Origins of TQM

Total quality management has evolved from the quality assurance methods that were first developed around the time of the First World War. The war effort led to large scale manufacturing efforts that often produced poor quality. To help correct this, quality inspectors were introduced on the production line to ensure that the level of failures due to quality was minimized.

In 1924, Walter Shewhart developed a statistical chart for the control of product variables. This chart is considered to be the beginning of statistical quality control.

After the First World War, quality inspection became more commonplace in manufacturing environments and this led to the introduction of Statistical Quality Control (SQC), a theory developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. This quality method provided a statistical method of quality based on sampling. Where it was not possible to inspect every item, a sample was tested for quality. The theory of SQC was based on the notion that a variation in the production process leads to variation in the end product. If the variation in the process could be removed this would lead to a higher level of quality in the end product.

After World War Two, the industrial manufacturers in Japan produced poor quality items. In a response to this, the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers invited Dr. Deming to train engineers in quality processes. By the 1950’s quality control was an integral part of Japanese manufacturing and was adopted by all levels of workers within an organization.

By the 1970’s the notion of total quality was being discussed. This was seen as company-wide quality control that involves all employees from top management to the workers, in quality control. In the next decade more non-Japanese companies were introducing quality management procedures that based on the results seen in Japan. The new wave of quality control became known as Total Quality Management, which was used to describe the many quality-focused strategies and techniques that became the center of focus for the quality movement.

By the last decade of the 20th century, TQM was considered a fad by many business leaders. But while the use of the term TQM has faded somewhat, particularly in the United States, its practices continue.

In the few years since the turn of the century, the quality movement seems to have matured beyond Total Quality. New quality systems have evolved from the foundations of Deming, Juran and the early Japanese practitioners of quality, and quality has moved beyond manufacturing into service, healthcare, education and government sectors.

Topic No: 01

Definition of TQM

 Total Quality Management (TQM) is a system approach to quality management. It is the improvement of quality of not only the product, but also the total quality management of all the processes and functions in the organization such as the manufacturing, distribution, administration, communications, marketing, planning, training, procurement and so on. Total quality management involves the participation of all the employees of the organization in this purpose.

TQM consists of three words. Analyzing the three words we have,

Total: Made up of the whole

In all functional areas

At all levels.

Quality: Degree of excellence a product or service provides

To meet the customer requirements.

Management: Act ,art ,or manner of handling, controlling, directing etc,

Effective utilization of resources,

To maintain existing level.

To improve quality,

Executive commitment.

Therefore, TQM is the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence. The Golden rule is a simple but effective way to explain it: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.TQM is defined as both a philosophy & a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organization.

Numerous definitions have been given on Total Quality Management (TQM) by quality gurus, practitioners and academician.

According to Besterfield (1995) defined, “TQM as both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represents the foundation of a continuously improving organization. It integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts and technical tools under a disciplined approach.”

Using a three-word definition, Wilkinson and Wither (1990) defines TQM as;

Total : Every person is involved (its customers and suppliers).

Quality : Customer requirements are met exactly.

Management: Senior executives are fully committed.

TQM stands for an overall integrated approach to all aspects of quality, all domains of system, including, organization, people, resources, time, hardware/software and even management commitments. TQM is a management approach of organization, centered on quality, based on the participation of all its members and aiming at long term of success through customer satisfaction and benefits to the members of organization and society (ISO 8402/IS 13999).

TQM sustains on four pillars: System, Top management commitment, Team work and SPC (statistical process control) tools. The links to these pillars are culture, communication, commitment and customer focus. Now show by graphically,

Fig: Model on Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains that organizations must strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating the knowledge and experiences of workers. The simple objective of TQM is "Do the right things, right the first time, every time".

There are a number of evolutionary strands, with different sectors creating their own versions from the common ancestor. TQM is the foundation for activities, which include:

Commitment by senior management and all employees Meeting customer requirements Reducing development cycle times Just In Time Manufacturing Quality Circles Employee involvement and empowerment Recognition and celebration Challenging quantified goals and benchmarking.

In addition to, all above these discussions, Total Quality Management (TQM) is the application of quantitative methods & human resources to improve all the processes within an organization & exceed customer needs now & in the future.TQM integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts & technical tools under a disciplined approach.

