Introduction
Course Name: IE673 Total Quality Management
Instructor: Dr. Paul G. Ranky Author: Zhe HU Student ID: 31263114 Modified Date: Feb 15, 2015 |
Question List:
- What is quality?
- What is TQM?
- How can we achieve organizational excellence with quality?
- What is the Deming Cycle?
- What are the most common errors when starting quality initiatives?
- Explain the cost of poor quality.
- What are the quality characteristics of world-class organizations?
- Responsibility and total quality.
- Discuss Some models for ethical Quality decisions?
- What is the engineering manager's role in quality ethics?
1. What is quality?
Quality, according to the definition of the most popular standard, ISO 9000,to objects and refers to the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills a set of requirements. An object is any entity that is either conceivable or perceivable and an inherent characteristic is a feature that exists in an object[1].
It is also defined in variety way by different people and organizations such as:
It is also defined in variety way by different people and organizations such as:
- Fred Smith, CEO of Federal Express: "performance to the standard expected by the customer."
- The General Services Administration: "meeting the customer's needs the first time and every time."
- Boeing: "providing our customers with products and services that consistently meet their needs and expectations."
- The U.S. Department of Defense: "doing the right thing right the first time, always striving for improvement, and always satifying the customer."
- Quality invovlves meeting or exceeding customer expecations
- Quality applies to products, services, people. processes. and environments.
- Quality is an ever-changing state.
Quality is a dynamic state associated with products, services, people, processes, and evironments that meets or exceeds expectations and helps produce superior value.
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2. What is TQM?
TQM (Total Quality Management) like quality, has many difinitions. One of them from ASQ is:
"A term first used to describe a management approach to quality improvement. Since then, TQM has taken on many meanings. Simply put, it is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. TQM is based on all members of an organization participating in improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work. The methods for implementing this approach are found in the teachings of such quality leaders as Philip B. Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Armand V. Feigenbaum, Kaoru Ishikawa and Joseph M. Juran."[2]
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Total Quality Management is an approach to business involvement led by the theme of quality. It is consist of the continual improvement of people, processes, products, service and environments. Actually, TQM is a set of highly Customer's needs oriented activities as shown in Figure 1.1.
Modern Total Quality Management is, unlike the traditional one, a prevent system designed into every step of the product from Concept Establish to Mass Production to finally achieve the 0 defect. It is quiet different in the folloing parts:
- TQM prevents mistakes by focusing on sustainable quality designed and built into a products, process or service.
- TQM does not think quality should/can be scarificed as the volume and the productivity goes up.
- TQM involves every person, aspect and machine or resource of the organization.
- TQM has a preventive sustainable focus.
3. How can we achieve organizational excellence with quality?
To achieve organizational excellence with quality, the company needs to continual improvement in all aspects as mentioned in Questions 2.
For this goal, Philip B. Crosby, a famous contributer in management theory and quality management practices, provided fourteen steps to quality improvement which are presented in Figure 1.2[3]. A detailed explanation for these 14 steps can be reached in Crosby’s 14 StepsTo Improvement[4].
For this goal, Philip B. Crosby, a famous contributer in management theory and quality management practices, provided fourteen steps to quality improvement which are presented in Figure 1.2[3]. A detailed explanation for these 14 steps can be reached in Crosby’s 14 StepsTo Improvement[4].
4. What is Deming Cycle
Deming Cycle is a five-step proceeds summarized by W. Edwards Deming, by far the most influential proponent of quality management in the United States. These steps are as follow:
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For now, Deming Cycle is better known as PDCA(PDSA), an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. It is also most the same as Deming Cycle except it only has four step: Plan - Do - Check(Study) - Act.
Deming Cycle or PDCA is a system for developing critical thinking which can help organizations continously identify and fixed the problems they found and prevent any possible mistakes as well. It should be emphasized here that the Deming Cycle runs not only once during the program or project but over and over and over again. Even if they finally achieved zero defect policy, it should still be running.
Deming Cycle or PDCA is a system for developing critical thinking which can help organizations continously identify and fixed the problems they found and prevent any possible mistakes as well. It should be emphasized here that the Deming Cycle runs not only once during the program or project but over and over and over again. Even if they finally achieved zero defect policy, it should still be running.
5. What are the most common errors when starting quality initiatives?
The most common errors when starting quality initiatives can also be identified as the errors organizations should avoid when starting. Typically, there are about FIVE types as follow:
- Senior management delegation and poor leadership. Some organizations attempt to start a quality initiative by delegating responsibility to a hired expert rather than applying the leadership necessary to get everyone involved.
- Team mania. Rushing in and putting everyone in teams before learning has occured and the corporatue culture has changed will create problems rather solve them. So ultimately teams should be eatablished, and all employees should be involved with them. Supervisors must learn how to coaches, and employees should learn how to be team players.
- Deployment process. No current developing plans for integrating them into all elements of the organization such as operations, budgeting, marketing and so.
- Taking a narrow, dogmatic approach. No approaches (Deming, Juran, Crosby) advocated by the quality experts. The modification of the quality programs to their own individual needs are not made.
- Confusion about the differences among education, awareness, inspiration, and skill bulding. The crews in the organization should have abilities to apply the fundamental tools of quality. This belief should not only be accepted at a pholosophical level and the necessary steps in the right direction, but they also need to develop the actual skills to implement the concept.
