Essay: The fact that tqm for customer satisfaction.

Background Need and Relevance of the project

The need for the project

The need for this project lies in the fact that TQM is an important tool to reach to customer satisfaction which is so important in the industry of private universities, since many universities are opening lately and competition is becoming so fierce, hence a TQM implementation is necessary for survival.

To implement such a tool in ADU we have to measure its readiness for such a change, so that we can work on improving our weak areas and keeping up the good areas.

The intended population for the project

The intended population for such a project is the top management at ADU and departments responsible for quality levels in the organization, since they would decide on weather TQM is suitable for the organization, weather the organization is ready for such a change, and they would take the first step to implement such a system if applicable.

The importance of the project

Implementing TQM is a long, costly, and exhausting process, so the importance of the project is that it gives us a way to take an educated decision rather than jumping in to such a process which would be devastating to the company in case of failure.

Project Description

TQM is becoming a buzz word in the organizational environment not only in manufacturing and mechanizing industries, but also, in the services’ industry like telecommunications and educational institutions and so forth.

ADUA which is the subject of this project, is a higher education institution which has a growing number of competitors, and I think for it to survive and maintain a competitive position, it has to pursue perfection through all its processes which could be achieved through TQM.

The objective of this project is to give an overview on TQM and then try to see where ADUA lies from it.

Literature review

So, What is TQM?

Definitions of TQM:

1. TQM is a management approach that aims for long term success by focusing on customer satisfaction.TQM is based on the participation of all members of an organization to improve processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work.

(http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/definition/tqm.asp)

2. TQM is a Management method relying on the cooperation of all members of an organization. A Management method that centers on Quality and on the long-term success of the organization through the satisfaction of the Customers, ass well as the benefit of all its members and society. (http://www.kwaliteg.co.za/tqm/Total%20Quality%20Management.htm)
3. TQM is when the total organization is using Quality thinking and methods to Manage and Doing the right things right, the first time and every time. (http://www.mazur.net/tqm/what_is_tqm.htm)

History of TQM: (Deming’s Contributions)

“In 1947 W. Edwards Deming Ph.D., an American statistician, was invited to help the Japanese work on their census tracts. Two years later, Dr. Deming, returned to Japan to teach a course on statistical control. His first formal course began in July 1950 with 220 engineers enrolled in the course. The Japanese industrialists were receptive to idea of improving quality because they wanted to have a larger export market. What Deming was teaching, however, went well beyond traditional statistical control courses. It involved a management philosophy.

Deming taught about problem solving and team work, concepts that were new to statistical quality control. He was even critical of some of the statistical quality control practices of his day. He taught that use of slogans to reduce production defects is counter productive. He thought that rewarding and punishing workers based on statistical control would be blaming the victim. He thought the focus should be on improving the process not blaming the workers. He was astute enough to know that if an idea is to survive it needs organizational champions. He insisted that statistical control staff move from factory floors to management positions. In essence, Dr. Deming took the idea of statistical control and transformed it into a method of management. In Dr. Deming’s hands, a concept that was previously only an engineering tool became an over arching management style. That first group of engineers went back and told their managers. Soon Japanese industrialists became committed to the idea of improving quality through Deming’s management methods. Following his ideas, they set up organization wide units, involved all employees in improvement, organized cross functional teams to examine a problem and solve it. Gradually, the Japanese products improved. In time, Japanese products exceeded the quality of American Products. Entire industries were lost to Japan. The success of Total Quality Management in Japan and the loss of market share by the American companies awakened the American industrialists.” (http://gunston.gmu.edu/708/deming.htm)

The Eight Elements of TQM

By Nayantara Padhi

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 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.

To be successful implementing TQM, an organization must concentrate on the eight key elements:

1. Ethics
2. Integrity
3. Trust
4. Training
5. Teamwork
6. Leadership
7. Recognition
8. Communication

Key Elements

TQM has been coined to describe a philosophy that makes quality the driving force behind leadership, design, planning, and improvement initiatives. For this, TQM requires the help of those eight key elements. These elements can be divided into four groups according to their function. The groups are:

1. Foundation – It includes: Ethics, Integrity and Trust.
2. Building Bricks – It includes: Training, Teamwork and Leadership.
3. Binding Mortar – It includes: Communication.
4. Roof – It includes: Recognition.

