Total Quality Management (TQM), Research Paper Example

Introduction

The article entitled total quality management application in health care explores various tenets of quality management in bid to strengthen and raise the standards of healthcare facilities in Indonesia. It is imperative that the poor service delivery and management of the health care facilities are indeed unable to cater for the ever-growing population of Indonesia. The provision of quality primary health care for the people is a primary need for the people and thus every government should ensure quality service provision its people. The article provides the explanations pertaining to the hard and soft parts of total quality management and how the failure to observe these aspects have dented the service delivery in the primary health care centers in Indonesia. This is a clear indication that with the competency and meritocracy of the staff notwithstanding, the total quality management aspects should be observed at all times to ensure quality service delivery (Gupta, Garg & Kumar, 2014, p.85).

Key points of the article and the quality management issues

The article ponders mainly on the phenomena and issues in primary health care in Indonesia. The article highlights on various total quality management issues facing the primary health care. The management –related issues highlighted in this case include change management, role of front-line offices, top- management commitment, leadership, the organized record keeping/ filing, sustained implementation of quality management, and new culture in work place. Therefore, the article mainly focuses on the service quality performance, public service, and total quality management.

As highlighted in the article, it is evident that a number of researches and analysis done on primary health care in Indonesia show three management- related factors as a deterrence to the quality provision of health care services to the Indonesian people. These three factors include the failure of the management to understand the needs of its clients; inability of the customers/patients to express their needs; and the poor performance of the staff. It is important to note that understanding the client-needs is the bottom-line of service delivery to the client, as it will aid the service provider in giving the appropriate response. The ability of the patient to communicate effectively to the service provider is paramount (Amirullah, Suratman & Akib, 2015). This will determine the appropriateness of the action taken by the service provider. In this regard, it is the responsibility of the primary health care providers’ management to ensure that communication is efficient. It is thus important for them to take into consideration factors such as education level, ability of the patient to communicate, age of the patient, and gender among several factors. The overall performance of the primary health care with respect to quality service provision solely depends on the performance of its top management. It is the responsibility of the top management to keep its staff on toes. In this regard, the performance-based structures should be put in place. The article enumerates on the hard and soft parts of total quality management. On the soft side, the article highlights on the leadership character, the workplace culture, top management commitment, role of front-office officers and the change management. These are very important aspects, which will improve the service delivery in primary health care service stations if perfected. It is equally important to note that the monitoring and evaluation of the health care systems plays a crucial role in improving the service delivery.

Reflection

The content of this article is really educative and important to every individual in the management field. I am particularly elated by the hard and soft part of total quality management as explained in the article. These areas include the character of the leadership, the commitment to top management, new work –culture, revitalization of front-line offices, monitoring of the quality systems, and recording of the quality-progress. It is important to note that the leadership of every organization determines the character of its staff and the overall performance of the organization. The leadership that motivates and inspires its employees by giving them extrinsic and intrinsic rewards will post good results and ultimate profitability for profit-making organizations. It is important to note that motivation of employees increases their commitment level to the top-management as well as to the organization. The aspect of understanding client-needs is very crucial especially in the service industry (Cole & Jones, 2015). The provision of the primary health-care for instance warrants the understanding of the patient needs. This ensures proper diagnosis and the ultimate quality prescription of treatment and drug administration to the patient. Listening and addressing the client needs in totality fosters the continuous improvement of goods and services which is the core tenet of total quality management. It is important that the management of every organization inculcate the culture of hard work and honesty in an organization (Ebrahimi & Sadeghi, 2013, p.5630). This builds the sense of self-drive amongst the employees, and thus high-quality service delivery. It is important that the management of every organization empower its staff by training and giving them the necessary support. Decentralizing some duties to junior staff makes them feel recognized and appreciated, and thus their commitment to the organizational goals.

References

Amirullah, I., Suratman, & Akib, H. (2015). Total Quality Management (Tqm) Application In Health Care. International Journal of Academic Research, 7(1), 5-8.

Cole, C. J., & Jones, C. L. (2015). The Quality of Management Forecasts of Capital Expenditures and Store Openings in MD&A. Journal Of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 30(2), 127-149.

Ebrahimi, M., & Sadeghi, M. (2013). Quality management and performance: An annotated review. International Journal Of Production Research, 51(18), 5625-5643.

Gupta, V., Garg, D., & Kumar, R. (2014). Depiction of Total Quality Management during a Span of 2003-2013. Journal Of Engineering & Technology, 4(2), 81-86.