Topic: 02

Basic Approach: The six basic concepts of TQM:

Total Quality Management is a management approach that originated in the 1950's and has steadily become more popular since the early 1980's. Total Quality Management is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that strives to provide customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with processes being done right the first time and defects and waste eradicated from operations.TQM mainly based on following six concepts.

In order to achieve excellence, six basic concepts of TQM are as follows: 

1. A committed & involved management to provide long-term top-to-bottom organizational support.

2. Focus customer requirements and product/service expectations, both internally & externally. 

3. Effective involvement & utilization of the entire work force. 

4. Continuous improvement of the business & production process. 

5. Treat suppliers as our partners 

6. Establish performance measures for the process.

Now these six basic concepts are describe in detail to understand properly about TQM:

1. Management leadership & commitment:

Management must participate in the quality program. A quality council must be established to develop a clear vision, set long term goal & direct the program. This requires management to actively participate in quality transformation. They have to outline the quality goals, quality policies and quality plans so that employees are constantly reminded that the customer, not the product, is the top priority (Besterfield, 1995).

Quality goals give all employees clear indication of what is going to be achieved concerning quality. Quality policies when described in detail will provide guideline on how employees are to

achieve that goal. Management commitment; requires developing management systems that assure and ensure that quality is built into each and every process in organization. Thus, meaningful plans, such as performing an annual quality audit help top management acquire the necessary insight into problems the company faces in realizing the quality plan.

In short, management commitment and leadership represent a paradigm shift from the traditional management role and responsibilities towards a new role, supporting and enhancing the total quality culture and environment.

Characteristics of Successful Leaders

1. Give attention to external and internal customers.

2. Empower, not control subordinates. Provide resources, training, and work environment to help them do their jobs.

3. Emphasize improvement rather than maintenance.

4. Emphasize prevention.

5. Encourage collaboration rather than competition.

6. Train and coach, not direct and supervise.

7. Learn from problems – opportunity for improvement.

8. Continually try to improve communications.

9. Continually demonstrate commitment to quality.

10. Choose suppliers on the basis of quality, not price.

11. Establish organisational systems that support quality efforts.

12. Encourage & recognize team effort.

These characteristics demonstrate successful quality leaders.

2. Customer satisfaction:

The key to an effective TQM program is its focus on the customer. An excellent place to start is by satisfying internal customer. We must listen to the” voice of the customers” & emphasize design quality & defect prevention. Do it right the first time & every time, for customer satisfaction is the most important consideration.

An organization must give its customers a quality product or service that meets their needs, at reasonable price, on-time delivery, and outstanding service. Listening to the ‘customers’ and responding quickly to their changing needs, expectations and perceptions is one of the TQM basic approaches. By keeping close to their customer, companies can establish customer needs; gather information on customer trend and benchmarking them with their competitors. This can be a winning strategy towards winning new customers and retaining customer loyalty.

Increasingly, manufacturing and service organizations are using customer satisfaction as the measure of quality. This fact is reflected in the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, wherein customer satisfaction accounts for 30% of the total points. Total Quality Management (TQM) implies an organizational obsession with meeting or exceeding customer expectations, so that customers are delighted.

Fig: Customer satisfaction organizational diagram.

3. Employee Involvement:

Customer

Front-line representati

ve

Functional operational

areas

Senior

manager CEO

TQM is an organization wide challenge that is everyone’s responsibility. All personnel must be trained in TQM, statistical process control (SPC) & other appropriate quality improvement skills so they can effectively participate on project teams.

Employee involvement is a process for empowering members of an organization to make decisions and to solve problems appropriate to their levels in the organization (Richardson, 1997). Empowerment is equally effective in service industries, where most frequently customer perception of quality stands or falls based on the action of the employee in a – one-on one relationship with the customer. This can be achieved by making the employee part of the organization, which is essential to the success of the organization. Employees who believe they are important will be motivated to ensure that their efforts are consistent and dependable upon the contributions made.

Deming’s fourteen points for management are worth remembering. The basis of his philosophy is contained in the following principle:

1. Institute training on the job. 2. Break down barriers between departments to build teamwork.3. Drive out fear in the workplace.4. Eliminate quotas on the shop floor. 5. Create conditions that allow employees to have pride in their workmanship and abolish

annual reviews and merit ratings and6. Institute a program of education and self-improvement.

Benefits of Employee Involvement:

Involving employees, empowering them, & bringing them into the decision-making process provide the opportunity for continuous process improvement.

