Tqm: An Overview

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TQM ASSIGNMENT

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 19-10-2009 BY,

SUBMITTED

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PAVEN RAJ, NO-9, PGPCM

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Q.1.

What do you understand by “QUALITY” in today’s context. Illustrate.

Ans.

The international definition of quality is: “the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.” It is meant to distinguish one organization, event, product, service, process, person, result, action, or communication from one another. Different organizations define quality differently. It can be simply and commonly put as “delivering the promise so as to ensure customer satisfaction.” Quality is one of the factors which are not negotiable. Various Types of Quality • Quality of Design • Quality of Product • Quality of Process • Quality of Systems • Quality of Service In today’s context, the following may be rightly said about quality: •

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Quality exists everywhere, and there is less distinction between companies than there was some years ago. So better quality is the word of the day. Quality increases productivity. Also, it is true that less quality decreases productivity as more time and energy is spent in corrective action and placating unhappy customers. Quality leads to better performance in the market place. Firms having better market capitalization will always be having better quality for their products/ services. Quality means improved business performance. The cost of non-quality is high. The corrective measures taken by the company for nonquality is high, as in damages paid, legal liabilities for non-delivery of promises to customers. Customer expects better quality with each passing day. Quality is a process and not a programme, and is a way of life.

Q.2.

Write a brief description on Quality Evolution and the birth of TQM.

Ans.

During the last two decades or so, simple inspection activities have been replaced by quality control, quality assurance has been developed and refined and now many companies are working towards TQM. In this progression, four discrete stages can be identified:

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1. 2. 3. 4.

Inspection Quality control Quality Assurance TQM

The four stages are briefly described for explaining the quality evolution and the birth of TQM. 1. Inspection Under a simple inspection based system, one or more characteristics of a product, service or activity are examined, measured, tested, or assessed and compared with specified requirements to assess conformity with a specification or performance standard. The system is an after-the-event screening process with no prevention content. There is an emphasis on reactive quick-fix corrective actions and the thinking is department based. 2. Quality control With quality control, there will have been some development from the basic inspection activity in terms of sophistication of methods and systems, self-inspection by approved operators, use of information and the tools and techniques which are employed. While the main mechanism for preventing off-specification products and services from being delivered to customers is screening inspection, quality control measures lead to greater process control and a lower incidence of non conformance. 3. Quality assurance A lasting and continous improvement in quality can only be achieved by directing organizational efforts towards planning and preventing problems from occurring at source. There is a shift in emphasis from mere detection towards prevention of non-conformances. 4. Total Quality Management (TQM) TQM involves the application of quality management principles to all aspects of the organization, including customers and suppliers, and their integration with the key business processes. TQM requires that the principles of quality management should be applied in every branch and at every level in the organization with an emphasis on integration into business practices and a balance between technical, managerial and people issues. It is a company-wide approach to quality, with improvements undertaken on a continous basis by everyone in the organization. Some other features of TQM are listed below: • Individual systems, procedures will require a broadening of outlook and skills and an increase in creative activities from those required at the quality assurance level.

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The spread of TQM philosophy will also be accompanied by greater sophistication in the application of tools and techniques, increases emphasis on people, process management, improved training and development and greater efforts to eliminate wastage and non-value adding services. The process will extend beyond the organization to include partnerships with all stakeholders of the business.

Q.3.

What are the key elements of TQM and the main pre-requisites for a TQM company.

Ans.

The following are the key elements of TQM: 1. The role of Chief Executive Officer. The commitment and leadership of the CEO is a vital element of TQM. Without the total demonstrated interest and commitment of the CEO, nothing will happen in the organization and whatever happens will not be permanent. They have to take charge personally, lead the process, provide direction, and exercise forceful leadership, including dealing with those employees who block improvement. 2. Planning and Organization

