Quality Management Different Systems, Philosophies and Approaches

Quality Management Different Systems, Philosophies

and Approaches to Excellence

Quality Management: Different Systems, Philosophies

and Approaches to Excellence

As is known within the field, operations management is an area of management specifically concerned with the overseeing, designing, and redesigning of business operations in the production of good and services. In order for operations to move smoothly within a business, management must ensure that day-to-day business moves forward in a manner that not only utilizes the highest quality standards, but additionally uses as little resources as needed in order to both meet company standards and satisfy customer needs in order to retain continued business. In beginning to ensure that such standards are upheld within a business, the area of quality management comes highly into play. In understanding the basis of quality management, along with the systems, philosophies and approaches that go along with it, one can better understand the impacts such systems have had on the business world, as well as better understand the adjustments that can be made in the future to maintain standards that meet the highest quality of both products and production.

Differing Quality Systems

The basis of quality management is fairly simple. When one is involved in production, different factors are obviously involved in the job process, and the end result of that production process is the assurance that quality goods have met the customer, who in turn should be satisfied. In any circumstance in which a customer is involved, the issue of quality becomes an exceedingly important factor in the business-to-customer transaction, and special attention must be made to the quality of goods produced. As nearly every individual knows within the business and management field: one bad apple does have the ability to ruin the bunch. If a customer is not fully satisfied with the quality of a product they have purchased, or unsatisfied by the manner in which the product was obtained, that customer will become a one-time-only patron, which can be a death sentence to a company's success. The key to business success within the market lies on the repeat patronage of customers, which is specifically what quality management is set in place to foster.

In understanding this basis for quality management, one can better understand the different systems of quality management that have been set in place over the years within the business field such as the following models: the quality circle approach, the total quality management approach, the theory of inventive problem solving, and the business process reengineering approach, all of which function to incorporate and drive quality improvement within a business or industry. In understanding these systems as well as their respective philosophies and approaches, one can better gauge the relative effectiveness of each system within the market in terms of the approaches and belief-systems used to back them.

The quality circle quality management approach centers on the idea that the individuals working at the ground floor of operations have the ability to best identify management solutions and quality control issues to higher-ups within the company in order to maintain that quality products, efficient methods of production and safety standards are most correctly and successfully adhered to. In utilizing the quality circle approach, an operations manager enlists a team of employees who are trained to identify, analyze, and solve work-related and quality-related problems within the workplace, and these individuals are further identified as qualified to bring their proposed solutions to higher-level management in order to improve the performance of the organization. Such a means of quality management allows not only operations managers and quality managers to be assured of the standards present within an organization, but such an approach, based in the philosophy of full team involvement consistently works to motivate and enrich the work of company employees. Despite the generally easy-going, easy-to-implement facade that such an approach gives off at first glance, the quality circle approach is in fact far more complex than one might initial garner, and several tools are often implemented within these circles to ensure any problems with quality will be swiftly pinpointed and remedied.

Members of quality circles utilize effective tools from the "seven basic tools of quality" that have been designated within the field of operations management as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality, which include: cause-and-effect diagrams, the check sheet, the control chart, the histogram, the Pareto chart, the scatter diagram, and stratification (alternately flow chart or run chart) (Douglas 2005, pp. 148). The utilization of many of these tools within a quality circle can be as simple as using process mapping, data gathering, graphical tools, to more sophisticated tools like fishbone diagrams, which show hierarchies of causes that may be contributing to a problem as well as Pareto charts, which analyze different causes by frequency to illustrate the vital cause of a problem. These tools and this overall approach has proven to be highly effective in terms of quality management, specifically in its ability to get each member of the contributing employment staff on board with the business' mission. While such an approach may take significantly more time to implement effectively, needing training and leadership standards set in place within these quality circles, upon maturation, quality circles often tend to become self-managing, having proven itself as a quality means of management within the organization supported by a management team that is generally confident of the results such a group can bring forth.

Additionally, the total quality management approach (TQM) is a significantly popular quality management concept that has been used over the years to ensure not only product or service quality, but full customer satisfaction at every stage in the game -- all the way from production to customer delivery. TQM can be viewed as more of an overall philosophy for quality than an approach, often finding itself associated with the notion of doing things right at the first given opportunity rather than correcting for mistakes at a later point in time.

Like most quality management concepts, TQM views "quality" entirely from the point-of-view of the customer, and seeks to work as an integrative philosophy of management for the continuous improving of the quality of products and of processes involved within a business (Ahire 1997, pp. 91-93). TQM functions under the notion that the quality of products and processes within a business is the responsibility of every single person who is involved with the creation or consumption of the product or services being offered by an organization, all the way from management to the customer. On a more basic level, TQM seeks to capitalize on the involvement of management, workforce, suppliers, and even customers in order to meet or exceed customer expectations and desires, and the success of this approach depends on the full cooperation of each party involved (Chambers, Johnston and Slack 2010, pp.508).

TQM has proven significantly effective in allowing members of a company and specifically operations management, quality management, and employee management officials to work more closely with the entirety of the production process. In other words, individuals who once thought themselves "above" the everyday dealings of production, with TQM, are placed on the ground floor in a way that allows them directly involved with the opinions of and dealings with customers and ground-level employees in order to ensure that production remains adherent to the highest quality standards in every conceivable area of production and distribution.

The theory of inventive problem solving (TIPS), is a problem-solving analysis and forecasting tool that is used by quality management officials and is derived from the study of patterns of invention in global patent literature (Coulibaly, Hua, Yang and Zhang 2006, pp. 112-113). The theory includes a practical methodology, tool sets, a knowledge base, and mode-based technology for generating new ideas and solutions for problem solving in the field of quality control, and it is intended for application in problem formulation, system analysis, failure analysis and patterns of systems evolution (Coulibaly, Hua, Yang and Zhang 2006, pp. 114). Such a systematic, and scientific approach to quality management has been used widely in business ventures that employ a significant technological basis within company work, and TIPS has proven significantly effective in recent years, being utilized by such big-name companies as Ford, Johnson and Johnson, Boeing, NASA, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, General Electric, Xerox, IBM, Samsung, Procter and Gamble and Kodak, all of which have used TIPS methods in varying projects (Wallace 2000, p.1). Further, such an approach is effective in fostering and promoting creativity within a company as well as managing knowledge and innovations which encourage companies to note the social responsibility that comes in finding solutions to the challenges they face (Chambers, Johnston and Slack 2010, pp.615).

Finally, the business process reengineering approach (BPR) is the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. BPR is an approach and philosophy that aims to redesign the way certain aspects of production and quality assurance are completed within an organization to better support that organization's overall mission and additionally reduce its costs. BPR often starts with a high-level assessment by business managers and operations managers as to the company's overall mission, goals and customer needs in a way that asks if the mission at hand needs to be redefined in any manner. In understanding these facets of company production, quality assurance, and distribution, companies and mangers within these companies are better adept at understanding what it is that customers really need and want rather than basing a company's entire operational standards off a mere assumption of customer desires. .

BPR has proven effective for many companies in gauging what new directions could be taken in order to ensure customer satisfaction, which of course is the basic desire of any company, as this facet of company existence is essential to ensuring company success and longevity in the market.

Impact of Systems

As seen, the systems approaches mentioned in the previous section have all made proven relatively successful in the business world in terms of their implementation and desired effects. However, in viewing each of the noted approaches to better understand the impacts each respective approach had on innovation, change and competitiveness, distinct differences can be noted between the four approaches.

In viewing the quality circle quality management approach in terms of the impact such an approach may have on innovation, change and competitiveness, it can be understood in assessing the basis of the approach itself, that any true impact felt by this approach will be within a company's internal workings rather than in the wider market itself. As the quality circle approach seeks to more fully involve employees within a company in the quality management of production and product distribution in addition to their own jobs within the company, such a model for quality management has the capacity to make significant changes within the companies who choose to utilize this tactic.

The quality control circle is aimed at providing a space for interested, trained, and business-savvy employees working at the ground level of a company, into the upper-echelons of quality management. Such a motivating factor within the workforce allows for significant competitiveness and motivation within the employee ranks in a manner that allows individuals to vie for coveted positions in the organization within the quality control circle that has been set in place. Individuals chosen to train for inclusion in this circle do so with the understanding that a position within this quality management approach allows them the ability to be the eyes and ears of a company in terms of the general day-to-day production actions that occur within a business. In attaining this position, employees are given not only an escalated knowledge of their own work within a company, but knowledge of the overall strategies and goals of a company, and these individuals are additionally given a role of superiority within the company that matches their respective skill levels. In utilizing such a tactic of quality management within a company, a direct impact is often made in the internal dealings of a company, which then has the capacity to move outward into success in the market and amongst competitors.

In such a situation, employees are consistently motivated to achieve and maintain excellence within the company and within their own respective positions in a way that seeks for inclusion in the quality circle. As quality management is not necessarily focused on the quality of the product or service offered, but more so on the means to achieve it, the implementation of the quality circle within companies has the ability to impact the internal workings of a company significantly in a way that is exceedingly positive, and will likely produce equally positive results in terms of profit, notoriety, and status within the respective markets in which these companies exist.

In conjunction with the quality circle approach, the total quality management approach (TQM) deals less with innovation in the market, and deals more with the implementation of change, competitiveness, and philosophical adherence within the internal facets of a company, which similarly to the implementation of the quality control circle, allows for an inward to outward projection of quality standards and relative market and competitor success. As previously noted, TQM functions under the notion that the quality of products and processes within a business is the responsibility of every single person who is involved with the creation or consumption of that product or service which is offered. In understanding this facet of TQM, one can understand the impact that such an approach can have on the company within which it is employed. The implementation of TQM impacts the four constructs of overall business performance that are necessary for success in the market including: employee satisfaction, which is one of any firm's key performance measures; product quality, which allows a firm the ability to compete; customer satisfaction, which is a fundamental determinant for business health, growth, and economic viability; and strategic business performance, which can reveal the effects of doing business, show the competitive capability of the firm in the marketplace and its financial health, and predict its future success or failure (Zhang 2000, pp.43-44).

Unlike the previous two approaches to quality management, the business process reengineering approach (BPR) has the capacity to be not only a game-changer within the internal facets of a company, but in the market wholly, as well as a device to propagate competition in the market. Such a fact has been largely linked to the relationship between BPR and information technology (IT). As IT is widely considered a key factor in BPR for organizations that want to witness "radical change" in its operation and in the market, the impact that its use brings within company internalities is indeed significant (Ayanda and Sidikat 2008, pp. 118). However, such impacts can only be noted if the organizations that employ the use of BPR are fully committed to both innovation and organizational change, which are the driving forces behind BPR (Ayanda and Sidikat 2008, pp. 123).

Similarly is the impact that the theory of inventive problem solving (TIPS) can have on company change, innovation and competition within the market. As noted previously, TIPS has been utilized by some of the world's most noted and respected companies who have achieved significant success in their utilizations of this quality management tactic. TIPS has the capacity to employ world-class quality management within companies who choose to utilize it, specifically due to this tactic's ability to produce innovative product and process design, each of which is rooted in the demand for the highest quality standards available (Terninko, Zlotin and Zusman 1998, pp.1-2).

Recommendations

In understanding the recommendations that can be made to companies who choose to employ the use of quality management approaches within their respective operations management departments, one must understand the impacts that such changes could bring to the areas of innovation, change and competitiveness. Even slight changes in certain areas of quality management have the capacity to bring about changes that are significantly beneficial within the internal facets of a company as well as in the market in which it exists. In order to better understand the improvements that can be made to an organization, one can look deeper into the specific organizations which have benefited from the use of such approaches. Additionally, as the use of quality control circles and total quality management practices are historical standards within many successful organizations, it is in viewing the more recently-successful business process reengineering approach as well as the theory of incentive problem solving in which the future successes of quality management seemingly lie.

In better understanding the recommendation for new or restructuring organizations to engage in BPR or TIPS, one can view the statuses of specific organizations which have chosen to utilize these approaches and have achieved relative success with their choices to do so. For instance, the approach and tactics utilized in BPR have been relevant in the business world for over centuries. When Henry Ford first implemented the assembly line in 1908, he was in fact reengineering the entirety of his organization, which in turn brought about new standards for quality assurance, quality management, and customer satisfaction that did not exist prior to this internal overhaul.

Over the years, many companies have benefited from the implementation of BPR in situations in which quality and customer satisfaction did not exist, ultimately calling for a complete change within the company, either of standards of production, quality management, employee management, financial management, or a combination of each of these factors. In such situations, companies and their respective operations management officers can feel that significant changes can only be made with the "cleaning of the slate." In a situation such as this, it is often recommended that businesses tread lightly, as such overhauls can make or break a business, causing them to begin from the ground up. While some companies have succeeded in this venture, such as Nokia, which utilized BPR tactics to completely overhaul the company from a company that produced paper, cardboard, and industrial rubber parts to one that focused solely on mobile telephone manufacturing, there have been countless other companies which have not been so lucky.