Employee involvement improves quality & increases productivity because,

1. Employees make better decisions using their expert knowledge of the process.2. Employees are more likely to implement & support decisions they had a part in making.3. Employees are better able to spot & pinpoint areas for improvement.4. Employees are better able to take immediate corrective action.5. Employee involvement reduces labor or management friction by encouraging more

effective communication & cooperation.6. Employees are better able to accept change because they control the work environment.

All above these benefits of employee involvement make ensure in an organization by the Total Quality Management (TQM).

4. Continuous process Improvement:

There must be a continual striving to improve all business & production process. Process refers to business & production activities of an organization. Business process such as purchasing, engineering, accounting, & marketing are areas where nonconformance can represent an opportunity for substantial improvement. Following figure shows a process model,

Fig: Input & output process Model.

Quality improvement projects such as on-time delivery, order entry efficiency, billing error rate, customer satisfaction, cycle time, scrap reduction & supplier management are good places to begin. Technical techniques such as, statistical process control (SPC), benchmarking, quality function deployment, ISO 9000 & designed experiments are excellent for problem solving.

INPUT

Material

Money

Information

Data etc.

PROCESS

People

Equipment

Method

Procedure

Environment

Material

OUTPUT

Information

Data

Product

Service, etc.

OUTCOMES

FEEDBACK

CONDITIONS

The most frequently used guidelines for quality management systems are the ISO 9000 international standards, which emphasize the establishment of a well- documented, standardized quality system. The role of the ISO 9000 standards within the TQM circle of continuous improvement is presented in the following figure.

Continuous improvement is a circular process that links the diagnostic, planning, implementation and evaluation phases. Within this circular process, the ISO 9000 standards are commonly applied in the implementation phase.

Continuous improvement of all systems and processes in an organization is essential for TQM success. A continuous improvement system gears the organization toward attainment of the vision (Richardson, 1997). The improvement system must not only be continuously applied, but also consistently, throughout the organization. This requires a disciplined continuous improvement system based on trust, with everyone in the organization striving to improve the system (Crosby, 1979).

5. Supplier partnership:

Customers & suppliers have the same goal to satisfy the end user. On the average 40% of the sales dollar is purchased product or service, therefore the supplier quality must be outstanding. The better the supplier’s quality, the better the supplier’s long-term position because the customer will have better quality. Because both the customer & supplier have limited resources, they must work together as partners to maximize their return on investment. Suppliers focus should be on quality & life-cycle costs rather than price.

Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa has suggested ten principles to ensure quality products & services & eliminate unsatisfactory conditions between the customer & the supplier:

1. Customer and supplier are fully responsible for Quality control.

2. Customer and supplier should respect each other’s independence.

3. Supplier is entitled to complete information from the customer.

4. Non-adversarial contract between customer and supplier is needed for quality, quantity, price, delivery method & payments.

5. Supplier should provide quality to meet customer’s satisfaction.

6. Product quality evaluation methods should be decided by the mutual consent of both the parties.

7. Amicable settlement of disputes between customer and supplier should be established in the contract.

8. Continuous information exchange will improve the product or service quality.

9. To maintain an amicable relationship, both the parties should do procurement, production, and inventory planning.

10. Best interest of the end user should be considered while doing business transactions.

There are some conditions for the selection and evaluation of suppliers:

1. Supplier knows management policy of the organization.

2. Stable management system of supplier, respected by others.

3. Supplier has the capability of dealing with technological innovations.

4. Supplier can supply material meeting quality specifications.

5. Supplier has capability to meet the amount of production.

6. Supplier can breach corporate secrets.

The core concept of TQM consisted of supplier & customer relationship. Now show this relationship by diagrammatically:

The core of TQM is the customer-supplier interfaces, both externally and internally, and at each interface lay a number of processes. This core must be surrounded by commitment to quality, communication of the quality message, and recognition of the need to change the culture of the organization to create total quality.

6. Performance Measures:

The sixth & final concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) is performance measures. Managing an organization without performance measures is like a captain of a ship navigating without instrument. The ship would most likely end up traveling in circles, as would an organization.

Performance measures such as uptime, percent nonconforming, absenteeism & customer satisfaction should be determined for each functional area. These measures should be posted for everyone to see. Quantitative data are necessary to measure the continuous quality improvement activity.

Performance measurement is primarily managing outcome, and one of its main purposes is to reduce or eliminate overall variation in the work product or process. The goal is to arrive at sound decisions about actions affecting the product or process and its output.

Performance measures are used to achieve one or more of the following seven objectives:

1. Establish baseline measures & reveal trends.2. Determine which process needs to be improved.3. Indicate process gains & losses.4. Compare goals with actual performance.5. Provide information for individual & team evaluation.6. Provide information to make informed decisions.7. Determine the overall performance of the organization.

There are many tools to determine or measure the performance of employees an organization or industry. Now briefly describe the two major tools of performance measures:

Balanced Scorecard:

The balanced scorecard is a popular tool for performance measurement. It uses four perspectives from which to manage organizational performance including customers, finances, internal processes, and innovation and learning.

The scorecard is built on the premise that using only financial measures is not sufficient to achieve an organization's strategic objectives. The scorecard measures how an organization reaches its financial goals. Simply stated, what gets measured gets done.

Benchmarking:

The term benchmarking was originally used by early land surveyors, who used the term to identify a fixed point from which all other measurements are made. 

In the late 1970's however, it took a broader meaning.  Applied to an organization, benchmarking is a process to determine who else does a particular activity the best and emulating what they do to improve performance.  A more formal definition is "simply the systematic process of searching for best practices, innovative ideas and highly effective operating procedures that lead to superior performance."

Performance measurement touches all aspects of the organization, including programs, products and services for internal and external customers, teams, departments and cross-functional project teams. It focuses all activities on overall business results, constantly measuring and giving feedback about results in relation to strategic goals.

All above these descriptions we have to understand that, these six basic concepts is the baseline for Total Quality Management (TQM) to implement successfully in every sector.

TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains that organizations must strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating the knowledge and experiences of workers. TQM is now becoming recognized as a generic management tool, just as applicable in service and public sector organizations. The purpose of TQM is to provide a quality product or service to customers, which will in turn increase productivity & lower cost. All these activities of TQM are done by the help of these six basic concepts.

Topic No: 03

Key principles of TQM

Total Quality Management (TQM) is the management of initiatives and programmers that are aimed at achieving the delivery of quality products and services. Several studies have attempted to identify the key principles of TQM. There are three key principle of total quality management.These principles are guidelines used by many companies for quality discipline purposes. They aid companies in achieving long-term quality performance.

1.Customer satisfaction:

The first and major TQM principle is to satisfy the customer--the person who pays for the product or service. The ultimate goal of TQM is to please customers. Meeting or exceeding customer requirements means shifting emphasis from the short-term to the long-term, from the product to the customers-listening to them, adapting to their needs. TQM teaches that customer satisfaction is not only a measure of quality; it is a whole new approach to doing business.

A major long-term benefit of Total Quality Management relates to customer satisfaction. TQM aims at improving quality, and identifies the best measure of quality as matching customer expectations in terms of service, product, and experience.

There are three Total Quality Management components that work toward achieving customer satisfaction:

It requires that your business understand what customers typically expect in a field, industry, or product line,

It ensures your business has the expertise and the resources to consistently deliver the expected product or service, and 

It emphasizes the need for your business to clearly communicate to the customers exactly what you will deliver to avoid misunderstandings

Customer voice

Fig: Point of customer involvement

Point of Customer involvementUnique design of

Features

Unique configuration option

SuppliersStages of manufacturing process

Design Fabrication Assembly Delivery

Customers

In reality, we have many other customers. This includes everyone on our team starting with each other as fellow employees, our outside sales representatives and distributors, our suppliers, insurance broker, attorney, banker, and consultants. We are all responsible for providing each other with first-time quality. We provide each other with drawings, materials, work definition, reports, information, communication, and so forth, so that we can, in turn provide each other with goods and services.

There are two distinct types of customers i.e. external and internal.

Internal customers are within the company-the colleagues working together for delivering a service or product for the external customer. We will, however, remain restricted to the external customers here.

Fig: customer/supplier chain

The above picture shows how important a cog is internal customer in the grand design of things. Internal customer helps change an input to a product which will be used by the external customer.

An external customer may be an individual or an enterprise that hires or purchases the product(s) or service(s) from another person or business  in exchange of money.

