Quality Management, Essay Example

Introduction

Quality management is the act of overseeing all tasks and activities that are needed in the maintenance of the desired levels of excellence. This includes creation and implementation of quality assurance and planning, as well as quality improvement and control. It can also be referred to as TQM (total quality management).

Methods of quality improvement

There are several methods of improving quality. This includes process improvement, product improvement and people based improvement. Below, we shall discuss some of the quality management methods and techniques which drive and incorporate quality improvement.

The ISO 9000 family standards are standards designed help an organization in ensuring that the needs of stake holders and customers are met. These standards have been published by the International Organization for Standardization and are implemented through the National Standards bodies while at the same time meeting the regulatory and statutory requirements. The ISO 9000 deals with quality management systems fundamentals, which includes the eight principals of management on which the standards of the family are based. It deals with the requirements which an organization that is wishing to meet the standards have to fulfill (Robert, 1993).

Total quality management (TQM). This is a strategy of management that is used to embed quality awareness in the processes of an organization. It functions in the premise that the processes and the products is the main responsibility of all those who are involved with the consumption or creation of the services or the products that are offered by the organization. It capitalizes in the involvement of workforce, suppliers, customers and management for the purpose of meeting and exceeding the expectations of the customers (Adam, 1998).

Quality management/ project management strategies

The strategies most organizations use are:

Mistake-Proofing

This is a great strategy for companies that focus in high-volume production. As a company grows and becomes large in terms of production, it gets more prone to human errors. Mistake-proofing components of production and manufacturing, high-volume output is ensured and there will be guarantee that the produced product will be 100% up to standard.

This strategy should be used when the company is experiencing a boost in its production and sales volumes as many companies get exposed to error in production in such situations.

The major advantage of this strategy is that it minimizes the production of faulty products and hence reduces the quality cost.

A disadvantage with this strategy Is that it a tedious process and require a lot of time to completely ensure that all systems are in place for production of standard products (Gray & Morain, 2000).

Continuous Improvement

Change cannot be simply be embraced for the sake of it. A company would rather go for something that can be easier to improve. In view of this, it is a universal idea that common sense should guide in the company’s continuous improvement. One should over time analyze each element of production and identify areas which need improvement. Employees should be encouraged to give feedback as they are at a better position to do that (Langley, A. and van Alphen, 1993).

This is a strategy suits companies when they are advancing from infancy or its initial stages.

An advantage with this strategy is that it makes the company stay with up to date systems of operation hence ensuring that wastage due to usage of obsolete technology is minimized completely.

A disadvantage with this strategy is that: in circumstances whereby there are many ways of advancing systems it might be complicated in choosing the more appropriate and economical one as different systems work differently (Gray & Morain, 2000).

Employee Monitoring

The company’s workforce should be trained regularly. Tools for the job should be available and proper training on use of these tools should be given. Classes for training on new methods of work or new skills to reinforce ones performance should be given priority and encouraged by the management. The employees in the front line always impact the company’s bottom line; hence it is crucial to ensure that they are performing well. With this strategy, smart delegation is crucial and a management team that is well equipped.

This strategy suits the company in all its stages as employees are a great contributing factor in every stage of business survival.

A major advantage of this strategy is that it boosts employee morale and this reflects to better output. The needs of the employees are catered for hence they work efficiently and are satisfied with work and working conditions.

A disadvantage of this strategy is that it is a costly process which will need the company to dedicate its funds and time.

Strategies in quality management are often at best described by 4 classes of quality cost which are: internal failure, external failure, prevention costs and appraisal or inspection.

Quality cost- can also be referred to as cost of poor quality and it sometimes accounts to 20-30% of total sales. This is the cost of not performing tasks in the right way at the first time.

Types of Quality cost

In this context the producer incurs external failure costs when non-conforming or defective products are retailed to the consumer, who afterwards finds out the defect in the good. Such examples can be: transportation costs to return the product, replacement and warranty returns, if the consumer sues the company it might have to part with legal fees and sales lost as a result of spoiled name and reputation and customer confidence. The company incurs internal failure costs when it decides to engage itself in activities dealing with non-conforming products before the consumer buys them. Such costs may be: rework and scrap costs. These activities may lead to use of overtime, downgrading costs and in the end result to losses. Internal failures are can be rarely be seen by the customers in ordinary circumstances. These internal failures push up the unit costs of production and hence affect customers as they are forced to pay higher rates for the conforming products they buy (Robert, 1993).

Appraisal or Inspection costs come about when the company checks, tests, confirms and finally measures the product conformance to customer expectations. Such costs are: maintaining quality control costs or upkeep of the quality assurance department.

Prevention costs come by when an organization engages in regulation on production on non-conforming products (Langley & van Alphen, 1993).

In summary

Though researchers have tried to study the issue of quality management, it has not been exhaustively done as there is need for more. This paper is an addition to the already done researchers.

To build a standard for future use of groups of the quality initiative one needs to fully understand the dynamic nature of all the aspects of the environment in which businesses operate and how variables influence their performance.

In order to have an impact on the employees of organizations they must be involved in drafting of all future standards that affect them (Robert, 1993).

Barriers in establishing a future standard may be: technology, management styles, available resources in the organization to fully implement the standard proposed and the unwillingness of various individual to effect change.

References

Adam, J. F., (1998). “Understanding Evolutionary Processes in Non- Manufacturing Industries: Empirical Insights from the Shakeout in Pharmaceutical Wholesaling,” Evolutionary Economics 8, pp. 231–270.

Gray, R. & Morain, M., (2000) Total Quality Management that suits Employees. South Australian Commission, Adelaide.

Langley, A. & van Alphen, M. (eds) (1993) Proc. 2nd National Workshop on the Management and Risk Assessment American Society. Atlanta, Georgia.

Robert, S., (1993). The New GE: How Jack Welch Revived an American Institution. Homewood, IL: Irwin Business One.