I. Foundation

TQM is built on a foundation of ethics, integrity and trust. It fosters openness, fairness and sincerity and allows involvement by everyone. This is the key to unlocking the ultimate potential of TQM. These three elements move together, however, each element offers something different to the TQM concept.

1. Ethics – Ethics is the discipline concerned with good and bad in any situation. It is a two-faceted subject represented by organizational and individual ethics. Organizational ethics establish a business code of ethics that outlines guidelines that all employees are to adhere to in the performance of their work. Individual ethics include personal rights or wrongs.
2. Integrity – Integrity implies honesty, morals, values, fairness, and adherence to the facts and sincerity. The characteristic is what customers (internal or external) expect and deserve to receive. People see the opposite of integrity as duplicity. TQM will not work in an atmosphere of duplicity.
3. Trust – Trust is a by-product of integrity and ethical conduct. Without trust, the framework of TQM cannot be built. Trust fosters full participation of all members. It allows empowerment that encourages pride ownership and it encourages commitment. It allows decision making at appropriate levels in the organization, fosters individual risk-taking for continuous improvement and helps to ensure that measurements focus on improvement of process and are not used to contend people. Trust is essential to ensure customer satisfaction. So, trust builds the cooperative environment essential for TQM.

II. Bricks

Basing on the strong foundation of trust, ethics and integrity, bricks are placed to reach the roof of recognition. It includes:

1. Training – Training is very important for employees to be highly productive. Supervisors are solely responsible for implementing TQM within their departments, and teaching their employees the philosophies of TQM. Training that employees require are interpersonal skills, the ability to function within teams, problem solving, decision making, job management performance analysis and improvement, business economics and technical skills. During the creation and formation of TQM, employees are trained so that they can become effective employees for the company.
2. Teamwork – To become successful in business, teamwork is also a key element of TQM. With the use of teams, the business will receive quicker and better solutions to problems. Teams also provide more permanent improvements in processes and operations. In teams, people feel more comfortable bringing up problems that may occur, and can get help from other workers to find a solution and put into place. There are mainly three types of teams that TQM organizations adopt:

A. Quality Improvement Teams or Excellence Teams (QITS) – These are temporary teams with the purpose of dealing with specific problems that often re-occur. These teams are set up for period of three to twelve months.
B. Problem Solving Teams (PSTs) – These are temporary teams to solve certain problems and also to identify and overcome causes of problems. They generally last from one week to three months.
C. Natural Work Teams (NWTs) – These teams consist of small groups of skilled workers who share tasks and responsibilities. These teams use concepts such as employee involvement teams, self-managing teams and quality circles. These teams generally work for one to two hours a week.

3. Leadership – It is possibly the most important element in TQM. It appears everywhere in organization. Leadership in TQM requires the manager to provide an inspiring vision, make strategic directions that are understood by all and to instill values that guide subordinates. For TQM to be successful in the business, the supervisor must be committed in leading his employees. A supervisor must understand TQM, believe in it and then demonstrate their belief and commitment through their daily practices of TQM. The supervisor makes sure that strategies, philosophies, values and goals are transmitted down through out the organization to provide focus, clarity and direction. A key point is that TQM has to be introduced and led by top management. Commitment and personal involvement is required from top management in creating and deploying clear quality values and goals consistent with the objectives of the company and in creating and deploying well defined systems, methods and performance measures for achieving those goals.

III. Binding Mortar

4. 7. Communication – It binds everything together. Starting from foundation to roof of the TQM house, everything is bound by strong mortar of communication. It acts as a vital link between all elements of TQM. Communication means a common understanding of ideas between the sender and the receiver. The success of TQM demands communication with and among all the organization members, suppliers and customers. Supervisors must keep open airways where employees can send and receive information about the TQM process. Communication coupled with the sharing of correct information is vital. For communication to be credible the message must be clear and receiver must interpret in the way the sender intended.

There are different ways of communication such as:
A. Downward communication – This is the dominant form of communication in an organization. Presentations and discussions basically do it. By this the supervisors are able to make the employees clear about TQM.
B. Upward communication – By this the lower level of employees are able to provide suggestions to upper management of the affects of TQM. As employees provide insight and constructive criticism, supervisors must listen effectively to correct the situation that comes about through the use of TQM. This forms a level of trust between supervisors and employees. This is also similar to empowering communication, where supervisors keep open ears and listen to others.
C. Sideways communication – This type of communication is important because it breaks down barriers between departments. It also allows dealing with customers and suppliers in a more professional manner.

IV. Roof

5. 8. Recognition – Recognition is the last and final element in the entire system. It should be provided for both suggestions and achievements for teams as well as individuals. Employees strive to receive recognition for themselves and their teams. Detecting and recognizing contributors is the most important job of a supervisor. As people are recognized, there can be huge changes in self-esteem, productivity, quality and the amount of effort exhorted to the task at hand. Recognition comes in its best form when it is immediately following an action that an employee has performed. Recognition comes in different ways, places and time such as,

Ways – It can be by way of personal letter from top management. Also by award banquets, plaques, trophies etc.

Places – Good performers can be recognized in front of departments, on performance boards and also in front of top management.

Time – Recognition can given at any time like in staff meeting, annual award banquets, etc.

Conclusion

We can conclude that these eight elements are key in ensuring the success of TQM in an organization and that the supervisor is a huge part in developing these elements in the work place. Without these elements, the business entities cannot be successful TQM implementers. It is very clear from the above discussion that TQM without involving integrity, ethics and trust would be a great remiss, and in fact it would be incomplete. Training is the key by which the organization creates a TQM environment. Leadership and teamwork go hand in hand. Lack of communication between departments, supervisors and employees create a burden on the whole TQM process. Last but not the least; recognition should be given to people who contributed to the overall completed task. Hence, lead by example, train employees to provide a quality product, create an environment where there is no fear to share knowledge, and give credit where credit is due is the motto of a successful TQM organization.

(http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c021230a.asp)

Studies on TQM:

There are many studies made on this topic, and I will try to get related studies and summarize the abstracts and findings of the studies below:

1 . TQM implementation and change management in unfavorable environment.

Purpose -This paper aims to examine the potential for successful TQM implementation in a “theoretically” unfavourable TQM environment, and what can be expected from such implementation if it is successful.
Findings – It is possible to implement TQM principles in an environment deficient in factors that are generally accepted as critical to its successful implementation. The identification of and reaction to cultural difficulties are central to a successful TQM implementation approach taken. Positive outcomes may exceed, in terms of speed and scale, what could be expected from the occidental/Japanese model for successful TQM implementation.
Author(s): Jefferey P. Jones, Daniele Seraphim

Journal: Journal of Management Development

Year: 2008 Volume: 27 Issue: 3 Page: 291 – 306

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

2. An organizational learning model for vocational education in the context of TQM culture.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to try to establish a relationship between organizational learning capability (OLC) and TQM culture (TC) based on a case study of a leading vocational education institution of Hong Kong, and to develop an organizational learning transformation model for vocational education in the context of TQM culture.

Findings – Strong positive correlation is found between the OLC and TC constructs, while shared vision, long-term focus, and teacher involvement are identified to be the key TC constructs that can have significant impact on OLC in vocational education. It also confirms that rules orientation prohibits the creation of TQM culture, while innovative leadership does nurture its formation. An empirical TQM culture based OL transformation model for vocational education is formulated and subsequently tested through an implementation case. The result confirms that the model can effectively facilitate a transition of a traditional vocational education institution towards a learning organization for organizational excellence.

Author(s): M.Y. Lam, Gary K.K. Poon, K.S. Chin

Journal: International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

Year: 2008 Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Page: 238 – 255

DOI: 10.1108/02656710810854269

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

3. Assessing managers’ awareness of TQM

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of the paper is to analyze the rationale and the development of a measure that can be used in assessing managerial awareness and understanding of the concept of total quality management (TQM) within organizations.

Findings – The statistical analysis provided a distinctive and consistent, statistical measurement of the “soft” side of TQM. This measure consists of three items: continuous improvement and training, total employee empowerment and involvement and quality driven culture, which represent the whole concept of TQM approach.

Author(s): F. Vouzas, A.G. Psychogios

Journal: The TQM Magazine

Year: 2007 Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Page: 62 – 75

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

TQM principles’ applications on information systems for empirical goals: A study if Indian organizations