Customer satisfaction has several dimensions, for example:

 •Fitness for use •Reliability – which governs the life aspect of quality •Value for money spend by customer •After – sales service and support to the customer •Good packaging •Customer right to correct information and training •Maintainability of the product/services •Variety in product/services•Speed of service (quick response time)•Civility of service at all levels•Good image of the company and customer confidence in the organization based on past performance and demands

Inputs from External customers

Internal customersOutputs from External

Finally Customer satisfaction is not an objective statistics but more of a feeling or attitude. If a customer is happy with a product or a service it has hired or purchase they will pay their bills promptly, which greatly improves cash flow-the lifeblood of any organization. Customers that are satisfied will increase in number, buy more, and buy more frequently.

2.Employee involvement:

One of the important principle of TQM is employee involvement. This is contrast to conventional quality assurance management practices, where management takes all decisions and workers just follow them to accomplish their jobs. This top-down management style is slow, inflexible, and has little room for competition, especially where survival in today’s time-starved, customer driven market requires rapid response times from quality control in manufacturing or other businesses for the ever-changing needs of the customer.

Employee involvement is very important in any TQM initiative, as it is a system wherein employees are encouraged to use their expertise and knowledge to suggest methods for improvements in their work areas. These suggestions could relate to improvements in the job, the product, the work atmosphere or the company as a whole. Many companies have ventured into a participation-style of management by involving employees in the problem solving and decision making processes.

Some of the most successful companies are those that have achieved a close relationship between workers and the managers. The policies in these companies fostered teamwork, participation, continuous learning and flexibility.

Involving employees, empowering them, and bringing them into decision making process provides the opportunity for continuous process improvement. The untapped ideas, innovations, and creative thoughts of employees can make the difference between success and failure. Competition is so fierce that it would be unwise not use every available tool.

Employee involvement improves quality and increases productivity, because:

Employees make better Employees make better decisions using their expert knowledge of the process. Employees are more likely to implement and support decisions they had a part in making. Employees are better able to spot and pinpoint areas of for improvement. Employees are better able to take immediate corrective actions. Employee involvement reduces labor/management friction by encouraging more effective

communication and cooperation. Employee involvement increases morale by creating feeling of belonging to the organization. Employees are better able to accept change because they control the work environment. Employees have an increased commitment to unit goals because they are involved.

TQM and employee involvement are being successfully implemented not just in the manufacturing and service sectors, but also in public sectors and non-profit organisations. Not only do employee play a vital part in business reengineering, but they also help to achieve cost savings, quality improvements and customer satisfaction.

The best way to achieve excellence in any business is to engage every intelligence involved to improve their surroundings.

3.Continuous process Improvement

TQM is mainly concerned with continuous improvement in all work, from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. It stems from the belief that mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It leads to continuously improving results, in all aspects of work, as a result of continuously improving capabilities, people, processes, technology and machine capabilities.

Continuous improvement must deal not only with improving results, but more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better results in the future. The five major areas of focus for capability improvement are

demand generation supply generation, technology, operations and people capability.

continuous improvement in an organization may be a  lengthy process, and several steps are essential to its eventual success.

1. Train employees in the methods of statistical process control (SPC) and other tools for improvement quality.

2. Make SPC methods a normal aspect of daily operations.3. Build work teams and employee involvement.4. Utilize problem-solving techniques within work teams.5. Develop a sense of operator ownership of the process.

Here employee involvement is central to the philosophy of continuous improvement. However, the last two steps are crucial if the philosophy is to be the part of everyday operations.

Continuous improvement process refers to the concept of having an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes. To be successful, organizations need to employ continuous improvement methods in today's ever changing business environment. There are four commonly used tools for continuous improvements:

The PDSA cycle

Six Sigma Lean TQM

The PDSA CycleThe Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, also known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, Learning and Improvement cycle, Deming cycle or Shewhart cycle is a four-step problem-solving process. This method is a very powerful quality control tool that allows for continuous improvement of business processes in an ever changing environment.

Six SigmaSix Sigma is essentially a data-driven way of quality improvement that promotes defect preventio rather than defect detection.

LeanThe basic principle of lean is to eliminate all activities that don't add value and contribute waste to the business.

TQMTotal Quality Management (TQM) is a management tool with the end goal of customer satisfaction. TQM strives for excellence in all parts of the company, down to the final product for the customer.

Continuous improvement is based on a Japanese Concept called Kaizen. It is basically composed of two words “KAI” means change and “ZEN” means better. In other words it means change for betterment or improvement.

Kaizen is a philosophy that defines management’s role in continuously encouraging and implementing small improvements involving everyone. It is the process of continuous improvement in small increments that make the process more efficient, effective, under control, and adaptable.

Continuous improvement is constant, gradual and incremental improvement. It is undramatic, involves small steps, is a group effort, focuses on processes, and is driven by people. Eighty percent of improvements in an organization come from continuous improvement.

Finally we can say that,

Total quality management is a management system for a customer focused organization that involves all employees in continual improvement of all aspects of the organization. TQM uses strategy, data, and effective communication to integrate the quality principles into the culture and activities of the organization.

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Topic 4:

Differentiation between TQM based culture and Traditional organizational culture

Traditional organizational culture:

Through tradition, history and structure, organizations build up their own culture. Traditional organizational culture refers to the general culture within a company or organization, and consists of set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it.

TQM based culture:

It is a proven technique to guarantee survival in a world-class competition. Total Quality is a description of the culture attitude and organization of a company that strives to provide customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with processes being done right the first time and defects and waste eradicated from operations. : http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/business-theory/strategy/corporate-and-organisational-culture.html#ixzz2AO6FH900

www.organizationalculture101.com/definition-of-organizational-culture.html

www.studymode.com/subjects/total-quality-culture-definition-page1.html

Topics name Traditional organizational culture

TQM based culture

1.Focus Traditional organizational culture focus on the internal processes, structures and roles of an organization rather than product quality. Production of more products and the costs of this process are main concerns.

But the total quality management styles focus less on mass production processes and more on the quality of the product.

2.Role of manager The role of the manager in a traditional organizational culture is to solve problems at the top level, assign tasks to the workers and control and plan production.

In TQM based culture, the role of manager is to emphasize staff performance and teamwork as prerequisites for quality products and services.

3.Decisions In traditional organizational culture, decisions were short term because managers make strategic positioning decisions based primarily on warfare models on the competition.

In TQM based culture, decisions are long term because manager’s focus on market segmentation and customer needs wants and demands.

4. Product Design In traditional organizational culture, the product design process is internally driven, based on the assumption that "we know what is best for the customer."

In TQM based culture, managers develop products after first determining what customers need.

5. Emphasis Traditional organizational culture emphasis detection which normally have flaws. It is a rigid system with no scope for flexibility and adjustments.

TQM based culture emphasis prevention and finding solutions to correct the plan and introduce it in the next cycle so that the flaw is eliminated.

6. Technology In that culture, managers use technology to help them deal with the overly complex systems that have grown up in the organization.

In that culture, Managers use technology only to optimize systems for customer value and to eliminate complexity rather than automate it or computerize it.

7. Employee Involvement In traditional organizational In TQM based culture,

culture, employee involvement programs are implemented without a focus to contribute toSystem.

employee involvement is strategicallyFocuses and contributes to system purposes.

8. Human Resource Management

In that culture, managers regard human resource management (HRM) as a staff responsibility. HR Specialists process paperwork to hire and fire, and handle personnel complaints.

In that culture, line managers regard human resources as critical resources and strategically manage them as inputs to system.

9. Structure Organizational structure is based on specialization of tasks. The hierarchy is tall, with many levels of managers, and it emphasizes functional lines of authority.

In that culture, Hierarchy is flat with fewer levels of managers, and it emphasizes teamwork to serve super ordinate objectives.

10. Approach In traditional organizational culture, managers accomplish improvements through trial and error.

In TQM based culture, managers use the scientific method to study proposed changes and their effects.

11. Response to Error In the old paradigm, if they care at all, managers are intolerant of error. They regard error as a personalFailure and they respond with punishment to instill fear in those blamed.

In the new paradigm, error is not desired; however, managers view error as an opportunity for learning. People openly acknowledge error because managers do not assign personal blame, but seek to fix a process or system.

12. Authority In traditional organizational culture, managers impose authority from the top down via rules and policies.

In TQM based culture, top managers still hold authority but they impose it by communicating a vision, enabling people with systems, and empowering them to make the vision real.

13.Core aspect Traditional management styles implement changes all at once and after a long period of time. The quality of products and services is changed only occasionally.

Kaizen, or continuous improvement, is the core aspect of quality focused management styles. This process involves gradual and cyclical improvement to products, services and processes.

14. Measurement Measurement systems are focused on internal measures of efficiency, productivity, cost, and profitability. This is the tradition of management by objectives.

Managers may use internally focused measures, but they are linked to customer value in a broader measurement system.

15. Culture In that culture emphasis social and emotional issues that are regarded as irrational and sources of distraction away from goals and objectives.

In that culture managers connect organizational mission and purpose with each individual's sense of purpose, emotions, and social meaning.

16. Control Organization control through scoring individual performance, reviewing regular reports, and evaluating performance as either good or bad.

Managers statistically study variation to understand the causes of poor performance and make changes in systems to improve performance.

There are many other differences between the old or the traditional way of management to the total quality management. In the bigger picture, TQM has basically changed the culture and the thinking patterns of the organization. This change is substantial and will not be accomplished in a short period of time. Small organizations will be able to make the transformation much faster than large organizations.

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Topic no: 5 The Concept of Quality

We have all probably felt that sense of disappointment when something we have purchased does not live up to expectations. At the heart of meeting such expectations is the notion of quality. These expectations are based on the intended use and the selling price. Quality is perceived differently by different people.” In a manufactured product, the customer as a user recognizes the quality of fit, finish, appearance, function, and performance. The quality of service may be rated based on the degree of satisfaction by the customer receiving the service.

When a product surpasses our expectations we consider that quality. Thus, it is somewhat of an intangible based on perception. Quality can be quantified as follows:

Q = P / E

Where, Q = Quality P = Performance E = Expectations

If Q is greater than 1.0, then the customer has a good feeling about the product or service. Of course, the determination of P and E will most likely be based on perception with the organization determining performance and the customer determining expectations.

A more definitive definition of quality is given in ISO 9000:2000. It is defined as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements. Degree means that quality can be used with adjectives such as poor, good and excellent. Inherent is defined as existing in something, especially as a permanent characteristic .Characteristics can be quantitative or qualitative. Requirement is a need or expectation that is stated; generally implied by the organization, its customers, and other interested parties; or obligatory.

The business meanings of quality have developed over time. Some interpretations are given below:

Peter Drucker: "Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for."

Feigenbaum (1983) defined quality as follows:

Quality is total composite product (goods and services) characteristics, through which the product in use will meet the needs and expectations of the customers.

A definition attributed to quality guru Crosby states the following:

“Quality is conformance to requirements”.

Another frequently used definition comes from Juran:

“Quality is fitness for use”.

American Society of Quality Control (ASQC) and American National Standard Institute (ANSI) defined:

“Quality is totality of features and characteristics of product (goods and services) that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs”.

Approaches to define Quality:

Harvard professor David Garvin, in his book Managing Quality summarized five principal approaches to defining quality: transcendent, product based, user based, manufacturing or production based, and value based. Let’s discuss each one of them:

Figure: Approaches to define quality

1. Transcendent Approach:

Approaches

In transcendent approach the quality is absolute and universally recognizable. It is common notion used by laymen. There is no subjective judgment and is estimated by looking at the product.

2. Product Based Approach:

In product based approach the quality is viewed as quantifiable and measurable characteristics or attributes. The attributes of a particular product are in a specific category. These attributes are accepted as bench of quality by the industry. Others in the same industry try to produce close to this quality.

3. User Based Approach:

In user based approach the quality is defined as “Fitness for use”. Which is viewed from user’s perspective and is dependent on how well does the product meet the needs of the consumer. It is also known as Customer Oriented Approach.

4. Production Based Approach:

The production based approach means an outcome of engineering or operational excellence and is measured in terms of quality of conformance. Here the producer has specifications and produces the product as per the specifications.

5. Value Based Approach:

In value based approach the quality is defined in terms of cost & price as well as a number of other attributes. So according to this approach quality is satisfactory, if it provides desired performance at an acceptable price because customer looks at the total value proposition and not the price alone.

So at last we can say that, the concept of quality has developed over time differently by different people, author, writer, organization etc. Therefore it is difficult to explain in a single word.

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Topic No: 6

Nine Dimensions of Quality

Quality has nine different dimensions. These dimensions are somewhat independent; therefore, a product can be excellent in one dimension and average or poor in another. Very few, if any, products excel in all nine dimensions. For example, the Japanese were cited for high-quality cars in the 1970s based only on the dimensions of reliability, conformance, and aesthetics. Therefore, quality products can be determined by using a few of the dimensions of quality.

Figure: The nine dimensions of Quality.