6. Explain the cost of poor quality
Cost of poor quality can be presented as the cost reduced when an organizaiton improves its perforcance in key areas. Usually, reducing the costs associated with poor quality is mandatory for companies that hope to compete in the global marketplace. Once the activities in an organization have been identified, the items exist because of poor quality can be eliminiated. The following steps can be used to mearsure the cost of poor quality.
We can thake the check list below to check traditional and hidden costs in the organzitaion.
- Identify all activities that exist only or primarily because of poor quality.
- Decide how to estimate the costs of these activites.
- Collect data on these activities and make the cost estimates.
- Analyze the results and take necessary corrective actions in the proper order of priority.
We can thake the check list below to check traditional and hidden costs in the organzitaion.
7. What are the quality characteristics of world-class organizations?
Quality characteristics of world-class organizations among the 15 most commen characteristics found in world-class organizations by American Management Association (AMA) are as follow:
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There also some human resources topics found by AMA are highly related to the quality.
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8. Responsibility and total quality
Responsibility and total quality is strong related because accepting responsibility is part of ethical behavior.
In an organization, employers and employees do not always stand together. As discussed in the text book, people are alwanys intend to blame others for the shortcoming and failures. When reflects in an organization, employees are like to refer their employers by "they" and call themselves as "we". By using these items, the organization seems to be devided into two parts.
This situation can be toleranced in traditional manufacturing organizations, but not for a company wants to achieve organziational excellance. To meet the goal of zero defect in total quality, every people in the company should accept the responsiblity for their actions and performance. That will help to build trust, integrity, and all the other elements of ethics in an organization.
In an organization, employers and employees do not always stand together. As discussed in the text book, people are alwanys intend to blame others for the shortcoming and failures. When reflects in an organization, employees are like to refer their employers by "they" and call themselves as "we". By using these items, the organization seems to be devided into two parts.
This situation can be toleranced in traditional manufacturing organizations, but not for a company wants to achieve organziational excellance. To meet the goal of zero defect in total quality, every people in the company should accept the responsiblity for their actions and performance. That will help to build trust, integrity, and all the other elements of ethics in an organization.
9. Discuss some models for ethical quality decisions?
From our text book, there are about nine most widely used models as follows:
- Categorical imperative model. This model is known as black-and-white model which means right is right and wrong is wrong. Situations in this model are idea, but that is not the truth. For example, we do not want to scarifice quality to increase volumn. In reality, no one can gaurantee zero defect. As a result, the balance between quality and volumn is a gray area.
- Full-disclosure model. This model needs to answer a basic question: Could the organization explain its actions to the satisfaction of a braod cross-section of stakeholder? It's a model which can maximize the benefit of the stakeholders. While often, employees, especially those at lower levels in an organization are ignored.
- Doctrine of the mean model. A model suggests that moderation is ethical. This model is better used for small or self-owned companies where the owner do not eager to become an world-class company.
- Golden Rule Model. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." From first sight, this is a very fair model. You will be treated in the way you treat others. But this model is not working well in the situations stakeholders have conflicting interests.
- Market-ethic model. This model is based on the belief that any legal action taht promotes profitablity is ethical. They believe that corporations need to make profit. Actually this model is quiet popular in some Chinses company. They are so indicated to making money that even the activites are against the law.
- Organizaitional ethic model. This model is based on loyalty to the organization. Individuals try their best to serve the organizations' intersts is considered to be ethic. Traditional Japanese companies are running in this way. The employees work in a company for life long and seldom of them will change the jobs. Lower level obeys the higher one and everyone serves the interests of the organization.
- Equal freedom model. In this model, organizations have the rights to behave as they wishes unless the actions infringe on the rights of the stakeholders. Google uses this model sometimes. Google has provided a lot of products either high quality or not. And it has rights to try what it wants to regardless of losing or wasting money on it. But if there is any bad news on its adveritisement sale, the stakeholder will stop it.
- Proportionality ethic model. This model is used to make sure the good outweights the bad when making decision. They believe that real world are complex and decisions are seld clearly right or wrong.
- Professional ethic model. The peer review is important in this model. It states that a decision is thical if it can be explained to the approval of a broad cross-section of professional peer.
10. What is the engineering manager's role in quality ethics?
Manager's role in quality ehics is that managers are responsible for establishing high ethical standards, setting a consistently positive exmaples and acting immediately when they observe unethical behavior. This management goals can be established following three steps as presented in the text book.
- Best-Ratio Approach. Assuming employees are basically good. They will choose their activies according to the circmstances. That is to say, managers should try their best to mainatain a good circumstance to promote the employees to be positive. It is also called situational ethics.
- Black-and-white Approach. This approach helps employees behave ethically regardless of circumstances for in this approach it is clear what is right and what is wrong. There is no grey area. Manager should make decision base only on fairness and importance levels.
- Full-Potential Approach. Decisions are made based on how they will affect the ability of those involved to achieve their full potential. These managers believe that people are responsible for their full potential. No other conditons need to be considered in this approach.
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Reference
- Quality Management for Organizational Excellence
- ASQ: http://asq.org/index.aspx
- ASQ Quality Glassary: http://asq.org/glossary/t.html
- ISO DIS 9000 2015: http://www.praxiom.com/iso-definition.htm
- Philip B. Crosby: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_B._Crosby#Philip_Crosby_Associates
- Philip Crosby Associates: http://www.philipcrosby.com/pca/index.html
- Crosby's 14 Steps to Improvement: http://www.calidadpr.com/qp1205crosby.pdf
- W. Edwards Deming: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming