Total Quality Management Case
Total Quality Management
History of Quality
Quality has always been present in organizations with different measuring sticks over the years. Quality has been in inception even as far back as 1450 B.C., where there was evidence of measurement and inspection in the Egyptians wall paintings (Evans & Lindsay, 2011). Inspection involves measuring, examining, and listing products, processes and services against specified requirements to determine uniformity. As long as there was production inspection was required, it was used to ensure conformity to standards. As the years go by organizations develop what is known as the quality control and statistical theory, which involves the focus of products to determine quality problems along the production line. The testing of samples was another aspect of quality control and statistical theory; this function was carried out by trained and qualified professionals.
In the 1940’s the Japanese made a huge turnaround by investing in quality leaders such as Deming, Juran, and Feigenbaum after they had problems with the quality off their products. In 1969 total quality was introduced with an intention of involving quality throughout all the processes of the organization. Total quality management was introduced by the US Naval Air System Command in the 1980’s. They were imitating the Japanese style of control.
What is quality?
Quality is the ability to produce desired results; these results are matched against certain standards or expectations. Quality entails meeting or exceeding customers’ expectations, and it can be applied to products, people services and environments (Goetsch & Davis, 2010). Quality is not always the same it changes as new strategies evolve. Quality is important in an organization as it gives the company a competitive advantage. According to Hoyer and Brooks (2001), “Quality is a broad concept that goes beyond just product quality to also include the quality of people, processes, and every aspect of the organization” (p. 56). The quality of a product or services separates organizations and place them in categories. Companies such as Google and Apple invest highly in quality; they invest in people, processes, and their final products, and this has enabled them to reap enormous benefits. Some of the advantages of quality in the organization are increase market share, continual improvement, employee empowerment and increase production.
When organizations are committed to quality, they have to enforce it throughout the organization. Three levels which quality should be ingrained in are; organizational, process, and the performer level. At the organizational level management is concerned with meeting and exceeding their customers’ expectation. Organizations need to have a constant dialog with customers to determine the status of their needs and expectations. In looking at the quality, the organization has to determine what quality to a customer means. Each client has a different view of quality, it could mean timeliness, availability, value for money, and productivity (Brache and Rummier, 1988). Organizational quality should be an ongoing phenomenon, and all stakeholders should be involved for it to be successful.
In an organization, there are several departments which can be classified as processes. Managing quality at the process level means to determine what products or services are necessary to external customers and what processes produce them. It is important to know the customers expectation and then work backward to ensure the processes will produce the desired results. In monitoring the processes, there must be established standards which must be used as measuring stick to ensure there is no variation in the processes. Successful companies are always looking for ways to continual improve their processes. Individual quality determines the success of all three levels; personal quality failure is detrimental to the process quality and the organizational quality. In guaranteeing individual quality, management must set standards which must be in sync with the standards for the process quality and the organizational quality. Individual quality standards include accuracy, punctuality, innovation, rate, volume, and cost.
The quality of work an individual is affected by different factors. Some of these factors are; the input the individual receives, the positive or negative consequences of his performance, the feedback they receive, and the individuals’ physical, mental, and emotional capacity (Brache and Rummier, 1988). The input individual receives includes their work assignments, their expectations, and the right skills and knowledge. The fear of producing the wrong results can put an individual in a position where they refuse to be innovative and just concentrate