Planning and organization feature in a number of facets of the improvement process, including: • Developing a clear long term strategy for TQM which is integrated with other strategies such as IT, HR and also with the business plans of the organization. • Deployment of the policies through all stages of the organizational hierarchy with objectives, targets, projects and resources agreed with those responsible for ensuring that the policies are turned from words into actions. • Building product and service quality into designs and processes. • Developing prevention based activities. • Putting quality assurance procedure into place which facilitate closed loop corrective action. • Planning the approach to be taken to the effective use of quality systems, procedures, tools and techniques, in the context of the overall strategy. • Developing the organization and infrastructure to support the improvement activities. • Pursuing standardization, systemization, and simplification of work instructions, procedures and systems. TQM assignment

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1. Using Tools and Techniques The organization will need to use a variety of tools and techniques to support and develop a process of continous improvement. The tools and techniques should be used to facilitate improvement and be integrated with routine operation of the processes. The use of tools and techniques as the means will help to get the process of improvement started; employees using them feel getting involved and that they are making a contribution, quality assurance is enhanced, behavior and attitude change starts to happen, and projects are brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

2. Education and training Employees from top to bottom of an organization should be provided with the right level and standard of education and training to ensure that their general awareness and understanding of quality management concepts, skills, competencies and attitudes are appropriate and suited to the continous improvement philosophy. Without training it is difficult to solve problems and without education, behavior and attitude change will not take place. 3. Involvement All available means, from suggestion schemes to various forms of teamwork, must be considered for achieving broad employee interest, participation and contribution in the improvement process. Part of the approach to TQM is to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what is required of them, how their processes relate to the business as a whole and how their internal customers are dependent upon them. 4. Teamwork Teamwork is one of the key features of involvement and without it, difficulty will be found in gaining the commitment and participation of people throughout the organization. It is also a means of maximizing output and value of individuals. 5. Measurement and Feedback Measurement, from a baseline, needs to be made continually against a series of key result indicators-internal and external- in order to provide encouragement that the things are getting better. The indicators must be developed from existing business measures, external, competitive and functional generic and internal benchmarking, as well as customer surveys TQM assignment

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and other means of external input. From these measurements, action plans must be developed to meet objectives and bridge gaps. 6. Ensuring conducive culture It is necessary to create an organizational culture which is conducive to continous improvement and in which everyone can participate. Quality assurance also needs to be integrated into all of the organization’s processes and functions. Q.4.

What do you mean by “Top Down” and “Bottom Up” approach in an organization for it to be successful?

Ans.

The instruction given, the ideas shared, the orders issued and any direct/ indirect method of communication used by the people in the top levels of the organization to communicate to the bottom levels is known as top-down approach of communication. The ideas and suggestions taken by the top management from the lower managers and all the workforce in order to improve the operations and conditions prevailing in the organization is called bottom up approach. Communications, up, down and across the organization are one of the most important features of the relationship between directors, managers and staff. Some features of bottom up and top down approaches are listed below: • Developing and deploying organizational vision, mission, philosophy, values, strategies, objectives and plans and communicating the reasons behind them together with the underlying logic is the province of the senior management and they do undertake these tasks. This is top-down approach. • Senior managers keep the bottom line informed about the expected and actual levels of output and how the improvement work is progressing. They put in a two way communication for ongoing feedback and suggestions- which is top down and bottom up approach. • Regular feedback needs to be made about any concerns raised by employees; this will help to stimulate further improvement and improve communication. This also enables them to pinpoint any impediments to the process of continous improvement. This is bottom up approach which helps in the growth of the organization.

Q.5.

Explain role of different levels of Management contribution towards TQM’s contribution for sustenance and growth

Ans.

Role of Senior Managers

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It is the responsibility of the senior management team to create the strategic dialogue, organizational environment, atmosphere, values and behavior in which TQM can achieve its potential. The following points may be noted: • The decision to start working on TQM can only be taken by the CEO in conjunction with senior management team. • Developing and deploying organization vision, mission, philosophy, values, strategies, objectives and plans and communicating the reasons behind them together with the underlying logic is the province of senior management. • The senior management has to encourage a total corporate commitment to continually improve every aspect of the business. Everyone in the organization has a role to play in continous improvement, but this effort is likely to be disjointed and spasmodic if senior managers have not made the organizational requirements clear. • Senior managers have the responsibility of finding the right training programme suitable for the organization. They must be prepared to spend time coaching people along the path of TQM and provide the necessary influences. • Senior managers have to effectively remove the barriers to change, which is the resistance put forward by some employees to change due to uncertainty. • It is the senior management that has to communicate in person to their people why the organization needs continous improvement and demonstrate that they really care about quality. • The CEO and senior managers have a clear role to play in helping to get people through the crisis of confident caused by the time delay occurring in obtaining the results after devoting the organizational resources for TQM. • In the case of leadership and organizational changes, the CEO and the senior managers play a major role in developing the understanding and diffusing beliefs with respect to TQM to new managers and technical and business specialists. • The senior managers should demonstrate long term commitment and leadership to the process of continous improvement. They must be prepared to think through the issues for themselves and test out ideas and thoughts, modify them and adapt, as appropriate to the operating environment of the business. • Senior managers should be sufficiently knowledgeable about TQM to know what type of questions to ask their people in relation to the improvement mechanisms. They should be able to query results and processes by which they were obtained, and have some indication of what non-conforming products and/or services are costing their organization. • Senior managers should work as a team to develop improvement objectives and plans and identify the means by which they can measure organizational improvement. They are TQM assignment

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responsible for pinpointing opportunities, prioritizing projects and steering the improvement efforts. The CEO and senior management has to ensure that the organization really listens to what its customers are saying and is sensitive to what they truly need and to their concerns. It is important that the CEO ensures that the organization has positive quantifiable measures of quality as seen by customers. The CEO and senior managers must never become satisfied with and complacent about the progress the organization has made in TQM. They must strive continually to achieve improvements in the product, service and associated processes.

Role of Middle Managers Middle managers have a vital role to play in the introduction and development of TQM. The middle manager’s role typically involves: • Developing specific improvement plans for the departments and processes for which they are responsible. • Ensuring that the objectives, values, policies and improvement initiatives of their departments are aligned with the company’s business goals, TQM strategy, and quality management system. • Communicating the company’s approach to TQM in commonsense and jargon free language to first line managers and other employees. • Acting as TQM coach and counselor to the employees for whom they are responsible. • Ensuring that the first line managers are individually trained in the use of tools and techniques and that these are used effectively. • Acting as a guardian, or sponsor, or mentor’ to improvement teams and security the means to reward employees. • Providing top management with considered views on how to manage the continuing implementation and development of TQM, taking into account the feedback from first line managers and employees on potential difficulties or obstacles. Role of First-line Managers First-line managers and supervisors are at forefront of TQM. They have the key role of encouraging its implementation in the workplace, and are especially important because of the numbers of people they influence and lead. They are critically responsible for: • Analyzing the individual procedures and processes for which they are responsible in order to identify areas where improvement might be initiated and made.

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Encouraging individual employees and operators to contribute improvement ideas, and ensuring that good ideas and efforts are acknowledged and rewarded by middle and top management. Ensuring that any quality concerns reported by employees are analyzed and resolved through permanent long term corrective action. Participating in improvement teams in their own and related work areas. Providing workplace training in the use of specific techniques and tools to capture improvement data. Providing the data and responses required by the company’s formal quality management system, including where applicable the requirements of the appropriate part of the ISO 9000 series. Providing the data for the self assessment process. Representing the people and processes they supervise in management discussions about TQM resources and strategies.

Q.6.

With all the above pre-requisites, do you feel that TQM is important for an ‘ON-WARD’ marching organization?