Now a brief description of nine dimensions of quality is given below:

1. Performance: Does the product or service do what it is supposed to do?Performance is the primary operating characteristics, which determines how well the product or service performs the intended function. Example: For a car: It is speed, acceleration, braking distance, steering and handling, durability of batteries, fuel economy of cars, BHP of an engine, etc. For a restaurant: It is good food.Performance is often a source of contention between customers and suppliers, particularly when deliverables are not adequately defined within specifications. The performance of a product often influences profitability or reputation of the end-user. As such, many contracts or specifications include damages related to inadequate performance.

2. Features: Does the product or services possess all of the features specified, or required for its intended purpose?Features are the secondary characteristics of a product or service or “extra” items added to basic features. Example: For a car: Design of seats, power options, a tape or CD deck, antilock brakes,

Nine dimensions of qualityPerformanceFeaturesReliabilityDurabilityServiceResponseAestheticsReputation

and reclining seats, look and color of a refrigerator etc. For a restaurant: It is linen tablecloths and napkins, creativity in design, attractiveness etc.While this dimension may seem obvious, performance specifications rarely define the features required in a product. Thus, it’s important that suppliers designing product or services from performance specifications are familiar with its intended uses, and maintain close relationships with the end-users.

3. Reliability: Will the product consistently perform within specifications? Reliability means the probability that a product will operate properly within an expected time frame or survive over a specified period of time under stated conditions of use. Example: A TV will work without repair for about seven years.In other word, reliability means consistency of performance overtime or average time for the unit to fail. Example: For a car: It is how often it needs repair. For an airline: It is how often flights depart on schedule.Reliability may be closely related to performance. For instance, a product specification may define parameters for up-time, or acceptable failure rates. It is a major contributor to brand or company image, and is considered a fundamental dimension of quality by most end-users.

4. Conformance: Does the product or service conform to the specification?If it’s developed based on a performance specification, does it perform as specified?If it’s developed based on a design specification, does it possess all of the features defined?Conformance means the degree to which physical and performance characteristics of a product match pre-established standards, documentation, being on-time, customer’s expectations etc.Example: For a part: It is whether this part is the right size. For a restaurant: It is whether the meat is cooked according to client request (e.g. "medium rare").

5. Durability: How long will the product perform or last, and under what conditions?Durability means the amount of use one gets from a product before it physically deteriorates or until replacement or repaired is preferable. It is useful life of the product/service.Example: For a light bulb: It is how long it works before the filament burns out. For car: Corrosion resistance & long wear of upholstery fabric.Durability is closely related to warranty. Requirements for product durability are often included within procurement contracts and specifications. For instance, fighter aircraft procured to operate from aircraft carriers include design criteria intended to improve their durability in the demanding naval environment.

6. Serviceability: Is the product relatively easy to maintain and repair?Serviceability means service after sale, during & before sales. It also means the ability to repair a product quickly, easily & competently.Convenience and cost of repair and maintenance and is related to ease in resolving the customer complains. Example: For a car: It is how quickly and easily it can be repaired and how long it

stays repaired. For a mail order house: It is the speed and courtesy with which an overcharge is corrected.As end users become more focused on Total Cost of Ownership than simple procurement costs, serviceability (as well as reliability) is becoming an increasingly important dimension of quality and criteria for product selection.

7. Aesthetics: How a product looks, appearance, feels, sounds, tastes or smells? Aesthetics means perceived quality: Subjective assessment resulting from image, advertising or brand names. Example: For a product or service: It is its look, feel, sound, taste or smell.The way a product looks is important to end-users. The aesthetic properties of a product contribute to a company’s or brand’s identity. Faults or defects in a product that diminish its aesthetic properties, even those that do not reduce or alter other dimensions of quality, are often causing for rejection.

8. Responsiveness:How well does the company react to unusual situations?How well customer service personnel able to respond to a customer’s questions?Are the customer service personnel and the cashier friendly and courteous with customer?Responsiveness means human to human interface. Such as: Efficiency during meeting, fast decision making, effective human resource management etc.

9. Reputation:Reputation means perceived Quality: Indirect evaluation of quality (e.g. reputation). It also means Subjective assessment of quality resulting from image, advertising, or brand names. Example: For a car: Top-rated car. For service: Award winning service department.

So at last we can say that, the marketing has the responsibility of identifying the relative importance of each dimension of quality. These dimensions are then translated into the requirements for the development of a new product or the improvement of an existing one.