCIPLE 8 – MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS The organisation and its
supplier are interdependent, and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances quality, and
both are able to create value.