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TQM is absolutely important for onward marching organizations. This conclusion is brought about by taking into account the following points: • In today’s market place, the demands of the customer are forever increasing. They demands improved quality of goods and services, which makes the market very highly competitive. Continous improvement in total business activities with a focus on the customer throughout the entire organization and an emphasis on the flexibility and quality is one of the main means by which companies face up to these competitive threats. Since continous improvement and quality maintenance are important traits and are achieve by TQM, the same is important for an onward marching organization. • Total quality is a major factor in the business quality revolution that has proven itself to be one of the 20th century’s most powerful creators of sales and revenue growth, genuinely good jobs, and soundly based and sustainable business expansion. TQM has the following advantages: • Encourages a strategic approach to management at the operational level through involving multiple departments in cross-functional improvements and systemic innovation processes • Provides high return on investment through improving efficiency • Works equally well for service and manufacturing sectors TQM assignment

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Allows organizations to take advantage of developments that enable managing operations as cross-functional processes Fits an orientation toward inter-organizational collaboration and strategic alliances through establishing a culture of collaboration among different departments within organization

To conclude, for sustaining and thriving in today’s market, TQM is absolutely essential and important. For an onward marching organization TQM is necessary. Q.7.

Can you define volume vs contribution per unit graphically on successive years for an organization and in what way TQM can help arrest business slide or stagnation and then take the organization to GROWTH?

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The following diagram illustrates volume vs contribution per unit on successive years for an organization. The effect of TQM arresting stagnation and business slide is clearly shown in the diagram:

Today, the customer’s expectations are really high. TQM plays its role in ensuring that the customer’s needs are met and the organization is running at its excellence. TQM leads to a synergy of benefits to the firm, which are listed as follows: 1. A philosophy that improves business from top to bottom. 2. A focused, systematic and structured approach to enhancing customer's satisfaction 3. Process improvement methods that reduce or eliminate problems TQM assignment

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4. Tools and techniques for improvement - quality operating system 5. Workforce is proactive - prevention orientated 6. Reduction in waste and rework. 7. Market competitiveness By ensuring all the above benefits, TQM keeps the declining business in control and also business stagnation is avoided. In the course of time, the business grows. Q.8.

In your view, how do you define and differentiate between American/European approach and Japanese/Asian approach to TQM?

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American/European approach and Japanese/Asian approach differs in the following respects: • Western organizations are always on the lookout for quick fixes and easy way out. But the Japanese success is the result of application of a combination of procedures, continous discussions, systems, tools, improvement actions and considerable hard work and dedication from all employees. • In Western organizations, hierarchy is typically based on specialization while Japanese organizations base hierarchy on generalization and seniority. • In most Western organization, a few people are vital to the advancement of the improvement processes, and if such a person leaves, it can result in a major gap in the management team. This is unlike in Japanese organizations, where there is importance to the work done rather than the person doing it, and there is a continous improvement of the processes. • Consensus is more important in Japanese organizations than in American organizations, with the result that quality circles, which originated with an American quality researcher but gained widespread acceptance in Japan, are more suited to the Japanese culture than to Western organizational cultures. • Individuals in Western organizations tend to associate the hierarchy within the organizational structure with power, control, coordination and responsibility within the organization. In Japanese organizations, hierarchy is not associated with power. • Western philosophy may be summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, and improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."

Q.9.

Who are the main contributors to TQM and who is the untold Indian Guru of TQM and how?

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So many people have contributed to the development of TQM. The main contributors can be classified into: TQM assignment

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Western experts Japanese experts.

Western Experts The major western contributors to TQM are listed below, along with some major contribution they made to the development of TQM. 1. Crosby Crosby told his approach to the top management and stressed increasing profitability through quality improvement. His argument was that higher quality reduces costs and raises profit. He defined quality as conformance to requirements and not as goodness. Crosby’s approach is based on four absolutes of quality management, summarized as: • Quality is defined as conformance to requirements • The system for achieving quality is prevention not appraisal • The only performance standard is zero defects • The measurement if quality is the cost of quality. 1. Deming Deming’s argument was that quality, through a reduction in statistical variation, improves productivity and competitive position. Deming’s main argument was that by improving quality it is possible to increase productivity and this will improve organizational competitiveness. He did not accept the trade-off shown in the economic cost of quality models and said there is no way to calculate the cost of delivering defective goods to customers, which he believed is the major quality cost. Deming expected managers to change, to develop a partnership with those at the operating level of the business and to manage quality with direct statistical measures without cost of quality measures. 2. Feigenbaum

To Feigenbaum, quality is a way of managing a business organization and is the responsibility of everyone. Significant improvement can only be achieved in the company thorugh the participation of everyone in the workforce, who must therefore have a good understanding of what management is trying to do. Senior management’s understanding of the issues surrounding quality improvement and commitment to incorporating quality into their management practice is crucial to the successful installation of Feigenbaum's total quality system.

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His major contribution to the subject of cost of quality was the recognition that quality costs must be categorized if they are to be managed. He identified three major categories: appraisal costs, prevention costs, and failure costs. Total quality cost is the sum of these costs. Feigenbaum said that management must commit themselves to: • Strengthening the quality improvement process itself. • Making sure that quality improvement becomes a habit. • Managing quality and cost as complementary objectives. 1. Juran Juran was the first to broaden the thinking in quality control by emphasizing the importance of management and the need for supportive infrastructure. The focus of his series of lectures was that quality control must be an integral part of the management function and practiced throughout the organization. The goals of Juran’s approach to quality improvement are increased conformance and decreased cost of quality, and yearly goals are set in objective-setting phase of the programme. He developed a quality trilogy comprising quality planning, quality control and quality improvement. Juran defined two major kinds of quality management-breakthrough(encouraging the occurrence of good things), that attacks chronic problems and control(preventing the occurrence of bad things), that attacks sporadic management. He viewed the improvement process as taking two journeys-from symptom to cause (diagnosis) and cause to remedy (diagnosis to solution). Japanese/Asian experts The following are the main experts hailing from Japan, that influenced the progress of TQM the most. 1. Imai Masaaki Imaai is the person credited with bringing together the various management philosophies, theories, techniques and tools which have assisted Japanese companies over the last four or so decades to improve their efficiency. Known as the “Lean Guru” and the father of Continuous Improvement (CI) Masaaki Imai has been a pioneer and leader in spreading the KAIZEN philosophy all over the world. In simple terms, Kaizen is the process of incremental, systematic, gradual, and orderly and continous improvement that uses the best of all techniques, tools, systems and concepts. The basic principles of Kaizen are; • Continous focus on improvement. • Everyone in the company should be involved. TQM assignment

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Delighting the customer. Everything should be considered from a total system standpoint.

1. Ishikawa Kaoru Ishikawa’s contribution is in three main areas: 1) The simplification and widespread use of the seven basic quality control tools 2) The company-wide quality movement. 3) Quality circles. Ishikawa maintained that people at all levels of the organization should use simple methods and work together to solve problems, thereby removing barriers to improvement, cooperation and education and developing a culture which is conducive to continous improvement. Ishikawa developed the cause and effect diagram and was also responsible for bringing together the selection of tools which are known as the seven basic quality controls. His argument was that these seven tools when used together could help solve main problems. 1. Shingo Shiego Shingo is best known for his work on single minute exchange of die(SMED), the mistake proofing (poka-yoke) defect prevention system and in conjunction with Taiichi Ohno, the development of Toyota production system. Shingo advocated the use of poka yoke system to reduce and eliminate defects. He classified poka yoke systems into two types: regulatory functions and setting functions. Shingo identified three main stages of improvement through SMED: 1) Differentiate and separate internal setup from external setup. 2) Shift internal setup elements to external setup. 3) Improve the methods involved in both internal and external setup. 1. Taguchi Genichi Taguchi’s ideas fall into two principal and related areas known as ‘the loss function’ and ‘off line quality control’. Taguchi promoted three distinct stages of designing in quality: • System design • Parameter design • Tolerance design The untold Indian Guru of TQM is none other than the father of the nation who said that “customer is king”- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. TQM assignment

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Q.10. Does a growing business require both continous improvement and breakthrough or one is enough? Ans.

Continuous improvement is about many, small improvements initiated and implemented by anyone and everyone in the organization to improve the quality of their working processes and practices. Breakthrough improvement involves major improvements in key business areas. They are often chronic problems solved permanently through focused, dedicated resources working for a limited period of time. A growing business requires essentially requires both continous improvement and breakthrough. Even though it can be argued that any firm requires counts on the continous improvement it has been making, it can be countered that breakthrough is something that gives the firm an edge over its competitors. This can be established by taking into account the following points: • When the firms get some valuable breakthrough, it attacks the chronic problems affecting the firm. By encouraging continous improvement, the occurrences of bad things are minimized and with the course of time, it is brought down to zero and this attacks sporadic problems. A growing business requires both these solutions which will help the organization grow at a higher rate. • Due to the investments in time and attention required, breakthrough improvement projects are selected by a management group that typically acts as a steering group. Usually the scope of inquiry crosses multiple functional boundaries. On the other hand, continous improvement is acted upon by everyone in the organization. Thus, when both act together, there is a well guided approach to improvement, which makes the organization grow at a very high rate, usually from 10%-50%. • Breakthrough improvement projects yield the highest economic return in the short- to medium-term. Continous improvement ensures a steady return, although it takes time for the initial return. Both combined will ensure a steady growth rate.

Q.11. “Communication is a key component of TQM and management cannot communicate too much on issues relating to TQM and the improvements made”- Explain in your way. Ans.

Communication is absolutely essential in TQM. It forms a vital part of management and TQM in the following ways: 1. Leadership When the senior managers lead the process from the front, communication forms the vital component. It forms the medium of exchange of information, handing over ideas, suggestions and orders. It is the senior managers who have to communicate in person to their people why the organization needs continous improvement and demonstrate that TQM assignment

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they really care about quality. In fact, without top-down communication, the role of leadership and thereby, the TQM is affected. 2. Planning and organization Planning and organization, is a key element of TQM and is impossible without proper communication from all the levels in the organization. Inputs should be gathered from all levels, there by following a track of continous improvement all the way. 3. Using tools and techniques The methods for implementing all the tools and techniques for the improvement in all process in the organization is sought after and then instructed by the managers to the lower levels. This instruction and feedback and queries cannot be addressed without proper communication. 4. Involvement Part of the approach to TQM is to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what is required of them, how their process relates to the business as a whole and how their internal customers are dependent upon them. For developing this understanding communication is vital. 5. Teamwork Teamwork provides an opportunity for cooperative action in pursuit of continous improvement. Only proper communication ensures proper teamwork. It should be ensured that proper communication takes place between the members of the team and cross functional teams. There is also a need to recognize positive performance and achievement and celebrate and reward success. This must be constantly encouraged through active and open communication. If TQM is to be successful, it is essential that communication must be successful and wide spread. Management cannot communicate too much on issues relating to TQM and improvements made. The communication should be very simple and based on common sense. The language they use must be simple and jargon free and be consistent in the approach followed. It must be good enough to get the heart and mind of all employees and not essential that they understand and accept all the complications and complexity involved in TQM and its implementation. Management should ensure that all the messages that they convey are getting through.

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Q.12. “Cultural change should be well planned and to take place in consistent and incremental manner as it is concerned with the people-the change agent of culture.” How powerful is this statement? Ans.

The above statement is absolutely true and very powerful. The cultural change is to be well planned, as it involves the most important resource in an organization, the people or human resource. Anything decision which can impact directly or indirectly, the day to day affairs of people in the organization are to be well thought about. The following points contribute to the thought : • Experience indicates that if the change is too great and unplanned, the organization will revert back to status quo. There is no substitute for planned growth. • Planned changes must be outlined in specific terms and where possible, qualified against a time scale. • It takes time to change attitudes, beliefs and culture. During this time of change, it should be ascertained that all personnel in the organization understand the need for the change and are well on course. If continous and consistent change is not forced, the people will go back to their original attitudes and mentality. • Education and training should be continous and widespread, in order to foster changes in attitudes and behavior and to improve the skills base of the organization. This is achieved by planned change and providing assistance wherever required. Change should be embedded in the culture of the organization. In summary, it can be stated that changing people’s behaviours and attitudes is one of the most difficult tasks facing management, requiring considerable powers and skills of motivation and persuasion; considerable thought needs to be given to facilitating and managing culture change. So it is absolutely essential that the culture change is well planned and is consistent.

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